Starsense woes.

[Maclean156]

Hi. My first scope was an evolution 5 with starsense. Great scope and starsense worked perfectly and easy to calibrate and set up. 

So I have now sold that as wanted to get into astrophotography so after a few months without a scope I have gone out and bought a celestron edge hd 8 with the avx mount. 

So the other night I took it out into the back garden. Excited as it was clear skies and Saturn and Jupiter easily seen in the sky. 

So I pointed mount north as said in the instructions. Looked up and easily found polaris. I then levelled mount. As I have not got a polaris scope I looked though the hole where I would put one and got polaris in the middle so I knew mount was roughly aligned with polaris. Then added the scope and set the alignment marks up as instructed. 

Then made sure all connections were correct and then turned on the power. 

Starsense controller said all OK so proceeded to do an auto align. Scope skewed around the nights sky and easily found 100 stars after each movement. 

With my evolution 5 when starsense had finished its stuff it would stop and tell me all done so no problems. 

But when I got the message that all was done the scope kept moving....was not expecting that. Anyhow I told it to find a bright star and away it goes and is pointed in the general direction. So I pressed calibrate and centered on said star. Control said all done and to do another auto align. 

Scope did its stuff but this time it pointed to the ground which I found weird but after five minutes of looking around it said it was done but scope carried on moving again. What the heck?

So told it to point at same star again and not even close. Tried auto align several times and calibrate but still same result. 

This was a new out of the box starsense. 

Time and date set correctly. 

Location I used longitude and latitude so bang on for location. 

All software up to date, that's the first thing I did for mount, starsense controller and camera. 

Tried the next night with same result. 

Any help from you guys much appreciated. 

Steven

 

 

[Knighty2112]

We all did it at some point owning Starsense, but did you remember to take the end cap off Starsense? I did that one and think I got similar issues until I stupidly realised my gaff.

[Maclean156]

Lense cap off and it found 100 stars at each position. Obviously not when it decided to point at the ground lol. 

 

[Geoff Lister]

Is it possible that, during the GoTo slew, the extra current drawn caused the voltage at the handset to drop, even briefly, and the handset software to "forget" its position. This can be a problem with the Synscan handsets, that need at least +11V for reliable operation. The Starsense hardware may not be quite so voltage-sensitive, but it is worth a check. My Celestron SkyProdigy mount, with its built-in camera, and dedicated handset, takes about 250mA more (for the camera) than the equivalent Skywatcher Skymax mount and Synscan handset.

Geoff

Edited September 9, 2021 by Geoff Lister
added table

[Maclean156]

It's powered by mains so should be ok

[Shimrod]

1 hour ago, Maclean156 said:

It's powered by mains so should be ok

It might be worth checking the firmware version of the hand controller - I recall a bug in the recent past that could cause this, but can't remember whether it lay with CPWI (PC control) or with the handset. Looking at the firmware update history for the hand controller (Here) Possibly this fix if you don't already have it would help

1.20.20244     September-2020    Bug Fix: communication to the mount/accessories is more reliable during the first 15 seconds while waiting for the SSA Camera to wake up (was causing short run away slews)

 

Edit: Did you remember to calibrate the starsense camera to the telescope on first use?

Edit2: If you are going to get into photography I would not buy a polarscope for the AVX - it's too awkward to look through. I had one and used it twice before replacing it with an iPolar, but if doing AP you could also use something like sharpcap

 

Edited September 9, 2021 by Shimrod

[Maclean156]

Hi. Firmware is up to date on everything. 

Calibration done correctly. 

So annoying as goto totally unusable at moment. 

[Maclean156]

My starsence is 01.20.20265

Build date sep 22 2020 so even more up to date than the version mentioned in previous post 

[Maclean156]

[globular]

Your avx is an equatorial mount.  Starsense can be set in Eq or Alt-az.... have you made sure it's on the right one?

[Maclean156]

How do I check that?

[globular]

I control mine with Skysafari on my iPad so I'm not sure how you do it on the hand controller.

Maybe check that you can get to some of the RA only settings?.... like these....

[Maclean156]

This is what I have on hand controller that you pointed at with red arrows

[globular]

Perhaps not then.  I suggested it because it sounds like it is plate solving and finding the right position.... but is sending the wrong movement commands (e.g. alt az rather than ra dec).... so it's not slewing to correctly.

Presumably you have tried a factory reset?  Worth a go if not.

[Maclean156]

I restored settings on hand controller. Not sure if that's a factory reset. When it is in starsense auto it say plate solving , found 100 stars etc

[globular]

4 hours ago, Maclean156 said:

I then levelled mount. As I have not got a polaris scope I looked though the hole where I would put one and got polaris in the middle so I knew mount was roughly aligned with polaris.

Actually sticking with this a bit longer.... you say you "levelled mount" and "pointed the scope at polaris"?? 

With an EQ mount you need to set the inclination to match the degrees at your location.... not "level". 

If yours is not set to the correct angle then this too will result in the telescope pointing in odd directions.

[Maclean156]

This is my first equatorial mount. I levelled the top of tripod and then put the mount on. It is set to my latitude and set in hand controller location as in pics I just took. 

[Maclean156]

I'm in Bournemouth so googled it. 

[Maclean156]

Used my precise location which is in Bournemouth 

[globular]

And you aligned the mount (not the telescope) roughly north?

[Maclean156]

Yes....I used a compass and looked through the hole where a polar scope would go 

[Maclean156]

Unscrewd caps and looked through this. Then put on tube and align marks in line

[globular]

Fair enough.  Was worth checking.  I'm out of ideas.  It seems to me that starsense is working fine in terms of capturing stars and platesolving.... but isnt controlling your telescopes Ra and Dec correctly.  Hope someone else turns up to sort you out.

[Maclean156]

Thanks for all your help Globular. Much appreciated. One thing I have just done is update the original hand controller and then put the starsense controller on then did a full update. 

[Maclean156]

Hopefully someone can help as I'm pulling my hair out. Other half isn't too impressed as I spent money on scope instead of new carpets lol