Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread

[Stu1smartcookie]

3 minutes ago, Elp said:

Certainly it benefits those looking for the complete package, we all knew the price was going to be higher than the azgti, whether it offers any benefits over and above remains to be seen. I still use my azgti primarily even though I've got a sturdier mount to use.

Absolutely , and i will probably keep mine as a purely quick Alt Az set up . 

[Pixies]

I bought my AZ GTi as a bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I saw someone on Facebook wanting to swap it for an AZ5. I intended to dip my toes into AP and learn the basics without too much spendy stuff (relatively). originally when I saw that the SA-GTi was coming out, I thought I might be able to pick up an original SA for a bargain.

Anyway - I'm on that slope now but will stick with the AZ-GTi and see how things go. I just want something 'simple' to have running while I do my visual first-love! 

 

[Elp]

Well, if you want to see what it can do...

 

[bomberbaz]

Guys I have removed pictures from this thread (this post to be precise) and replacing with this comment.

I was becoming a little fed up with the GTi tracking and thought it was purely down to the slackness in the RA.

However I have been doing some more tweaking tonight whilst pulling upon various pools of knowledge about the mount and trying to apply some of this to my mount.

The current result is showing at least a 35% or better improvement in tracking and a huge reduction in star elongation.

More testing needed but hopefully can give this thread some good news soon. 

PS, for those that read previous message i still may buy another mount. 

See below, does your mount do this?

 

 

 

Edited July 15, 2022 by bomberbaz
change of plans

[bomberbaz]

Ok let me elaborate on what went on with me last night and my findings. The guiding in RA was still pants at first last night so whilst the imaging was ongoing I was scanning through various guides and I got to thinking what could I change to tighten things up that I hadn't already tried!

First let me just go over the AZ Gti mount guide settings to show you my thinking. Exposure time on your guide camera checks the movement of your guide star and the mount reacts accordingly. The guiding rate is the level of the pulse that is transmitted to your mount although I have no idea what the pulse level is. 0.5x means the pulse will be at 50% and then the aggression settings are a fine tuning of the level of the guiding rate. 

I had been faffing around between 0.5 and 0.75 guiding and altering the aggression settings but I still could not get a decent RA tracking. So this left only MAX RA duration. This is to say the length of time the pulse whatever the setting is, is allowed to pulse for. I had left these at 2000ms because that was what one of the guides I had been referring to said to do. The rationale being that the mount supposedly only uses the level of pulse it needs to maintain the guide.  However if one has free movement within the axis (RA) might the pulse overshoot the required nudge needed to track? Well this was my thought track anyway. So I dropped RA duration right down to 500, then I reset tracking and boom, instant improvement. I sat there watching the tracking whilst nursing a can of beer for about twenty minutes and save the occasional blip it wass tracking at below 1, getting as low as 0.6 and this for me is amazingly good. 

Further tweaking followed and eventually I brought the RA down to 450ms and Dec 500ms. I was constantly tracking at around 0.7 to 0.8 which for me is amazing. The owl below shows the stars at the old settings, note they are oblong cause by the poor tracking in RA. The Wizard nebula in the other image has stars which are a world away. A much improved result although I think a new mount as previously mentioned will soon be in the offing. The amount of free movement is just too significant that I am not happy with it.

Re the wizard, this is 100 minutes using the 224mc "uncooled" (forgot to turn cooler on) + ZWO Dual band filter. 600x 10 seconds at 200 gain. 30 flats/darkflats 64 darks.

Quite pleased with the result for uncooled, I might be able to get a little better but will leave it has it is for now. 

Edited July 16, 2022 by bomberbaz

[Gfamily]

I'm not sure if we have a post that explains how to connect the AZ-GTi to allow control via Stellarium on a laptop over WiFi.  

In response to a query on the "Getting Started" forum, I put this together. I think it's complete.

 

[Elp]

1 hour ago, bomberbaz said:

amount of free movement is just too significant

What do your tracking graphs look like? If there are no issues (Sticking, wind, vibration, etc) you'll see the graph as a fairly smooth horizontal plot, if issues do occur you'll see the spikes as they happen, I would of thought an Ra slip would show up as a consistent spike. Your video does show odd Ra movement, mine are both fairly stiff in Ra even declutched which is a bonus for Ra balancing, when locked they don't move at all.

[happy-kat]

The difference with the Wizard is well like chalk and cheese looks so much cleaner, it's great to read your perseverance to fettle the settings to fix your mount.

[Elp]

I'm sure you probably already do this but do you calibrate every time after you've done a goto to your target in question?

When you watch the calibration do the N, E, S, W follow a straight line for each direction (ie N will go in one direction in a straight line, then the opposite S will follow that same line but in a reverse direction (same for E and W in relation to each other)). You can normally guess your tracking will be off if it doesn't do this right.

What's your guiderate on sidereal 0.75x? Mines set at 0.9x the max, it's the same sidereal rate on my gem28 too.

[bomberbaz]

2 hours ago, happy-kat said:

The difference with the Wizard is well like chalk and cheese looks so much cleaner, it's great to read your perseverance to fettle the settings to fix your mount.

It has been very challenging at times so thank you for your appreciation. As for the wizard, given the data is as mentioned from an uncooled camera on quite a warm night, I am very happy with it.

2 hours ago, Elp said:

I'm sure you probably already do this but do you calibrate every time after you've done a goto to your target in question?

When you watch the calibration do the N, E, S, W follow a straight line for each direction (ie N will go in one direction in a straight line, then the opposite S will follow that same line but in a reverse direction (same for E and W in relation to each other)). You can normally guess your tracking will be off if it doesn't do this right.

What's your guiderate on sidereal 0.75x? Mines set at 0.9x the max, it's the same sidereal rate on my gem28 too.

Yes got my calibration off to a tee now. Does the whole thing now in 4 or 5 steps each way.

Guide rate is at 0.75, aggression is 60% Dec and 50% RA. These suggest the settings are pretty spot on.  Seem to remember Lee saying he tracks his mount RA and Dec duration set at 500 for both. If that's right I really should have twigged earlier.

IMHO there should be more detailed guide with the AIR + when it arrives, nothing really prepares you for the complexity of sorting this tracking out if, like me your having a problem getting it going.

I think I will get a new mount anyway. It's a problem I don't seem to be able to sort out to my satisfaction. 

[Elp]

Glad you sorted it. Even though I've got the gem, I still use the azgtis more, they're just quicker to setup and less to carry outside.

[bomberbaz]

7 minutes ago, Elp said:

Glad you sorted it. Even though I've got the gem, I still use the azgtis more, they're just quicker to setup and less to carry outside.

That is the only reason I image. If I didn't have this I wouldn't bother. It's probably the best value for money bit of kit going. 

[Elp]

1 minute ago, bomberbaz said:

best value

Think the asiair also falls into that camp

[bomberbaz]

8 minutes ago, Elp said:

Think the asiair also falls into that camp

I think we are both on the same page.

[AstroGS]

Which way do you use to connect your AZ-GTi with ASIAIR plus?

Edited July 17, 2022 by George Sinanis

[bomberbaz]

I use a Lynx astro ED Mod cable but select Skywatcher AZ Gti as the mount. I believe some select EQ Mod although they both work.

[Elp]

Similar, but use a lynx astro EQ DIR cable if it's the same cable as the above, it has an rj12 connection on the one end for azgtis.

[bomberbaz]

7 minutes ago, Elp said:

Similar, but use a lynx astro EQ DIR cable if it's the same cable as the above, it has an rj12 connection on the one end for azgtis.

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

[Elp]

11 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

This one I bet

Bingo, bit annoyed though that the first one I bought is 5M as it was the only one in stock at the time so just trails across the floor. Don't particularly care about cable management due to having to setup and dismantle every time.

[AstroGS]

16 minutes ago, bomberbaz said:

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

Thanks for the feedback. Is this cable different than the one that the EQ6R Pro uses?

[Elp]

Just check the descriptions carefully, I believe the larger mounts have a different rj connector size, if in doubt FLO will be able to assist.

Edited July 17, 2022 by Elp

[herne]

18 hours ago, George Sinanis said:

Thanks for the feedback. Is this cable different than the one that the EQ6R Pro uses?

It's a different cable.  This is the one for the EQ6R.

As others above, I also use the EQ DIR cable to connect the AZ Gti to the ASI Air.  When connected, make sure you choose "EQ Mod Mount" on your phone/pad when opening the AAP app if you use the cable.

18 hours ago, Elp said:

Bingo, bit annoyed though that the first one I bought is 5M as it was the only one in stock at the time so just trails across the floor. Don't particularly care about cable management due to having to setup and dismantle every time.

Haha me too.  I wrap the excess around the counter weight bar.

[Elp]

44 minutes ago, herne said:

When connected, make sure you choose "EQ Mod Mount" on your phone/pad when opening the AAP app if you use the cable.

Selecting skywatcher azgti also works, that's the one I use.

[bomberbaz]

Just having a look out to see if there is a chance to image Panstarrs 2017 k2 but there is cloud bubbling up. I will give it a while as it may briefly clear. Think I will done a manual alignment if it does and let the tracking do the work.

 

[AstroGS]

I will be leaving soon for holidays abroad and since my ZWO AM5 has not arrived yet, i have to get the AZ-GTi ready to take with me.

So, i got the mount updated and setup on EQ mode - check.

Got an AZ-GTi EQMod cable - check.

Got it working with Asiair Plus - check.

The OTA + everything is less than 3.5Kgr - check.

Since i never used it before (it is brand new), am i forgetting something?

Also, how do you usually power up your grab-n-go AZ-GTi rigs? I need to power up a cooled CMOS camera, ZWO AsiAir Plus & the mount.