Counterweighting a Skywatcher Heritage 150P?

[scopesherpa]

My wife has the above scope not as a beginners scope but for travel.  The goto and synscan works well, and the scope (to the extent the full moon and cloudy skies have permitted) seems to be excellent for the price.  The catch is that it works fine with typical single lens setups (the balance can be tweaked) but not for something like a Q-turret and possibly not for a 5x barlow with 2.5 mm plosl.  If there is a heavier lens/turret and the scope is shifted in the dovetail to balance it, it will no longer flip over - the scope is too far back.

The question is one of counterweighting.  I have 6 neodymium magnets that weigh about 100g in total, the OTA tube is metal.  Would there be an issue with placing the magnets at the bottom of the OTA, on the side OPPOSITE the goto mount, and down at the bottom near the mirror?  Will the magnets exert a force to mess up the internal compass of the goto (once it is aligned) - remember, this is the side of the OTA opposite the mount, so 150+ mm away?  Any issue with the mirror? It would not seem that this would be a problem but thought it was worth asking!  Then, I can attach other pieces of metal to the magnets if I need to offset any more weight. This would offset the additional weight of a q-turret with lenses or of the barlow/lens if need be.  I know a q-turret  full of a range of basic plosl eyepieces needs counterweighting.

Thanks so much for your advice/help.

[vlaiv]

Hi and welcome to SGL.

No issues with magnets attached to OTA - at least not from their magnetic nature. Goto does not have internal compass and works by means of encoders or stepper motors counting steps from initial position. Magnets won't affect light or mirror in any way.