I am starting a new topic on something I already discussed here so we start a fresh discussion.
I have been using the Stellavita with my Skywatcher mounts (EQm-35 Pro and SA-GTI) for a year now. To this days I have never been able to get to properly execute a meridian flip.
Last September, when it was time the SV would pause shooting and tracking for the set number of “before and after” minutes as set and then attemp the flip. What would happen then was the mount would go home, pause for a few seconds and then go back to where it came from instead of flipping over to the other side. I tried stopping the plan, homing the mount and slew to my target but again it went to the wrong side. Only after about 1 hour after my target passed the meridian was I able to slew to the right side.
Now today it’s even worst. I am using the latest firmware with the new 2.0 app and it just doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t stop shooting, doesn’t stop tracking, it will just run my scope into the tripod if I let it go.
Last September I was still in DST and I am again now. Because slewing works properly 1 after the time the flip should have happened I suspected DST is the issue.
So in the mount setup in the Stellavita I see that the Lat. and Long. matches between the scope and the Stellavita but the rest is always different.
TimeZone
Stellavita: UTC-4 (Daylight saving Time)
Mount: UTC-5
Time (what I see right now)
Stellavita: 2026-04-09 14:49:52
Mount: 2026-04-06 13:49:52
What I think is that unlike the Asiair where this works (it even tells you it’s normal that there is a difference), the Stellavita doesn’t handle this properly. I tried changing the settings in the mount with the hand controller but they don’t seem to be saved. No matter what I change, when I connect the Stellavita it shows that same information.
So my first question is: Has anyone actually managed to get this working ? If you own a Stellavita and a Skywatcher mount and are in DST, does you meridian flip work ?
Stellavita meridian flip issues.
Same here with my HEQ5 and StellaVita. I managed to fix the time sync by manually setting the zone to Cairo (same offset as Germany), but the meridian flip has been broken since v2.0. Currently, I have to redo the plan to force the flip manually. I've reported this to ToupTek and am currently waiting for a response.
Nico I think you’re right because it doesn’t do anything at all, not even pausing tracking and shooting which is different than the issue I had last year where it would pause but then not do the flip.
Anyway I found a post somewhere from a person who had that same problem with an Asiair and said using an EQMod cable instead of USB fixed is issue. I ordered one, should be delivered by the end of the week and I’ll be able to test that and report back here……..though I am pretty convinced it won’t make any difference.
What I found….
The Stellavita has a Star Adventurer GTI mount type. It only works in USB, won’t connect with an EQMod cable in the hand controller port.
Using EQMod mount in the SV I did connect but then still no meridian flip and still shows different times between the SV and the Mount.
The Stellavita will not connect to my EQM-35 Pro with the EQMod cable in the Hand Controller port (I will report that to Touptek, I think it’s a bug).
So in the end, nothing new to report as far as flip is concerned, I still can’t make it happen
Hey Eric, even though I'm using an EQmod cable, it hasn't changed anything—it still fails for certain objects. M82 worked fine yesterday, but IC63 and IC1396 were total no-goes. It might be related to the target's altitude. I’m getting the Wave 150i tomorrow, so I’ll test if a different mount handles the flip better. Seems like a common issue based on some forums. ToupTek asked for my logs today, so I’ve sent those over and now I'm just waiting.
You may be right about altitude. I’m shooting close to the meridian at about 35 to 40 degrees