Refresh polar alignment (forever)

Yngvarr

I must say that I am increasingly excited about the ease of polar alignment. However, there are also some concerns: the biggest one is that every time I try to refresh the polar alignment, I get different calibration data and sometimes even the opposite of the previous calibration. This way, I cannot reliably understand when the Seestar is calibrated and when to consider myself satisfied.

Lilo

Yngvarr
Ard you talking about that "Refresh" button?
If so, forget about it, it never worked.

Tech@ZWO

When using the camera mount, ensure the quick-release plate is securely locked and verify the tightening direction to prevent any wobbling of the equipment. Additionally, confirm that the ground is level and free from wind or vibrations.

Tech@ZWO

Lilo Not about that"Refresh" button.What I'm referring to is the hardware component—you need to securely lock the black quick-release plate (used for mounting Seestar accessories). It must not be installed horizontally. Then check that your surface is level.
Operating instructions video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01IsyVjDvCo

marvindj

Lilo was asking the original poster whether they are using the polar alignment "Refresh" button , which, apparently has never worked accurately. Instead, the work around is to exit Polar Alignment (PA) altogether and then re-enter PA and re-perform alignment.

Lilo

marvindj
Exactly
And your are lucky if glitchy level sensor allows you to do so ))

curtismacc

Lilo I am not yet convinced that it is a glitchy level sensor, although that is a top suspect. It may be that backlash is contributing to this but I need to do some more testing.

Maybe ZWO Tech Support can let us know if when doing the 1st set of 3 plate solutions the Seestar takes out the backlash when it goes to the 1st point. Since the RA axis travels in the same direction for the 2nd and 3rd points backlash should not be a problem.

The next question would be, if we back out of the PA routine and came back in as marvindj mentions above, does the Seestar take out the backlash when it moves in the opposite direction in RA to get back to the PA starting position. The difference between the first time PA and the second, third, etc. is where the RA axis starts so, if backlash has not been taken into account this could be one of the sources of variability when we repeat the PA process. And keep in mind, that not every Seestar will have the same amount of backlash as this will be a variable in the manufacturing process. So some folks will get more of a repeatability problem compared to others.

Tech@ZWO

Thanks for your suggestion.Regarding these issues, we will conduct tests under clear skies and provide you with the new results.

curtismacc

Tech@ZWO Can you tell us if the backlash is taken out per my question above?

Tech@ZWO

curtismacc We will test in clear sky and will feedback.We have conducted numerous polar axis calibration tests, which have been completed without issues and in a fast timely

curtismacc

Tech@ZWO You can just look at the code to see if there is a command to reverse direction slightly after going back to the starting point for the first plate solve location. I am not sure how you will confirm this by testing. The code is the key to understanding what the Seestar is doing.

To be clear and to repeat my question, we are talking about the case where the 3 point plate solution is complete and feedback is provided for the Alt and Az offsets and the user steps back out of the PA routine one page and then comes back to the PA routine page and starts the plate solution over again. When the Seestar goes back to the starting point for the plate solution for the 2nd time (slews to the west in RA) , does the Seestar then reverse direction slightly to the east in RA just enough to take out the gear backlash so it is in the same starting point as it was the first time it moved to this position?