Guide problems

shawnhotz256

been having problems with guiding lately and running out of options here to test I even got a eqmod cable cause skywatcher said it would be better that did nothing my I have no cable snag as I redid the hole cables again and my balance is good and PA is like only at max 00,00,20 which should be good enough on pa I've even replaced the power to make sure the power wasn't faulty
my dec just doesn't not respond well and it's quite frankling killing the hobby for me

Kevin_A

It looks more like a mechanical issue on Dec and most likely you need to look at the mesh of the gears. Go on cloudy nights and give lots of details and setting you use for guiding. That is most likely not a software setting issue due to the amount dec moves during a dither.

shawnhotz256

Kevin_A ya I did tighten up the gears made sure to not over tighten I made sure the gears did mesh nicely to tho I mean the dec moves when I do it manually but never on guiding its quite puzzling like the dec will sometimes do good dithers sometimes it wont its like on and off

Kevin_A

shawnhotz256 first I would reduce the dither too 2-3 pixels and if that fails just try dithering on Ra only and see what happens. It is a matter of determining mechanical vs settings.

shawnhotz256

Kevin_A problem is it does this while guiding to it will hang and not come down not just in dither also the calibration steps hang on dec side like it will be lets say step 11 at dis=22.5 then step 12 will be like dis=22.6 and get stuck like that and when does hit 25 dis it will then go back but barely moves or sometimes goes up in distance

Kevin_A

shawnhotz256 that to be sounds like a mechanical issue. Most dec issues are lubrication, gear mesh or worn bearing issues… creating either excessive unresponsive backlash or stiction. I would say if it is mechanical then loose fitting gear backlash is the issue as stiction has telltale signs and always has a quick release of energy after the binding.

Here is a good test… make sure you have great PA, then in the guide window turn off “AUTO” Dec guiding… turn it to “OFF” then see what happens. If it does not start screwing up then it is a mechanical backlash issue as the dec backlash will be removed when using off mode as the gears only turn 1 way, not back and forth… so no backlash.
Try that.