Balancing HEQ5 Pro with Skywatcher 200P

[Fir Chlis]

I’ve recently bought an HEQ5 Pro with the 200P scope, but was a bit surprised that the two supplied counter weights don’t seem to quite balance the scope, as it is sold as a set, even at their outermost position on the rod. I don’t know if anyone else has seen this.
 

Geoff

[Franklin]

SW 200P ota weighs around 8.8kg so the two 5kg weights supplied should balance it fine. Check that your weights are indeed the 5.1kg ones and weigh all the accessories that you plan to use to see what the total weight is in use.

The two weights should balance out around 10kg payload when at the approx. centre of the bar. Higher up around 7kg, lower end around 13kg.

[Fir Chlis]

Thanks - I’ll have a check on that. 

[Fir Chlis]

Thanks again. I see what the issue is.
 

With the OTA rotated so that the supplied (500g) finder scope points towards the mount, the counterweights easily balance, but as I have it oriented (to give, for me, optimum positions for the eyepiece without having to rotate the OTA) with the finder scope away from the mount, this is more than the two weights can balance. 

Geoff

[Xoc1]

I have a HEQ5 Pro that I use with a 150PDS but with all the accessories the load weight is getting up to 9KG. As the mount is rated 10kg for astrophotography & 15 kg for visual I could not envisage that adding another counterweight would be a problem and would allow you to use you setup as you want.

[Clarkey]

I have used a 200p on the HEQ5 with the two supplied counterweights without a problem regardless of the finderscope position. Reaching the eyepiece was a different matter......

[M40]

If you check the counterweight shaft end bolt to see if it is 12mm, you could get one of these...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/counterweight-bar-extension-for-skywatcher-neq6.html

In certain combinations I needed to extend the counterweight shaft by about 5 - 10mm and this sorted it out perfectly.

[Franklin]

17 hours ago, Fir Chlis said:

With the OTA rotated so that the supplied (500g) finder scope points towards the mount, the counterweights easily balance, but as I have it oriented (to give, for me, optimum positions for the eyepiece without having to rotate the OTA) with the finder scope away from the mount, this is more than the two weights can balance. 

Optimum position for finders/aux equipment is parallel with the Dec axis, if it's throwing the balance out try moving the whole tube down the rings a bit. Also, the HEQ5 weight shaft is retractable into the Dec housing so make sure it is fully retracted.

[malc-c]

Its and old video -but it covers balancing the scope in all axis and getting the CofG right