Disclaimer: I am NOT responsible for things you do or have done TO or WITH your astronomy equipment or anyone else's astronomy equipment. It is YOUR responsibility and you should always check with the manufacturer of to find out if modifications, etc will void the warranty or cause other potential problems. This site is NOT affiliated with ANY astronomical equipment manufacturers, or parts sellers mentioned within this site. I make NO money from anyone mentioned in this site and only provide this information for other astronomy enthusiasts to enjoy. This is an "unofficial" web site providing links to areas of interest for fellow astronomy enthusiasts to help them find information they may be looking for.
I have found the Internet to be an invaluable resource for information when it comes to finding technical help with just about anything. There are thousands of amateur astronomers all over the world that have had problems with their gear at a given time. In this section I am featuring some of the technical info that I have put together myself and stuff contributed by others and picked up from the sci.astro.amateur newsgroup.
1. Alignment Problems with the SkySensor 2000.
First addendum. 10/29/00. I discovered that it is very easy to get the time zone wrong, which can cause all sorts of problems. According to my PC, I am at GMT -8 (Pacific Time) but during Daylight Savings Time I am actually at GMT -7 and the SkySensor2000 needs to be adjusted to reflect this difference. This makes a world of difference when doing alignments and GOTOs. It is also important to be sure to adjust the time and time zone back and forth in accordance with Daylight Savings Time changes. It is also important to be as accurate as possible with your location information. (I use a GPS)
Second addendum. 4/27/01. I now own a William Optics GT-1 mount, which uses a SS2000 controller. For others that use this mount, I suggest the following: If you are doing photographic work, it is best to use Polar-Aligned EQ mode with a 1 star alignment. I do not recommend moving the scope by hand to center on the alignment star. It is best to use the hand controller to center the star, similar to method #2 below. Be sure to get your polar alignment as accurate as possible. If you are doing visual work only then I would suggest using the mount in Unaligned EQ mode and following method #2 below to achieve a 3 star alignment.
I recently attached a Vixen SkySensor 2000 PC goto controller to my CG5 mount. This controller "computerizes" your telescope and allows you to "GOTO" any of the objects contained within its database (over 13,000) or act as a very accurate set of digital setting circles. I initially had trouble when doing the initial star alignments and could not achieve more than a 1 point alignment. This made the GOTO very inaccurate and frustrating. After a little bit of research I discovered the proper method. Below is a copy of a post I made to sci.astro.amateur which explains the problem and solution:
After getting many replies,
I have found that there are two solutions to solving the "only 1 point
alignment problem" with the SkySensor 2000.
The first solution seems like a workaround, but it does work. Here are
the steps:
1. Accurately polar align your mount.
2. Set up Telescope Config as Polar Aligned EQ with the OTA pointing directly
west.
3. Pick alignment star from menu.
4. Hit "ENTER" to select it.
5. "GOTO" that star.
6. Unlock axis' and manually align star (do not use hand controller).
7. Lock axis' Press align.
8. GOTO next star and proceed normally.
With this method I was able to
achieve a two star alignment. I was never able to get a 3 star alignment which
is what led me to believe that this was not quite correct. GOTO was pretty
accurate but not nearly as good as solution 2.
I believe that the second solution is the correct method for achieving proper
GOTO alignment.
1. Roughly polar align the scope (just eyeball it)
2. Set up Telescope Config as Unaligned EQ with the OTA pointing directly
west.
3. Pick alignment star from menu.
4. Hit "ENTER" to select it.
5. "GOTO" that star.
6. Use hand controller to adjust RA & Dec to accurately center the star.
7. Hit "ENTER" again - this is VERY important and must be done each
time you intend to align to an object.
8. Press "ALIGN"
This method can
also be used if you want to operate in Polar-Aligned EQ mode. If your polar
alignment is accurate you should only need to do a 1 star alignment for accurate
GOTOs and tracking. This is recommended for photographic work.
With this method I am able to consistently
get 3 star alignments and VERY accurate goto's.. (always in the FOV
at 140X) Note however that if your initial GOTO to the first star needed to
be adjusted by several degrees then there is a chance you may have to start
again. Try to use
stars that are in different parts of the sky. This will increase GOTO accuracy.
Note that you may not be able to get a 3 star alignment if your reference
stars are too close together in the sky.
Also note that if you have to make adjustments of more than 10 degrees the alignment may not work. If the GOTO is that far off then you may have incorrect location and time/time zone information.
2. Improvements to the Celestron CG5 mount.
I have a Celestron G8 which comes with the CG5 German equatorial mount. This is a Chinese made copy of the popular Vixen Great Polaris (GP) mount and also very similar to the Vixen Great Polaris Deluxe (GP-DX) mount. Many people find the slow motion controls on the CG5 mount to be very tight and stiff. Also, many people have had problems when attaching motor drives to this mount. This is due to a couple of things. First, the CG5 mount is adjusted to be quite tight when you get it from the factory. Secondly, the factory grease that is used to lubricate the mount is very thick and sticky and can also cause the mount to seem a little tight. If you want very good instructions on how to completely overhaul your CG5 mount by stripping it down and rebuilding/regreasing it then check out the following link:
http://www.astronomyboy.com/cg5/index.html
I have recently completed the rebuild of my CG5 mount. To make a long story short, it was well worth the time and effort. Upon disassembling the mount I was very surprised at the amount of glue-like grease on the worm gears. It was nearly impossible to turn the worm itself by hand. After stripping everything down, cleaning the parts, and re-lubing everything with proper grease the mount is now butter smooth. It tracks about 5 times more accurately and the SS2000 motors slew the scope very smoothly.