Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Use this section to discuss "standard" Baader/Coronado/ Lunt SolarView/ Daystar, etc… filters, cameras and scopes. No mods, just questions/ answers and reviews.
Post Reply
User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11115
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9074 times
Been thanked: 5977 times

Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by ffellah »

Hello all: I received the EQ6-R Pro mount, read the manual and could not find an alignment procedure for the daytime on the sun. I contacted Sky Watcher and this is their response:

"At this time we do not offer a way to align on the sun. You would need to skip through the alignment process and slew over to the sun manually. Once there the mount should track in sidereal rate. Your guider should be able to take over from there.

Thank you! Sky-Watcher Support "

Just curious, how do you owners of this mount align it on the sun ?

Thank you,

Franco


User avatar
MalVeauX
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 1853
Joined: Tue May 09, 2017 7:58 pm
Location: Florida
Has thanked: 1142 times
Been thanked: 1329 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by MalVeauX »

Heya,

If using a hand controller, you're limited to its firmware version and what it has set for safety measures.

If you're using a connection to a laptop/computer, you can ditch the handcontroller and do you what you want. The EQ6 can use EQMod with ASCOM drivers and be controlled with planetarium software. I do this since I'm imaging with a laptop anyways and I choose solar slew rate, select the sun as my subject in Stellarium and slew to it by clicking in the software. No hand controller. No limits.

Very best,


User avatar
PDB
Almost There...
Almost There...
Posts: 702
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2016 4:23 pm
Location: Belgium
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 149 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by PDB »

Hello Franco,

Never understood "solar align" for a mount. Isn't that just the same as just slewing to the sun (from the goto planet button) and then align with the control keys. I had to do something to make "Sun" appear as object under the planet button, but can't remember what. (think this was introduced in handcontroller firmware 4.39.05) And same a Marty, I hardly use the handcontroller.

Anyway, congrats with the new mount ...

Regards,

Paul


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42120
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20229 times
Been thanked: 10111 times
Contact:

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by marktownley »

I just point the mount north (not using a compass etc just quick visual plonk it down), I level the pier, boot up the mount, skip all the align / setup guff on the hand controller and switch the tracking to solar. Then I just manually slew to the sun.


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
User avatar
Carbon60
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 14171
Joined: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:33 pm
Location: Lancashire, UK
Has thanked: 8352 times
Been thanked: 8103 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Franco,

Just as Mark says. That’s exactly how I set up mine (although I do use a declination corrected compass to set it to north). It goes without saying, of course, that you should set the tilt angle of the headstock to match your latitude, so as to track across the equatorial plane. I don’t use a guider, or any tracking software from my laptop to keep on track. The mount just tracks along by itself with occasional corrections from me via the hand controller.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11115
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9074 times
Been thanked: 5977 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by ffellah »

Thank you Marty, Paul, Mark and Stu for the good tips.I will try the mount one of these weekends...Saturday I am heading to the 29th Connecticut Star Party in Goshen, CT with my buds from the Westport Observatory and our faithful 25" Obsession dob. I will bring a solar scope for the day.

Franco


LauraMS
Ohhhhhh My!
Ohhhhhh My!
Posts: 143
Joined: Thu Jul 13, 2017 11:10 pm
Location: Germany
Has thanked: 55 times
Been thanked: 81 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by LauraMS »

Hi Franco,

my Skywatcher Az-Eq6 has a 'solar track' option. It doesn't need alignment in that case and you can select 'solar guiding rate' with it. I'd expect you can do the same with your mount.

In addition I recently acquired the Hinode Solar Guider which is just perfect because it eliminates the effect of inevitable misalignment and keeps the sun in the FoV all day if you want :cool: .

Best wishes
Laura


User avatar
ffellah
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Way More Fun to Share It!!
Posts: 11115
Joined: Mon Oct 27, 2014 6:46 pm
Location: Westport, CT USA
Has thanked: 9074 times
Been thanked: 5977 times

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by ffellah »

Thank you, Laura. Yes, I have been using the Hinode guider for over a year and it is good !

Franco


User avatar
marktownley
Librarian
Librarian
Posts: 42120
Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 5:27 pm
Location: Brierley Hills, UK
Has thanked: 20229 times
Been thanked: 10111 times
Contact:

Re: Alignment procedure for EQ6-R Pro question

Post by marktownley »

I like the hinode guider too, it's very good!


Image
http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
Post Reply