Synscan AZ goto alignment: AZ mount scale and handset don't agree

[moflaher]

Hi All:

I am using a skywatcher AZ goto 102 MC (frimware 3.07), bought a week ago. I can't align it properly. Although both the brightest star and 2 star align procedure is completed (I have tried several pairs several stars: alpheratz, polaris, capella, vega), the goto accuracy is really bad. Sometimes off by about 15-20 degrees.

I have tried some of the remedies discussed (power, stiffening of the tripod, park, factory reset, etc) but no joy.

What i discovered is that it seems that the scale printed in the mount and the handset give different positions:

1. The OTA= 35 degrees altitude (checked with an ipod level app)

2. The AZ mount scale= 35 degrees

3. The handset "show position function"= 59 degrees

It looks like the handset is denying reality and creating one of its own.

I will contact the vendor for advice, but any suggestions will be more than wellcome.

Thanks!

Martin

[Mikea]

Hi Martin, when you "Park Scope", does the altitude read 0? Is the tube horizontal at this point?

Mike

[Breakintheclouds]

With the latest 3.07 firmware there should be no need to park the scope, or to start it from any particular position. I have the same mount and am finding it works really quite well even if I don't bother with parking.

Just to deal with the simple things, Martin - are you getting the mount completely level (using the inbuilt spirit level)? And, although you shouldn't need to start with the OTA level, are you doing so? Because that might provide some clues to what's going wrong. If you start with its altitude guage at 0 degrees, what happens during the set-up? For example, let's say you choose Vega as the first alignment star, and it asks you to slew to 60 degrees - is 60 degrees more-or-less what the guage is reading when you get to Vega? And the same for the second alignment star? If both of these look okay, but the problem is still there, then it must be appearing after alignment, but it would be good to know everything looks fine during alignment before probing further into this.