6 replies to this topic

[themib]

Hi, what are the correct telescope settings in Skysafari for the Nexstar Evolution? I keep getting alignment errors with using either CelestronWifi or Nexstar/Advanced GT (Alt-Az GoTo setting in each case).

It had been working fine for years, but I may have messed up the configuration after a recent update. At the end of the day the mount itself may have a mechanical issue, but I want to double check it is not my configuration. 

Two star alignment with the hand controller is still working reasonably well.

[mlord]

Always "Celestron WiFi" as the connection.  Never the actual telescope model.  Dumb SkySafari. 

[themib]

Thanks for confirming. Actually "WiFi" and "Nexstar" behaved identically for me (i.e. just failing alignment after the third star).

Beyond "WiFi" it is probably just the default settings: e.g. Alt-Az goto and SkyAlign?

SkySafari is behaving slightly different than I remember, in the past it was offering a goto to the next selected alignment star, after the first one, but that option seems to have disappeared. 

So it looks like a mount issue after all  - unless someone has another suggestion what to check.

[mlord]

Highly unlikely to be a mount issue.  It's nearly always operator error, with one or two exceptions from every thousand or so.

[themib]

FWIW - I was able get it working again by switching in SkySafari  from SkyAlign to ManualAlign.

Apparently this is the setting I had been using for years, that offers a Goto after the first alignment star. Not entirely sure what my issue with SkyAlign was, but it looks like that was the config change I needed.

[themib]

I am not sure why I keep having issues after having used the scope for many years, perhaps I should have kept an old version of skysafari. Alignment is working now with manual align (not sure why sky align wouldn’t work, but that’s ok).
However, now I am having the strange issue that slews to high altitudes end up some random place - not the target. I have set the slew limits to max in safari and HC (for some reason safari doesn’t seem to store the setting between sessions). SkySafari happily accepts the target. The mount just slews someplace else a few degrees away from the target - just as if some slew limit is still being enforced. Skysafari correctly shows that the scope not being on the target, but that is only little consolation. 

[themib]

After having had these issues for several nights, they now appear to be fixed (hopefully). Today I did a firmware update for the mount and after that it is slewing to the zenith as desired. Perhaps the motor controller for some reason had different slew limits than Skysafari was showing. 

 

The values for the alignment method, slew limits etc remained unchanged after a power cycle without resetting to defaults. I recall that several years ago there was an issue with some parameters resetting when the external power was connected while the mount was switched off. Not sure if that was actually resolved eventually. 

 

For some reason the external power limit was set to 0. Not sure if that has an impact - as the battery appeared to be charging normally. I brought that back to 2A which is the power of the Celestron AC adapter.

 

I am now hoping for an observing night with fewer technical issues ;-)