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Help with my new HEQ5 Pro mount/synscan

star-gal

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star-gal

star-gal

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I had the mount for 3 weeks before I bought an OTA to go on it.

Really? I think I have to start thinking of them as separate objects. I am charging up my power pack at the moment, so later I will have a go at switching on the mount and inputing some stuff to see if I can make it move!

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Thats good advice and something I forgot to mention - try stuff out in the daytime in a room. Practice various things and when your under a dark sky it will all seem a lot easier.

The way to think of this lark is its a bit like any relatively complex bit of kit - like an iPhone or a computer - you start out a bit clueless but witha bit of parctivce you start to pick up simple stuff and from there you start to learn some of the tricks.

Actually its a bit like driving - when you start you wonder how the heck you can cope with all those pedals AND a gear lever AND a steering wheel and how on earth do you ever get to listen to the radio with all the stuff your trying to do. After a while its just second nature and you dont even think about changing gear or indicating you just do it on auto-pilot while listening to the radio.

Dont get discouraged and take your time when its cloudy to play with the kit and just mess about - you learn the most through play and experience. In no time you'll wonder why it ever seemed complicated honest :hello2:

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greenkat

greenkat

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Hi SG

Glad your making progress :hello2:

If you "JUST" want to play around at slewing the mount with the handset to get the feel of it you can just power up the mount then when the handset comes alive, just press enter at each input prompt until you are asked to begin allignment, then press 2 for no, and then just use the direction buttons to slew the mount.

To change the speed press the button marked "RATE" followed by one of the number buttons from 1 - 9 (1 being slowest and nine max " and listen to that lovely quiet whiring as it swings around :)

Wont be too long before your conecting it to a laptop and using stellarium or starrynight and another bit of software called EQmod and contoling it all from there :)

I also practice everything indoors before trying it out outside in the dark.

Good luck

Greenkat

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star-gal

star-gal

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Thanks greencat. I will try that too. On the first night I took the mount out with the scope, I was moving the mount manually.

When the mount is connected to power and is moving itself, how do you leave the black 'tightening' screws that keep the sections in place? I know they have a name, sorry! Have they all to be tightened up or loose to let the mount move??

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ncjunk

ncjunk

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Ahhh I had trouble with that!

I was trying to move my mount with the hand controller and those loose and had real trouble for two nights before I realised they should be done up.

I am having trouble thinking of any technical words but they effectively lock it down to the motors so the motors can move the scope. With them loose you can move it by hand but the motors don´t have a very good grip (hence all my problems).

Not sure how tight they are meant to be though...I just do them finger tight.

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glowjet

glowjet

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Star-Gal from what I have read it seems you are going to operate your scope from the bottom of your garden, if you are on grass or some other soft area, consider laying three flags in a triangle, all at the same level to suit your tripod legs, you could even make a small hole in each to locate the legs, with the correct North orientation. A garden table and the odd chair for bits and pieces will not go amiss, have fun and enjoy your Astronomy,

John.

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star-gal

star-gal

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Star-Gal from what I have read it seems you are going to operate your scope from the bottom of your garden, if you are on grass or some other soft area, consider laying three flags in a triangle, all at the same level to suit your tripod legs, you could even make a small hole in each to locate the legs, with the correct North orientation. A garden table and the odd chair for bits and pieces will not go amiss, have fun and enjoy your Astronomy,

John.

Another great piece of advice! I'll be on the patio, so I could just permanent marker dots or something once I get alligned up. Its lovely and clear here so far, so fingers crossed it will stay like that for tonight! Happy New Year to you all too!

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star-gal

star-gal

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Hi SG

Glad your making progress :hello2:

If you "JUST" want to play around at slewing the mount with the handset to get the feel of it you can just power up the mount then when the handset comes alive, just press enter at each input prompt until you are asked to begin allignment, then press 2 for no, and then just use the direction buttons to slew the mount.

To change the speed press the button marked "RATE" followed by one of the number buttons from 1 - 9 (1 being slowest and nine max " and listen to that lovely quiet whiring as it swings around :)

Wont be too long before your conecting it to a laptop and using stellarium or starrynight and another bit of software called EQmod and contoling it all from there :p

I also practice everything indoors before trying it out outside in the dark.

Good luck

Greenkat

I'm trying to do this at the mo, but after just pressing enter through everything, and 2 for no to allingnment, i'm pressing the directio keys and the scope is not moving? any ideas of what i'm doing wrong? i just want to move the scope around manually via the handset

UPDATE: I think maybe the direction keys are not working. I'm practicing star allign and when it gets roughly to the point and then says use direction keys to center object, i'm pressing the keys and the mount isnt moving. Its not the mount, because thats moving fine when its roughly finding the 'star'. (its daytime :) )

UPDATE: Muppet strikes again. Just increased the rate of movement and its fine now. Was moving so slowly on 2 that I couldnt see it move. Oops

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star-gal

star-gal

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Clutches tightened down ?. You can adjust the slew rate using the keypad buttons 1 - 9. Can you hear the mount making a quiet "chirrup" noise ? This will indicate that the mount is moving in RA.

Peter

Thanks Peter. Yes, I had the slew rate at 2, so I couldnt see it moving! Moved it up to 9 and off she went :)

Very please with myself that I have now lined up the finder with the OTA. Have run through the star align a couple of times, so know how to set up the synscan.

Now my feet have defrosted, (I will really have to invest in thermal socks!) I am off out to have a go at a practice polar allignment using a chursh spire :hello2:

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star-gal

star-gal

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Hi S-G

Im glad your asking all these questions, I got mine for Christmas, and got stumped with the manual too :hello2:

Jim.

The guys and gals on here have been amazing Jim. I am feeling slightly more comfortable with the mount now. The only thing thats holding me back is my lack of eye pieces! I only have one wide angled lense, and its not showing me much really. It has clouded over here now too. I didnt go out until Dr Who finished, and missed the clear sky.

Did you get the same mount Jim?

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greenkat

greenkat

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Hi again SG

Re lack of lenses

Did you mention you have some adapters?

One may be a Barlow lens looking like these

If so, pop the barlow lens into where the eyepiece goes in the telescope, then pop the 28mm eyepiece you have into the barlow lens

It should say on the side 2x or 3x

this will turn your 28mm eyepiece into a 14mm or 9.3mm with higher magnification

You may notice the image harder to focus and slightly dimmer the more you magnify tho

Dont forget to tighten the screws :hello2:

Greenkat

post-13805-133877417994_thumb.jpg

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star-gal

star-gal

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Hi again SG

Re lack of lenses

Did you mention you have some adapters?

One may be a Barlow lens looking like these

If so, pop the barlow lens into where the eyepiece goes in the telescope, then pop the 28mm eyepiece you have into the barlow lens

It should say on the side 2x or 3x

this will turn your 28mm eyepiece into a 14mm or 9.3mm with higher magnification

You may notice the image harder to focus and slightly dimmer the more you magnify tho

Dont forget to tighten the screws :hello2:

Greenkat

I dont think mine came with a Barlow. The one eyepiece I have says 28mm on the side, then i have a diagonal and 2 others that I dont know what they are for! Just plastic rings with no glass. I will take a photo of them tomorrow and post here to see if anyone can enlighten me

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moonbeam

moonbeam

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The guys and gals on here have been amazing Jim. I am feeling slightly more comfortable with the mount now. The only thing thats holding me back is my lack of eye pieces! I only have one wide angled lense, and its not showing me much really. It has clouded over here now too. I didnt go out until Dr Who finished, and missed the clear sky.

Did you get the same mount Jim?

No i got the EQ3 Goto mount same instructions though :hello2:

I did have a play in the garden the other day but it was to cold and started to snow so i thought [removed word] it and went inside, I did manage to see the moon through the finder scope though :)

Small victories

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brianb

brianb

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Can someone please explain to me the difference between the HEQ5 and the EQ5?

Chalk & cheese. The EQ5 is a small mount scaled up, the HEQ5 is a large mount scaled down. I think they ran out of model numbers.

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