DST with StellaVita and Skywatcher mount.

ToupTek StellaVita Meridian Flip Help Needed
9 replies•134 views
Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

Hello,

I am having issues some issues with meridian flip not working and I believe it has to do with the mount settings. In my SV I have this in the mount information. We’re in DST time currently in Canada which is why there is a 1 hour difference between the Mount information and the Local information.

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When it’s time for a meridian flip, the mount moves toward it, stops for a few seconds at or near its home position and goes back to where it came from. So it’s like nothing happened. I tried stopping the session, powering everything off and back on, slewing to target and it went to the wrong side again. It’s only after about an hour that it starting going to the correct side when slewing to that same target. That’s what I think my issue with with DST.

The mount is a Skywatcher EQM-35 Pro. I never had to do anything about DST when I was using an Asiair. I remember a message in the app saying it was normal that the mount was 1 hour behind and everything worked.

So I am wondering….does the StellaVita handle DST ? Do I have to enable/disable DST twice a year in the hand controller for my meridian flips to work properly ?

Helpful Engaging
Tim Ray avatar
Tim Ray avatar

Hi Eric.

I don’t use a SV but in all of my software I have the mount sync’d to local time. Not knowing the SV I would do whatever is necessary to adjust the mount to match DST. Both the computer and telescope mount need to be in the same time zone. I hope this helps.

CS Tim

Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

Have you tried changing the local time in the SV? Seems it would be a simple test and work around as long as it doesn’t mess up everything else.

Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

Tim, I never used the hand controller before but today I found out DST was not enabled. I changed it and will try again on the next clear night.

Tony. I think the time in the SV is good, it tried the flip at the right time.

Thank you both for the replies. I’ll report back once I test with DST enabled in the mount.

Georg N. Nyman avatar
Georg N. Nyman avatar

SV support told me to unclick DST in the HC and to set the time there to the actual real time - but keep in mind, whenever you start your mount and connect SV, it changes back - so you need to keep an eye on the time on the HC. It works for me - one of the few topics, which work now with SV :-(

Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

Georg N. Nyman · Sep 13, 2025, 08:02 AM

SV support told me to unclick DST in the HC and to set the time there to the actual real time - but keep in mind, whenever you start your mount and connect SV, it changes back - so you need to keep an eye on the time on the HC. It works for me - one of the few topics, which work now with SV :-(

Thanks Georg,

If things don’t work with DST enabled in the HC I will try your method.

What other issues do you have with SV. Apart from that and guiding that always fails when starting automatically everything else have been relatively smooth lately.

Except also with firmware 1.1.49 which doesn’t work for me, I am getting “capture failed” each time I try to take a shot. I had to do a factory reset and I stick to 1.1.44 for now.

Georg N. Nyman avatar
Georg N. Nyman avatar

Eric Gagne · Sep 13, 2025, 11:31 AM

Georg N. Nyman · Sep 13, 2025, 08:02 AM

SV support told me to unclick DST in the HC and to set the time there to the actual real time - but keep in mind, whenever you start your mount and connect SV, it changes back - so you need to keep an eye on the time on the HC. It works for me - one of the few topics, which work now with SV :-(

Thanks Georg,

If things don’t work with DST enabled in the HC I will try your method.

What other issues do you have with SV. Apart from that and guiding that always fails when starting automatically everything else have been relatively smooth lately.

Except also with firmware 1.1.49 which doesn’t work for me, I am getting “capture failed” each time I try to take a shot. I had to do a factory reset and I stick to 1.1.44 for now.

I had the same problem with that 1.1.49 upgrade but after I followede the procedure which Touptek had pusblished, - resetting to 1.1.44 and the reloading (important), yes reloading 1.1.49, the camera worked again.

My other problems are related to the weak WLAN and to the intrinsic instability of the entire system. It works fine for an hour and then it stops and needs to be restarted or on the next day, it does not work until I restart it twice - just one example

Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

I tried that twice and it still didn’t work but that was before they published that procedure. Maybe they changed something in the 1.1.49 image, I will try again tonight.

Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

I still can’t get this to work.

  • Disabling dst didn’t do it.

  • Disabling dst and setting the timezone to -4 didn’t either.

The Stellavita always shows different time zones and times with the mount and the flip doesn’t work. It brings the mount home and then slews back to where it was. If I stop the plan power everything off and on and slew to that target it goes the wrong way. I have to wait 1 hour and then I can resume shooting.

I’m connected to the mount with a USB cable using EQMOD Mount in the SV.

if anyone has any idea please share.

Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

Georg N. Nyman · Sep 13, 2025 at 08:02 AM

SV support told me to unclick DST in the HC and to set the time there to the actual real time - but keep in mind, whenever you start your mount and connect SV, it changes back - so you need to keep an eye on the time on the HC. It works for me - one of the few topics, which work now with SV :-(

Reading this again. Georg did you mean you have to change the time in the HC AFTER connecting the SV ?

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