ASIAIR target slewing problems and constant polar alignment.

[Scream]

I recently got a pier set up and I have everything on it now. One of my questions is; Why do I keep having to do a polar alignment with the air pro? Everytime I check the PA it's always out, not really bad but enough that I have to make some adjustments. I was under the impression that once you're polar aligned on stationary equipment then you're more or less done for "good".

My second question; I am having troubles with my air. Here is my equipment. EQ6-R, doublet, 533MC Pro, 120mm, ASIAIR Pro. As far as I am aware all my settings are correct. 120mm guidescope, 369mm main.

I remove my cover and power the equipment. I check focus and then select PA. It does it's thing and I make any adjustments, I try and get the alignment down to 1 but have gone as high as 5s, NOT minutes. It shows the smilely face and I think swap into preview and get it to slew to target. Here is the issue. It doesn't slew to the target, I was trying to image Elephant trunk and it looked straight up roughly in the area where I know it is. It fails and then slews all the way to the other side of the mount looking straight up. It does this several times, fails and then stops. I've tried other targets. In some instances it just doesn't slew to the right place in the sky at all. To the point that it's looking in the completely different direction. I can't for the life of me figure it out. This has been happening for three nights in a row now making me lose precious clear sky.

[Wiu-Wiu]

Maybe you are trying to image it close to the meridian and it flips? 

The asiair should platesolve before starting its exposures, so that part should work - even if you're not staraligned. It might be off the first time, but should keep getting closer by every new platesolve. 

It sounds like you might have 2 separate issues: polar alignment and star alignment. 

 

If you are polar aligned, you should be okay, even roughly. don't redo the whole process every time. Try getting the home position for both computers (your mount and the asiair) at the same page - I mean: it's like an old couple in a car. They both have to know where you are heading, but only one should do the driving. 

[Scream]

16 minutes ago, Wiu-Wiu said:

Maybe you are trying to image it close to the meridian and it flips? 

The asiair should platesolve before starting its exposures, so that part should work - even if you're not staraligned. It might be off the first time, but should keep getting closer by every new platesolve. 

It sounds like you might have 2 separate issues: polar alignment and star alignment. 

 

If you are polar aligned, you should be okay, even roughly. don't redo the whole process every time. Try getting the home position for both computers (your mount and the asiair) at the same page - I mean: it's like an old couple in a car. They both have to know where you are heading, but only one should do the driving. 

 

[Wiu-Wiu]

I don't know what to make of that. 

 

Every object transits the meridian (the line from north to south). An equatorial mount will try to track it as long as possible, until something runs into the tripod, or the mount runs into itself. Enter: the meridian flip. Check your settings in the handset at how your mount treats the meridian. It could either stop, or flip at, before, or after the object transits. if possible: turn it off (let the asiair handle it)

 

Don't polar align again if you start up. It should be okay after the first time. When powering down, let the scope park in the zero position. That should be roughly pointing at polaris, scope on top, weights pointing at the floor, looking north. 

Then power down. When powering up; don't touch the handset anymore. Just tell asiair to go to an object, let it platesolve (or do it manually), and it should work after 2 or 3 times. When the asiair knows you are in zero position, it roughly knows where you should be looking at and where your target should be from there. It will slew, platesolve, and recenter until good. 

 

Good luck!