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Elongated stars with ZWO AM5 mount and Askar 300FRA scope

ZWO AM5 Equipment Harmonic Mount Troubleshooting
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Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Trying out my new AM5 mount using NINA.  The mount connected fine but I am getting bad elongated stars even after 5 sec exposures.  NINA works fine on my AP mount so I must have some settings wrong.  I am getting a clock error but not sure how to fix it.  Any suggestions from AM5 user?

It could also be the backfocus (?) as the elongated stars appears even after a 5 sec exposure with the mount off.

Nick Grundy avatar
Nick Grundy avatar
Are they elongated along the RA axis? or towards the outside of the frame? If it's all one direction, i dont think it'd be backfocus. 

do you know for fact of the mount is tracking as it says it it? I've seen that issue before and resetting and firmware solved it for me (though not on an AM5)
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas avatar
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas avatar
Hello Bruce.

Personally, I had to connect my new AM5 via the app at least once to "set it up". Think the mount was set up to work in southern hemisphere out of the box and would slew / track in the opposite direction. Connecting via app fixed those issues right away. You need to use the hand controller to do that of course.

You can easily check if that is the case for you by connecting the mount to Stellarium or other similar software. Try slewing to targets around the pole (use slew to target, not the directional buttons). If the mount goes in the wrong direction, you may have this problem.
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Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas:
Hello Bruce.

Personally, I had to connect my new AM5 via the app at least once to "set it up". Think the mount was set up to work in southern hemisphere out of the box and would slew / track in the opposite direction. Connecting via app fixed those issues right away. You need to use the hand controller to do that of course.

You can easily check if that is the case for you by connecting the mount to Stellarium or other similar software. Try slewing to targets around the pole (use slew to target, not the directional buttons). If the mount goes in the wrong direction, you may have this problem.

I think I have this problem as well.  My azmuith is reading 180 instead of 0 for Polaris.  How did you fix it?
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas avatar
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas avatar
Just connecting to mount via the ZWO phone app fixed my problem.
Dustin Gazz avatar
Dustin Gazz avatar
Just curious, what is 2.4 billion seconds in light years? smile
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Bruce Donzanti avatar
Dmitrijus Tiazlovas:
Just connecting to mount via the ZWO phone app fixed my problem.

I got it working- at least testing in the house.

thx
James (Jim) Poulette avatar
James (Jim) Poulette avatar
Bruce,

I agree - I know nothing about NINA but would try the ASIAIR app alone first to make sure it's all set up correctly. I like 'station mode' connected through my home WiFi because I can have the scope outside and operate from inside the house (we have wicked mosquitos this time of year). You just enter the IP address of the ASIAIR and bingo.

I also like to get PA as obsessively close as possible, like 10"/10" - this gives great tracking/guiding on the order of 25"/25" - .36" Tot. Good luck ! smile
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