mach 2 windstorm crash need help
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Peter Gottstein
My Mach 2 crashed in bad windstorm while I was out of town. So I just recently have had a chance to test the equipment. So the mount seems to operate smoothly. It will park back to position 3. However when I ask it to slew to a target its not even close. It seems to have counter weight shaft up scope pointing to ground. It also seems to go below the horizon limits when the horizon box is checked. I am currently using APCC and when I hit home button it goes to back to position 3. But when I ask it to go to another location it is way off again. I use Cartes du Ciel as my target program. I am currently reloading the CP5 and hand controller. I hope I am doing something wrong when in APCC or Cartes du Ciel. I am hoping I don't have to send the mount back to AP.
Thanks Peety G |
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If it parks ok but slews to the incorrect location, double check that your site location and time settings are accurate.
AP support will be best to advise. Just wanted to wish you luck. My heart would have skipped a beat or two if I'd arrived home to that. Ugh... |
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Mike Hanson
Hi Peter,
The Mach 2 parks to "mechanical orientation" which does not require knowledge of the meridian. In contrast, slewing to celestial coordinates requires knowledge of the meridian to know how to translate Right Ascension to a position. Your symptom indicates the mount knows where it is pointing mechanically but does not know where the meridian is. There are 5 items the mount uses to determine where the meridian is, and hence, where Right Ascension is, they are: Longitude, Time, Date, Time Zone, Hemisphere (uses the sign of the latitude). The mount is confused about one or more of these 5 items. If you use a keypad, and the crash was violent enough to the keypad battery, the keypad may have forgotten where and when it is. If you cannot recover "where" and "when", give us a call or e-mail me privately. Regards, Mike Hanson |
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Roland Christen
If the mount parks and homes correctly, then there is nothing wrong with the mount or the electronics. It seems you have a software problem that sends the wrong initialization information to the mount. Software problems cannot be caused by windstorm events.
I suggest that you check all your date, time and location entries in your initialization program.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Gottstein <PGOTTSTEIN@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Nov 20, 2022 7:37 pm Subject: [ap-gto] mach 2 windstorm crash need help My Mach 2 crashed in bad windstorm while I was out of town. So I just recently have had a chance to test the equipment. So the mount seems to operate smoothly. It will park back to position 3. However when I ask it to slew to a target its not even close. It seems to have counter weight shaft up scope pointing to ground. It also seems to go below the horizon limits when the horizon box is checked. I am currently using APCC and when I hit home button it goes to back to position 3. But when I ask it to go to another location it is way off again. I use Cartes du Ciel as my target program. I am currently reloading the CP5 and hand controller. I hope I am doing something wrong when in APCC or Cartes du Ciel. I am hoping I don't have to send the mount back to AP.
Thanks Peety G -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Jim Crumly
Peter Do you mind telling us what type of tripod/pier you are using. Could you also tell us the approximate wind speed. Jim
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Peter Gottstein
Sent: Sunday, November 20, 2022 06:37 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: [ap-gto] mach 2 windstorm crash need help
My Mach 2 crashed in bad windstorm while I was out of town. So I just recently have had a chance to test the equipment. So the mount seems to operate smoothly. It will park back to position 3. However when I ask it to slew to a target its not even close. It seems to have counter weight shaft up scope pointing to ground. It also seems to go below the horizon limits when the horizon box is checked. I am currently using APCC and when I hit home button it goes to back to position 3. But when I ask it to go to another location it is way off again. I use Cartes du Ciel as my target program. I am currently reloading the CP5 and hand controller. I hope I am doing something wrong when in APCC or Cartes du Ciel. I am hoping I don't have to send the mount back to AP. |
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Update. I reloaded APCC, CP5, hand controller and Cartes du Ciel software. All good!!!!!
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Jim Crumly
Peter Thanks for the mount and wind information. The reason I asked is I get winds in the 20 to 40 mph and occasionally 60’s We had a storm here about 6 weeks ago and it knocked power out to most of the city by taking out 30+ power poles. You don’t live on the left cost of Arizona do you? Clear Sky’s Jim
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Peter Gottstein
Sent: Wednesday, November 23, 2022 06:54 AM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: Re: [ap-gto] mach 2 windstorm crash need help
[Edited Message Follows] Update. I reloaded APCC, CP5, hand controller and Cartes du Ciel software. All good!!!!!
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Peter Gottstein
Nope. Northern suburbs of Chicago. Happy Thanksgiving to all. |
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