How to set up your Equatorial mount for Astrophotography - HEQ5

[@philiphurst831]

I've just bought a complete astrophotography set-up which includes the HEQ5 Pro rig. I've also spent hours trying to get everything working and this is, by far, the best tutorial I've found on the HEQ5 mount. Many thanks for this. Subbed.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Phillip, really glad this was helpful. Congrats on your purchase, a lot to learn but that’s part of the fun. Please reach out if I can help should you get stuck

[@philiphurst831]

@@Astrobloke Many thanks for that! Just waiting for the last couple of bits and pieces to arrive and I'm ready to go. Clear skies predicted in this part of Essex for Tuesday evening but that will probably change.

[@Astrobloke]

@@philiphurst831 thats great. Where in Essex are you? I am i. Westcliff on sea

[@philiphurst831]

@@Astrobloke I'm at St Lawrence Bay, close to Bradwell on Sea so not very far from you.

[@AstralviewsUK]

The HEQ-5 is a superb mount. Mine is unmodded and giving me sub 0.5 RMS with a 60mm guidescope and ZWO120MM-S with an 80 APO on it. Some tips I can give after living with this mount for 6 months: 1) Use the grub screws to reduce your backlash in RA and Dec 2) Remove the cover on the side and regrease the gears with Lewmar Gear Grease 3) If you're running it without the rowan belt mod I'd recommend having your polar alignment no more accurate than a total error of 2 to 3 arc minutes. This will ensure the gears stay engaged in one direction as the mount attempts to correct for the error you've purposefully left there so you don't experience backlash.

[@Astrobloke]

Its a great mount and gives superb results. I fully stripped mine down and tuned it, was even better after, easy balancing due to almost zero stiction and great guiding performance. Thank you for your tips. Clears skies

[@AstralviewsUK]

@@Astrobloke yeah I've been meaning to follow your hypertuning guide at some point. One bug bear I do have with the mount is how stiff the "move up" alt knob is. Did you ever manage to figure out a solution to that? Cheers for the sub btw, subbed also!

[@davidgange6490]

Thank you, Glen, for a great and easy to understand video. I have just got a HEQ5 Pro, so thanks for the set up stages. I've watched other videos about home position, and I haven't been able to follow them. Yours - great! Now to connect it to my ZWO Asiair Mini and Skywatcher 73ed telescope!!

[@Astrobloke]

Hi David and thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. Really glad it was helpful. Good luck and welcome to this amazing hobby

[@grahammcmahon863]

Thank you ^4 !! I have been struggling to understand something as simple as setting up the Home position from the user manual. You video has made it crystal clear.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Graham, glad my video helped you. Thank you for watching and commenting. Clear skies

[@IanJones-yy6ny]

Excellent Tutorial, highly informative and very easy to understand. Thank you!

[@Astrobloke]

You are very welcome. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment, clear skies!

[@geoffnash3098]

Hi glen do you have any videos on how to star align? I have been looking on the internet and no luck on how to star align heq5 mount. Appreciate your help have a great day. Last September 2023 my wife were in London and we had a fantastic time. We love england.

[@Astrobloke]

At 12:37 I show how to use the star alignment on the handset. You have 3 options of 1, 2 or 3 star alignment. 3 will give you the best slewing accuracy. Are you an observer or doing astrophotography? If the later star alignment is often not used and most within the capture software they use platesolve. This is the most efficient way to find and centre targets. I am glad you had a good time in London. I am taking a trip with my son to New York in 3 weeks time, cannot wait. Let me know if I can help anymore, clear skies , Glenn

[@tarasmonax2595]

This is by far the best video I have seen on setting up the SW HEQ5! Very detailed and thorough. Thanks!

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you so much for your comment and I am happy it helped out

[@giacomovisone6535]

Congratulations. Very nice video , clear and comprehensive. Keep it up

[@Astrobloke]

Thanks and welcome

[@mickymaggots]

Hi Glen as a senior newby I really enjoyed your informative video, having just purchased a new Starwatcher mount it's a bit of a learning curve but this has been a great help, keep up the good work, looking forward to watching the rest of your catalogue.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi IceRabbit and thank you very much for taking the time to write a nice comment. The hobby has a lot of disciplines to learn and it can seem an impossible hill to climb at times. I make my videos to share what I know and have learnt and am really happy they are helping. Thanks again and clear skies

[@jjaimesmx]

Im new at this amazing hobby, I found your video very informative thanks.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi James. Thank you for your comment and I am glad you found it helpful. It certainly is an amazing hobby but the learning curve can be steep, but we all start at the beginning. Wish you lots of luck and please reach out if you ever get stuck or unsure of something. Clear skies

[@jjaimesmx]

@@Astrobloke I'm pretty Sure I will, thanks, I used to do astrophotography with my little iOptron Skyguider Pro, until I had it master the alignment and the guiding but upgrading to Sw HEQ5 is like doing baby steps again, I try to do the alignment with the three stars and I was scare on what stars to choose without hitting the legs with the telescope and that kind of things

[@marvinwhisman3333]

Nice video. Very helpful for us newbies. Looking forward to the next video.

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you for commenting Marvin. There is a lot to learn in this hobby and why I started making the videos to help where I can.

[@geoffnash3098]

Great video really explained how to set up this mount best video I have seen. I have heq5 pro just got it and now I am hopefully ready for set up. Are you in AustrAlia or what country?

[@Astrobloke]

The HEQ5 is a fantastic mount, you will be very happy. I am in the UK

[@aquated-p]

I finally found a problem i was facing, it's the mm/dd/yyyy i got confused with that and everything went wrong, thanks for mentioning it

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment, glad the video was helpful

[@edjones3390]

Great tutorial, I tend to put the spreader on (to make sure the legs are fully out) then level , before attaching the mount - really looking forward to your hypertuning tutorial!

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you Ed. I think you have a good point there to do it in that order, makes sense.

[@jaseb638]

Just took delivery of the HEQ5 today, great video that covers the initial stages of set up. Look forward to using the laptop as I’ve been on the AAP for the last year.

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you for the comment and glad it helps. Very nice mount

[@louboom5711]

How has it been using this mount with an AAP? How did you control your mount, with an eqmod cable? My mount is the Sirius EQ-G but they’re almost the same from what I’ve read.

[@stephencox3446]

Hi Glen, I found your video very informative and to the point, well done. As a very late newcomer to this fascinating and compelling hobby it is good of you to share your experiences and the knowledge that you have acquired. I find that it is people like your self that give inspiration to myself and others. It is a minefield out there and sometimes a video is worth a thousand words. Thank you.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Stephen, thank you so much for taking the time to message and say such kind words. What you got from my video was my intention as I know only too well what a complicated involved hobby it can be. Its really worth the effort to learn though, i absolutely love it and really feel complete doing it. Thank you again and clear skies

[@clairehunter7911]

Always great information. Thank you so much

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you

[@anthonysacco2276]

Excellent tutorial. Cheers

[@Astrobloke]

Glad it was helpful!

[@mobi_61]

Thanks for your good guide to start of HEQ5 mount. Maybe will be good, music lower volume. Other is interesting for me.

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you for watching, glad it was usefull

[@robthomas4302]

Very helpful. Like your delivery and have subscribed. Many thanks.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Rob, glad the video was helpful and thank you for your kind comment. Welcome aboard.

[@grantmclauchlan2843]

Great stuff, I thoroughly enjoy your presentations Glenn. Helpful as ever and looking forward to the Nina tutorials.

[@Astrobloke]

Thanks Grant. I will start to include more NINA in my capture videos. Just finishing attaching the arduino to the oc and roof and getting nina to control it in a sequence

[@CosmuzzAstro]

Got a couple helpful things there Glenn Thanks! Cant wait to see the N.I.N.A video.

[@Astrobloke]

Thanks Ben. I shall get that sorted soon

[@SharpStarAstro]

Great information! Very helpful!

[@Astrobloke]

Thank you

[@JoesAstrophoto]

Great tutorial Glenn! Lot's of really good info from start to finish!

[@Astrobloke]

Thanks Joe.

[@denodan]

I have an eq6 pro r and ipolar to get the SCP. and find with 1 star alighment it's very accurate and quite often star us centred, or planet, etc

[@Astrobloke]

I have one on my EQ6 and its excellent, makes PA so easy. Clear skies and thank you for dropping by

[@nickhendley9303]

The best video i've seen for set up. My problem is I'm at a low latitude 10N and polaris is too low in the sky to polar align. It's all trial and error at the moment.

[@Astrobloke]

Nick do you use NINA? If you go to the nightly build they have plugins you can add and one is a 3 star polar alignment routine that does not need Polaris in view..... kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5-ym5WAZdSKjKc

[@nickhendley9303]

@@Astrobloke Thanks Glenn, I'll have a look. New to all this.

[@mick3para]

Very helpfull, thanks.

[@Astrobloke]

You are welcome. Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment.

[@denodan]

You can do polar alignment with the HC

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Dennis, yes you can. I now use the ipolar and find that and excellent tool for PA

[@jonrobinson1026]

Great! Easy to follow. Just put mine (new delivery )together .What about the elevation on the side of the mount ? Should this be set to my latitude or do I need to find Polaris first? Also, here in Southern Spain Google maps shows my altitude as 200 + metres. Does this sound feasible. I understand everything else but these two numbers. Many thanks . Will be watching your other tutorials.

[@Astrobloke]

High Jon and thank you for watching and commenting. The elevation on the side will get you very roughly pointing up at the right angle for polaris but will need fine tuning with which ever Polar alignment method you are going to use. You could well be 200m above sea level (this is where it is measured from) I am currently at 48M. I have n app called polar scope align pro that gives me an accurate location which also includes the exact elevation. Hope my other videos help, any questions please just ask, happy to help

[@jonrobinson1026]

@@Astrobloke Thanks for your reply. When entering the + GMT time is it just + 1 in the display or the actual time. We are actually bang on the Greenwich's meridian lined here in Lliber but thanks to Franco ,who wanted GMT +1 , we're one hour ahead. Bit confusing.

[@johnclarke4098]

Hi Glenn Great video and huge thanks for sharing your experience. Just one very basic newbie question please. At the beginning you state that you need to align your tripod to north. What on the tripod needs to be aligned north? I have a Skywatcher Star Adventurer GTi Mount & Tripod and l am struggling to set this up. Thanks in advance. John 19:26 19:26

[@Astrobloke]

Hi John and thank you for watching and commenting. When your mount is in what is commonly known as the home position ( counterweights pointing down to the ground and scope pointing straight up to the sky) standing behind your scope you want this to be facing North. You will not get it perfect but that is where the polar alignment routine comes in to get you as close as to it. Then your mount will track the sky accurately and to your camera and scope will not move and then you can take long exposures revealing the beauty of the night sky and all the wonderful nebulosity there is. Hope this helps but please feel free to ask if I can help at all. Always a lot to learn when you first start out but you will get there

[@minengineman]

Hi Glenn, I am a complete newbie and have found your video to be the most instructive so far. I assume I would do a polar alignment before home position and *star alignment. I know I would have to re-do polar alignment when I move mount around garden but do I have to re-do star alignment? Can you use the synscan polar alignment without seeing polaris ie during the day? Thank you so much for this tutorial that has given me hope of eventually getting my head around all this Using HEQ5 pro and Olympus EM1 mk111.

[@Astrobloke]

Hi there and welcome to this great hobby. There is a lot to learn but it will come and you’ll soon be at ease. If you move the mount technically a new star alignment should be done but to be honest unless you are going to a different location I wouldn’t worry. Daytime alignment is not really possible as you need stars to do it with any hope of accuracy. I have a video on PA and different methods kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5yrhYSqoLWJpqM These days I use either 3 star PA in NINA or my ioptron ipolar

[@minengineman]

Many thanks for response. As you say a lot to learn but your video’s are helping a lot.

[@SimonsAstro]

Well explained Glenn, this can all be applied to my EQ6 RPro when it arrives I’m guessing! Hopefully this week😀 Because I will be using the ASI Air pro, I shouldn’t have to do a star alignment, as I think the ASI AIR will use plate solving? Great stuff, keep it coming mate👍

[@Astrobloke]

Yes Simon all the same steps really. With the ASAIR again you are right. No star alignment needed as you’ll plate solve. You will love having a goto

[@SimonsAstro]

@@Astrobloke Can’t wait Glenn The days of bending down to line my scope up are numbered 😀

[@jonrobinson1026]

Thanks for you help. Got the app and managed to align. Great app. Last question.. honest. Slewed to Arcturus,right in the middle of the screen. Then prompted to make fine adjustments with the arrow keys. After initial slewing to a star the arrow keys don't respond and no fine adjustments possible. Any ideas? Thanks once again.

[@Astrobloke]

You are welcome and please ask as many questions as you need as its a hobby with lots of them. Before you slew to a star make sure you set the slew speed of the mount as its default is 1 which is its slowest. You literally will see no movement it is that fine. 9 is the highest and can be a little hard to control. I suggest 5 or 6. Let me know how you get on? Good luck

[@jonrobinson1026]

Thanks for the tip about the rate. Didn't realise it defaulted back to 2 after every movement. Success !

[@jonrobinson1026]

Helo again. Would my DSLR have to have live view. Took out the IR filter then realised no live view on the Canon 400 d. Not ready to invest in an astrocamera yet as just spent a lot on new mount and scope. Difficult to find astro mod cameras here in Spain. Any DSLR you'd recommend...Many thanks.

[@catherinegrimes2308]

I enjoyed your video and found it to be very informative. Is there any reason why you didn't use the SynScan polar alignment feature?

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Catherine and thank you for your comment. I bought an Altair camera when I got my first mount and that came with a free years subscription to Sharpcap so have always used that system to polar align. Its nothing against the synscan feature, I have just never used it. Does it work well?

[@catherinegrimes2308]

@@Astrobloke Yes, your answer makes sense. I have three mounts: CGEM II, iOptron GEM 45 and a Sky-Watcher AZ-GTI. I live in the East Midlands and it is nearly always cloudy at night time, so I don't have many chances to use the equipment. The AZ-GTI is my portable mount and I will be taking it along with an Askar FMA-180 lens and a FujiFilm X-E3 camera to the USA in 2024 for the solar eclipse. The setup should be good for photographing the eclipse and I want to use it for astrophotography in the clear skies of New Mexico and Arizona. I modified the AZ-GTI to be an equatorial mount and use SynScan Pro on my phone to control the mount. I have only tried once to do the SynScan polar alignment and I messed it up, because I was too confident and did it a bit like the CGEM II's alignment method. A very knowledgeable friend recommends that I attach a polar scope to the AZ-GTI, but I don't want to take any additional equipment such as polar scope, mounting bracket and eyepiece with me on the flight because of the weight limit. I was hoping that you would have tried it and could give me some feedback. As you would like some feedback, I found that the iOptron built in polar alignment camera and software works well. However, I have found that balancing my Edge HD 800 can be difficult on the iOptron mount can be tricky because of the very low friction in the bearings. I think that it is the 3rd axis being out of balance that it causing the problem and you mentioned it in your video. Like you, I do not extend the tripod lower legs, but I have a mini-pier on the iOptron. I am thinking of taking it off to lower the telescope so that I can get a better view of what is going on. There is a big ZWO colour camera on the Edge and there is a lot of back focus that gives a lot of torque that could be making it back heavy. I will let you know how the SynScan polar alignment works when I next try it out.

[@Astrobloke]

@@catherinegrimes2308 You have some nice mounts, I also have the AZ GTI and like that a lot as a small portable EQMOUNT. I always use sharpcap with that also. I have thought about getting an ASIAIR for that set up and I know that has a fairly good alignment routine. Do you use NINA at all for your capturing? There is a new plug in feature on the nightly builds and one of them is a 3 star Polar Alignment ( you don't even have to be able to see Polaris) I did take mine away on a skiing holiday. I was just using a DSLR and 50mm lens. I basically used a laser pen held to the side of the mount and pointed at Polaris. Not the most precise method but for that focal length was more than good enough.I will have a go at the synscan PA feature though and let you know how I get on.

[@catherinegrimes2308]

@@Astrobloke I was watching your video of the AZ-GTI mount when your reply came in. I bought my Edge HD 800 and CGEM II from RVO. I found the CGEM II heavy to move in and out of the house, but the iOptron GEM45 is manageable. If I get an observatory or a pier I will use the CGEM for that. Even though my garden is a nice size, there are two large trees with preservation orders on them. So I use my mount in different parts of the garden and sometimes on the drive, it depends where the target is. I have an ASIair Pro and find the user interface a bit odd and I need a USB router between it and the iOptron mount, I read that this is because of a problem with the kernel of the ASIair's operating system. When you use it for polar aligning, it corrects the telescope focal length when it plate solves. A new model ASIair has just been launched, I would wait until it is available. I use a10.4" tablet control the ASIair or my bridge camera or X-E3 camera and use my phone to control the AZ-GTI. I took the AZ-GTI to Argentina in 2019 to see the solar eclipse. On starting up the mount I thought that it would get the GPS coordinates from my phone, but it didn't use it and it tracked the wrong way because I was in the southern hemisphere. I recently found out that I should have reset the polar alignment. I have SharpCap and have used it to help focus the telescope and for imaging the Moon, I bought an HP touch screen laptop for it. I can also light up the keys as well. The laptop will not be taken abroad so I use my small and lightweight Android devices. I have recently watched a video from "Cuiv, the lazy geek" about NINA and the 3 point polar alignment. I will download it soon because there is a spot in the garden that is on the south side of the house and if you look north all that you can see is a wall of the house. That spot is quite good for looking south. Having the mount on the driveway can be good but there are trees in the way of Polaris and there is a street light to the north of the house as well, so NINA would be good for that as well. I don't like using the mount on the driveway in case somebody steals some of the equipment. It is as very quiet close of about 12 houses and I have a gate, but I am still a bit concerned about not staying outside with it. One of the reasons for getting an ASIair was to sit in the conservatory and control the imaging in the warm. I also have a RedCat and found it surprisingly heavy for its size, like you I have upgraded the tube ring. The plan was to use it on the AZ-GTI, but I think that the iOptron GEM45 is portable to take it in the car and hope to take it to the SPA's astronomy weekend. I also have a Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 and that one balances easier on the GEM45 than the Edge does. Last year I took the Askar FMA-180 camera and the X-E3 camera to Turkey. The only time that I could use it was from the hotel balcony on a windy night in the city of Kas. The camera was mounted on a light camera tripod and I didn't know where I was pointing the camera. On looking at the images at home, I discovered that I had managed to capture Jupiter and could see some of the Galilean moons. I bought an adapter that fits on the hot shoe and I can fit a red dot finder on it so I should be able to see where the camera is pointing. But I wasn't in the mood to be as precise as that. Because of the cloudy nights, I am going to move into Solar Imaging. The idea was to buy a Ha Quark then get a camera. ZWO were recently having a sale and I bought an ASI294MM for solar imaging and guiding. It has a greater well depth and sensor size than the ASI174MM that is a current favourite, I hope that I have made the right decision. I will see if I can get a discount on a Quark at the Practical Astronomy Show. I have an old Sky-Watcher 500mm focal length scope with 102mm aperture and will use it for solar imaging.

[@obsidian666]

Hi, thank you for your explanation! For setting up the home Position, which would always be the same, one could fix the DEC Setting circle with those screws, but not the RA setting circle, it won't turn, is this a bug in the HEQ5? The way you do it, it's still not fix with the rotation and might slip. I don't understand the design of this? Or did I miss a point why one would meassure with a spirit level every time? Thanks for any help 😊

[@Astrobloke]

Hi and thanks for watching. What a lot of people do is once they have the home position they either use tale or a marker to leave a permanent mark so it can be manually placed there straight away everytime. The screws can be fun y on the dials and not sure why, seems to be a quirk of the Sky watcher mounts

[@geoffnash3098]

Hi Glen what power source do you use to power your mount? I have seen the celestron lithium batteries but they are expensive what else could I use? Appreciate your help

[@Astrobloke]

I use a Nevada PSU off mains. I do have a Sky watcher powertank for when out but recently bought a campervan that has a 110AH leisure battery so have been using that to power my rigs. The Large lithium batteries like the Jackory are very good but like you say very expensive.

[@astrodad-simonb277]

Thanks Glenn! Tried for the first time last night and doing 2 star alignment the first was centred but the second star missed the target by miles! EG: Mirfak then Vega, it completely missed Vega. I tried other stars but no joy, the only thing was this morning I noticed the counter weight was not tight so I am hoping it was this stupid mistake 🤦🏼‍♂️. Unless you can think of any other reason - would be great to hear - thanks! Simon

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Simon. I wouldn't think the counterweight would have made a difference to that but fix it anyways. Normally when that happens its because either the time/date is set wrong or the location is not correct. So start off by checking these. Because you are starting from scratch if after checking these it still does it under utilities (I think) there is factory reset. I would do this and start again. Also make sure you have a good polar alignment. Let me know if any of this helps. if not let me know and I'll try and help you find the problem

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@Astrobloke Thanks Glenn! I will be trying again tonight and will make sure I pay close attention to these. On the lighter side the EQR Pro tracks beautifully and no star trails :-) Will let you know how I get on! Cheers mate! Simon

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@Astrobloke Glenn, thanks for the advice on the Alignment!!! Just got it right - it was where I was NOT putting the star alignment in the centre of the DLSR as I assumed incorrectly that the mount was so good it would go straight to it and of course it does not! After just one star alignment (which I corrected) I was able to go straight to Andromeda - which I am now taking 20 sub at 60 sec ISO 100 - will see :-) thanks again Glenn!!!

[@Astrobloke]

@@astrodad-simonb277 glad you sorted it Simon. It needs that sky map first then The skew will be more accurate. The 3 star should give you the best sky plan. Do you use anything to control capture like NINA or APT?

[@astrodad-simonb277]

@@Astrobloke Hi Glenn, no not yet, as after 20 years Im getting back into Astro Photography, so I trying to re learn everything - so will look into NINA as you mentioned this in your video. Also, Im not guiding yet as the big investment really is the mount as I think and hope all else will fall into place as I have been researching for the last 6 months before buying. So, I have a big journey ahead :-) I am going to watch your video's as they help me alot!! And Im just past North London so to see another southerner doing this its good !! :-)

[@deeber35]

I use NINA to PA. When I then move to Synscan, how do the 2-star alignment adjustments get taken up by NINA?

[@Astrobloke]

Do you use platesolving?

[@denodan]

I never bother ending in home postion and HC still retains long and lat. The only time I worry about home postion is starting in this postion for polar alighment

[@Astrobloke]

I have always had the habbit of finishing in Home position as with the HEQ5 if you did not it would lose its PEC trained posiyion and you would have to record a new curve each time. The EQ6 has an encoder on the RA worm so that is not essential but is with the HEQ5,

[@jimcarter2092]

Thank for the video it helps out to see a Visual demonstration. I stepped up from the star adventure 2i to the Heq5 pro. first before using the p.c I wanted to use the synscan app and learned to navigate it now but it seems I have to plug my canon dslr into the Hand controller but i cant use the wifi dongle at the same time just one or the other? Correct? I tried a "y" connector But it seem to cancel out the mount So synscan app camera control is only For mounts with a seperate snap port the heq5 doesn't have. So i would have to use an intervalometer to control the camera unlike my 2i mount that i can And could not find a dedicat plug/cord To my canon (2.5mm jack) to the hand controller, so ill have to make my own That is no problem i have some electrical electronics experience. So am u correct that i cant use the wifi Dongle and hand controller at same time? My goal was to control the mount and the camera from the android app for now, i am just been takeing baby steps.in astrophotography. Next phase i will control all from p.c U am about 14 months into the hobby And learned so much by people on youtube cloudy nights. Ect ect Could you give some feedback or advrce on my issue stated. Thank you!! 😊

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Jim. The HEQ5 Pro is a lovely mount. Unfortunately as I moved to this I also started using cooled astronomy cameras so went straight to PC. I have used the synscan app and it works very well but that's a shame that the dongle takes up the same port that would also control your camera. Have you heard of Magic lantern? Its a firmware for canon cameras that gives loads of extra features (one being a built in intervalometer) I used this once with an older Canon that I had and it was free and worked a treat. Could be one possible solution for you for now. Of course once you move to controlling with a PC and not the hand controller none of that will be a problem anymore. When I started out I used APT (Astrophotography Tool) which was great and worked flawlessly with DSLR's. Now days I am a dedicated user of NINA which is a very comprehensive software package. It runs all my equipment including my roll off roof Observatory. Sorry I am not able to directly answer your problem. The hobby really is a one step at a time thing and you will always be learning, I know I am. Anyway I hope you get a good solution to your issue and enjoy some great astrophotography, clear skies

[@jimcarter2092]

@@Astrobloke thank you for your reply! That's ok on my request I guess is kind off Looking for a 2nd opinion. I think it's I use the hand controller and it will control the camera or use the Android app and An intervalometer, in that, I did buy a Good quality wireless one that is easy to Set up and has the receiver plug for My canon t-7. I haven't use this mount Yet still too much rain here. But have Used sharpcap pro version for sun and moon with a lower cost svbony astro Cam and have phd2 and most of the common software most people use But wasn't ready to go that route yet ...but getting very close I want to be Ready for the nice weather coming up There is many good helpful people I have Learned from. Nico c, Trevor j, chucks astrophotography (he is funny!) The lazy geek and few others, along With cloudy nights, and astrobin I subscribed to your channel now And will check out your videos, So far I like all the shorts, Thank you very much! For the reply!

[@russgenzmer8326]

Great video. I have a EQ 6 R pro mount that I will be doing visual viewing. My issue is that no matter how many times I set it up even when I do 1 star align it is 10-12 full moons off from the object (Arcturus example). I use my phone compass in the true celestial north mode to 'align' the mount to north. Is that where my problem lies? Do I have to do polar alignment if I want to use visually? Clear skies

[@Astrobloke]

Hi Russ. A good polar alignment and accurately set home position and then a good star alignment will help with the goto accuracy. With imaging the extra tool of plate solving helps sort out any inaccuracies. Do you use the polar scope?

[@russgenzmer8326]

@@Astrobloke No polar scope align yet. I do a two star and can get somewhat close to several objects but over 5-10 minutes it is off so much I get tired of 'scanning'. Will work on it, thanks

[@snappycanon]

Hi I don't have a HEQ-5 yet, but can I take it that the green ring is divided into 24 hours and that 12 is if fact 0:00 hours RA ? many Thanks Richard

[@Astrobloke]

I no longer have the HEQ5 but I think you are correct. It has all the setting explained in the manual. Are you thinking of getting one? Its an excellent mount.

[@snappycanon]

@@Astrobloke Many thanks, I use the Sky watcher Star Adventure pro at the moment. Guided that works well. I have done lots of Re-Engineering on making it a manual GOTO mount. But yes I do want to get a HEQ-5 as its a solid mount that's easy to work on. many Thanks

[@Oxizee]

why you have to loosen the RA dial. If it fastedned it doesnt turn. The DEC dial is totally vice verse. You need to lock it when setted good.

[@Astrobloke]

I am not sure of why it is designed like that but yes the RA screw in will stop the axis from turning. Poor design unfortunately by Sky watcher