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SkyGuider Pro not tracking > RA motor calibration

iOptron SkyGuider Pro Star Tracker Troubleshooting
iOptron Skyguider Pro •2 replies•75 views
Nick Large avatar
Nick Large avatar
After a year using the SkyGuider Pro without any major issue, I've experienced some technical difficulties yesterday night.
After successfully tracking for after hour on my first target, I re-positioned my scope an a second target. When starting the guiding procedure and everything I realized that the stars were drifting....the SGP was not tracking anymore.
Power cycles, changing tracking speed, ... nothing worked.

After Panicking for about 30 min, I came across a post on Cloudy Nightwhich detailed a calibration procedure for the RA motor. I've tried it this morning and it worked. I have NO idea what triggered the motor to lock itself but this calibration procedure solved the issue.

I've summarized the procedure (which came directly from IOptron) in a document with some pictures (SkyGuider Pro - RA motor calibration.pdf).
Hopefully, this will help folks who experiences the same issue.
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Mark Germani avatar
Mark Germani avatar
Thanks for posting (and cross-posting) this! Very useful troubleshooting info.

My Skyguider recently started showing an off-the-chart guiding error (>8') and it seemed to be recurring every 8 minutes. The rest of the time it was guiding perfectly. After a bit of research, I discovered that the period of the worm gear on the Skyguider is about 8 minutes long. I was worried that there was damage to the gear at that point, but it seemed to sort itself after a while, so it must have been a bit of detritus stuck in the grease on the worm at that point. I suspect your RA reset method could help dislodge detritus for those of us afraid of opening up our Skyguiders.

It's a great mount when it's working, it just needs some attention sometimes smile
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Nick Large avatar
Nick Large avatar
Mark Germani:
Thanks for posting (and cross-posting) this! Very useful troubleshooting info.

My Skyguider recently started showing an off-the-chart guiding error (>8') and it seemed to be recurring every 8 minutes. The rest of the time it was guiding perfectly. After a bit of research, I discovered that the period of the worm gear on the Skyguider is about 8 minutes long. I was worried that there was damage to the gear at that point, but it seemed to sort itself after a while, so it must have been a bit of detritus stuck in the grease on the worm at that point. I suspect your RA reset method could help dislodge detritus for those of us afraid of opening up our Skyguiders.

It's a great mount when it's working, it just needs some attention sometimes

Like with any piece of tech, there's always some technical issue at some point and it takes some slight "attention" as you say. The SkyGuider Pro has been very useful and and reliable for me.
The only two issues I had were the one I've explained in this post, and the block hold the worm gear which started to get a screw loose (literally).
Beside that, It has served me and continue to serve me well.