Alignment - Skywatcher 127 Synscan

[Dell]

Right,

im currently out in the garden trying to grab some viewing time between clouds passing over.

i've tried 3 times now to Align my scope (2 star alignment) and its never right!

i line it up with the first star (in this case, Vega) and centre it, then it slew's to the second star (capella) and its way out, so i slew to the correct alignment and centre the star - Alignment successful.

great, so i select jupiter (as a tester) on the handset and select view object, it slews round and again, its way out!

what am i doing wrong?

ive recently fixed the telescope after a capacitor blew on one of the PCB's and it was out of action for 6 months. but i remember having the same problem whenever i tried to align it before.

could it be the Synscan software out of date maybe? although the scopes not much over a year old and i updated the firmware not so long ago.

im new to all this so its hard for me to figure out.

any help would be awesome.

or anyone near chesterfield that wants to pop round and show us where were going wrong, ya more than welcome! lol

thanks in advance

Dell

[Rusty21]

I'm having similar problems with my 127 synscan. I set every thing up then when choosing the first star it tells me to slew to it using direction arrows, however no matter which one I press it won't move. Other than that without any setup it will slew using those keys. Any help would be appreciated. Sorry OP didn't mean to hijack your post but didn't want to start another when we are having similar problems.

[jambouk]

Is the mount very level?

Is it starting from a position of pointing north and parallel with the ground?

Are you entering the location, date and time correctly?

Is there sufficient power going to the mount?

James

[ronin]

The original post was 3 years ago, oddly exactly 3 years ago?

Probably should have started a new one, although the dates do not stand out.

Looks like Dell never got an answer.

First thing is are all the clutches tightened up.

Next set the slew rate to something like 8 or 9.

The default will probably be sidereal and that is slow, very slow. The scope might well be moving just you will not see anything.

I suspect the slew rate needs setting.

[jambouk]

Sorry, I was answering the original post and never looked at the date!

There are no clutches on the AZ Synch GOTO mount.

I agree, setting the slew rate could fix it.

Good luck.

James

[ronin]

James: Didn't quite see the date myself. What I noticed was that the original said "Nov 12" on Nov 12 and not "Today". Took a few minutes, and looking at other posts, before I actually registered the year. :grin:

A few people have fallen at the hurdle of slew rate, not sure if the handset remembers the last selected rate or if at power off it defaults back to 1x sidereal.

Assumed there were clutches on the mount as the Meades have, although long time since I saw a Skywatcher/Celestron and cannot picture them having any.

Rusty: When you press the keys to move the scope (and it doesn't move) does the sound of the motors alter ?

Can you hear the motors when it is sat there ?

Just wanting to know if they at least appear to be running.

[Rusty21]

ronin,

No the motor doesn't make any noise but if I'm not in set up mode I can use the keys to move it no problem. I started with one star alignment but it then asks me to pick a second star..

In fairness it's probably me doing something wrong, (I'm a bit slow at times). As soon as I get another clear sky I will try again. Also I didn't realise that the scope had to be pointing North and be parallel to the ground. This is my first GoTo so will just have to get used to it I suppose, no such problems with my 8" Dob.

Thanks for your help and I also didn't realise the date on the post.

[jambouk]

Make sure there is no physical barrier to the scope being moved, as in make sure the tube of the scope isn't stuck against the plastic of the mount and it can't physically move. Starting with it pointing north and para;llel to the ground should help limit this happening. also make sure the scope is mounted in the clamp roughly at the point of balance, where there is roughly equal weight either end of the scope.

James