My telescope Alignment Routines are Going Crazy

[Rocket_Guy]

This is not exactly related to Sharpcap, but hopefully someone can give me a hint as to what might be going on anyway. I currently have an Orion Sirius mount (essentially a Skywatcher HEQ5). My problem is that lately, I have been unable to star align the mount. Normally, I first Polar align the mount using Sharpcap which happily works great. Once that is done, I had been using the Skywatcher Synscan AutoAlign python script in Sharpcap to automatically align the mount. That worked great ... for a while. Then suddenly, the script had the mount pointing at places that made no sense (e.g. toward the ground, etc.) during its alignment sequence. After that method failed, I decided to keep things simple and just go with just a one star alignment. That method also worked great ... for a while. Now even that does not work. At present, when I pick a star for the alignment, the mount turns the telescope to a completely different part of the sky than where the star is located. This causes the alignment to fail so that alignment option also now doesn't work. Does anybody have any idea as to what might be going on. I hate to be missing all these clear temperate nights we have been having lately. Thanks.

Bill

[Jean-Francois]

Hello Bill,

1) SharpCap Polar Alignment ... it works without knowledge where the mount is located. You can rotate the mount manually with the clutch open.
2) The SkyWatcher Python script ... I tested one of the first version and I found some problems too (what you explain with the pointing down).
3) The standard One Star Alignment should work.

So what can be wrong ?
My first guess is that the mount location coordinates (latitude, longitude) is not correct. Check it in the ASCOM driver and SharpCap.
Do you install a new driver recently ? ... maybe the update does not used the old saved coordinates.

If you have the 1) SharpCap Polar Alignment successful, then you can use the Sync method in SharpCap with a Plate Solve step (from anywhere).

I do not know about the clone HEQ5 ... does the mount have an Auto Home function ?
If you use the SkyWatcher driver (SynScan Pro), you can try the alternative alignment methods.
Or you can use the ASCOM GSServer that has no intern alignment method, but does not to have while you can synchronise with SharpCap Plate Solve.

Regards,
Jean-Francois

[admin]

Hi,

yes, I agree that the lat/long co-ordinates may be wrong, and if they are correct, check that the time that the mount is using *and* the timezone are correct - if the time is 8 hours out due to an incorrect timezone or similar then RA positions would end up being 8 hours out of place too.

cheers,

Robin

[Rocket_Guy]

OK. So I had a clear night and some time and did some checking. All the time and location parameters were spot on so I think I have eliminated those possible errors. The last possibility, which I'm afraid may be the case, is mount damage. I remember the last time when things worked well at least initially, the telescope ended up hitting one of the tripod legs while tracking. I had left the setup on autopilot while I went inside for a bit. When I went out to check on things, the mount was merrily grinding away with the telescope jammed against the tripod leg. Could this be the problem? The mount still moves when commanded to do so.

[Rocket_Guy]

Note, I also tried the Sync method in SharpCap with a Plate Solve step after I did a successful Polar Alignment. Again, mount went crazy.

[admin]

Hi,

if the mount still moves in response to commands and can still turn a full circle (or at least the bulk of it - some don't do the full 360) in each axis then I'd be fairly confident that hitting the tripod hasn't caused any physical damage. It sounds more like the mount is confused about its initial position somehow.

I'd suggest updating your Synscan Pro app to the very latest version to see if that helps. Also try the manual one star alignment option, so that when you choose a bright star you can see if it moves to roughly the right part of the sky (good) or not. If you have tried using another ASCOM driver for the mount (like GreenSwampServer or EQMOD), I'd suggest turning the mount off and on again before connecting Synscan App, as I have seen problems with my EQ6 where it went to silly places after first connecting GSS then Synscan App.

Finally, you could go the whole way and just forget about Synscan and use Green Swamp Server to control the mount. I use that most of the time and don't bother with star alignment - when you set the mount up after polar alignment it is pointing at the pole and in the 'scope up, weights down' home position - that is good enough as alignment to get you within a degree or so of any target and plate solving does the rest.

cheers,

Robin

[Rocket_Guy]

Hi Robin,

Your suggestions were just what I needed. Star alignment works again now. Thanks a bunch!

Bill

[admin]

Hi Bill,

good to hear that you are back in business... Do you happen to know which of them was the fix for the problem? It would be good to have that recorded here in the forums just in case anyone else comes searching with the same problem

cheers,

Robin