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Sorry if this is the wrong thread but recently I purchased a brand new Nexstar 6SE and am having trouble with the GOTO function. I have done several alignments but the GOTO system seems to be going haywire.
I have tried 2-star, auto 2-star, sky align (verified correct at the end) and the system just keeps slewing past the chosen object's position to god-knows-where. I did a factory reset and re-input the GPS coordinates and data accordingly and the GOTO system still doesn't point at the object at all. Even when I tried to change an alignment star, the system keeps giving me a failure. Is it something I did wrong or is the system at fault?
Really frustrated at the moment.
EDIT:
Problem solved.
Last edited by Mariner on Wed May 30, 2012 12:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
OCULARHOLIC ANONYMOUS!!!
Keep Calm and Carry on Observing.
Hi
Sorry to hear about your frustration. An initial checklist:
-date and time zone correct?
-lat north / south, long east / west entries correct?
-final alignment using an eyepiece instead of the red-dot finder?
The 6SE is quite a reliable and robust mount so hopefully it is just some minor setup issues.
We do it in the dark...
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...and all night long!
acc wrote:Hi
Sorry to hear about your frustration. An initial checklist:
-date and time zone correct?
-lat north / south, long east / west entries correct?
-final alignment using an eyepiece instead of the red-dot finder?
The 6SE is quite a reliable and robust mount so hopefully it is just some minor setup issues.
Yeah. I made sure Lat/lon settings, date/time/time zones all correct. Final alignment was through a 12.5mm eyepiece. Even if I used just the stock 25mm, the thing is the GOTO mechanism slews to a totally different location and will keep slewing without stopping.
OCULARHOLIC ANONYMOUS!!!
Keep Calm and Carry on Observing.
looks like power. buy a beefier 12V power supply. make sure it's center-positive.
or, as a first iteration, it could be flaky power. look at the 12V jack on the mount. it should have a center pin which is split down the middle. use a small flat screwdriver and push the two halves of the pin apart (not too much!) so it can get a better connection with the power supply.
Not sure if this will help, my meade etx need me to turn the goto fully anti-clockwise (unlock the gear/motor before doing this) and then turn a little clockwise to a position just above the switches and those wire connectors. Level the scope to 0 degree (remember to lock back the gear for both axis) and the last thing is to face the front of the scope to the north (sometime I've to carry the whole setup and turn it to north) before powering the scope for stars alignment to take place. Maybe you can check the manual to see if such pre alignment setting is required for your scope.
orly_andico wrote:looks like power. buy a beefier 12V power supply. make sure it's center-positive.
or, as a first iteration, it could be flaky power. look at the 12V jack on the mount. it should have a center pin which is split down the middle. use a small flat screwdriver and push the two halves of the pin apart (not too much!) so it can get a better connection with the power supply.
Don't think he is facing a power supply problem or worst polarity problem. He can set or reset the controller and the GOTO do turn except to the wrong location. If it is a power supply polarity problem, the electronic in controller would have been burned.
It is either he miss out the pre alignment setting in my other post (unless his scope is the latest with GPS and self alignment version) or the GOTO firmware had gone nut.
My 6SE is also quite fussy about it being level. But yours sounds like a more severe problem. If you like we can bring both ours down together to ECP and try, use my power pack and see if it works?
i mean the center plug on the power jack is intermittently contacting the power plug, hence the power is not clean. this causes the slewing to go nuts.
it is a very common and documented problem on CG5-ASGT and CGEM mounts. i have experienced it myself.
so the "spread the halves of the pin" trick is a no-cost option he can try. It did not work for me (CGEM) as the celestron-provided power supply is really pathetic. I have gotten a 25-Amp 12V supply to fix this problem, but I have not tested it extensively as I use my non-Goto mount most of the time now..
I'm not to sure of the power supply issue given I've been trying it on fresh sets of batteries. The tripod is certainly levelled and I have tried the start from North method.
If it has really gone nuts it would be nice to be certain before I send it back. Keep the suggestions coming and hopefully tonight is clear enuff to try again. Thanks everyone.
OCULARHOLIC ANONYMOUS!!!
Keep Calm and Carry on Observing.
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