· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Equipment Discussions >> Mounts Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 PGW Steve Pooh-Bah Reged: 10/03/06 Loc: Winnipeg, Canada Strange guiding with A-P 1200 GTO and PHD       #3074905 - 04/29/09 12:43 PM Attachment (48 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Last week I was out doing some imaging and the guider was running fine, the graph function had the normal wave look to it in RA and Dec, this was when the scope was on the east side. Later on I did a flip and was imaging on the west side of the mount and noticed that the Dec axis was spiking in a very extreme, but uniform way. It was late and I decided to pack it in, I chalked it up to maybe a weak power pack. I went out again the other night and was imagaing and guiding without problem on the east side of the mount. I did a flip, and again recalibrated PHD. Same thing when it was guiding, it was cycling north and south by a fair bit. Now it had my attention. I checked for loose bits on the mount and guider, all was well. I purposly changed my perfect balance to load against the Dec worm. Still no change. I then dug around in the keypad for the backlash settings and had '2' for the RA and '3' for Dec. I remember a long time ago setting these per the procedure in the AP manual. I increased the number for the Dec and the graph went really bad....so wrong way....tried level 2, 1, and 0. Now the mount is tracking properly, or so it seemed for the 10 mins I let it run. It appears that the change I made corrected it, is someone able to help me understand what was going on, and what I did wrong? Attached is a pic of what the graph looked like before I changed the backlash numbers. *edit* I'm using a SSAG and V1.9 of PHD Edited by PGW Steve (04/29/09 12:54 PM) Post Extras:       LLEEGE True Blue Reged: 03/03/05 Loc: Cloud-chester,NY Re: Strange guiding with A-P 1200 GTO and PHD [Re: PGW Steve]       #3075145 - 04/29/09 02:23 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The backlash on the AP's should be set at zero. Anything else would mean an adjustment was needed. Post Extras:       nik hodges scholastic sledgehammer Reged: 04/20/07 Loc: UK Re: Strange guiding with A-P 1200 GTO and PHD [Re: LLEEGE]       #3075307 - 04/29/09 03:41 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   agreed, there are a number of threads on the AP yahoo tech group that discuss the same thing and this is what Roland and others recommend Post Extras:       Aquatone sage Reged: 03/23/06 Loc: Moraga, CA (Bay Area) Re: Strange guiding with A-P 1200 GTO and PHD [Re: nik hodges]       #3077929 - 04/30/09 09:31 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Yes I have experienced exactly the same thing with my AP1200. Set the backlash to zero. Chris Post Extras:       PGW Steve Pooh-Bah Reged: 10/03/06 Loc: Winnipeg, Canada Re: Strange guiding with A-P 1200 GTO and PHD [Re: Aquatone]       #3078146 - 04/30/09 11:30 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks for the tips, I can't wait to try it out again!! Post Extras:       Pages: 1 Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 18 registered and 35 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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