EQ8 auto home issue and correct procedure for Mount firmware update.

[David Ettie]

My Societys EQ8 has become somewhat unreliable of late failing to correctly identify which planet is "above the horizon" this has been corrected, in part, by updating the handset (version 3) but now the Auto Home is not acting normally and only correctly functions if slewing is stopped part way through the process after which it succeeds in finding home position, after a single star alignment the GoTo function is then reasonably accurate, thoughts?

My next move will be to update the mount motor firmware but cannot find any clear instructions as to how this should be approached, can anyone help?, I should have mentioned that some time back we disabled the auxilary encoder which greatly improved GoTo accuracy.

Any help appreciated.

Dave Ettie

[malc-c]

Firmware and windows based application to perform the update can be found on Skywatchers website here.  The typical method of updating is as follows:

The mount needs to be connected to a windows PC, either by an USB cable, and EQDIR cable (that replaces the handset) or a serial cable to the handset which needs to be in PC-DIRECT mode.  Whichever method is used the computer will see the connection as  a serial port (If this mount is set up in an observatory chances are you will already have the connection and be using a PC for mount control ?).

With the mount powered up launch the loader software and have it find the com port or manually select it.  The software will communicate with the mount and return the current firmware version.  You then navigate to the firmware you juts downloaded and click the update button.  I don't have your mount, so can't comment if the version of firmware on the website resolves any issues you have