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Polar align EQM-35, asiair problem

Sky-Watcher EQM-35 Pro ZWO ASIAIR Plus Acquisition Polar Alignment Deep Sky
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Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Hey everyone, after several attempts to figure out why I keep getting star trails and what's wrong with my alignment, I’ve decided to ask for help here. I’m trying to polar align my EQM-35 mount using ASIAIR. First, I manually aligned it using the polar scope, placing Polaris exactly where the polar clock indicated. After that, I checked the polar alignment with ASIAIR, and the RA/DEC error showed:RA: 00:30:00DEC: 00:05:00 I have no idea how this happened. Anyway, I tried using ASIAIR for polar alignment. When I moved the mount left or right, the up/down axis would also change—and vice versa. Eventually, I managed to complete the polar alignment, with ASIAIR showing:RA: 00:00:05DEC: 00:00:10 But when I slewed the mount back to the home position and checked the polar alignment again, the error values had changed to:RA: 00:30:00DEC: 00:10:00 Next, I slewed to a target and started guiding using my guide scope. After calibration, the guiding started, but I noticed the following: RA: Initially climbed to 10° and then stabilized between 1.0 and 1.3.DEC: Climbed to 50–60°, then stabilized around 1.8. Sometimes, the DEC would suddenly drop to 10–30° for a few seconds before returning to normal.I’m confused about what might be causing these alignment and guiding issues. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Helpful Engaging
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
That is my rig
Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar
It sounds like incorrect settings.  Did you make sure the coordinated and date/time are correct in the device that runs the app and synced with the mount ?
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
I wouldn't bother with a visual alignment first, there's no advantage in it. Just point your mount north and roughly adjust for latitude. software will do the rest. On the numbers changing, that's going to happen with a light setup like this. You should certainly look for anything obvious, something loose or soft or shifting ground. Other than that, get close with the AIR and start shooting. It's generally better to see a problem in the images and correct it as apposed to looking for problems that might not matter in the long run.
Helpful Concise
Tom Boyd avatar
Tom Boyd avatar
One other thought on the numbers changing. I assume you are leveling your tripod? If level is not perfect, error in dec and azimuth will not be independent.
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Eric Gagne:
It sounds like incorrect settings.  Did you make sure the coordinated and date/time are correct in the device that runs the app and synced with the mount ?

Yes
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Tom Boyd:
One other thought on the numbers changing. I assume you are leveling your tripod? If level is not perfect, error in dec and azimuth will not be independent.

Yes i level the tripod, with north, pa manually with polar scope and then complete the pa in asiair
TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
Matan Buzaglo:
Tom Boyd:
One other thought on the numbers changing. I assume you are leveling your tripod? If level is not perfect, error in dec and azimuth will not be independent.

Yes i level the tripod, with north, pa manually with polar scope and then complete the pa in asiair


I tried using polar scope of my sw GTi twice it was not fun. Then I got Nina and could use it's 3 point polar alignment for easy accurate results and never used polar scope since.

As others have said, use the polar alignment to routine in your asiair
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Bob de Bruin avatar
Bob de Bruin avatar
Hi Matan,

I have owned the same mount and also experienced a lot of difficulties. I suspect your problem has nothing to do with the polar alignment but just the ability of the mount to properly track at all. My copy of the mount was not able to do a goto because it just skipped and ended up somewhere random. What did help a little bit was a power supply with 14V instead of the 12V (and yes there is a risk in doing so) 

The mount was also impossible to balance well because there was way too much friction to do so. After disassemble and re greasing this was partially solved. 

In the end I exchanged the mount because it never was 100% reliable.

Good luck with problem solving and start with the basis as I sail I don't think polar alignment is your issue.

my 2cts, Bob
Helpful Supportive
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
TiffsAndAstro:
Matan Buzaglo:
Tom Boyd:
One other thought on the numbers changing. I assume you are leveling your tripod? If level is not perfect, error in dec and azimuth will not be independent.

Yes i level the tripod, with north, pa manually with polar scope and then complete the pa in asiair


I tried using polar scope of my sw GTi twice it was not fun. Then I got Nina and could use it's 3 point polar alignment for easy accurate results and never used polar scope since.

As others have said, use the polar alignment to routine in your asiair
​​​​​

Can i connect nina to asiair? Because all my rog connected to asiair
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
No, you have to use one or the other. Of the two, NINA is more capable.
Well Written Respectful
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Tony Gondola:
No, you have to use one or the other. Of the two, NINA is more capable.

What i need to do to connect nina to the equipment?
Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar
Once you have all your needed ASCOM drivers,  Green Swamp server or EQMOD for the mount and PHD2 installed you should be able to load everything up in NINA. Of course you won't be able to do this through the ASIAIR, you'll need a separate PC to replace it. It might seem like a lot of work compared to the AIR but you'll have more control and flexibility in the long run.
Well Written Concise
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Matan Buzaglo avatar
Tony Gondola:
Once you have all your needed ASCOM drivers,  Green Swamp server or EQMOD for the mount and PHD2 installed you should be able to load everything up in NINA. Of course you won't be able to do this through the ASIAIR, you'll need a separate PC to replace it. It might seem like a lot of work compared to the AIR but you'll have more control and flexibility in the long run.

Oh ok thank you!
TiffsAndAstro avatar
TiffsAndAstro avatar
Matan Buzaglo:
TiffsAndAstro:
Matan Buzaglo:
Tom Boyd:
One other thought on the numbers changing. I assume you are leveling your tripod? If level is not perfect, error in dec and azimuth will not be independent.

Yes i level the tripod, with north, pa manually with polar scope and then complete the pa in asiair


I tried using polar scope of my sw GTi twice it was not fun. Then I got Nina and could use it's 3 point polar alignment for easy accurate results and never used polar scope since.

As others have said, use the polar alignment to routine in your asiair
​​​​​

Can i connect nina to asiair? Because all my rog connected to asiair


Your asiair will have its own feature to polar align. 
Maybe watch a YouTube video there are bound to be lots. It's pretty simple and quick once you know what to do.