EQ6 Pro Alignment Problems

[digitaldave]

I just had my EQ6 Pro out for some testing, and found a pretty major problem - although I've entered time, date and observing site correctly (I'm fairly sure it's all correct), whenever I tell it o go find an alignment star, it goes off in completely the wrong part of the sky . For example, Vega should be very low down on the NW horizon about now, but the mount thought it was in the NE, well above the horizon. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Thanks,

Dave.

[beamish]

Have you adjusted for BST ?

[brianb]

For example, Vega should be very low down on the NW horizon about now, but the mount thought it was in the NE, well above the horizon. Does anyone have any idea what's going on?

Eh? Vega is low down on the NW horizon in early evening in winter. It's getting right round by morning at this time of year, not far from the meridian very high in the south by 4am. You're not getting Vega & Capella confused are you?

[digitaldave]

beamish,

I've tried it both ways, and it makes some difference as I'd expect, but it's still pointing to the wrong part of the sky (around NE, maybe 30-40 degrees elevation? That's just a rough guess of course) . Just to clarify, on the handset, when it asks for 'daylight saving' do I want yes or no at the moment?

brianb,

I am using the position of Vega at the moment, i.e. about 3pm in the UK. According to Stellarium, it should be around NNW, just above the horizon. The idea was that I wanted to check that it was going to roughly the right part of the sky - unfortunately it seems it's not .

[brianb]

I am using the position of Vega at the moment, i.e. about 3pm in the UK. According to Stellarium, it should be around NNW, just above the horizon. The idea was that I wanted to check that it was going to roughly the right part of the sky - unfortunately it seems it's not .

Ah.

What are you using as the "home position" (i.e. the position the mount is in when it's powered up). IIRC it should be at 90N declination (scope tube parallel to the RA axis) with the RA axis rotated so that the counterweight as near the ground as it can get (without knocking the tripod over or changing the altitude adjustment of the RA axis).

[digitaldave]

The home position is as you described, i.e. RA axis with the counterweights pointing straight down, and the DEC axis so the scope is parallel to the RA axis. In other words, it's set so that the scope is (approximately) pointing towards Polaris. Does it matter where the RA and DEC setting circles are placed?

[jakey]

Is there a north hemisphere and south hemisphere button?

[digitaldave]

Not as far as I know. I believe it should pick this up when you enter the lat/long.

[jakey]

Have you actually tried the mount at night?

I may have read your post wrong but you give the impression that you are doing a daylight set up.

If the above is correct then do a night time set up and then see if you have any issues.

[digitaldave]

You are correct, I am trying a daylight setup, just to make sure that it's going to roughly the right part of the sky (obviously I won't be able to do the alignment as I can't actually see the stars). I wouldn't have thought it would matter what time of day it is when it's set up, as long as the location, time and date were entered correctly, I'd still expect it to go to something close to the right part of the sky, not somewhere completely different. I'll give it a try tonight to see if it makes any difference.

[Kai]

The usual problem is that you have to enter the Date in the American format rather than the Uk format ie 05/03/2009 rather than 03/05/2009 , ive got it wrong so many times

[moondog]

Are you making sure you lock the clutches properly? Both need to be tight.

Are you levelling the scope - it won't work correctly without.

When moving to the first alignment star the mount can be many degrees off. It usually gets much closer with the 2nd and 3rd stars.

MD

[digitaldave]

Kai,

I've tried both formats, and it's still way off. However, I'll double check.

MD,

AFAIK, both clutches are as tight as I can get them. The level may not be perfect, but it's pretty close - I wouldn't have expected it to make that much difference?

[Brinders]

I have the EQ6 Pro and never experienced any alignment problems. However, many have and you will find many links to those and the answers on this forum.

A number of things to consider:-

Latitude (have you set it correctly);

polar alignment (is it pointing to the celelstrial polar north);

date format (Month, day, year);

have you correctly identified the first star the hand set thinks you should be pointing at;

and have you correctly identified and pointed the mount at the remaining two in 3 star alignment?

Is the mount level? (The longer the focal length and the narrower the field of view will mean that this becomes citical)

Brinders

[beamish]

Is the "north " leg facing north ?

[James]

One thing to remember is that once the mount is completely confused as to where it's pointed it won't get it right until a successful alignment is done - even if that means slewing a long way across the sky.

James

[digitaldave]

Dear all,

Thanks for the replies . I have found a solution to the problem, as someone on the EQ6 Yahoo group had the same problem. Apparently, it has something to do with the time zone settings, and the scope not registering it correctly. I had rather stupidly assumed that being in the UK, I could leave the time zone set to the default +00, but it seems that I need to change it manually (I changed to -00) in order for things to work. Once I did that, it all fell in to place quite nicely! Needless to say, I have written a note and put it on the back of the handset to do this when setting up and entering the initial data!

Dave.

[Starflyer]

It doesn't matter what time of day you test it, as long as it's pointed roughly north, lat & long, time & date are correct then it will go (roughly) where it should.

Double check you lat, long, date, time and timezone. BST should be on while the clocks are forward.

Power can cause heaps of odd problems with these mounts. If it's power related you may see the power LED flicker rapidly when slewing at full speed. It's hard to see this during daylight but if it's there you should see it when it's dark.

Keep at it, and let us know how you get on.

Ian

[digitaldave]

Ian,

Problem (apparently) solved, see above .

Dave.

[Starflyer]

Great stuff Dave, it took me so long to type my post on the iPhone that there was a couple of replies by the time I'd sent mine :-)

What's the skies like down there?

Ian

[digitaldave]

lol . Skies aren't too bad, but there's some clouds hanging about here and there. To be honest, I haven't done much observing recently, as I've had some problems with one of my eyes, but hopefully it's clearing up...

Dave.