MicroTouch Hand Control Menus
The LCD screen light turns on when the hand control is powered up. If desired, press the
LIGHT
button to turn the light off.
Pressing
MODE
once displays the current ambient temperature. The default display is
°F. To change to °C, press the
SET
button while the temperature is displayed.
The following menus are accessed sequentially by pressing the
MODE
button:
Temp
Comp
,
Learning
,
Wireless
,
Motor Rev
, and
Reset Position
. Each is described in detail
below.
Temp Comp
This activates the Temperature Compensation feature of the MicroTouch Autofocuser.
Press
SET
to turn this feature on. In order for the Temperature Compensation feature to
work, it must learn how to compensate for changes based on the optical system being
used. This is done using the
Learning
menu (below).
Learning
The Temperature Compensation feature works by learning how much focus change is
necessary to compensate for a given temperature change. For example, on a certain
system, a temperature drop of 1°F might require a focus position shift of 25 counts.
Therefore, if the temperature drops by 2 degrees, the focuser would move 50 counts to
keep the telescope in focus. The focuser must learn the exact focus shift required for a
given telescope and configuration (so adding a focal reducer, for example, would require
the focuser to be recalibrated).
To activate the Learning mode, press and hold the
SET
button for a few seconds until the
display shows
Mode: Learning
. The word Learning will blink while the focuser is being
calibrated. The current position of the focuser is displayed.
Press
MODE
once to view the current temperature. Wait until the temperature has
changed. A temperature change of 5°F is recommended for the most accurate calibration.
Once the temperature has changed, refocus the telescope (either manually or using the
autofocus routine described in the next section). Return to the Learning menu and hold
SET
again until the display shows
Mode: Idle
. The temperature compensation is now
set.
Go to the Temp Comp menu and press
SET
to turn the temperature compensation on.
More advanced temperature compensation control is available through the MicroTouch
software.
