HEQ Skyscan Pro Saga

[Albireo380]

I finally took the plunge and ordered an HEQ5 Skyscan Pro ten days ago (on the Thursday). After having read good reports on SGL about Ian King Imaging, I 'phoned Ian on the Thursday PM and hit the credit card. On the Monday ANC tried to deliver to my home and (as I was at work) left a note to call them. I did this on the Tuesday morning and was told there was one large box for me, but it was "squashed" and "leaking". I wondered what the package was, as mounts and tripods don't usually leak!

I 'phoned Ian who called the carrier himself. It transpired it was the battery pack, which seems to have lived up to the words "DROP shipped". The next day the tripod arrived, but ANC said there was no third package (the mount). Ian immediately sent a replacement battery pack and mount, which arrived on Friday. I spent a happy few hours assembling the mount etc, orienting and aligning the polar scope reticule and discovering I had the wrong William Optics dovetail plate for my wee 80mm WO Megrez 'fract. "Oh dear" I think I said (or something like that).

So I 'phoned Ian again (who must have been sick of the sound of my voice by now) and this morning the correct dovetail plate + rings arrived. Tonight I balanced the 'scope and looked hopefully out the window for some clear sky. No chance

I have now charged the battery pack for 48 hours, not the 14 the instructions say is required for a full charge. Ian suggested to me that it might take up to 3 days the first time.

So, all I need now is clear weather, and out we go to polar align and start actually using it all. The weather has been bad the last few days and isn't due to clear until the weekend.

I will let you all know how I get on when the new toy finally gets under the stars. Wish me luck, I haven't polar aligned before and am slightly nervous about it.

Tom

[GordonCopestake]

Sounds like a trial but im glad everything is sorted now in the end! I look forward to your first light report! A great mount and a great scope!

[Tinkerbell]

Hello Tom

I am sure You are going to love your new mount and don't get too stressed about the polar alignment first time out, after a while it becomes second nature.

The one piece of advice I was given when I got mine was to ditch the supplied power cable and buy a heavier gauge one as come the winter when it gets good and cold and you have been out a couple of hours you might get motor stalls when trying to do go-to's. Ian King does the cables now and they are honestly worth it.

[Albireo380]

Hi Kev,

Thanks for the heavy gauge cable advice - I will speak to ian about it.

I guess polar alignment can't be toooo difficult, but will still feel happier once I have done it a few times and it has become second nature.

Tom

[Tinkerbell]

Lo Tom

The first few times You do the polar alignment you will do everything by the book and unless you are unlucky, everything will go like clockwork. :cheers:

Roll on a few months to the depth of winter and nothing is going right, :crybaby: the polar alignment is spot on but the Go-To's are carp and someone suggests sending the scope to its home position and doing the alignment again.

At this point take a deep breath and try it, You will be pleasantly surprised. I will admit it doesn't work everytime but it will sometimes.

[GazOC]

MP, apparently what stars you align on can make a big difference. I'll try and find a link but I read a piece where you need to pick stars either side of the meridian and with a big difference in RA (or dec, I can't remember THB) to get better accuracy.

Gimme a mo....

[Tinkerbell]

Lo Gaz

Tried this as well with mixed results. So far one star alignment with Iterative bodge have worked best. :shock:

[GazOC]

Lo Gaz

Tried this as well with mixed results. So far one star alignment with Iterative bodge have worked best. :shock:

A lot of people seem to find thats best. If you pick the "wrong" stars in a 3 star alignment then it's worse than a 1 star!!! How do you find the two star? I've only had my Skyscan out twice (summer nights! ) but the 2 star seemed to work the best??

[moondog]

Tom

The battery for my HEQ5 took 2 days to charge - this is apparently normal.

Kev / Gaz

I haven't had the HEQ5 too long and have only just had a clear enough sky to try 3 star align.

I found this to be far worse than the 1 or 2 star alignment I'd been able to use before.

For the 3 star alignment I used Alcaid, Arcturus and Altair which are a good spread apart.

I've found the 2 star best and the 1 star surprisingly good. I'll keep trying the 3 star alignment - it was probably user error on my part - it usually is!

MD

[Tinkerbell]

Well up to now the two star alignment has been pretty hit and miss, sometimes quite impressive other times dismal. We have tried just using the stars as they are presented by the handset and while they were both in the field of view during alignment the subsequent Go-To's where nowhere near. So we sent the mount back to the home position and cycled the power and realigned using the stars we thought should give a better map of the sky and they weren't in the field of view at alignment but the Go-To's were spot on after. On a normal observing night there will be at least 3 EQ6's, 1 HEQ5 and an assortment of LX90's and LX200's in use and we try different combinations of alignment stars and not all the mounts like the same ones but every now and again we will hit on a magic night and everyone gets lucky. As for the three star alignment, all the EQ mounts are using the same version of software and all are properly balanced and placed in the home position and all get differing levels of alignment using the same stars as prompted by the hand set, so it is back to the home position cycle the power and input our preferred stars and the alignment does seem to be a bit better than before,but some better than others. One thing that has been noted that when you are inputting the time the more accurate you are here the better, if everyone goes off their own watch the differences can be remarkable, but when the time is set off a GPS device the Go-To's are much improved.

Over the summer a few of us tend to get to the observing site very early and set up in the daylight and midges :insects1: then as the sun sets and the brighter stars like Vega, Arcturus, Altair, Capella, Regulus and Deneb appear we start doing test alignments and keep trying until it is dark enough to see Polaris then get polar aligned. We realised this was the best way to learn the new set-ups that most of us had got too late to learn last season and up to now it is paying dividends. I hadn't realised that you had to align the polar scope to the axis of the mount until I watched and participated in the alignment process on someone else's mount, it is a pain in the nether regions but it is well worth doing as it aids your polar alignment no ends and only takes twenty to thirty minutes to do, which is why it was done during the light summer nights while we were waiting for the sun to go down and the midges to b****r off :insects1: .

[Albireo380]

Thanks for the advice and support everyone. As I look through the HEQ5 Syncscan manual it strongly suggests a three star alignment will give the most accurate alignment. It even tells you to do the 3 star alignment the first time you set up. But you guys are saying that 3 star alignment can be c**p, much better to use 2 star alignment.

So I am getting confused. :scratch:

Here's what I will do when the weather improves - I will polar align (with knocking knees and no belief it will work). Then I will try the 2 star alignment. If all goes well and the alignment is successful, then WHOOPEE. Away we go ! The next time I get out, I will try the 3 star alignment - and see what happens.

Just so you know - the battery pack is still charging merrily, and appears to be not fully charged - after 3 days and 3 hours of charging. If it isn't fully charged by tomorrow - then "S*D IT". I am going to power up the 'scope.

Tom

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Just a FYI here guys, the three star alignment is recommended as it lets the Synscan allow for cone error. This is when the scope axis is not in line with the "polar" axis of the mount. Also there is no "home" position as defined by the mount unless you have done PEC training. After PEC training you have to home the mount so that the PEC compensation is in phase and can work, otherwise it just gets out of step and things will go awry.

When you power up the mount it has no way of knowing which way the 'scope is (or is supposed to be) pointing. It usually assumes that the 'scope is pointed at Polaris with the weights at their lowest position, but not always (I don't know when or why it does this). There is no feedback from the 'scope position to the software or even from the stepper motors to the software. If you skid your steppers by hitting a tripod leg, you're alignment will go out.

That said, I get away with a 1 star alignment after a careful polar alignment and it works really well. Best to pick a star close to the target as that tightens it up even more.

Get the time right and your location - really helps a lot.

Captain Chaos

[Tinkerbell]

I agree with CC, but Pec is only used on a permanently mounted set-up and is normally only stored if you park the scope or it is lost everytime You switch the mount off. I don't know wether it is by watching other people or whatever but everyone I know who uses this mount puts the scope in the polar home position before alignment.

[glow=red,2,300]Disclaimer[/glow]! this post is from someone who gets fed up with Mickey mouse alignments and takes his binocs and goes and sits on the picnic tables and looks at the bunnies and birds around the reservoir.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

It is necessary to rotate the RA and dec. axes such that a) the polar scope has a hole to look through (Dec. axis) and the alignment star illustration orientation is correct (RA axis). This results in such an "unparked" look to the 'scope that I return the axes to a "home" position before starting the alignment proper.

So, in summary, what I do is, with the HEQ5:-

Mount weights and 'scope.

Power up mount.

Move 'scope manually to polar align by turning the Dec. axis so that the hole in the shaft opens up for the polar 'scope and turning the RA axis so that the alignment symbols match the Plough.

Polar align by putting Polaris in the little circle.

Move the 'scope back to pointing at Polaris with the RA axis such that the 'scope is on top.

Commence alignment.

Done.

I think that it might be worth noting that for the PEC you can move the axes manually as much as you want without messing up the parked position as this has no effect on the drives at all. You just need to tell it to park each time you power down otherwise you will mess up the PEC training. Also worth noting is that I haven't PEC trained my HEQ5 so I don't bother with parking it every time.

With the Skelescope (12" Newt.) I modify the above by polar aligning before hanging the weights and 'scope on the mount as the 'scope is likely to hit the ground whilst lining up the symbols in the polar 'scope.

HTH

Captain Chaos

[Albireo380]

Hey CC, You have just summarised the HEQ5 polar alignment procedure in a short paragraph.

The book manages to stretch it to 2-3 (more complicated) pages. Your explanation is clear and concise - and understood even by me :insects1: Thanks for your help.

Roll on the dark skies across Scotland - I'm ready to go.

Tom