Celestron GT Mount

Hi everyone, anyone help?

I have a Celestron GT Goto Mount with an Alter M500 on it.

I cant seem to get the mount to "Goto" at all.

I have done the 2 star Align as I do with my LX200 and the handset says
align successful (Having Levelled the tube and pointed it north) but when I
try to "Goto" any other object it points in the wrong direction. Which
direction should you slew from North when Aligning? clockwise? or doesn't it
matter? I also only seem to have a few cities in the England database like
London, Leeds, Birmingham. The book says set it to the nearest

Any idea's?

Thanks in advance

Andy

"Andy" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone, anyone help?

I have a Celestron GT Goto Mount with an Alter M500 on it.

I cant seem to get the mount to "Goto" at all.

I have done the 2 star Align as I do with my LX200 and the handset says
align successful (Having Levelled the tube and pointed it north) but when
I
try to "Goto" any other object it points in the wrong direction. Which
direction should you slew from North when Aligning? clockwise? or doesn't
it
matter? I also only seem to have a few cities in the England database like
London, Leeds, Birmingham. The book says set it to the nearest


Hi Andy

Try autoalign instead of 'two-star' this will automate the process and at
the least will test another method before returning to your prefered method.
This also then doesn't matter which direction it slews when aligning, this
is chosen by the scope and the scope slews on its own to the alignment
stars.

A few things:

The date is in mm/dd/yy format
Your time zone is 00
Try choosing a different city in the UK:- I had an issue whereby the
handset thought Cape Town was in the Northern Hemisphere, this created a few
obvious problems which took awhile to figure (figured when it started
looking for Polaris to align on from the Southern Hemisphere?!?). For casual
observing the city choice isn't too critical, I used Johannesburg instead of
Cape Town (given that I was already about 500 mile from Cape Town.)and
there's about 800 mile between them (or a few degrees lat and long). If you
want to get more accurate you can always set a user site with your latitude
and longtitude when you get it right.
Check your battery connections, I ended up hard wiring mine as it became
intermittently faulty and didn't just reset each time but began to slew
eratically or lose its place in the cosmos.

What model goto do you have? There's a flaw in one of the older handset
versions whereby the model names must be replaced by a model number.

Try this site:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/

and more specifically this page:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/AlignmentFAQ.htm

For more pointers if you don't come right, give me a shout and I'll see what
else we can try?

Good Luck, and Regards


Chris

Hi Chris, and many thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure which mount it is other than a GT one . Its the same one they
have the 80GT, 114 etc mounted on. As I have an Alter 500 5" Mak, on it. I'm
not sure which scope from the database to choose, the 114 maybe?

I'll give the auto align a go and see what happens.

Low and behold it's just started to snow here!!!! typical

Thanks again

Andy


"Chris Taylor" wrote in message
...

"Andy" wrote in message
...
Hi everyone, anyone help?

I have a Celestron GT Goto Mount with an Alter M500 on it.

I cant seem to get the mount to "Goto" at all.

I have done the 2 star Align as I do with my LX200 and the handset says
align successful (Having Levelled the tube and pointed it north) but
when
I
try to "Goto" any other object it points in the wrong direction. Which
direction should you slew from North when Aligning? clockwise? or
doesn't
it
matter? I also only seem to have a few cities in the England database
like
London, Leeds, Birmingham. The book says set it to the nearest


Hi Andy

Try autoalign instead of 'two-star' this will automate the process and at
the least will test another method before returning to your prefered
method.
This also then doesn't matter which direction it slews when aligning, this
is chosen by the scope and the scope slews on its own to the alignment
stars.

A few things:

The date is in mm/dd/yy format
Your time zone is 00
Try choosing a different city in the UK:- I had an issue whereby the
handset thought Cape Town was in the Northern Hemisphere, this created a
few
obvious problems which took awhile to figure (figured when it started
looking for Polaris to align on from the Southern Hemisphere?!?). For
casual
observing the city choice isn't too critical, I used Johannesburg instead
of
Cape Town (given that I was already about 500 mile from Cape Town.)and
there's about 800 mile between them (or a few degrees lat and long). If
you
want to get more accurate you can always set a user site with your
latitude
and longtitude when you get it right.
Check your battery connections, I ended up hard wiring mine as it became
intermittently faulty and didn't just reset each time but began to slew
eratically or lose its place in the cosmos.

What model goto do you have? There's a flaw in one of the older handset
versions whereby the model names must be replaced by a model number.

Try this site:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/

and more specifically this page:
http://www.nexstarsite.com/AlignmentFAQ.htm

For more pointers if you don't come right, give me a shout and I'll see
what
else we can try?

Good Luck, and Regards


Chris

"Andy" wrote in message
...
Hi Chris, and many thanks for your reply.

I'm not sure which mount it is other than a GT one . Its the same one they
have the 80GT, 114 etc mounted on. As I have an Alter 500 5" Mak, on it.
I'm
not sure which scope from the database to choose, the 114 maybe?

Hi Andy

Something I forgot to mention, the "nextstar" writing on the mount runs
upright from left to right when standing on the west side of the mount when
its facing north, ie. the mechanics are on the eastern side of the mount.
(getting this wrong is common)

Check the version number of your handset, ver 100.7 has a known issue with 2
star alignment. I understand that this has to do with the star choices and
24vs12 hr setup options.

I've also pasted this below for you in connection with common alignment
problems. It also gives the code for the telescope setup with the version
mentioned in my last post.

See:
Common Problems with Alignment on the NexStar GT Telescopes
This list summarizes several potential problems that can prevent you from
aligning your NexStar 60/76/80/102/114/4/130. Additionally, be sure to
download a copy of the NexStar Alignment Guide so that you can not only get
an alignment, but you can get a good alignment.
Your scope might be mounted backwards in the tube ring (does not apply to
the NexStar 4 GT). The tube ring should be oriented such that the bolt that
holds it closed is on the top. Then, when facing the side where the hand
control cable attaches to the fork arm, the front of the optical tube should
be pointed to the right. Note that on the N76/114/130, the front of the
optical tube is the end with the opening. Refer to your manual; the
pictures are correct, even if it didn't come that way from the factory!
If you own the original GT hand control (easiest to identify by the lack of
a Quick Align option), do not select the model of scope from the menu in the
GT control. If you do your scope cannot be aligned properly. Incorrectly
setting the model will result in the scope missing the alignment stars by a
significant, but consistent amount. Then after you manually center the
stars, all GoTos will miss by a significant but consistent amount. Even if
you go back to one of the alignment stars the scope will miss. If this
sounds like your scope, the model may be set incorrectly. To correctly set
the model of scope, simply access the menu, scroll up to Model Select,
choose Custom and enter the correct encoder numbers for both "AZM" and
"ALT". Enter 0726559 for the NexStar 60 and 80. Enter 1059334 for the
NexStar 114 and 4. Again, note that this only applies to the old GT hand
control without the Two Star and Quick Alignment options.
If you have the original GT hand control, do not store and use locations
(longitude/latitude) if you are in the Eastern Hemisphere - Europe, Asia,
Australia, etc. There is a problem with the original GT control that
prevents using stored locations with an east latitude.
Be sure you are entering the date in mm/dd/yy format.
If you have the original GT hand control, don't bother using military (24
hour) time, you must still set PM/AM anyway. With any NexStar scope, if you
are aligning after midnight, entering 0130 will still require you to change
the PM to AM.
Watch for double key entries - they are common with the original GT control
and can cause problems, particularly when entering longitude and latitude.
If you are not in North America, you will need to select a time zone. In
the original GT control, these are not the usual offset from UTC (GMT), but
instead you should refer to the time zone charts in the manual (24 - offset
from UTC).
If you are new to astronomy, it will be important that your scope points
accurately to the two alignments stars, otherwise you might center on an
incorrect star. To assure accurate pointing during auto-alignment, level
the tripod (use a small level in the accessory tray), then point at Polaris
(the North Star), then lower the optical tube to the level position (it is
best to use a set of marks as described in the NexStar Alignment Guide).
Click here for a table and all-sky chart of the 40 NexStar alignment stars
so that you won't be fooled by an incorrect star.
Occasionally the alignment procedure will be completely off-track. If your
scope doesn't point anywhere near what you think is the correct star, you
are best off pulling the plug and starting over.

The above was taken from www.nexstarsite.com

Regards


Chris

On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 19:34:17 GMT, "Andy"
wrote:

Hi everyone, anyone help?

I have a Celestron GT Goto Mount with an Alter M500 on it.

I cant seem to get the mount to "Goto" at all.

I have done the 2 star Align as I do with my LX200 and the handset says
align successful (Having Levelled the tube and pointed it north) but when I
try to "Goto" any other object it points in the wrong direction. Which
direction should you slew from North when Aligning? clockwise? or doesn't it
matter? I also only seem to have a few cities in the England database like
London, Leeds, Birmingham. The book says set it to the nearest

Any idea's?

Thanks in advance

Andy



Have you got the tube mounted the right way around? ie. try flipping
it 180 degrees in the mount and try the allignment again..

Just a thought.

- Rob.

Thanks Rob,

Yes its the right way round, I thought of that first and tried it. Trouble
is since I opened the new mount (I have 2 GT's) that I am trialling it's
been bloody cloudy!

Thanks again

Andy

wrote in message
...
On Sun, 20 Feb 2005 19:34:17 GMT, "Andy"
wrote:

Hi everyone, anyone help?

I have a Celestron GT Goto Mount with an Alter M500 on it.

I cant seem to get the mount to "Goto" at all.

I have done the 2 star Align as I do with my LX200 and the handset says
align successful (Having Levelled the tube and pointed it north) but when
I
try to "Goto" any other object it points in the wrong direction. Which
direction should you slew from North when Aligning? clockwise? or doesn't
it
matter? I also only seem to have a few cities in the England database
like
London, Leeds, Birmingham. The book says set it to the nearest

Any idea's?

Thanks in advance

Andy



Have you got the tube mounted the right way around? ie. try flipping
it 180 degrees in the mount and try the allignment again..

Just a thought.

- Rob.