Not at all happy !!!!

[Marcus daniel]

So, my scope has tonight decided to have a mind of its own, whilst doing the star alignment, my chosen star has disapeared from my list of stars... sirus. It no longer in the list of stars to align to. Then tried beteleguese as a one star alignment and it said successful, i asked it then to tour m42, it then decided to go lokking around the sky as if it were on drugs, what the.........is going on??? Have been doing this now for two hours, nothing happening apart from the scope will probably end up in the hedge !!!

[planetdnb]

I have had nights like those! I usually find I'm being an idiot! mount level and properly polar aligned?

[Marcus daniel]

The Mount is level, but for some unknown reason in my list of stars to align,Sirus has gone.

[Peter Drew]

What power source are you using Marcus ?. If batteries, low charge can send the mount crazy! .

[RascalUK]

Mine went bonkers with batteries last week..still not sourced a power tank yet, but I changed the batteries and it was okay after that....

[Demonperformer]

Marcus,

1. The scope only selects stars that are far enough above the horizon. I have not actually done any specific tests, but I get the impression that is about 10 degrees. What time were you observing? Is your longitude/latitude set correctly (east/west; north/south errors are not uncommon:))

2. I usually start with a 1-star align, then use the GOTO Named stars and pick a star a good slew away (In that part of the sky, try Procyon and either Betelgeuse, Rigel or Aldebaran). Then when you have that second star centred, use the ALIGN button to input it as a second reference point.

HTH

[Marcus daniel]

Got it sorted in the end thanks chaps, i appear to have an intermittent problem with the power connector under the on and off button, if I wiggled it the scope would go off on its own. I don't think the pin is making enough of a contact with the external power adapter. Am going to invest in a power pack today from my local Halfords. thanks DP, i normally use procon as the first star, then either sirus, betelgeuse or rigel. I did find last night that it didn't track saturn very well, I had to keep fine adjusting the scope to keep the image in the ep, is this normal?

[Demonperformer]

That is a common problem with the 6SE. You can either open the pin inside the connector on the scope, or do what I do. Tape the power cable to the mount so that any jiggling caused by slewing is not transmitted to the connector.

HTH