Really dumb question I know, but can a wiggly / loose counter weight bar cause tracking issues?

[Trippelforge]

Due to the frustration I ran into last night, coupled with the fact I won't be able to get out for awhile. I wanted to ask this simple, albeit pretty dumb question. I have taken my new mount out 3 times now. Night 1 & 2 I was able to get the polar alignment dead on and had zero issues with tracking. Last night I spent an hour trying to get it to track longer than 15 seconds and couldn't. On Night 1 & 2 I was getting around 2 minutes with it locked on, and didn't even try any longer. Once I took my mount in last night I notice when replacing the counter weight that the bar was wiggling, as it seemingly at one point unscrewed itself a bit, so I am thinking it was loose the entire time I was aligning it.

The obvious answer is to go shoot again, but it might be awhile. So I wanted to ask if that could've been why I was having issues?

Thanks 😃

 

 

[fifeskies]

Simple answer is yes.

Anything that can move position will cause errors , always make sure everything is well tightened up , not to the point of damage , but should have no movement.

 

That said I dont expect a short time like 2 minutes would be likely to move the mount enough for the bar to suddenly slip position , not on every sub at least, more likely to only cause a shift every so often.

To see a drift after only 15 seconds suggests there may be some othe cause.

What method were you using to polar align?

I dont set up each day as I now have a mount on a pier , but in the past I have misidentified an alignment star and so had a lot of drift after alignment.

My error made the mount think it was well aligned when it fact it was nowhere near the celestial pole.

Edited November 16, 2023 by fifeskies

[Seelive]

From your description I take it you are not guiding so then I can only assume that your exposure time is dependant upon the accuracy of your polar alignment.  So how do you polar align?  If you're using a polarscope with the mount just set in the home position then a wobbly counterweight won't make any difference.  If the polar alignment requires slewing the mount then a wobbly counterweight could affect the position of the scope in certain orientations if you have backlash or stiction in one or more axes which could then affect the polar alignment calculations.

[Trippelforge]

4 hours ago, fifeskies said:

Simple answer is yes.

Anything that can move position will cause errors , always make sure everything is well tightened up , not to the point of damage , but should have no movement.

 

That said I dont expect a short time like 2 minutes would be likely to move the mount enough for the bar to suddenly slip position , not on every sub at least, more likely to only cause a shift every so often.

To see a drift after only 15 seconds suggests there may be some othe cause.

What method were you using to polar align?

I dont set up each day as I now have a mount on a pier , but in the past I have misidentified an alignment star and so had a lot of drift after alignment.

My error made the mount think it was well aligned when it fact it was nowhere near the celestial pole.

I was hoping that was all it was. I am using Celestrons "all-star" alignment procedure. I tried it with and without prior go-to alignment, it worked night one and two, but wouldn't night 3. I even was able to rough align via polaris in NINA's cross hairs night one and it "sort of" worked on it's own. But then I ended up running all-star anyhow. I asked my son if he entered in or double checked the coordinates and time. He hesitated then said yes... makes you wonder though. =P

I did find two guides, one by a user and another very detailed one in an article. I am going to make sure I go step by step and so I don't miss anything. If that doesn't work.... well maybe I was one of the ones who's AVX's didn't make it through QC. What kind of sucks is my son and I are driving 3hrs away Saturday to camp and image in a remote area. It's going to be freezing also... so this should be fun.

 

 

3 hours ago, Seelive said:

From your description I take it you are not guiding so then I can only assume that your exposure time is dependant upon the accuracy of your polar alignment.  So how do you polar align?  If you're using a polarscope with the mount just set in the home position then a wobbly counterweight won't make any difference.  If the polar alignment requires slewing the mount then a wobbly counterweight could affect the position of the scope in certain orientations if you have backlash or stiction in one or more axes which could then affect the polar alignment calculations.

I used all-star polar alignment (Celestron) a few times (slewing all over). I also did so before and after a go-to alignment just for fun. I even "aligned" it via NINA's crosshairs before just to get close. Worked great as I mentioned! But... now I don't know what's going on. Defective? Missed something? I am going to hope that it was just my failure to turn a rod.