A Few iOptron HAE43 setup questions

Harmonic Mount
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Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar

I just started setting up a travel rig with a newly purchased iOptron HAE43C mount. It connected immediately to NINA, but I have a few housekeeping questions. BTW- no manual came with it. So, I had to download but it still did not address my questions.

📷 IMG_4484.jpegIMG_4484.jpegThree questions from this image:

1) How critical is it to get the center of gravity of the scope in the middle of the mount? If it is, I need to somehow move it more forward, but the FW will hit the altitude adjustment knob. Of course, I can manually rotate it, but that doesn’t help if I want it in that position to take an image.

2) There appears to be an extra silver peg below the altitude adjustment knob in the mount. Any idea what that is for?

📷 IMG_4486.jpegIMG_4486.jpegThis was in a separate plastic bag. What is it for?

I’d appreciate any help for my questions.

Bruce

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Tony Gondola avatar
Tony Gondola avatar

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.

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