Technology is the worst!

[Lady Fraktor]

I would have to agree, thinking about it my SLT mounts have never failed to work properly.
For simple goto mounts they are reliable.

[Bigzmey]

Sometimes, the old ways are best.



OK maybe not that old....

Nice bunch of astronomers right there. Are those APOs?

[OzEclipse]

Gabby,

If it was me I would have probably pitched the pad as far as I could off a cliff
The mount would have followed rather quickly.

This reminds me of a long time friend of mine, are you of Greek heritage like him???
He did it with golf clubs. His mounting was too heavy for two people to lift let alone pitch.


Andrey,
You are not alone.

Here is a small sample of my list of evening spoiling events.

Drive 1hr 72km to dark site aaaannndd.......

• Lock to front gate is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get combination barrels to turn.
  Roof boot lock is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get key in the lock. EQ mount tripod in roof boot.
  Observatory door lock is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get key in the lock
  Arrive on site, set up, align, dew comes in so heavy I almost drowned. Water dripping off everything by end of astro twilight
  Arrive on site, no bolt to secure EQ head to tripod
  Arrive on site, Battery drained to <10.5 v, Takahashi EQ6 clone won't work at low voltages
  Arrive on site, SkyFi yes, iPad noooo
  Arrive on site, iPad yes, SkyFi noooo
  Arrive on site, cameras yes, batteries all charged yes, battery location - on chargers 70km away.
  Arrive on site, the 12v DC power cable is a 3.5mm connector, widget needs a 2.5mm type.

Now I always carry silicon spray in the car. Have a spare attachment bolt for the base of the EQ head that lives in one corner of the trunk, and a simple check list of critical items.

None of this helps you but I hope it makes you feel better.

Joe

[Lady Fraktor]

This reminds me of a long time friend of mine, are you of Greek heritage like him???
He did it with golf clubs. His mounting was too heavy for two people to lift let alone pitch.


Joe

100% Slovak but I would consider using a club on a few Huygens and Celestron plastic Kellner.
I like your friends style!

[Bigzmey]

Gabby,

If it was me I would have probably pitched the pad as far as I could off a cliff
The mount would have followed rather quickly.

This reminds me of a long time friend of mine, are you of Greek heritage like him???
He did it with golf clubs. His mounting was too heavy for two people to lift let alone pitch.


Andrey,
You are not alone.

Here is a small sample of my list of evening spoiling events.

Drive 1hr 72km to dark site aaaannndd.......

• Lock to front gate is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get combination barrels to turn.
  Roof boot lock is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get key in the lock. EQ mount tripod in roof boot.
  Observatory door lock is dry, needs silicon spray, and can't get key in the lock
  Arrive on site, set up, align, dew comes in so heavy I almost drowned. Water dripping off everything by end of astro twilight
  Arrive on site, no bolt to secure EQ head to tripod
  Arrive on site, Battery drained to <10.5 v, Takahashi EQ6 clone won't work at low voltages
  Arrive on site, SkyFi yes, iPad noooo
  Arrive on site, iPad yes, SkyFi noooo
  Arrive on site, cameras yes, batteries all charged yes, battery location - on chargers 70km away.
  Arrive on site, the 12v DC power cable is a 3.5mm connector, widget needs a 2.5mm type.

Now I always carry silicon spray in the car. Have a spare attachment bolt for the base of the EQ head that lives in one corner of the trunk, and a simple check list of critical items.

None of this helps you but I hope it makes you feel better.

Joe

Sounds familiar Joe! My dark site is ~140km / 2 hr away, so I pack extra of everything (scopes, mounts, EPs, binos) just in case! And sky atlases and printed DSO lists in case my phone/SkySafari decide to misbehave.

[Shabadoo]

Same problems here with my new scope with Synscan. Good night. Next night (a month later with these weather patterns), the GOTO goes where IT wants to.
One fix was to put switch the coordinates. To arc minutes. I had no clue what that meant. I found there was 2 ways to represent it.
Another time I "reset to factory."
I have a hard time with alignment. Who picked these stars?
I found a pdf download for the Synscan star map. I too notice after a long session, 2-3 am my scope points to the ground. It's power. I'm not buying "I can charge up my jump starter and it runs my set up for 3 sessions." I charge mine up right after use, and every 30 days, and the day in gonna use it, if it's been more than 2 weeks. I push the charge indicator lights to see .
Mean while, if it takes more than an hour to get synced up, I turn it off and go to setting circles / star hopping.

[Bigzmey]

Thanks for the tips Shabadoo. It looks like check power is most recommended tip and easiest to.

[AbbN]

It's threads like this one that want to make me go hug and kiss my CG4 with it's Orion Pier Extension.....and breath a sigh of relief that there's no electronics in it

Good luck Bigzmey !

Abb

[Don Quixote]

It's threads like this one that want to make me go hug and kiss my CG4 with it's Orion Pier Extension.....and breath a sigh of relief that there's no electronics in it

Good luck Bigzmey !

Abb

Hey Abb.
Just don't kiss the cg4 in February, at least not around here. Your lips will stick to the mount. :-)

[Shabadoo]

Quincy reported the same problem in another post. Wonky alignments. Spent all night fighting it.
I've done it a few times too. Wasted a few dark nights Smh, going to bed angry ready to call the manufacturer and ship it back, I was.
"Restore Factory settings" in the utility menu. Worked for me too.

[Bigzmey]

I had a chance to play with the mount a bit more today. This time alignment and tracking worked smoothly.

It is like voodoo at this point. I don't know if the changes in the procedure helped or it is just randomness.