bobw55 HOME position is with the scope and mount pointed to polaris or the southern pole star.

Home position depends on where the mount thinks a known reference position is. Not everbody references to the pole.

The RST-135, for example has relative encoders that are referenced to an internal index mark. In Equatorial mode, that index mark places an OTA pointed to the Western horizon, not at the pole. Everything is referenced from that (west horizon) point.

Chen

bernard_l

area51 I have the same question. How do you modify and set the Park position?

We support a fixed Park Position operating with ASCOM. You can download the newest ASCOM driver and try.

e34stx We offer a default park position for now.
When you click "Park", ASI Mount's DEC turns left with a 90° angle.

Dear ZWO,

You have the home and park labels in the opposite position. I have a Paramount ME and MX+. In the Home position, the position is fixed... This is what you call "Park"- "ASI Mount's DEC turns left with a 90 degree angle". When I park my Paramounts, the will park in any position that I have set as Park.

Why is this important ZWO?
It is important in a remote observatory. The ZWO AM5 will park the telescope RA counter clockwise left about 90 degrees, and Dec counter clockwise left 90 degrees. This will point the telescope at the Zenith. This will change then obstruct roof closure.

What ZWO needs to do?
Reverse the commands for Park and Home.
"Home should be the "ASI Mount's DEC turns left with a 90° angle" - the calibration position

"Park" should be what the user can define at any position - the user set position

Regards,

Jarrod

What I forgot to add is that when a weather abort signal is received, Programs like Voyager and NINA will "PARK" the telescope. Using mounts like the Paramount will park it in any position set. Using the AM5, the telescope is pointing to the Zenith

Jarrod

jarkoh Yes, you are right. We've already recorded this in our requirements. We'll public here as soon as we release in future.

jarkoh Thank you for your feedback. We've recorded your requirement. Please wait for our release in the future.

jarkoh

100% agree with this. See my latest post on this from today. Why can't ZWO get this correct? WE MUST HAVE A CUSTOM PARK POSITION! Or else I'm switching to another mount manufacturer and cannot recommend this mount anymore. Let us know if ZWO is to be considered a serious mount or a toy.

mikenoname

YES park is different! Home is used to calibrate the mount position. PARK is typically used to make sure your mount is tucked out of the way so that a roll off roof or dome doesn't collide with the mount when you're done for the day. Park should be set to whatever position the user wants it to be set to. ANY position. It should not decide for you whether it's too low or too high. IT’S THE USER'S DECISION.

area51 Did you try this button before?

The Park button you highlighted turns the dec 90 degrees. Not useful. We need the Park to be user defined allowing the scope to be positioned so as to not interfere with a roll off roof closure. This is a very important and necessary function. It must be user definable because each user will need a different park position.

This functionality for the AM5 needs to be in ASIAIR as well. The ability to set a Park position for the end of a plan etc.

Hi ZWO.
I recently bought an AM3 and I would like to say that this is a wonderful mount, but the lack of a working park feature keeps me from recommending it. Please fix this problem. Frist you must make sure that when we hit the park button it will send the command to all the software that it is connected to via ascom (N.I.N.A., sharpcap , etc) Right now if I hit park in sharpcap the ascom driver won't see it and sharpcap will lock up. And if I hit park in the ascom driver sharpcap won’t see that it is park and won't accept any command after that. Second, you must add the possibility to set the park position wherever we want. THIS IS AN IMPORTANT FEATURE that should already be there in the driver, especially for people that have an observatory. Please ZWO, fix these problems, it should be priority number one on your list of things to fix for the AM5 and AM3. For the moment I cannot use my brand-new mount in my observatory. HOME command is not the same as PARK command...

That is NOT the correct Park position. Yes of course I've tried that button. I've been trying that button for 2 years now and it DOES NOT DO THE RIGHT THING.

Just FYI, I bought a Mach2GTO because of my frustrations with AM5. I'm selling the AM5 and cannot recommend this mount for any serious astroimaging. It cannot handle the most basic park functionality and I've wasted over 1000 hours of troubleshooting and near damage to my scope because of this. At this point the AM5 is more of a toy for people doing mobile imaging from time to time which is fine but if you want to have a dedicated setup in a shed or observatory the AM5 is not the right mount.

area51
Why would you spend upwards of 1000 hours attempting to park it when there’s no capability of doing so??? That doesn’t make sense.

area51 I’m sure your new mount is great. And in no way am I trying to be snarky but isn’t it a bit of a stretch to compare a mount at about 6x the cost to the AM5?

That’s essentially comparing a Nissan Altima to a Bentley Flying Spur.