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I've been cursing and blaming my HEQ5 Pro for years for giving me 1 to 2 arc secs RMS guiding and spoiling my images. In fact it IS a pretty good mount. I have it fairly well loaded with my payload being 10.8Kg+ (It's max rated payload is 13.7Kg, presumably for visual use): Skywatcher 200PDS Newtonian, ASI1600MM Pro camera, ZWO 8 position filter wheel, ZWO Coma Corrector, ZWO OAG, ZWO ASI290mm mini guide camera, ZWO EAF 5V autofocusser + cables. I did a few things: Rowan belt upgrade, bearings replacement and careful backlash adjustment. I'm now getting 0.36 to 0.44 arc secs RMS guiding (on a relativley clear night). I'm sure if I tweaked a few things it could be even better, but I can't really complain. What are other people seeing with this relatively cheap mount? |
7.84
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According to conventional wisdom HEQ5 is only good for 5kg, EQ6 is for 10kg and if you have more than that you need an ultra expensive heavy mount on a pier. As you can see these rules are just sorta made up to sound good as stern warnings from grizzled vets. I think a lot of this old wisdom comes from the era of film, noisy CCDs, and before technology and sophisticated algos helped turn imperfect into good enough. I was told that for EQ6-r an 8" Newt is the limit, of course people are doing great putting a 12" on it. SW mounts are generally considered under-rated for the weight they can handle. So yes, your HEQ5 is as good as the results you're getting from it. The Skywatcher mounts, maybe because of their low prices and blue-collar marketing, are often considered inferior while they're reliable and time-proven. While all those sexy alternatives (won't name names!) come with inflated weight-ratings and come with shorter warranties. |
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I actually bought my HEQ5 pre-Rowan Belt modded so i've always had pretty great results with totals around your total values post upgrades. I have 2 different scopes of different sizes, 1 is a William Optics GT71 and the other is a Celestron EdgeHD 8 (With and without a hyperstar). ZWO Autofocusing and ASI Air Pro for both. ASI183GT (mono built in filter wheel) and ASI183MC (mostly for the hyperstar). With the WO GT71 It's always been challenge free. For the C8 the only challenge I had was when i was trying to OAG at long focal lengths with the ASI120 Mini. Was hard to find a star and when I did i felt like maybe the mount wasn't up to the payload size. When I bit the bullet($$$) and upgraded to a ASI174mm mini to get the wider FOV and more sensitive sensors all those problems went away. I'd LOVE something like the new ASI mount for portability and lack of counter weights, but I've seen the performance is actually not nearly as good as my mount so I've as of yet resisted. My largest goal now is a permanent observatory setup so i can shoot more often especially in the fall and winter when its starts snowing here in Eastern Idaho. |
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Now, with Moon at 87.3% In PHD2 I'm getting: RA - 0.60" Dec - 0.40" Total - 0.68" My mount don't have any mod. The Payload it´s One Skywatcher 150PDS + ASI294MC + Autofocus and a cover for autoflats/dark done by me ( DIY ). On top: Guide scope 50mm + guidecam I Think it´s guiding very weel |
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I've only recently started using an HEQ5 Pro, 2 images so far, and I have been getting 0.4-0.8 out of the box. My load is only 4-5 kg though. I'm sure over time that may get worse but for now I'm pretty happy with it. Despite that, I probably will do the Rowan belt mod sometime in the future if not for anything other than decreasing the sound. When slewing to a target that sound is like nails on a chalkboard to me. |
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Scott: I'd highly recommend it ... it is so easy to do and the silence it provides will make you feel like you have a brand new mount. |
1.20
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| My very used old HEQ5Pro never got any love from me or it's pre-owner. But it gives me .6 to .8 on good seeing, what's good enough for me. I am starting to like it. Maybe I will some day spent my money on a belt-upgrade and give the mount some love. |
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| I have a stock EQ5R-Pro which has not been modified or adjusted from the original factory settings. Using my ASIAIR Plus, my guiding typically ranges between 0.30" to 0.70". What's been most interesting for me is the fact that my guiding with my heaviest scope/equipment combination of 7.7 kg is better than what I get on my widefield set-up that weighs in at 5.4 kg. It's proven to be a really good mount and I think it could take a fair bit more weight before guiding suffers. |
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Hi Andy, I have an HEQ5 with the Rowan belt mod and did exactly what you have done with the bearings replacement and backlash adjustments. I have been getting .35 to .55 guiding with a William Optics Z61, ASI1600MM Pro camera, ZWO 7 position filter wheel, ZWO Coma Corrector, ZWO gudiscope ZWO ASI120mm-s guide camera, ZWO EAF 5V auto focusser + cables. Just upgraded to a Bintel BT200 f/4 scope (200mm aperture, 800mm focal length 8.9kg with just the scope) and moved all my cameras, etc over to it. Probably around the 10.5kg mark. So far, no change in guiding performance at all. |
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| Also love my heq5. Mine carries a RASA 8. With a clean and regrease and careful adjustment of the worm to ring gear and the gear train from stepper to worm I get quiet slews and less than 0.5“ rms guiding with a stock mount. |
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| I have an HEQ5 (belt modded) that's been absolutely fantastic. I have a newt setup that weighs in at the HEQ5's max rated capacity (30lbs/13.6kg) and even with it I was still able to consistently to guide below 0.7" rms in average seeing and with excellent seeing the guiding would drop into the 0.30s and a few time as low as 0.26" - 0.28" rms. Running at max capacity did seem to make the quiding more sensitive to the seeing though, and 1" - 1.1" rms was more typical in bad seeing. Also, being under mounted like that for a newt made it ultra sensitive to wind. With my much smaller and lighter frac setup the guiding rarely exceeded 0.7" rms even with poor seeing and a moderate wind. |
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I also habe am HEQ5 belt modded. One thing that I love about it, is the fact that it’s small enough to take with you on holidays. I’ve been doing it for three years now. I have a hard suitcase for it, that I could take in the airplane cabin with me. So that’s a big plus. A bigger SW would not be an option (unless you get into bodybuilding  ). There are other options for portability, but those are generally much more expensive.CS |
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Andy Wray: Yeah its max for imaging is 11kg I have about 9kg on mine I reckon and did the belt mod the other day and cleared the backlash still the best I have seen is 0.5 but its always about 0.5-0.7 so I am happy with those numbers. If I regressed all the bearings I reckon this would be 0.4-0.6 |
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Hi. I am glad this topic has turned up, because there is already one year or so that I am in doubt about improving my HEQ5 pro with Rowan stuff and maybe stripping down and rebuilding... or just earn the money and move to an eq6. I tell you my experience: I've got a SW200 PDS, and with all the stuff on I am close to the 13kg limit ... That is why I believe I can't probably improve my guiding no matter what tweaks I can do... The thing is that reading your opinions I see that I am not getting very bad numbers, after all... In a series of 11-12 nights I have total RMS values of 1.2'' (worse) and 0.66'' (best night) Recently, I have borrowed an eq6 and after a few runs I am getting similar numbers... What would you reccomend me? Cheers Juan |
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11.01
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Recently, I have borrowed an eq6 and after a few runs I am getting similar numbers... The only reason I haven't bought an EQ6R Pro is that my wife gave me the HEQ5 Pro as a birthday present; hence why I've spent so much time replacing bearings, belt-modding it and carefully doing the backlash adjustments. If you can afford to, I would upgrade and sell the HEQ5 Pro (or keep it and use it for a second rig). |
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| Right now while imaging the elephants trunk, I get RA: 0.22 DEC: 0.25 with a fully packed small refractor. Achieved similar numbers with my 8" F4 Newton while also being fully packed. (OAG guiding) |
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I found another good candidate for overloading, the new StarAdventurer GTi. This little thing carries my 130pds + cooled cam + mini pc with a total of 6.5+ kg with a worst case average RMS of 1.4" (0.7 pixels) and equal numbers for RA/DEC without any tuning. What really amazes me is the ease of polar alignment with NINA, the alignment screws look like beeing made for a toy but they work very smooth and effective, the alignment is a lot easier than on my NEQ6/HEQ5. I had to attach a 'real' counterweight of 5kg to get the scope balanced, but so far no issues .... I plan to use this little mount for widefield pano's with my Askar 200 f4 lens (which is still on back order @FLO) but it is good to see that it is capable of quite a bit more. Michael |
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Hi, Yes it's a good "small" mount. The best I get : 0,32" RMS ... and often, between 0,35" & 0,55" RMS depending on sky and target (more than 3 times under the need for imaging !) Last imaging sequence 3H25 phd2 log overall average = 0,51" RMS around 9KG payload T200 F/D 4 + ASI071 + guiding scope 60mm + barlow & guiding camera + coma corrector Nexus fixed peer Rowan belt couterweight optimized : + 2 KG (to raise the counterweight higher + 2Kg = same weight than couterweight lower = less couterweight bar bending) SNR phd2 parameter : 72 (better multistars guiding selection) guiding focuser on guiding scope (accurate) and ... but still have work on it : fixed cables !!! (scratched tape) --> carefull with it (espacially in winter ) polaris align : sharpcap (between 10" & 25" ...) Made on imaging camera and not the guiding camera (accurate) PEC algoritm PHD2 (have to wait 2 or 3 cycles for a better and better guiding during the night) AD & DEC agress PHD2 : 55% (around) PEC corr phd2 : 55% (around)  CS |
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Hi all, HEQ5 pro here with Rowan belt too. I'm currently imaging with a 150/750 newtonian and got great guiding always less than 1'' total error (.25 at the lowest with a clear sky and no wind). But I'm never satisfied ^^. Would some of you have a link to a tutorial about the backlash adjustment ? I have really no idea on how to do that. I don't feel like changing the bearing... I have 2 left hand and it was already a whole adventure to install the rowan belts XD. |
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| Thanks for so many tweaks to improve guiding, joel85. I understand you use PEC correction... but in eqmod? Some people says it fights against PhD2... |
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Hello, PEC in PHD2 et not EQMOD (I am using EQMOD but PEC parameters are OFF in EQMOD , only ON in PHD2 . PHD2 has a total control of the mount for PEC) CS |
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Didn't know... Sounds great. I Will look into it. Cheers |
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11.01
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So, my four year-old HEQ5 Pro definitely still has it in it. Here is a plot from tonight at around 10pm (it's not totally dark yet and some whispy clouds). Very happy with it right now: |
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| My almost one year old mount out of the box has done a great job with PHD2 and my ED80! Yes it has made the learning easier for this rookie! |
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| My HEQ5 Pro is two plus years old. Did the Rowan Belt Mod myself and since then have been getting 0.4 to 0.6 RMS without having to fiddle with settings at all. If I fiddled it might be better (but it might be worse too!). So very happy. I have a few OTA's, the heaviest of which is a Celestron Edge HD8 with reducer. Not sure I would want to go much bigger than that as the two counterweights are fully extended. |
