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Installation of Sky Wizard requires an Installation Kit for your particular
make of telescope. Please refer to the instructions provided with the
Installation Kit of the encoders and other hardware.
1. installation
T
he
INSTALL mode is used when Sky Wizard is first installed on your
telescope.
INSTALL tells Sky Wizard what kind of telescope you are
using, the desired scroll rate for the subject description display, and
the resolution or gear ratio of the encoders. This information is con-
tained in the Installation Kit’s instructions.
When entering the value of the gear ratios, you must go all the way
through the
INSTALL sequence until the word INSTALL appears
again to update any changes. To start, press MODE. Scroll UP or
DOWN until the display reads
INSTALL, then press ENTER.
telescope Mount type
The display first prompts you to select the type of telescope mount
used. The current mount type will be displayed. Press UP or DOWN
to select the desired mount.
Mount type choices:
• For telescopes on fork mounts such as Celestron and Meade
Schmidt-Cassegrains:
Equatorial fork mount:
SCOPE EQ
Equatorial fork mount, perfectly aligned:
SCOPE EP
• For telescopes on German-type equatorial mounts (mounts with
a counterweight on a shaft balancing the weight of the optical
tube), such as the Great Polaris (GP) or Super Polaris mounts:
German-type equatorial mount:
SCOPE GQ
German-type equatorial, perfectly aligned:
SCOPE GP
• For telescopes on altazimuth mounts, including Dobsonians and
other telescopes that move in vertical and horizontal planes:
(Choice of vertical or horizontal index is based on your prefer-
ence, not on the telescope itself. See SETUP).
Altazimuth, horizontal index:
SCOPE
Altazimuth, vertical index:
SCOPE AV
• For a motor-driven “Poncet” type equatorial table such as that
sometimes used with a Dobsonian telescope:
Equatorial table, vertical index:
SCOPE ET
When you have selected the correct type of mount, press ENTER to
advance to the next step.
Perfectly Aligned Option (EP or GP). For equatorial telescopes, you
can choose a ‘perfectly aligned’ telescope type if your telescope is on
a permanent mount known to be in good polar alignment, or if your
portable telescope can be easily polar aligned accurately. If you
choose a ‘perfectly aligned’ type, Sky Wizard does not ask for or
require an initial mount index, and uses only a single star to get ori-
ented with the sky. The “Sync” function has no effect. EP or GP mode
will result in improved pointing accuracy, especially near the poles, if
your telescope is indeed perfectly aligned, by eliminating rounding
errors in the complex mathematical transformation normally needed
to adjust for polar alignment error.
set Data scroll rate
This is the rate of which data scroll across the LED display window, e.g,
SCROLL 5. Set the flashing digit using the UP and DOWN buttons. 0
is very slow, 5 is about right and 9 is very fast. Press ENTER to set
your choice and go to the next step.
select chart number
Sky Wizard’s database includes references to chart numbers in Wil
Tirion’s Sky Atlas 2000.0 and Uranometria 2000.0 by Tirion,
Rappaport, and Lovi, volumes 1 and 2. Choose which sky atlas chart
number you want displayed in the object descriptions.
Sky Atlas 2000.0 chart number:
CHART SA
Uranometria chart number:
CHART UA
Press ENTER to set your choice and go to the next step.
Encoder settings
(see instructions w/ your install kit for correct
settings.)
The proper encoder settings (ratios) for your specific telescope mount
are located on a chart on the Installation Instructions that came with
the installation kit for your specific telescope. Simply input these
ratios in the
Install mode by scrolling up and down and pressing
ENTER after each correct number that is blinking. Be sure to go all
the way through the install sequence (pressing ENTER each time)
until the word
INSTALL reappears, to update any changes.
custom installation
(skip this section if you have purchased an
installation Kit for a specific telescope or you
already know the encoder ratios.)
The Sky Wizard needs to be told how many turns of an encoder indi-
cate one turn of the telescope. If you have an altazimuth telescope, or
any mount where gears or pulleys are not used, you simply need to
enter the correct resolution for your encoders. The encoder resolution
(steps per revolution) is printed on the side of the encoders you
received with your installation kit. You will either have the larger high
resolution encoders (4000 steps/revolution) or the smaller standard
resolution encoders (2160 steps/revolution). Sky Wizard will display
the preset encoder resolution for encoder #1, AZ.
Example:
AZ +02160
This is the correct number for standard resolution encoders. If you
have high resolution encoders, change this number to
+04000. Adjust
the blinking digit using the UP and DOWN buttons. When the digit is
correctly displayed, press ENTER to set and advance to the next digit.
After all the digits are set for the first encoder, the display switches to
the second, DEC (Altitude on altazimuth scopes):
AL +02160. Set it to
the required numbers in the same way as the first. If you are installing
Sky Wizard on an equatorial mount or with any kit that uses gears or
pulleys, you will need to figure the encoder ratio for your installation
kit. If you purchased an Orion installation kit for your telescope, the
instructions for that kit will list the required encoder settings to enter in
your Sky Wizard. Simply enter those settings as described.
Determining Encoder settings (ratios)
You don’t need to worry about this if you know the encoder ratios from
your Installation Kit Instructions. If you are custom-installing a Sky
Wizard and need to determine the proper encoder ratios, read on. Many
mountings will utilize gears to drive the optical encoders. This can
increase resolution and make the installation more convenient. It is nec-
essary to set the ratio of each encoder to be driven by gears. If the
encoder is connected to the telescope using a belt and pulley or gears,
the ratios must be calculated. To determine the correct encoder ratios if
using gears, simply multiply the encoder resolution by the number of
teeth on the gear connected to the telescope. Divide that number by the
