Post by Dragon Man on Nov 18, 2013 14:15:38 GMT
Hi all,
I use an old 2004 Skywatcher EQ6 Black model. It is the first of the GoTo's and still has the original 2.05a hand Controller.
I purchased this mount second-hand 8 years ago.
The mount is manufactured by Synta of Taiwan in China and sold under the names of Skywatcher EQ6, NEQ6 & EQ6 Pro, and Orion Atlas.
I leave mine outside in all sorts of weather under a simple plastic cover and it has run faultlessly for me for all 8 years I've owned it until a few weeks ago when it failed to find the objects I sent it to.
But after much reading and searching I discovered that the fault wasn't in the mount. It was in me
When doing the initial 3 star alignment you are supposed to pick 3 stars from the list in the Hand Controller. Then GoTo any object in the database.
I couldn't get mine to GoTo anything for the last few weeks.
For GoTo pointing accuracy, when using the 3 star option, the first 2 stars must be on the same side of the Meridian between 10 - 30 degrees in declination apart and greater than 3 hours in R.A. and the third star must be on the opposite side of the meridian, with none of them being too close to Zenith or the Celestial Pole.
Now, as the months roll by, the sky changes, and the first of the stars I was using lately (Achernar) had moved past the meridian slightly into the West when I did my alignment (and it was also near Zenith).
My second star (Canopus) is still low in the Eastern meridian.
A few months ago when my alignment was dead accurate both stars were still in the Eastern meridian.
So that was my problem. The 2 stars that had to be in the Eastern meridian had moved so that one was in the West.
As soon as I chose 3 new stars to align on, (the first two in the East and the 3rd star in the West) all was fixed
I can highly recommend the Skywatcher EQ6/Orion Atlas Mounts.
They can be easily worked on at home by almost anyone. And you can even do a total strip down, tune-up, and reassemble with very basic tools!
There's even a website with full clear instruction of how to do it all: www.astro-baby.com/EQ6%20rebuild%20guide/EQ6%20Strip%20Down%20Home.htm
By spending the extra 10 minutes or so getting the mount exactly level helps with accurate GoTo's. Also, spend the time to Polar Align properly. The extra effort is worth it.
If you can leave your mount set-up outside, or in an observatory your GoTo's will remain accurate.
If you unfortunately have to pack your mount away after each use the levelling and Polar aligning can become tedious. But it is worth doing well.
My GoTo's are always in the Field of View (except for the few weeks I mucked up my alignment stars).
For their price, these simple mass produced and fairly cheap mounts are well worth it!
They can also be driven by computer using EQmod with several Star map software programs like 'Cartes du Ciel', Starry Night, Skymap Pro, Stellarium, etc.
The EQ6/Atlas also has a Guide Port so you can Autoguide.
I find my EQ6 an excellent and valuable tool for Video Astronomy because of it's ease of use and the accuracy of it's GoTo's. That means I can go to new objects quickly while Broadcasting on the Internet, not having my viewers wait while I try find objects.
Here's mine in action:
I use an old 2004 Skywatcher EQ6 Black model. It is the first of the GoTo's and still has the original 2.05a hand Controller.
I purchased this mount second-hand 8 years ago.
The mount is manufactured by Synta of Taiwan in China and sold under the names of Skywatcher EQ6, NEQ6 & EQ6 Pro, and Orion Atlas.
I leave mine outside in all sorts of weather under a simple plastic cover and it has run faultlessly for me for all 8 years I've owned it until a few weeks ago when it failed to find the objects I sent it to.
But after much reading and searching I discovered that the fault wasn't in the mount. It was in me
When doing the initial 3 star alignment you are supposed to pick 3 stars from the list in the Hand Controller. Then GoTo any object in the database.
I couldn't get mine to GoTo anything for the last few weeks.
For GoTo pointing accuracy, when using the 3 star option, the first 2 stars must be on the same side of the Meridian between 10 - 30 degrees in declination apart and greater than 3 hours in R.A. and the third star must be on the opposite side of the meridian, with none of them being too close to Zenith or the Celestial Pole.
Now, as the months roll by, the sky changes, and the first of the stars I was using lately (Achernar) had moved past the meridian slightly into the West when I did my alignment (and it was also near Zenith).
My second star (Canopus) is still low in the Eastern meridian.
A few months ago when my alignment was dead accurate both stars were still in the Eastern meridian.
So that was my problem. The 2 stars that had to be in the Eastern meridian had moved so that one was in the West.
As soon as I chose 3 new stars to align on, (the first two in the East and the 3rd star in the West) all was fixed
I can highly recommend the Skywatcher EQ6/Orion Atlas Mounts.
They can be easily worked on at home by almost anyone. And you can even do a total strip down, tune-up, and reassemble with very basic tools!
There's even a website with full clear instruction of how to do it all: www.astro-baby.com/EQ6%20rebuild%20guide/EQ6%20Strip%20Down%20Home.htm
By spending the extra 10 minutes or so getting the mount exactly level helps with accurate GoTo's. Also, spend the time to Polar Align properly. The extra effort is worth it.
If you can leave your mount set-up outside, or in an observatory your GoTo's will remain accurate.
If you unfortunately have to pack your mount away after each use the levelling and Polar aligning can become tedious. But it is worth doing well.
My GoTo's are always in the Field of View (except for the few weeks I mucked up my alignment stars).
For their price, these simple mass produced and fairly cheap mounts are well worth it!
They can also be driven by computer using EQmod with several Star map software programs like 'Cartes du Ciel', Starry Night, Skymap Pro, Stellarium, etc.
The EQ6/Atlas also has a Guide Port so you can Autoguide.
I find my EQ6 an excellent and valuable tool for Video Astronomy because of it's ease of use and the accuracy of it's GoTo's. That means I can go to new objects quickly while Broadcasting on the Internet, not having my viewers wait while I try find objects.
Here's mine in action: