At first I would like to thank Tom for this wonderful project! And I am really happy that I could purchase a readily done AstroEQ device, this helped me to save some time on my DIY project.
Here I would like to report about an error I stumbled about. It cost me some time to figure out, and others may have the same trouble as I had.
After configuring the AstroEQ with the Configuration Utility and when EQMOD opens after configuration, my RA stepper motor had a wrong siderial rate.
It should rotate with 10s for one rotation of its axis, but it was 12 seconds. I tried other gear and wormwheel settings and compared the resulting rotation speed of the motor to what it should be, but it was always too slow (yes, I always used the "update" button at the end).
I checked my calculations and several other things, and also loaded the predefined EQ6 Synscan file. The motor then needed 145s for a rotation, but should do one rotation in 120s. I looked for a newer version of the Configuration Utility, did the firmware update; nothing helped, so that I was sure my hardware had a problem.
Then I had another idea: I finished the Configuration Utility and established the communication to the AstroEQ via Cartes Du Ciel, and, Voila, the siderial tracking rate was correct!
When I returned to the EQMOD window that opens at the end of the Configuration Utility the tracking rate was wrong again.
To make the long story short: the EQMOD window that opens after configuration of AstroEQ lets the RA stepper motor rotate at a speed that is about 15% too slow with respect to the settings you just did, but when you operate it via Cartes Du Ciel (and probably other programs communicating via Ascom) the RA rate is correct - at least this was what I experienced at my setup (IBM ThinkCentre M55, Win7, Nema 14 stepper.)
Clear skies,
René
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Topic: Wrong siderial speed on testing after configuration (Read 1953 times)