Polar Alignment on EQ6-R Pro & ASIAir over 2 nights

[CraigD1986]

two nights ago we had clear skies so I set up my mount and started the polar alignment process via ASIAir Plus. I find making fine adjustments on the EQ6-R Pro very difficult. For example, I was about 6' to the left of the screen to start with so I unscrewed the left hand Az/Alt knob and then tightened the right hand knob a tiny bit. Refreshed with hardly any change. The I turned the knob a tiny bit again (Maybe a quarter of a turn) and refreshed. ASIAir then showed that I was about 20' away from the NCP in the other directly. How can a tiny turn make hardly any difference and then a similar turn make such a large difference? I find that I then spend the next 10 mins hopping from one side of the target to the next.

Am I doing something wrong here?

In the end, I managed to get about a 1.5" error so settled with that. The next morning, I just put the lens caps on and left everything where it was as it was due to be clear the next night. That night, I turned everything on, went to the PA in ASIAir and was surprised to see that I was off by about 10'. Is this normal? I assumed it would be exactly where I left it the previous night.

Edited April 4, 2023 by CraigD1986

[The Admiral]

What version of the AAP software are you running? The 'upgrade' to v2 appeared to muck everything up (see https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/15898-asiair-v21-has-been-released), and PA difficulties have been one of the criticisms. The latest upgrade to v2.1 may have sorted it, may be not. I haven't checked myself. It also seems to be different if you downloaded from the Playstore or the Apple store, or direct from the ZWO site.

Ian

Edited April 4, 2023 by The Admiral

[M40]

What is your mount sitting on? In the past I had a problem with the azimuth pin coming loose as the thread had stripped, so if you are using an adapter plate of some sort it may be worth checking. I also found some silicon washers (b&q) that I stuck between mount and base which seemed to help with small adjustments.

I would expect the PA to be out on the following day so that's quite normal. All the best.

[CraigD1986]

1 hour ago, The Admiral said:

What version of the AAP software are you running? The 'upgrade' to v2 appeared to muck everything up (see https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/15898-asiair-v21-has-been-released), and PA difficulties have been one of the criticisms. The latest upgrade to v2.1 may have sorted it, may be not. I haven't checked myself. It also seems to be different if you downloaded from the Playstore or the Apple store, or direct from the ZWO site.

Ian

That’s interesting. I’ll look into this. I know the ASIAir updated a couple of weeks ago when I turned it on. The App on my iPhone/iPad just updates automatically via Apple App Store. I’m currently on 2.1.1.

 

1 hour ago, M40 said:

What is your mount sitting on? In the past I had a problem with the azimuth pin coming loose as the thread had stripped, so if you are using an adapter plate of some sort it may be worth checking. I also found some silicon washers (b&q) that I stuck between mount and base which seemed to help with small adjustments.

I would expect the PA to be out on the following day so that's quite normal. All the best.

I did buy the extension for the mount and had to move the pin for the Az/Alt bolts. It wasn’t set square when I tightened it so I;ll take another look at that. Thanks for pointing that out.

[StevieDvd]

You are probably doing the same thing I had been doing.  It's just a question of timing, especially if you have the auto refresh on.

I found it helps if you allow the Asiair to settle a little after each adjustment is shown. I found the same advice given on a youtube video when checking the semi-manual PA process for a Celestron AVX user.

See here 5 minutes into the video.