Help Required - Setting up a Celestron Nexstar 6se

[Chrispy]

Can anyone help.

I’ve just bought a Celestron Nexstar 6se but I’m having problems setting it up.

I’ve tried the normal ‘SkyAlign’ loads of times but failed every time.

I’ve set up the alignment using the sun and I’ve aligned it with the moon. After alignment I altered the tracking rate to either the Sun or the Moon but none of them track the particular object.

If I leave it setup with the sun exactly centre of a 32mm eyepiece with the tracking rate set for Solar it take 7 minutes before the sun has moved so far away it can no longer be seen and it has to be re-aligned.

When I centre it I take into account the adverse slew rate with the down and left positioning arrows but it will not track the sun or the moon.

I can hear the gears faintly buzzing away and when I turn the tracking off the noise stops. I’ve aligned it to a distant terrestrial target and it does slowly move off so the gears are tracking something.

If I leave it a few minutes after I’ve aligned it with the sun, it slowly loses the sun from centre. If I then press [PLANET] on the handset, then ‘Sun’, then enter, it moves away then slowly back. But the sun is nowhere in the eyepiece. It appears to be a couple of degree out.

As far as possible I’ve loaded in my correct Long/Lat, date, time, time zone, DSH etc but it will not track the Moon or the Sun. After I’ve aligned it with the moon I’ve pressed[PLANET], Venus, ENTER but it failes to line up with Venus. It aims in roughly the right direction but it’s well off.

Has anyone got any ideas. I don’t live in the UK so I’m unable to take it back to the UK dealer at the moment.

[Shane]

Hello Chrispy

I don't own one of these myself but having read reviews and looked about (as I'm looking for a scope), Their can be an issue with the power connector, this caused erratic behaviour on the 4se, you could also try flashing the firmware on the device and also make sure you set the date & time (I think this bit is quite important for the goto device to know where the stars are in the sky (I think)), anyway the review is here, like I mentioned it's for the 4se but I'm sure they have the same electonics just a different OTA:

http://www.astro-baby.com/reviews/nexstar 4SE/nexstar4se.htm

I'd try the date first, hope that helps.

[bobafett]

I had some troubles with sky align but after changing the daylight saving option it now works fine.

Also try not to select stars that are in a stright line. Try instead to pick stars well spaced out from one another that form a triangle.

Also make sure your scope is level at your viewing spot using the supplied bubble level and relevant adjustment of the tripod legs.

Failing that try the 2 star alignment - basic star map or stellarium software will help you pick out a couple of stars to use.

Good luck !

[rwg]

Some things to check:

• good power supply (fresh batteries or power pack)
  
• correct latitude and longitude set (including w/e and n/s)
  
• correct time zone set and also whether in daylight saving time or not
  
• levelling of mount before you start the aligmnent process (particularly for solar system align)
  

I never use skyalign - it just takes too long and sometimes fails. If you're northern hemisphere, the easiest option is auto two star. Set the first star to be polaris since it's always in the same place and then choose a second star from the list. I don't think I've ever had a failure aligning this way...

good luck

Robin

[Sparrow]

Are you running it on AA batteries? - my 6SE was hopeless on AA batteries - ran fine with mains or power tank supply.

Also, is the scope level - the provided spirit level bubble is hopless - I got a two way spirit level from B&Q and fitted it to the scope with a home made bracket. Level dramatically effected its performance.

[Earl]

Daylight saving was what was causing me issues.

Make sure the scope is level.

When calibrating you have to make sure the star is "Dead Center" on Align.

[bobafett]

When calibrating you have to make sure the star is "Dead Center" on Align.

Yeah that's another thing I found as well, and.........

I didn't want to fork out for an expensive illuminated reticle eyepiece so I got a thread-in reticle glass from the astroboot on scopes'n'skies for £5 and it works a treat !

Threaded into a fairly high powered eyepiece, I then push the star out of focus to show a ring and put the cross hairs dead centre - bingo !

[brantuk]

If you're tracking the sun I hope you're using a solar filter of some kind or you'll fry the kit and blind your eye beyond repair in an instant. I never use the sun for alignment.