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CGEM DX 1100 Edge HD


Rock Doctor

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My set up.

First night since I bought this way back in November that I have had chance to use it. Wonderful views of Jupiter and the Orion Nebula but a few glitchies with the goto.

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Thanks guys.

Ok problems with the goto or is it operator error. lol

When I started it up yesterday the handset came back with transmit data and wouldn't do anything else. The other couple of times when I have set up quickly the handset started with initialising and then went to the alignment process. I contacted Rothervally Optics yesterday and they told me that the transmit data was because it wanted to download firmware so after connecting to my laptop and downloading hcsetup from Celestron I then downloaded what I think is the correct firmware update but I couldn't be 100% sure as there were no clues as what was required for a CGEMDX or the Edge HD. I downloaded GEM (can't remeber the exact file name but it was the newest and ended in .20)

Ok, so after downloading and verifying the update, I switched on and the handset, which went back to initialising and then went to the alignment sequence but some of the text now seems to too close together and unreadable but after making sure that the handset was picking up the gps I thought that I would have a go at aligning using solar for a start but it was miles away from both Venus and Jupiter. I also tried 2 star alignment but it appeared miles away from Mizar. Having done the firmware update, I have set the tracking to Northern Hemisphere and sidereal and the time a location come from the GPS and they looked ok. On setting up the scope I used a compass to align the peg on the top of the tripod to North before attaching the computerised mount and set the latitude to 52.5 degrees.

Any ideas as to why it should be so far adrift as I have seen other users comments that the alignment certainly gets the target object in the finderscope, and both Venus and Jupiter were nowhere near.

One other question even after doing the alignment and then going to an object but having to find it sometimes manually the scope also appear not to track and I was having to follow the object manually.

Do you think I have a problem or is the problem me?

Thanks for any assistance,

Dave

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Guys,

not sure if this has a bearing on why the scope was so far adrift during alignment but I thought that I would reinstall the handcontroller firmware just to check that it had installed correctly and was not currupted. On doing this I noticed that there was also a motor controller firmware update as well and have now downloaded and installed this. Both are now installed and verified although I wont be able to get the scope out until next weekend when hopefully there will be some clear skys for me to check it.

It would be interesting to hear thoughts on this from anyone with experience of the Celestron goto to see whether this is what has probably caused my problem.

One thing that I would say though is that the Celestron supplied documentation is a bit light on updating the firmware! :wacko:

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if you could compare telescopes to women I think that I have the Liz Hurley of telescopes :wub:

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Kim,

I take the point on the scope and if I win the next Euromillions I'll have one and emigrate to somewhere warm with dark skys and build a house on the top of a mountain, but in the meantime Rachaels good enough for me lol. Although for forcasting a clear night sky maybe Emma Jesson or Lucy Kite

Going back to the problem or operator error with the computer system, does the mount track automatically when you have found an object you want to look at or do you have to tell it that you want it to track? If the latter how is this done? I have set the tracking to North equatorial and sidereal time so assume that once you have got an object in the centre of the EP you must have to press something and then it tracks it.

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Thanks guys.

Ok problems with the goto or is it operator error. lol

When I started it up yesterday the handset came back with transmit data and wouldn't do anything else. The other couple of times when I have set up quickly the handset started with initialising and then went to the alignment process. I contacted Rothervally Optics yesterday and they told me that the transmit data was because it wanted to download firmware so after connecting to my laptop and downloading hcsetup from Celestron I then downloaded what I think is the correct firmware update but I couldn't be 100% sure as there were no clues as what was required for a CGEMDX or the Edge HD. I downloaded GEM (can't remeber the exact file name but it was the newest and ended in .20)

Ok, so after downloading and verifying the update, I switched on and the handset, which went back to initialising and then went to the alignment sequence but some of the text now seems to too close together and unreadable but after making sure that the handset was picking up the gps I thought that I would have a go at aligning using solar for a start but it was miles away from both Venus and Jupiter. I also tried 2 star alignment but it appeared miles away from Mizar. Having done the firmware update, I have set the tracking to Northern Hemisphere and sidereal and the time a location come from the GPS and they looked ok. On setting up the scope I used a compass to align the peg on the top of the tripod to North before attaching the computerised mount and set the latitude to 52.5 degrees.

Any ideas as to why it should be so far adrift as I have seen other users comments that the alignment certainly gets the target object in the finderscope, and both Venus and Jupiter were nowhere near.

One other question even after doing the alignment and then going to an object but having to find it sometimes manually the scope also appear not to track and I was having to follow the object manually.

Do you think I have a problem or is the problem me?

Thanks for any assistance,

Dave

o.k. i had a celestron goto mount once and found the software better than the skywatcher version,

theres loads of settings in the handset, one is the speed at which the imformation scrolls across the lcd screen on the handset, don`t ask me where abouts or which subsetting it`s in as i can`t remember but i`m sure a google search would be able to help, you can slow it down so you can read it, mine used to fly across the screen so you couldn`t read it at first.

the other point i would make is when you set up the mount don`t just set the evevation to 52 degrees using the gadge and pointer on the mount, these are way out, or it was on my cg5 gt mount, do a proper polar alignment using polaris and polar scope, should have said first the you need to make sure the polar scope is set properly by getting the middle circle set on an object and rotate the mount around this axis to see if the polar scope stays centered on the object, if it moves the polar scope needs adjustment.

if all else fails, try setting it back to factory settings, it won`t change the last firmware updates, they will still remain.

Edited by red dwalf
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Lol David - yes Emma and Lucy sigh..... :wub: lol

It will be tracking automatically when you switch on the scope at whatever rate you have set it to. You can move to any object you know and it will still be tracking wether you slewed manually (with the handset arrow keys) or chose it off one of the handset lists. But you do have to set it up first as Rob explains above.

I'd be happy to come over and help you set it up sometime. It would be interesting to see Melton again after so many years as well. If you're up for it I'll pm you my phone number for a chat :)

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Thanks Kim just sent a pm

Thanks Rob for the comments, I'll take another look through the instructions to see if I can find some of the things that you mentioned. The problem that I'm having atm is not enough clear nights and time to spend a few consecutive nights out with Rachael to find out what makes her tick and whether I'm pressing the right buttons lol

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Congrats on the new scopeDave.

Your scope should goto the object and when found automatically track, you dont have to tell it to track once its found it.

If you have problems the dealer who sold it to you should sort it and if he cant then Celestron should, it shouldnt be up to you to have to sort the problems on what is an expensive piece of kit and should be fully working.

I have a CGE mount in my observatory and when I got that new 7 years ago I had 5 faults on it,not just soft or firmware but hardware. This was when Celestron were having problems pre Synta and their quality control was awful. Dave Hinds the dealer was brilliant and sorted it all out but only after I took it back and said please sort it now or give me my money back. Since then its been superb, only one glitch, due to me, in the past 7 years

Phil

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  • 1 month later...
Guest NadeemShah

The 1st thing i would do is a factory reset on the mount, the re - input your co-ordinates & time, date.

The next I would seriously consider is a polar scope for the mount if it does not already have one.

Usually the 1st calibration star is out of fov after alignment of the two initial stars of alignment, once you have calibrated the 2nd star the accuracy vastly improves, the CG5 GT uses the same software & I find it better then the Synscan Alignment...

BrantUK - Kim you have a pm ! :D

Nadeem.

Edited by NadeemShah
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Nadeem,

thanks for the comments.

So far I have upgraded the firmware on the handset and the mount and then followed this with a factory reset.

After setting the scope up using a compass, I let the syncscan GPS get its bearings and I aligned using Jupiter and Venus (I used these as they were clearly visible and there was no doubt that I could have aligned on the wrong star). Neither were in the finder scope so I had to use the arrow keys quite a bit to centre the planets in the finder scope. After doing the alignment I thought that I would return to Jupiter so used the menu and selected planets. After doing this the scope slewed round but jupiter was not even in the finder scope. This was only a few minutes after doing the alignment so would not have been caused by the planets movement before returning to it.

I have set the scope up to use the GPS and this provides the mount with the time and co-ordinates so assume that even if the scope is not properly aligned to the celestial pole, that after alignment the scope should be able to find objects.

I'm a bit mystified as to why I should be having this problem but assume as I'm new to setting up the scope that it is a setting or something that I have overlooked and is not a problem with the mount.

The problem I also have is that we are not blessed with a lot of clear night skies so it is proving difficult to get time out with the scope to solve some of these issues. :(

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Dave

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Hi. I know your kit is vastly superior to my mother in laws 130p sync scan goto but I thought when star aligning you were best picking two objects that are roughly the same altitude in the sky and as far apart as possible. For example, I use Betalgeause in Orion and the top of the pan in the plough (Dubhe)? Excuse me if I am talking rubbish but this always works for me and I find things I put into the handset first time with a good amount of accuracy.

Edited by Daz type-r
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Kim/Nadeem

think I might have found my omission in setting the scope up. Would the calibrate function make a huge difference? When I first got the scope I played with one of the axis to get the index marks to line up so it may be that in turning this through 180 degrees that It was not quite 180.

Thanks Darren for the other comments I'll take those on board as well. The only reason for using the planets was that they were clearly visible and I wanted to use something that there was no doubt over.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Nadeem

I got myself a polar scope and as you mentioned using a compass and the latitude scale was a mile out. After a proper polar alignment I did a 2 star alignment and 4 calibration stars and the mount found everything that I wanted to see perfectly. :D

Dave

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It's a bit ridiculous that a mount of that quality doesn't come with an illuminated polar scope built in (like the NEQ6 Pro). :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest NadeemShah

nice to see you got it working, hey ! Mr Mod, don't knock the mount :D , I would still have one over a NEQ6 Pro, my last NEQ6 Pro - the motherboard blew after it's 1st month of service..

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