Controlling AZ GTi mount from Stellarium

[Peter B]

OK, what am I doing wrong!

 

When I set up my AZ GTi mount to work through the hand controller to a laptop running Stellarium, I can configure the mount fine in Stellarium and the telescope reticule appears on Stellarium, but nowhere near where it should be, in fact it's always about 40 degrees off in azimuth and always  low..

 

Here's my procedure in brief:  Use the hand controller to align the mount in the normal way.  If using a two star alignment note the last star used, let's say it was Altair.

 

Connect the hand controller to the laptop with the USB cable and load Stellarium.  Go to telescope control, click connect to the mount, it reports connected.

 

Look at the Stellariumj screen and the telescope reticule is miles away from Altair where I left the mount pointing after aligning it, so the mount is definitely on Altair but Stellarium says it isn't.  If I do a 'sync' in the stellarium telescope control window nothing happens, the telescope reticule doesn't move over onto the Altair target.

 

If I then select Altair and do a goto the mount slews to Altair on the Stellarium screen, but that 's not the right place, the mount was on AltaIr before slewing. 

 

I make sure that the hand controller and Stellarium are both on the same time and time zone and the same lat and ling coordinates for my location.

 

So I don't know what I'm doing wrong and it's driving me nuts.   Any help/advice/suggestion would be most welcome!

 

 

[GazAstro]

I was going to suggest time  / location but you've covered that ...

[TerryMcK]

I think you have to click on the target, assuming the mount thinks it is on Altair in your example, so the telescope control reticule is on it then click sync. The mount icon should then be in the right place.

If you then park the mount with the handset the mount icon will follow to your designated park position.

 

It's ages since I played with using Stellarium to control the mount movement but it can be done. 

[Peter B]

Thanks for your help and advice, much appreciated.

 

However, I have to hold my hand up and admit that I've been particularly stupid over this one!  The hand controller date format is mm/dd/yyyy and, yes, you've got it, I put in dd/mm/yyyy.

 

So the hand controller now knows where the targets are and everything lines up.

 

OK, I'll stand in the corner and face the wall !

Edited August 13, 2023 by Peter B

[TerryMcK]

It’s a very easy oversight that we have all been guilty of. Glad you have sorted it.