Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[Elp]

I very much hope you've tested the east west heavy balance as my experience trying to make the smallest tripod for compactness taught me the tripod can't be too short or it'll fall over.

[M40]

1 hour ago, Elp said:

I very much hope you've tested the east west heavy balance as my experience trying to make the smallest tripod for compactness taught me the tripod can't be too short or it'll fall over.

Good call 👍 it fell almost immediately and even worse when I stuck the counterweight on. Works fine on the heq5 tripod but not exactly the backpack arrangement I was after. I will give it a go on the larger tripod tonight, clouds willing, and if all is good I will have a mess around tomorrow to see if I can work out a plan C. Plan F involves a lump hammer 🤣 lets hope I don't get that far.

[Elp]

The smallest tripod I've used successfully is my Leofoto LS253, can carry the azgti AP setup for my Z61 at 6.5Kg. I however wouldn't use my HD mounts on such a tripod as they would fall over due to the legs not splitting wide enough, might be okay for a camera setup, not a scope.

Edited May 10 by Elp

[M40]

Ok we are into plan C

Few mods to the camera mount and the zwo camera acts as a counterweight to the canon. Piece of 12mm stud in place of the standard counterweight bar and it all balances and drives with no issues.

Challenge I have or hopefully had is getting it to point in the right direction. I have found that using the asiair to connect to the mount via the eqmod cable, regardless of what type of mount I say it is, it could go anywhere. So I went back to the synscan app, connected and it went where it was supposed to go. Without switching it off, I then connected to it via the asiair, told asiair that it was connected to an eqmod mount and away it went. Is that how you guys do it? It does seem a trifle long winded.

 

[Elp]

Didn't notice it last time but it might help if your camera and GS are pointing toward the top right of your image... (Parallel to rotation axis of RA (or for alt az azgti mode what would be the azimuth axis)).

I used to start the Synscan app first and choose EQ mode, but have since found you can turn the air on, the mount after as long as you have the right mount option chosen under your mount settings and the connecting cable is plugged in between azgti and air. Just slew a little in the preview mode to check the mounts working, then tell it to go to home position under mount settings, if correct it should slew back to how you have it in your photo. If wrong, stop the home slew, manually declutch each axis and orient back to physical home position and tighten clutches again. Check the slew to home position again, if it's correct (or near enough) the mount won't, or will hardly move. If incorrect repeat the physical adjustment.

[M40]

All sorted, many thanks for your help Elp 👍 Plan D gives me the dslr and gs pointing as would a telescope on the azgti, tried it with the synscan app, all good, switched to the asiair and again all good. With the seestar tripod legs fully extended there are no balance problems. 

Next step pa with the asiair when the clouds part😁

[LaurenceT]

Although I've been using the short Astro Essentials bar to mount my Az GTi onto a Williams Optics wedge I've had a increasing problem with the front of the bar interfering with the power cable going to my power source.

It's reached the point when, as the mount moves the cable is being dislodged by the bar and I'm losing power, I don't know why this is suddenly happening. I can't move the bar further back as it interferes with my imaging train/cables etc.  I know I can get shorter dovetail bars but they can cost up to £40 (I'm in cheapskate mode at the moment) so I've seen this Skywatcher ball head adapter which looks as though it might do the job for £14. Which brings me on to another question concerning mounting a bar in line with the dimple. Is it important that this is aligned in terms of azimuth accuracy as that ball head adapter may not line up with that when screwed in?

 

Edited June 24 by LaurenceT

[happy-kat]

I think the dimple is about holding stability to prevent spin which might unscrew the base from the mount

[LaurenceT]

1 minute ago, happy-kat said:

I think the dimple is about holding stability to prevent spin which might unscrew the base from the mount

Thanks, as long as that's the only function and nothing to do with the positional relationship between the bar and azimuth I'm very happy.

[happy-kat]

Maybe a picture to see which dimple you were referring to might help

[LaurenceT]

1 minute ago, happy-kat said:

Maybe a picture to see which dimple you were referring to might help

I'll have a go in a bit 

[LaurenceT]

25 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

Maybe a picture to see which dimple you were referring to might help

 

[happy-kat]

that dimple fixes to the dimple of the star adventurer wedge to prevent the two unscrewing, I don't know if other wedges have a dimple to line up with it too

[Elp]

As mentioned it's for location purposes to stop the mount unscrewing from the attached dovetail bar. I've had to make my own short dovetails in the past with one 1/4 inch threaded hole so I could screw in a 1/4 inch cap head which served two purposes, stop the bar rotation in relation to the mount (well the other way around), and two act as a physical stop at the front of the dovetail bar so it won't slip out of the EQ wedge clamp.

Edited June 24 by Elp

[LaurenceT]

11 minutes ago, Elp said:

As mentioned it's for location purposes to stop the mount unscrewing from the attached dovetail bar. I've had to make my own short dovetails in the past with one 1/4 inch threaded hole so I could screw in a 1/4 inch cap head which served two purposes, stop the bar rotation in relation to the mount (well the other way around), and two act as a physical stop at the front of the dovetail bar so it won't slip out of the EQ wedge clamp.

Thanks for that, I've followed @AstroNebulee's advice in the past to use hockey tape to prevent slippage, it works very well.

[Elp]

I bought some adhesive backed rubber tape from that common DIY store around here for my lens collars, it's so grippy the collars at times refuse to open easily. Might also suit such purposes.

[AstroNebulee]

7 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

Thanks for that, I've followed @AstroNebulee's advice in the past to use hockey tape to prevent slippage, it works very well.

When packing away my imaging set up for a long hiatus. I still couldn't pull the dovetail bar off the underside of my AzGti  😂. 

Clear skies 

Lee 

[LaurenceT]

The little green adapter arrived yesterday, I've set it up with the addition of some hockey tape simply for fail safe and it seems to work just as I wanted with no fouling of power cables as before with the dovetail bar.       

[AstroNebulee]

3 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

The little green adapter arrived yesterday, I've set it up with the addition of some hockey tape simply for fail safe and it seems to work just as I wanted with no fouling of power cables as before with the dovetail bar.       

Looks great Laurence. Where did you get the az and alt bolts from for your WO wedge, I still have the original knurked metal type ones that don't give much grip at times. 

Clear skies

Lee 

[LaurenceT]

6 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

Looks great Laurence. Where did you get the az and alt bolts from for your WO wedge, I still have the original knurked metal type ones that don't give much grip at times. 

Clear skies

Lee 

I'm pretty sure it's these, must be M6 thread.

sourcing map M6 x 44mm Metric Male Thread Knurled Clamping Knobs Grip Thumb Screw on Type Hand Clamping Handle Bolt with Plastic Knobs Black 10 Pcs : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

[avescio]

Hello, I just purchased an AZ-GTi mount that I plan on using in alt-az, (not EQ Mode) for Electronically Assisted Astronomy.  I plan on pairing it with an asi air plus and the Evolux 62 ED refractor.  I plan on using it for Outreach and using the asi air plus to plate solve to a target and then just watch the live stacking so there will not be long subs (10-15 second max).  I plan on using a special eqmod cable from the mount directly to the asi air plus.

 

My question is, will the asi air plus work with the az-gti mount where I can just place it facing north, turn on the mount and asi air plus, then just choose a target in the asi air plus and it will plate solve to the target?  Not using any synscan app at all?  Thank you for your information.

[LaurenceT]

3 hours ago, avescio said:

Hello, I just purchased an AZ-GTi mount that I plan on using in alt-az, (not EQ Mode) for Electronically Assisted Astronomy.  I plan on pairing it with an asi air plus and the Evolux 62 ED refractor.  I plan on using it for Outreach and using the asi air plus to plate solve to a target and then just watch the live stacking so there will not be long subs (10-15 second max).  I plan on using a special eqmod cable from the mount directly to the asi air plus.

 

My question is, will the asi air plus work with the az-gti mount where I can just place it facing north, turn on the mount and asi air plus, then just choose a target in the asi air plus and it will plate solve to the target?  Not using any synscan app at all?  Thank you for your information.

Is the special eqmod cable you want to use this one?

Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for Sky-Watcher AZ, GTi Mounts | First Light Optics

[avescio]

18 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

Is the special eqmod cable you want to use this one?

Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for Sky-Watcher AZ, GTi Mounts | First Light Optics

Hi LaurenceT, I have a cable already.  I guess what I'm trying to do is be able to just use the asi air plus to run my  mount  by plate solving and then use the asi air plus to view the live stacking with short subs.  I do not want to use the SynScan app if at all possible and I am hoping once it plate solves, the mount will track accordingly.  

[LaurenceT]

4 hours ago, avescio said:

Hi LaurenceT, I have a cable already.  I guess what I'm trying to do is be able to just use the asi air plus to run my  mount  by plate solving and then use the asi air plus to view the live stacking with short subs.  I do not want to use the SynScan app if at all possible and I am hoping once it plate solves, the mount will track accordingly.  

You may have a cable but you've not confirmed it's the one I asked you about. Anyway, to the best of my knowledge the Asiair does not function with the Az GTi in Alt Az mode. It may work with other alt az mounts, I'm pretty sure I've read something about that in the past. The only way 

you will be able to use the Asiair with the az gti is what many people have done and buy an EQ wedge, and convert the mount to run in EQ mode. If you want something quick and "easy" then you could buy a Raspberry Pi, install Stellarmate and do Eaa with that. I've done both in the past, the Raspberry Pi/ Stellarmate solution worked when it wanted to, sometimes it was brilliant, other times beyond frustration! The az gi in EQ mode/Asiair solution can work perfectly well but I've got a different mount now so I've put the az gti back to alt az mode.

[avescio]

Hi LaurenceT,

Thank you for the information.  I'm a little upset that the mount will not work in Alt/Az mode with ASI Air Plus.  I'm going to have to find a tutorial somewhere that steps through the procedure to change from alt/az to EQ mode and I'll have to look into what accessories I need to buy to make this change.  The cable I have is  an Asiair to Skywatcher AZ-GTI Mount Direct Communication EQMOD Cable CP2102 USB Uart TTL to RJ12 that I purchased from AliExpress.  I'm attaching the cable image as well.  

Do you have a preferred tutorial that steps through this? Thank you in advance.  Anthony