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PART VI : CONFIGURE THE TELESCOPE MOUNT
6.1 Choosing Tracking Speed
6.2 Backlash Compensation
6.3 Setting the Altitude Axis Slewing Limits
1.
Access the menu “
SETUP\Tracking
” and press the
ENTER
key.
2.
Use the scroll keys to browse through the following options, and press the
ENTER
key to
pick one.
Users should input the amount of the backlash of both axes of the mount as follows:
1.
Access the menu “
SETUP\Backlash
” and press the
ENTER
key.
2.
The screen will display “
Azm = X
o
XX’XX”
” or “
RA = X
o
XX’XX”
”. Use the Left/Right keys to
move the cursor and use the numeric keys to fill in a number at the cursor position to input
the amount of backlash in the azimuth axis or the R.A. axis. Press the
ENTER
key to finish
the input and proceed to the next step.
3.
The screen will display “
Alt = X
o
XX’XX”
” or “
Dec = X
o
XX’XX”
”. Fill in the amount of backlash
in the altitude axis or declination axis and then press the
ENTER
key.
•
Sidereal Rate:
Enables the mount to track celestial objects at the sidereal rate for ob-
serving the stars, deep sky objects, and planets.
•
Lunar Rate:
Enables the mount to track at the lunar rate for observing the Moon.
•
Solar Rate:
Enables the mount to track at the solar rate for observing the Sun.
•
Stop Tracking:
Stops the mount.
•
PEC+Sidereal:
Enables the mount to track at the sidereal rate and turns on the periodic
error correction (PEC) function. Applies to equatorial mounts only.
Note:
Users can turn on the tracking without doing a star alignment process. In this case, the
polar alignment should be rather accurate for an equatorial mount; and the mount must be
setup to the proper home position before turning on the power
(refer to Section 2.1).
Note:
Set the backlash value to 0 for an axis to disable backlash compensation for that axis.
If there is backlash in the motor driving system, users might see a lag when moving an object
in the FOV of the telescope with the direction keys. The SynScan hand control can control the
mount to slew with higher speeds for a specific amount of distance when the user reverses
the moving direction of an axis with opposite direction keys. Such backlash compensation
function helps the user get faster response from the mount.
Some alt-azimuth mounts have limited slewing range in altitude axis. Users can set the upper
and lower altitude limits for such mounts.
• When a user asks the SynScan hand control to locate an object whose altitude exceeds
the altitude limits, the SynScan hand control will display “
Target is over slew limits!!
” and will
not start the mount slewing.
• When a user uses the
Up
or
Down
direction keys to slew the altitude axis to exceed the al-
titude limits, the SynScan hand control will automatically stop the altitude axis and display
“
Over slew limit. Slewing stop!
”. User has to press any key and the SynScan controller will
bring the altitude axis back.
