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GOTO problems with Skywatcher Skyliner 350P GOTO

Simon128D

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Simon128D

Simon128D

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I purchased one of these amazing scopes from First Light Optics last week and I am blown away with the views the optics are giving me but the GOTO doesn't seem to be working...

I've followed the instructions to the letter and on the second alignment star the motors stop anywhere between 2 and 6 degrees off target. Even if I adjust the drift manually and get "Alignment Successful" message any object I select to GOTO is still off by 2-6 degrees. I have checked everything over and that I am level on the ground. I have also tried PAE but even that doesn't seem to work very well (whereas it works brilliantly in my EQ6 Pro)

I decided on updating the firmware but the handset version is v03.08 and the latest version on the Skywatcher website is v03.07. I find it very strange that they would ship scopes with a higher version number than what is available to download. (I did read the release notes in v03.07 and it states that the scope no longer needs to be level on the ground for successful alignment, so I assume this new feature would be on my handset version?)

I have also tried setting up for "Auto Tracking" mode and it doesn't seem to be working correctly either. I set everything up, to the letter in the manual, and hand slew the scope to Jupiter, centre it in the eyepiece and observe but I notice the planet drifting slowly.

I've read reports from other people that use this scope range and say that objects stay in the eyepiece for over an hour, I timed my scope to keep Jupiter in the eyepiece for just around 5 minutes at a power of 206x.

Could I be overlooking something very simple or am I doing something completely stupid?

I get the feeling that I've bought a scope with a fault motor system but I also cannot shake of the feeling that I could be overlooking something.

I am well aquainted with the SynScan system as I have a EQ6 Pro SynScan for over a year now.

I really hope it's something stupid I am doing because I really dread the thought of having to pay massive shipping costs to return the motors to FLO :)

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Simon128D

Simon128D

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I am, at this very moment, out testing the scope again and have been doing many things over the last three hours.

I have discovered something disturbing and annoying.

When I choose to park the scope, instead of it pointing north - in Polaris direction - it slew on until it is pointing at Capella/Mirfak direction.

There does not seem to be any way to rest the parking mode position. Even if I select a custom parking mode the scope slews back to this NE direction.

I am starting to come to the conclusion that either the encoders in the motors are faulty or that the firmware or handset CPU is not making the correct calculations based on my Lat, Long, Time and Date.

I have tried, countless times, to re-align the encoders but that does strange things. Lets say I choose Deneb to re-align with, it asks me to slew so I use the hand controller to do so, I centre in the eyepiece and press "Enter" and I get the "Alignment Complete" message. If I do another re-alignment on Deneb again, instead of the scope staying where it is and beeping it starts to slew and the star moves to the edge or the field of view or out completely. If I keep doing this several times eventually the star will stay dead centre and the scope will not move. Sadly this does nothing to improve GOTO or Tracking accuracy. Even if I choose a close object to Deneb, say M29 it's is 4 degrees off target.

Does anyone here know how to or if it is possible to change the parking mode data?

Oh, and I have reset to factory default many times and it changes nothing.

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Simon128D

Simon128D

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I've have finally came to the same conclusions Nick. I am just going to get in contact with Steve at FLO and tell him all that I've posted up here.

I am convinced that it's faulty encoders or that the handset is not calculating my correct position.

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FLO

FLO

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I wonder if this is a firmware issue, these came shipped with 3.08 but everyone else seems to be getting good results with 3.07, which are you using?

I am wondering the same, it might be that Synta dispatched them with a more recent firmware that is not actually necessary for the new 350mm Dobs and might even be detrimental. If that is the case then it will be a nice easy fix. Hopefully we will know within the next 24-hours.

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Simon128D

Simon128D

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Nope, no problem at all. If I had one here that is what I would be doing :)

Great, then this is what I will do and see how it behaves on the next clear night. I just hope I will get the chance to test before I leave the country on Saturday.

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Rossco72

Rossco72

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The base is a different construction as it's made to be assembled and disassembled over and over using bolts and captive nuts rather than screws. As for the primary mirror, just the first time i've had to install one and there are NO instructions at all regarding even haviing to do it!

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