EQ1 RA motor speed

[matteboy]

Hi Peeps

I've put a RA motor drive on my little refactor on an EQ1 mount, I need to adjust the speed as when i look through the EP what I'm looking at moves further to the right, do i need to speed up or slow down my motor as i can't fugure it out for myself which way as the image is back to front??? Also, can you get the thumb screws where it secures to the RA shaft as I've tightened mine too much and broken the head off so now the motor's stuck on the shaft!!!

Ta in advance, Matt:icon_scratch:

[Bizibilder]

Is your mount correctly Polar aligned? If not the tracking will appear "wrong". As far as I know there is no adjustment to the speed of this set-up.

[matteboy]

Yes I'm fairly sure, had watched a tutorial thingy on you tube and think I'd done it right! Had Polaris dead in the centre of the view with the weight pointing directly at the gound and the 'scope dead in line with the polar axis. this is the MOTOR and I thought the turny knob below the red light adjusted the speed (no instructions as second hand)???

[LukeSkywatcher]

All i can think of also is the polar alignment.

[Bizibilder]

It specifically says "single speed". I'm not sure what the "turny knob" does - maybe dims the red light?

[Cornelius Varley]

It specifically says "single speed". I'm not sure what the "turny knob" does - maybe dims the red light?

The "turny knob" fine tunes the RA motor speed.

Peter

[cootuk]

It's the knob under the power led.

Looks the same as the Celestron unit, and they have a manual

Motor Drive for EQ AstroMasters and PowerSeekers (item #93514) / Drives & motors / Accessories / Products / Celestron.com

[matteboy]

Just tried that and it doesn't dim the light but it did speed up the motor which I didn't notice last night when I was trying to figure out if that was what it was in the car park! OK so if the object is moving faster to the right of view I think I need to speed the motor up as the image is reversed (that's the bit that's doing my head in!)

Also thinking back to polar alignment the object (Jupiter) stayed in the middle between top and bottom of the view, it just moved right as if the scope RA drive was not keeping up or going too fast?

Maybe tonight I should just try it all the way one way and all the way the other and answer it that way cos my brain can't figure it out!:)

[matteboy]

:hello2:That's answered it! Thanks everyone!

[wayne weedon]

I bought one of those once, the Celestron branded one. It broke within a few minutes of use! Had to open up the gearbox and solder two brass gears together as they were slipping where they had been pressed together.

The pot does control motor speed over a very small range of variation.

Wayne.....

[matteboy]

Mine doesn't exactly look top quality and it is made in China! The thumb screw broke the first time I tightened it

[brantuk]

Bear in mind that when you polar align it's actually the mount that is being aligned. Once pointing magnetic north and alt set for your latitude then the scope should be set and the motor should track for a good while without any drift.

The only way to get it more accurate is to use a polarscope. Once tracking correctly you can set the pot to the best speed matching sidereal

[matteboy]

Think I've got it, we'll see tonight.. ..if the cloud gods are nice!

[Steve C]

I had on of those motor drives. You're correct about the turny knob being too small, use a clothes peg on the end. It'll be easier to make fine adjustments to the speed.

[milkyjoe]

I've got one of these on my eq1 mount too. I managed to track to moon for a bit last night and (using the fine tuning knob) managed to get it to stay on the screen.

Apparently, to get your scope aligned properly for tracking, I took this from another thread from user 'themos', and he said...

"if the star you want to point to is in the eastern half of the sky, you would position your scope tube to the west of the tripod so that the weights are to the east. You would then rotate in DEC clockwise (as viewed from the top), away from 90, and use the markings on that side.

If the star is in the western half, your scope tube is east of the tripod and you'd rotate in DEC counter-clockwise, away from 90, using the markings on the other side."

I did this last night, and it worked, but I've found that when my scope is aligned, my mount is a little bit wobbly and the motor drive doesn't seem to track?!! ;-(

I did, however, manage to take a shot of the moon (see attached pic).

Hope that helps.

Rick.