iOptron -PR EQ manual

SmartStar ® -PR EQ Mount Manual www. iOptron. com[...]

WARNING! NEVER USE A TELESCOPE TO LOOK AT THE SUN! Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye. Children should always have adult supervision while observing.[...]

 SmartStar ® -PR Layout (OTA not included)[...]

Tripod  Set up the Tripod The SmartStar ® -PR comes with a two-inch stainless steel tripod. The tripod comes fully assembled with a m etal pl ate called the Tripod Head , which holds the legs together at the to p. In addition, there is a central rod that extends down from the Tripod Head , which attaches the equatorial mount to the tripod. To s[...]

2. Retract the screws so they no longer extend into the azimuth housing on the mount. Please do not remove the screws, they are needed later for polar alignment. 3. Hold the Equatorial Mount Head over the Tripod Head so that the azimuth housing is above the metal Peg . 4. Place the equatorial m ount on the Tripod Head so that the two are flush. 5. [...]

EQ Mount Head[...]

Since the fully assembled telescope can be quite heavy, position the mount so that the polar axis is poin ting towards north before the OTA and counterweight are attached. Th is will make the polar alignment procedure easier.  Install the Counterweight The telescope needs to be balanced by the Counterweight to reduce the stress on the gears and [...]

 Balance in R.A. To reduce the excessive stress on the mount a nd motor, the telescope should be properly balanced around both R.A. and DEC axes. Pr oper balancing is crucial to both accurate tracking and protection of the mount. Both the R.A. and DEC axis have lock levers to clutch down each axis of the telescope. To l oosen the clu tches on th[...]

6. Tighten the knobs on the Telescope-Mounting Platform to hold the tele scope in place. Just like R.A. balancing, these are g eneral balance instructio ns and will reduce excessive stress on the mount. When doi ng astrophotography, this balan ce process should be done for the target area where the telescope is pointing to.  Adjust the Mount To [...]

Both screws push the Peg on the Tripod Head . This means you have to loosen one screw when tightening the other. The screw that hol ds the equatorial mount to the tripod may have to be loosened slightly too. Keep in mind that adjusting the mount is done during the polar alignm ent process only. Once polar aligned, the mount should NOT be moved. Poi[...]

 The GOTONOVA TM 8401 Controller Layout: The 8401 GoToNova TM hand held controller is the st andard controller for SmartStar ® -PR. The user interface is simple and easy to learn. LCD Display: 8-line big screen, it displays all the inf ormation Back Key: Move back to the previous screen. Menu Key: Return to the Main Menu. Enter Key: Confirms an[...]

 The LCD Display: GPS Status Slew Speed Trac king Speed Local Date and T im e N/S Hemisphere A zim ut h A ltitude Declination Right Ascension Tar g et Declination Targe t Right Ascension Local Star Hour GPS status: When the power is turned on, it shows “GPS ON”. When it finds the satellite and receives GPS signal, it shows “GPS OK”. Slew[...]

 SmartStar ® -PR Basic Setups and Functions 1. Set Up Time Zone ( Main Menu/Set up C ontroller/Set up Site ) Turn on the power, push MENU, from the main menu, scroll down and select “ Set up controller ” Push ENTER. Scroll down and select “Set up site” Push ENTER. Push left arrow button, move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to se[...]

When the number is correct, push ENTER and go back to the previous screen. Do not worry about longitude and latitude num be rs; they will be set by internal GPS. Set up site info: Longitude: W071d27m47s Latitude: N42d15m40s 300 Min. behind of UT 2. Set Up Daylight Saving Time ( Main Menu/Set up Controller/Set up Local Time ) Scroll up and select ?[...]

3. Set mount type ( Main Menu/Set up Controller/Set Mount Type ) Scroll down and select “Set Mount Type” SmartStar ® -PR is an EQ m ount, so select Equatorial mount and push ENTER. Set up site Set N/S hemisphere Set display contrast Set Eyepiece light Set Backlash Set anti-backlash Set Key Beep Set Mount Type Equatorial Mount Alt/Azi Mount 4. [...]

you to choose the second star. If the star you choose is too close to the first one, the system will let you choose another one. W hen you aligned with the second star, two-star align is finished. “Three-Star Align” will increase the accu racy ev en higher and requires an even wider view of the sky. This basically asks you to choose yet another[...]

 Find Polaris Polaris is less than one degree from the cel estial pole. Finding Po laris helps you locate the celestial pole. Alt hough this is not a perf ect alignment, it does get you quite close to the pole. 1. Set the telescope up so that th e polar axis is pointing north. 2. Loosen the DEC Lock Lever and move the telescope so that the tube [...]

and straightforward at first look, but it is ac tually very time cons uming if you don’t have a lot of experience with it. You are strongl y suggested to do a lot of homework before trying it out. It is also su ggested that you work with pe ople who have had a lot of experience -- at least for the first couple of nights . With DEC Drift Method, y[...]

So, repeat the process again to im prove th e accuracy checking both axes for minim al drift. Once the drift has been eliminated, th e telescope is very accurately aligned. You can now do prime focus deep-sky astrophotography for long periods. SmartStar ® -PR Select And Slew After you have finished the set up and align steps in chapter 1 go to the[...]

 Caldwell Catalogue Contains 109 objects from the CaldWell catalogue.  Abel Catalogue Contains 2712 objects from the Abel catalogue.  Herschel Catalogue Contains 400 objects in Herschel catalogue.  Comets Contains up to 256 comets.  Asteroids Contains up to 4096 asteroids.  Stars  Named Stars Contains 191 stars.  Constellati[...]

 Main Menu/Sync To Target Matches the telescope's current equatorial coordinates to Target Right Ascension and Declination.  Main Menu/Electric Focuser If you have an electric focuser in your system use this option to adjust the focuser.  Main Menu/PEC option If your telescope is equipped with Pe riodic Error Correction use this optio[...]

[...]

IOPTRON TWO YEAR TELESC OPE, MOUNT, AND CONTROLLE R WARRANTY A. iOptron warrants your tele scope, mount, or controller to be free from defects in materials and w orkmanship for two y ears. iO ptron will repair or replace su ch product or part which, upon inspe ction by iOptron , is found to be defectiv e in materials or w orkmanship. As a condition[...]