EAF Hand Controller

rac

I have a some questions.

How do the Fast and Slow hand controller speeds compare to the "normal" speed, the speed when controlling from software (ASICap for example)? My hope is that Fast will be faster than "normal".
Does the position counter continue to increment/decrement while using the handle controller?
When using the hand controller, what happens when the position counter reaches 0 or 60,000? Does the motor beep and stop or does it continue turning? If it continues, does the counter continue to increment or decrement after resetting to 0 or 60,000, as the case may be?

WalterT

From my experience only, so take it with a grain of salt.
1- I think that "fast" and "slow" would have been more appropriately named "short" and "long" because I don't think they refer to the speed of the EAF but rather how many steps it moves. The speed seems to be the same always.
2- Don't know for sure but I think it keeps track of where it is at.
3- I remember when focusing my SCT for the first time I had to move through the whole EAF range about 8 times. But I went backwards, starting at 60000 moving down to 0, and it stopped and beeped once it reached 0. I would reset it then to 60000 and move to 0 again, and so forth many many times.

rac

Thanks Walter. I had assumed that with the hand controller, the motor would keep going until the button was released. I didn't occur to me that it would only advance by the Fine or Coarse steps, I assume as specified in ASICap or ASCOM. If so it won't be the solution for moving long distances, as I hoped it might be. It will still be useful for focusing when standing next to the 'scope of course. It sounds as though "Slow" and "Fast" should perhaps be "Fine" and "Coarse". I had wondered why there were no Slow and Fast settings on the software side.

w7ay

rac It sounds as though "Slow" and "Fast" should perhaps be "Fine" and "Coarse".

Indeed, if you check what they are called in ASIAIR, they are :

"Fine (Slow) Step" and "Coarse (Fast) Step."

Chen

rac

My Hand Controller (HC) arrived a few days and, having used it, I can say that, with the switch in the Fast position, the motor turns visibility faster than in the slow position. It seems to ignore the coarse steps number and simply runs while the Up or Down button is pressed, which is my preference.

The software controls (in ASICap) are disabled whilst the HC is in use. When the 0 or 60,000 limit is reached, the motor beeps and stops. The position number changes during HC adjustments.