Still not sure if my input settings are right for my ioptron smartstar E8500R goto tracker

[JayTee]

Hi,

How ya doin'?

Have you followed (not blown off) all the advice you've been given?

JT

[realflow100]

Yes! ive tried and it doesnt matter what I do. its always off and doesnt stay on target for very long. it always drifts in some direction quite noticably after a few minutes. a star wont be centered anymore about 20 minutes it will be near the edge or fairly far from the center.
it rarely tracks properly like 1 out of 100 pictures will have perfect stars. and thats after re-aligning each time before taking a new photo. doesnt matter if i do 1 star align 2 star align sync to target it just doesnt work and i know the tripod is level the little bubble dot is perfectly centered on the thingy.

I stopped down the aperture a bit and took a extra long exposure with a low iso and stars were going off in some direction for a ways. and looked slightly shakey

[Lady Fraktor]

What eyepiece are you using when aligning the telescope?

When approaching your alignment star try to finish the move using the up and right direction arrows, it may take some of the slop out of the gears.
Do this when approaching a new target manually. Then use sync.
These mounts like most az/ alt mounts like it will rarely place a object perfectly centered but it will usually be in the FOV.

The gears take a second or two to re-engage after a slew and that is why your target drifts.
You need to do as much as you can to eliminate that gear engagement time.

Practice and you will get it.

[JayTee]

I own an iOptron mount, so let's go over the basics. Here are the 3 most critical things that you have to pay very close attention to. Putting your mount in the initial position Alt=+90 and Az=180°(true South) is absolutely critical for a "decent" alignment. The second is the one-star alignment, get and use a reticle eyepiece. Lastly, you must select your target from the HC then slew prior to doing using the sync function. DO NOT center the object after the slew before you go to the sync function. This tricks the mount into believing it is pointing somewhere other than where IT THINKS your pointing thus giving it the wrong sky position. Please closely follow these 3 steps then report back.

These attachments are from your User Guide, please tell me you have read these?

Cheers,
JT

[realflow100]

I did read that all and tried doing it the way it says but i literally do not have a compass capable of accurately showing me where to aim it within 1 degree and its impossible to aim it perfectly straight up. theres just no way to tell. my camera and telescope dont have levels built into them accurate to 1 degree either

What I do instead is tell it to align to a star. and then loosen the vertical and horizontal knobs and manually rotate the tracker and camera to aim at the correct star as close to center as possible then tighten the knobs. and then do final adjustments with the controller since it would end up pointing to the same spot if I were to actually aim it perfectly south and straight up anyways.
this way I dont need a compass or perfectly aiming it straight up.

Also the eyepiece reticle thing doesnt apply when i'm using a camera with a camera lens and not a telescope. 250mm lens long focal length. I use 10x digital zoom on a star and try to center it as best as possible. it should be more than good enough then.
i have the same issue whether im using a camera and a camera lens. or a telescope. it doesnt matter how PERFECTLY I center a star. it just wont track accurately even if I try to compensate for the delay when it finishes aligning and starts tracking. no matter what. very rarely sometimes i'll get things just right where it will track perfectly for a frame or two. but not very much.

[Lady Fraktor]

Bypassing the actual alignment procedure is why you are not getting good tracking.
The mount is stupid and does not actually know where it is until an actual alignment is done, then it can function as it has a map to follow.

If you try doing an alignment using an eyepiece and then install our camera (lots of people do this) then your tracking should improve immensely.

[JayTee]

What I do instead is tell it to align to a star. and then loosen the vertical and horizontal knobs and manually rotate the tracker and camera to aim at the correct star as close to center as possible then tighten the knobs. and then do final adjustments with the controller since it would end up pointing to the same spot if I were to actually aim it perfectly south and straight up anyways.
this way I dont need a compass or perfectly aiming it straight up.

And this is why your gotos suck! The motors need to know how far they have traveled from a known point, the described starting point. Do you own a smartphone? If so, download a compass app. If you don't have one then Google maps will tell what landmark is due south of you. As far a pointing straight up, your eyeball is good enough for that.

You can do this. You have to stop making excuses why you can't do this and find a way to do it the way the manual describes, OR accept the results you currently experience.

[realflow100]

My phone doesnt have a compass built in.


It doesnt matter how I try to align it it doesnt matter what way its facing

if I aim it at the ground to the side or any random direction and then try to align it it makes no difference at all
Its always "close" but not quite. it tracks a little bit but never precisely.
It does not matter if I aim it south and straight up. the results are the same every time no matter what.
I borrowed someones compass and tried to aim it perfectly straight up and south but it was still way off in the camera and eyepiece (whether I use camera lens or telescope)
even when aligning it the same behavior no matter what.
switching from an eyepiece to a camera would make the weight way off so I can't do that either.
it just simply is always off no matter what I do.
I had someone try to set it up for me in person and even they couldn't get it tracking right. and they were doing it the same way you told me to and it doesnt matter if I do it the same way either.

[Graeme1858]

Hello RF

My phone doesnt have a compass built in.

If you have a smart phone (is that what they're called your side of the pond?) then you can download a compass app. If not you will need to use a maps app as JT says. Stand during the day where you use the telescope at night and with a maps app running on your phone, tablet or lap top, have a look to see where north is and remember it or mark it on the ground.

Switching from an eyepiece to a camera would make the weight way off so I can't do that either.

You can balance the mount with the camera in then swap the camera for an eyepiece just to get alignment then put the camera back in.

It just simply is always off no matter what I do. I had someone try to set it up for me in person and even they couldn't get it tracking right.

Maybe it's faulty? Did it ever align properly? Has it been modified or damaged?

Hope you get it sorted now that your astrophotgraphy is coming along so well.

Regards

Graeme

[realflow100]

aligning isnt the problem its just the tracking that doesnt stay for very long.
I can goto an object and it will be somewhere in the field of view usually. not super far off.
but tracking over time just isnt good at all.

[JayTee]

How long does the object stay in the FOV after you've centered it?

[KathyNS]

How long does the object stay in the FOV after you've centered it?

...and what direction does it move when it moves out of the FOV? North, south, east or west?

[realflow100]

I'm not sure i'll have to take a really long exposure stopped down and see where the trails go. and also tell which object im attempting to track. i'll try later tonight if its clear out.

[realflow100]

the hot pixels in this test stacking image show what happens with my tracking sometimes its just messed up.
I never touched it and it changes direction in the middle of these frames

[realflow100]

After an extreme amount of intensive surgery on my star tracker I solved the problem.
The little spinny wheel old style sensor detector thingy was not working properly. Too large distance from the spinny wheel thingy I just carefully bent the sensor things a little closer together towards the spinny wheel and BOOM 10 times smoother tracking. it actually tracks properly and way more consistently. I needed to repeat this surgery on both axis's

it was occasionally even saying things like motor overloaded because it couldn't see the spinny wheel properly!

[realflow100]

Nevermind it self destructed the gearbox for literally no reason. everything was perfect. I tested it. and then 20 minutes later i heard the motor strain then loud crunching now I can't aim up or down.

[realflow100]

I dont know how but I managed to fix it in such a way it will not easily break ever again. and it wont lose grip anymore. its sturdily in place. I put a small piece of very stiff rubber just the right height to pin the gearbox down against the plastic faceplace cover with just the right tension that it wont budge ever at all and its really sturdy now. doesnt seem to be coming lose for anything.

Maybe I can actually use it properly now that its not skipping and spasming erratically with the motor and stuff.

[realflow100]

it appears to be working. at least goto puts objects within the field of view with a 32mm eyepiece (13x magnification with my telescope)
with 1 star alignment.