Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[Pile of Jam]

2 hours ago, adyj1 said:

The controllers are independent of each other, so if you switch controller you start again with alignment, etc. 

Thanks adjyj1, that makes sense. 

[TerraC]

Anyone using the GTI with Astroberry?  Could you recommend a budget guide camera that would work with this system? 

[LaurenceT]

18 minutes ago, TerraC said:

Anyone using the GTI with Astroberry?  Could you recommend a budget guide camera that would work with this system? 

I no longer use Astroberry but when I did I used a ZWO ASI 120mm mini camera.

[TerraC]

47 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

I no longer use Astroberry but when I did I used a ZWO ASI 120mm mini camera.

Brilliant.  No issues? I was looking at one of these or an altair. Someone on the buy sell group seems to think theres a ph2 guiding issue? 

Ray

 

Edited March 31, 2022 by TerraC

[Elp]

I've used a 224mc with astroberry fine for planetary and solar imaging. 290mm mini not so good as it freezes (think it's something to do with the usb2 interface on these mini cams). Didn't get around to autoguiding with either though.

[LaurenceT]

1 hour ago, TerraC said:

Brilliant.  No issues? I was looking at one of these or an altair. Someone on the buy sell group seems to think theres a ph2 guiding issue? 

Ray

 

No issues for me regarding the guide camera at all.

[Elp]

1 minute ago, Elp said:

@Highburymark great find. I don't normally rush out with equipment but your enthusiasm made me jump for it. There was also another one around a quarter clock distance away (see wide image). For those that didn't see it here's two pics:

Azgti for the win again!

[TerraC]

5 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

No issues for me regarding the guide camera at all.

@Elp @LaurenceT

Did either of you use a Pi on a battery source? If so what did you use please? 

Ray

 

[LaurenceT]

I powered the pi from a Talentcell power  "brick" bought on Amazon.

[TerraC]

8 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

I powered the pi from a Talentcell power  "brick" bought on Amazon.

Nice one. Ill have a look on the outputs for the talentcell. I was going to look at one of those to power the azgti. Pi says 5.1v 3amps on the plug but i think my skywatcher 7ah pack only outputs 2.1amp on the 5v feed or something like that. 

Ray

[RayWUK]

On 30/03/2022 at 01:18, Pile of Jam said:

Hi everyone,

New to this forum and have found this thread an excellent resource.

I have recently bought an asiair plus to use with my az-gti in alt az mode but have had trouble with alignment. I perform 2 star alignment through the Synscan app which works fine. Then in the asiair app (connected as Eq mod mount), I select a target and it slews far away from where I want it. On checking the RA/Dec co-ordinates between each app they don't match, so it seems to be a problem syncing between the apps. Any ideas on how to resolve this?

Attached pic of M51 taken after I'd given up and gone back to Sharpcap.

Taken with an Evostar 72ed, 64x30s frames, no calibrations (it was late and I was cold!)

 

whps-DeNoiseAI-clear-low_res-scale-4_00x-gigapixel.tiff 185.83 MB · 10 downloads

I thought that 'EQ Mod Mount' in the ASI AIR assumes the AZ-GTI is mounted on an EQ wedge. I may be wrong but if that's the case it could be the route of your issue if using in the AZ-GTI in ALT/AZ mode. Also ditch the SynScan app, it just confuses things when using the ASI AIR.

[Elp]

11 hours ago, TerraC said:

@Elp @LaurenceT

Did either of you use a Pi on a battery source? If so what did you use please? 

Ray

 

I use a Ravpower 20000mwh usb power pack.

 

[AstroNebulee]

1 hour ago, RayWUK said:

I thought that 'EQ Mod Mount' in the ASI AIR assumes the AZ-GTI is mounted on an EQ wedge. I may be wrong but if that's the case it could be the route of your issue if using in the AZ-GTI in ALT/AZ mode. Also ditch the SynScan app, it just confuses things when using the ASI AIR.

This 'EQ Mod Mount' being incorrect for an alt az mount setting on the AAP crossed my mind too. 

[Apprentice]

Is anyone using Adapter Plate for alt-azimuth Mounts. Apparently it reduces the strain on the cogs and increases the effective payload.

I am curious if anyone is using anything above 5kg on this mount with the help of this plate?

[johninderby]

Yes I have used it on an AZ-GTi mount and it did indeed increase the max loading by a couple of kg but wasn’t suitable for long OTAs. For shorter scopes worked really well though. 

[Apprentice]

Are you using the extension pillar that's supplied in the bundle? I have no issues using the 80/910 frac on it as it is.

I was hoping for 150p newton (it's shorter than the fract I believe)

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Apprentice

[LaurenceT]

26 minutes ago, Apprentice said:

Are you using the extension pillar that's supplied in the bundle? I have no issues using the 80/910 frac on it as it is.

I was hoping for 150p newton (it's shorter than the fract I believe)

 

I had to use the pillar to stop the scope colliding with the tripod when close to the zenith.

[AstroNebulee]

Whilst on a day off waiting for a new fridge freezer to be delivered (as mine went bang at the weekend) I decided to sort the backlash and meshing of my RA(az) motor. See video clips. I had previously done this with my Dec (alt) motor. I also re-engaged the spring mechanism for the RA motor to see if this can tweak the performance for the better, as I did have the worm and gear permanently fixed before. 

The backlash wasn't as bad as the Dec motor was though. If the re-engaging of the spring has made it worse I shall fix the worm and gear back again. 

Gave it all a good regrease with some white lithium grease. 

Cheers 

Lee 

Edited April 4, 2022 by AstroNebulee

[RayWUK]

6 hours ago, AstroNebulee said:

Whilst on a day off waiting for a new fridge freezer to be delivered (as mine went bang at the weekend) I decided to sort the backlash and meshing of my RA(az) motor. See video clips. I had previously done this with my Dec (alt) motor. I also re-engaged the spring mechanism for the RA motor to see if this can tweak the performance for the better, as I did have the worm and gear permanently fixed before. 

The backlash wasn't as bad as the Dec motor was though. If the re-engaging of the spring has made it worse I shall fix the worm and gear back again. 

Gave it all a good regrease with some white lithium grease. 

Cheers 

Lee 

 

How did you adjust the meshing?

[AstroNebulee]

43 minutes ago, RayWUK said:

How did you adjust the meshing?

Hi Ray 

There are a few videos out there and tutorials but this is the one I've always followed and did so when adjusting the meshing on the Dec motor. 

Cheers 

Lee 

 

[bomberbaz]

Noticed some modding going on. I have made a cooling mod which I have previously mentioned and posted pictures up. It is a well known mod using a peltier cooling chip and computer cooling fan.

Now I have finally finished the install I have two dark pictures taken showing with and without cooling (see below). 

I know some really try to push the cooling by using higher power peltier chips, however there is evidence that when doing this you can cause condensation to form on the camera chip so I deliberately went for a lower powered chip with the aim of simply giving a decent cool.

The pro series of ZWO have a very small heater at the chip to prevent dew formation apparently, mine does not.

Anyway I have found that I am getting around 15-17F (10C) cooling from the ambient temperature. The difference in noise and amp glow is clear to see.

Steve 

      

[Apprentice]

So I noticed that Skywatcher finally updated the app to v2.0 on the google play store. Which is awesome.

Now I wanted to ask if anyone is using SkySafari or any other app for controling the AZ Gti since the new update. I am thinking of getting SkySafari Plus for this purpose.

[Gfamily]

Lots of one star reviews on Google Play store in the last week for the new version.

So I'm holding out for the time being and I'll try it with a spare phone first. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Gfamily

[TerraC]

On 09/04/2022 at 22:15, Gfamily said:

Lots of one star reviews on Google Play store in the last week for the new version.

So I'm holding out for the time being and I'll try it with a spare phone first. 

Already received another app update to 2.0.2

Not had chance to try it yet - damn clouds. 

Thought i'd take the chance to flash the GTI to latest firmware last night. What a nightmare this time.  Just would not stay connected and flash beyond a few % before failing.  Took me about 2 hours trying in the end before it finally accepted the full flash via WIFI.  It was keeping the wifi link fine but the loader just kept losing the GTI and I kept having to power cycle it to get it to try again.  I have a cable too which I think is the coiled Eqdirect type (was provided with the mount from previous owner) but it just would not see it at all with the cable for some reason - using the non wifi loader too. 

Ray

 

The cable I have looks like this one.  So i'm guessing wrong cable for flashing anyway.  Might have to sell it and get a proper one instead. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-premium-handset-cables-for-sky-watcher-az-goto-az-gti-mounts.html

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2022 by TerraC
Cable Info

[LaurenceT]

1 hour ago, TerraC said:

Already received another app update to 2.0.2

Not had chance to try it yet - damn clouds. 

Thought i'd take the chance to flash the GTI to latest firmware last night. What a nightmare this time.  Just would not stay connected and flash beyond a few % before failing.  Took me about 2 hours trying in the end before it finally accepted the full flash via WIFI.  It was keeping the wifi link fine but the loader just kept losing the GTI and I kept having to power cycle it to get it to try again.  I have a cable too which I think is the coiled Eqdirect type (was provided with the mount from previous owner) but it just would not see it at all with the cable for some reason - using the non wifi loader too. 

Ray

 

The cable I have looks like this one.  So i'm guessing wrong cable for flashing anyway.  Might have to sell it and get a proper one instead. 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-premium-handset-cables-for-sky-watcher-az-goto-az-gti-mounts.html

 

 

 

I think this is the cable you want:

Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for Sky-Watcher Mounts (see description for models) | First Light Optics