sollner77

Here's my situation: As of two nights ago, I was able to image for 10+ minutes without guiding - no trails, round stars. I had meticulously hand-balanced the mount on both axes in multiple configurations - afterward, with motor off, nudging the mount to move in both axes resulted in smooth and effortless movement in all directions, stopping with no telltale off-balance movement. Come last night, with no changes to the setup, the mount vibrates intermittently and creates disturbing sound effects. Checking the balance, all is well, no change from my earlier remarks. I have tried to use the balance function before, but when the bars are aligned the system is seriously out of balance in all positions. Admittedly, I am still a novice at this and may not be performing the Servo balance function properly - my results certainly support that. Any help in resolving my "in balance" out of balance would be appreciated.

Even though my mount is calibrated, balanced, and synched, and "limits" have been disabled, the mount will not slew to objects during their prime viewing windows, which a.re between 45 and 90 degrees. Can anyone illuminate what I might be doing improperly? Thanks.

Thanks for the response tbaehnck. Yes, I understand and did try to use the knobs as I indicated in my post. After locating the procedure in the DDM85 Product Manual this morning, I realized what I failed to do was loosen the fastening screws for the az and polar angle before using the knobs. I will incorporate (what should have been obvious to me) that procedure when I next perform the alignment process. I appreciate your interest and advice.

After executing the "Move Star Now" command, the star moved from the center of the BackYardEOS window to just within the window limit. I then tried to move the star back to center with the manual controls. I confirmed the star image was "live, yet when using the applicable dec and ra knobs, the star did not move. I would greatly appreciate a step-by-step set of instructions (I know it should be obvious to me, but I don't want to break or bend something out of frustration or stupidity, both of which are my frequent companions when it comes to observing and imaging.) regarding the proper technique/procedure. Thanks in advance.