Newbie with Celestron 130EQ

[janagn]

Hello all,

I think I landed here via a link of another forum that claims that it is dead or full of bots. So I guess this is the right one! So nice to meet you all. I have a small familiarity with sky observations vai my old refractor "toy" telesope that gave up spirit some time ago. So my wife got me a Celestron 130EQ for my birthday and the "interest" in the topic got a new lease of life. As I live in Aberdeen UK this makes the hobby difficult for two reason. When the eather is good, it is always day and when it is always night, the weather is bad. However with good weather I can stay in my garden and experiment with settings, polar alignment, target the moon and make sure that my RA and DA disks show the correct hours and degrees number. So all these are good. So here are a few questions though that I hope you will be kind enough to answer:

1. The telescope comes with a motor. Is it only me or you have also come to conclude that the North is South and the South in North? Is this because the bracket on the mount is upside down and thus the rotation of the motor is reversed? Is it fixable or it is what it is?
2. The DA dial, what is the best position? Do you have it from the side of the eyepiece or form the side of the miror? I feel the best orientation is toward the eyepiece as it does not gert on the way of the mount rotation plans but all pictures show it the other way around. Is it a matter of taste?
3. The RA/DA disc indicators are in a very awkward positions. Usually hidden on the mount with a way that you can hardly make out accurately where they point. HAve I set the mount wrongly although I don't see another way.

So these are my initial "hello world" question. Any help or idea will be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Yiannis

[Peter802]

Hello Yiannis.
Welcome to the forum.
I am sure some one will be along and be able to answer your Questions.

[drock]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for joining. Enjoy the new scope. I can't help with your scope, but I sure someone can help you shortly.

[KathyNS]

Welcome to the forum. I am glad you were able to follow the trail of breadcrumbs here.

It is possible that the motor was set up for the southern hemisphere, but it is more likely that there is something dodgy about your setup. If you could post a photo of the mount, it would be easier to see what is going on.

[janagn]

Welcome to the forum. I am glad you were able to follow the trail of breadcrumbs here.

It is possible that the motor was set up for the southern hemisphere, but it is more likely that there is something dodgy about your setup. If you could post a photo of the mount, it would be easier to see what is going on.

Hi thanks for the quick answer.
Here is a picture of how the motor is seating. As you can see it is upside down and this is the only way it can seat not only on my telescope but in every picture I have seen on the internet.

Kind Regards
Yiannis

[KathyNS]

Thanks for the image. What matters is whether it drives the mount in the correct direction or not. You would think that they would have designed it to go the right way, but if the inverted mounting is indeed causing it to drive the wrong direction, just flip the N-S switch to the opposite setting.

[janagn]

Thanks for the image. What matters is whether it drives the mount in the correct direction or not. You would think that they would have designed it to go the right way, but if the inverted mounting is indeed causing it to drive the wrong direction, just flip the N-S switch to the opposite setting.

Yep this is it. I found the answers in some long forgotten youtube videos and forums. I was only surprised that hardly anybody reports this anymore. All good now Thanks again

[helicon]

Hello Yiannis and Welcome to the Forums!

[Voyageur]

Welcome to the forum. Glad you figured things out. Strange that the motor mounts in what I'd call an upside down configuration.

[ARock]

The N-S switch depends on which side of the mount you place the motor on. The position of the mounting bolts vary with different mounts, so often you can only mount the motor on the "wrong" side, thus having to flip the switch to S instead of N.

The other problem with these motors are, that they lock the RA slow motion cable, so even if the motor is turned off, you cannot use the RA slow motion cable. You have to disengage the motor to be able to use the slow motion cable. Some people use larger thumbscrews on the motor couple to do this.
http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_eq3sk.htm

[Ylem]

Welcome to TSS Yiannis! Thanks for joining us

[Greenman]

Hi that is correct, and you would switch it to N for the northern hemisphere, I think. You need to fiddle with the small stick like potentiometer to set the speed for the objects you are tracking. Unscrew the plastic caps to replace the 9v battery. Looks right to me. Yes the rings are partly obscured. Not a bad OTA, but I took the Motor off and used it manually - for the reasons mentioned above. Hope this helps.

[JayTee]

Hello and welcome to TSS.

Cheers,
JT