A Few iOptron HAE43 setup questions

The better the load is balanced the less work the mount will have to do. I know you don’t have to balance with HD mounts but it certainly can’t hurt. From looking at your setup it seems like you could really benefit from a pier extension. It looks like that if you are shooting in certain declinations near the zenith, you might not be able to reach the meridian before the filter wheel hits the tripod. It seems the pointing the wheel up when in the home position would be the best position overall.

Hi Bruce,

Congrats on the HAE43C. I think you will really like it. I see you figured out you were talking about the wifi antennae and connection. Just a note on the wifi. It can be changed to station mode if you ever have the need to connect it through another wifi access point to control multiple pieces of gear on a single network. It’s a hidden perk I can help with if needed. I run multiple scopes on my HAE43EC and completely understand your need to roughly balance against spacing conflicts with the base of the mount or azimuth adjustment screws. With my longer 5 inch refractor (SVX127D) rough balance helps a lot to lessen strain on the motors. On the lighter rigs it makes no difference for me so I place them for best clearance. To address the clearance issue I use risers and/or pier extensions to help as needed. I also limit my rotator to operate in only 180 degrees of rotation when I use it to further prevent collision conflicts. I do have an older version of the HAE43EC that requires use of the Hand Control but also allows me to install custom through mount cables. I don’t think through mount cables like this are possible on the newer B and C variants, but may be worth checking on. I included a picture when I was first setting up my CAT91 on my HAE43EC if it helps. I love these mounts and have had a great experience with them. I have a HAE69EC as well to run my EDGE HD11 or for use at outreach star parties. In the outreach cases I use a Pegasus Smarteye. I control both the HAE43EC or 69EC mount and Smarteye together on the pegasus wifi network using SkySafari. This requires changing the wifi mode previously mentioned but is a very sweet setup for public outreach.

📷 CAT91 HAE43EC.jpgCS,

Jeff

PS: The extra silver peg may be the pin that allows you to set different altitude ranges depending on your location on Earth or if you need to run in Alt-Az mode. Hard to tell in your picture.

Bruce,

I have been using my HAE43C for about a year with several different telescopes with the mini-pier, lite-rock tripod, and a filter wheel. While a rough balance is useful, for the reasons stated above, my AT115 is too long if balanced to clear the tripod at the meridian. I asked Ioptron if a second mini-pier would work and they said yes, but also suggested that moving the telescope in a poorly balanced fashion was acceptable. It has worked, especially when I position the filter wheel up as suggested above, but it may result in some rotation issues when framing a target. I decided not to add the second mini-pier due to my concerns about becoming top heavy.

Jim