SW Star Adventurer GTI owner thread

[Elp]

You also don't need to recalibrate after MF, the software adjusts accordingly.

[xion824]

8 hours ago, Doversole said:

 

@xion824, I do not use the Synscan app at all as the ASIAIR is controlling the mount. I don't have an issue with the Meridian flip. The ASIAIR will indicate the time for the Meridian flip to occur depending on the object, then stop the plan and execute. Could you please share your ASIAIR configuration?

@Doversole, Is this what you were looking for? Just the Meridian Flip settings?

[xion824]

9 hours ago, Elp said:

I don't have this mount, I have an azgti and I have not adjusted any settings in the synscan pro app, it isn't relevant because if you're using an Asiair that is controlling the mount and issuing the instructions.

Just a query, does this mount have a hand controller by default? I ask because in the ZWO forums many people were having meridian flip issues and the most common cause or solution was the time within the mount hand controllers not being in UTC format (or incorrect time for location) and having DST enabled when it should be off as DST doesn't apply with UTC time format. Just something to consider.

My azgti and ioptrons MF perfectly fine.

No hand controller for this mount.

https://www.highpointscientific.com/sky-watcher-star-adventurer-gti-mount-kit-s20595

[Doversole]

Sorry I will come back to you, I need to switch on the scope and mount to check with my configuration.

I suppose you have ticked the box meridian flip in your autorun or plan modes?

[xion824]

On 16/01/2024 at 03:25, Doversole said:

Sorry I will come back to you, I need to switch on the scope and mount to check with my configuration.

I suppose you have ticked the box meridian flip in your autorun or plan modes?

Yes. That was the first thing I checked. As in IT, the problem is usually something stupid.

[Doversole]

How is do you connect your mount to the ASIAIR? I use a USB cable. Once again, I do not use the Synscan app at all.

[xion824]

1 minute ago, Doversole said:

How is do you connect your mount to the ASIAIR? I use a USB cable. Once again, I do not use the Synscan app at all.

USB cable from the GTI USB Type B port to USB 3 port on AAP.

[JohnNedelcu]

Good afternoon all, I'm looking for any help I can get with my SWSA GTi:

My SWSA GTi's is crashing into itself when I'm slewing from NINA (with EQMod) or SynScan (Windows or Android).

In EQMod I have set the limits (but for some reason, it doesn't remember them between sessions).

When I try to slew and centre, it goes past the target, past the limit and the DEC axis crashes into the RA axis (the little screw that engages the RA clutch).

When I stop it, I unpark and set it to park at home and it starts moving back but stops short of the polar axis.

I tried fixing it by going into EQMod and setting the limits again (4+ times now).

I've had issues with it for months when I used it only via the SynScan Pro app on Android and the GoTo was always way off. Now it's gotten worse. 

What I've done so far:

• Made sure to start it in the "home" position (pointing at Polaris)
• After a crash, disengage the clutches, let it slew to home then manually move it to the home position and re-engage the clutches
• Reset the encoders via EQMod
• Checked location

PS:

My workaround now is to give it a slew command (In NINA), then stop it (via EQMod) when it's roughly pointing in the general direction, then quickly unpark and set tracking to sidereal (in EQMod). Plate solving eventually moves it to the target and tracking is fine once it gets there.

PPS:

Almost all targets I slew to are on the LHS (in the W - SW) as looking North, so it always crashes when it moves to the right of the polar axis (in case that's relevant).

[LaurenceT]

I've joined the club today, placed my order with FLO and it's been completed 🤩. I've never really liked using my Az GTi in EQ mode, wasn't too bad on shortish subs but guiding was hit and miss so I'm going to revert to AZ only and continue to use it for lunar and planetary and EAA with Stellarmate. The point and track feature is brilliant. I've also sold my EQ5 and decided to reign in ambitions for a bigger scope than my WO ZS61, my other imaging scope is even smaller! 

I had thought about trying for a used SWSA GTi but it seems that the earlier versions were more problematic and after watching some YT videos decided I might regret buying used. At least I can return it if buying new. It will now be cloudy for weeks........

[xion824]

Still having issues with my SA GTi not performing a meridian flip through the ASIAIR Plus. Everything else works perfectly fine. Can anyone provide the settings they have SynScan set to on the mount for flip, as well as their AAP settings for flipping? This is seriously a PITA and killing a lot of time in the middle of imaging sessions. Even let it run through over 100 retries thinking maybe at some point it would actually flip. Thanks everyone!

[TiffsAndAstro]

hope its ok to ask here.

after tearing down my gti at the end of the night - should i loosen or tighten the clutches?

also, unless im missing something, i need to limbo to use the polar scope to align?

[LaurenceT]

21 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

hope its ok to ask here.

after tearing down my gti at the end of the night - should i loosen or tighten the clutches?

also, unless im missing something, i need to limbo to use the polar scope to align?

I can't answer the first question by but I'd be very interested in any replies.

As for the second there are solutions

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-right-angled-eyepiece-for-polar-scopes.html

which is expensive, when I needed one I bought a cheap Seagull adapter and modified it slightly. This enabled me to polar align without slipping a disc

 

Edited February 9 by LaurenceT

[TiffsAndAstro]

3 minutes ago, LaurenceT said:

I can't answer the first question by but I'd be very interested in any replies.

As for the second there are solutions

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-right-angled-eyepiece-for-polar-scopes.html

which is expensive, when I needed one I bought a cheap Seagull adapter and modified it slightly. This enabled me to polar align without slipping a disc

 

hey ty so much for that. yeah, its expensive and im trying to be cheap  as i spent my cash on a gti rather than just a tracker

ill have to see how i got on, only got the gti couple days ago and of course its been cloudy ever since. maybe polar alligning won't be too bad....

[xion824]

2 hours ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

hey ty so much for that. yeah, its expensive and im trying to be cheap  as i spent my cash on a gti rather than just a tracker

ill have to see how i got on, only got the gti couple days ago and of course its been cloudy ever since. maybe polar alligning won't be too bad....

I'm 5'9", and use a small travel stool when I do my PA. Works perfectly fine, without having to get on my knees or twist like a pretzel to look through the alignment scope.

[TiffsAndAstro]

8 hours ago, xion824 said:

I'm 5'9", and use a small travel stool when I do my PA. Works perfectly fine, without having to get on my knees or twist like a pretzel to look through the alignment scope.

ok i just had 45 mins clear ish skies. i boosted my tripod legs to max, bit wobbly but ok...and polar aligned pretty nicely (if i do say so myself) in about 2 mins. i was attempting a brigh star alignment when the clouds came. after watching another video, i'll try a 3 star alignment on ones i know best maybe orion.

tbh im just happy polar alignment didn't seem as bad as i feared. at least as far as i got. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

dunno why its b&w lol - i think i converted it from .cr (canon)? but when i stack them its worked out ok - dss and siril must handle.

 

this was a 30 second exposure at 50mm on a crop sensor when i was trying to work out if it was even tracking stars look pretty round to me

[TiffsAndAstro]

so an hour or two later it suddenly cleared up, so i set everything back up but this time i couldn't see any stars through the finder scope. checked the caps, RA axis was turned played with the focuser but couldn't for the life of me see any stars let alone polaris. so after some frustration i gave up and used a two star alignment with stars i've never tried to look at before and guessed. took 30 x 30 sec subs of whirlpool galaxy - couldn't see it in the stacked result, but i was impressed with how there was no trailing.

so then i told it to go to ngc 237 (i think) and did 30 x 90 sec subs and again, couldn't see my target in the stacked results, but i was amazed how there was no star trailing.

clearout says noi clear skies tonight, but bbc weather says 3 hours from 6pm so will have fun again with polar aligning then.

 

all i can think of, as it was so easy to see and align on my first go at polar alignment is that there was a low of dew on the front of the polar scope but wasn't earlier on?

 

there's a lot of top left to bottom right streaky noise on the final image - maybe high cloud? still, early days   is is 30 x 90 subs. its crap, but stars look pretty trail free. not sure how tbh.

Edited February 10 by TiffsAndAstro

[LaurenceT]

First light with this new mount, to compare tracking with my previous session with the Az GTi I kept most things the same in terms of gear and integration. I used the Askar FMA180, I changed the filter from the L3 to the Baader Neodymium Moon and Skyglo, 2 minute subs unguided for 2 hours.

Something seemed to go wrong as soon as I started to polar align with the Asiair, instead of rotating 60 degrees it just contunued to rotate until it came to the hard stop. It then tried to reconnect to the Synscan app so I turned everything off and moved the mount back to the home position.

On reconnecting everything went smoothly so I have no idea what the malfunction was all about. I found the adjustments for PA so much easier with this mount than with the WO wedge, I found PA very quickly and briefly basked in the glory of the Asiair speed ranking thingy.

There were heavy intermittent bands of cloud over the next 2 hours, I only removed the very worst of the frames along with obvious satellites and planes. I have given the session only a run through in Astro Pixel Processor without cropping so I could examine the corners. I can't seem to post tiff files here so it's been converted to jpeg and it now shows nasty black areas that are not present in the tiff file.

[TiffsAndAstro]

On 13/02/2024 at 12:16, LaurenceT said:

First light with this new mount, to compare tracking with my previous session with the Az GTi I kept most things the same in terms of gear and integration. I used the Askar FMA180, I changed the filter from the L3 to the Baader Neodymium Moon and Skyglo, 2 minute subs unguided for 2 hours.

Something seemed to go wrong as soon as I started to polar align with the Asiair, instead of rotating 60 degrees it just contunued to rotate until it came to the hard stop. It then tried to reconnect to the Synscan app so I turned everything off and moved the mount back to the home position.

On reconnecting everything went smoothly so I have no idea what the malfunction was all about. I found the adjustments for PA so much easier with this mount than with the WO wedge, I found PA very quickly and briefly basked in the glory of the Asiair speed ranking thingy.

There were heavy intermittent bands of cloud over the next 2 hours, I only removed the very worst of the frames along with obvious satellites and planes. I have given the session only a run through in Astro Pixel Processor without cropping so I could examine the corners. I can't seem to post tiff files here so it's been converted to jpeg and it now shows nasty black areas that are not present in the tiff file.

i think i had a similar issue,  it seemed to get a bit lost. i think i corrected it, but clouds came and i haven't seen the sky for like a week.

[TiffsAndAstro]

did this happen right after "un hibernating" your mount? mine's done it twice since i got it (two weeks ago).

I think, to fix it, after un hibernating i do a one star alignment on something fairly near home. then it seems fine.

i haven't updated my firmware since i got it two weeks ago and maybe that update might fix this possible problem?

[LaurenceT]

1 hour ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

did this happen right after "un hibernating" your mount? mine's done it twice since i got it (two weeks ago).

I think, to fix it, after un hibernating i do a one star alignment on something fairly near home. then it seems fine.

i haven't updated my firmware since i got it two weeks ago and maybe that update might fix this possible problem?

I realised last night I had clear skies at about 10 so I set up quickly with my other scope and I wanted to test the EAF I fitted yesterday. There was no problem with the polar alignment but when I wanted to slew to M42 it went the wrong way.

I turned off everything, moved it back to home and reconnected. I found PA very quickly but this time I made it slew to home before I went to M42 and it was perfect so I tried it all over again and again it was perfect so I've concluded that I need to "go home" after PA before finding a target. I don't hibernate the mount as I don't use the Synscan app, I use an Asiair. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

ty for this, need more experience before considering an asi air

[LaurenceT]

20 minutes ago, TiffsAndAstro said:

ty for this, need more experience before considering an asi air

You actually don't, using an Asiair is a different experience and for me as a novice it was an absolute game changer. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

23 hours ago, LaurenceT said:

You actually don't, using an Asiair is a different experience and for me as a novice it was an absolute game changer. 

i don't disagree, what i meant was, i want to spend at least a couple of nights of clear skies just getting some experience first.  just the idea of a two star polar alignment makes me want one, as i can't see to do this with a gti and synscan app. all the guiding and camera controls on top seem even better.

 

but i want a few hours on the basics before i do that  

[Elp]

Up to you. Once I got an air, I didn't look back. Just made everything so much simpler and I could spend the time acquiring data rather than messing around, even for visual use it takes the faff out of it knowing your target will be dead centre every time.