INSTRUCTION MANUAL DOBSONIAN SYNSCAN - 8” 10” 12” 14” 16” ER ENT UP SET ESC ILIT UT Y 3 TE RA 2 UR TO IC 6 1 C NG 5 M ER US 9 4 JEC OB PLA NE T T 8 7 ID 0 240412V1 180610V6-3.
TABLE OF CONTENTS DOBSONIAN BASE ASSEMBLY – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 33 TELESCOPE SETUPINSTALLATION – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 77 PRIMARY MIRROR ALIGNING THE TELESCOPE SETUP – –FINDERSCOPE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 8 10 FOCUSINGTHE FINDERSCOPE – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 8 ALIGNING 10 POWER REQUIREMENTS FOCUSING ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 8 10 POWERING THE DOBSONIAN POWER REQUIREMENTS – – –SYNSCAN –––––––––––––––––––––– 8 10 THE SYNSC
DOBSONIAN BASE ASSEMBLY Parts List PARTS 8” and 10” 12” 14” and 16” Round base assembly 1pc 1pc 1pc Right side panel assembly 1pc 1pc 1pc Left side panel assembly 1pc 1pc 1pc Front panel 1pc 1pc 1pc Eyepiece holder / Countersunk head Phillips screws 1pc / 3pcs 1pc / 3pcs 1pc / 3pcs Feet / Countersunk head Phillips screws (silver) 3pcs / 3pcs 3pcs / 3pcs 3pcs / 3pcs Handle 3pcs 3pcs 2pcs 2pcs 2pcs Reinforce board Hex socket head cap screw M5x60 8pcs 8pcs Large washer for
8”, 10”, and 12” Round base assembly setup Flip the round base assembly over. Attach the feet onto the assembly using the Countersunk head Phillips screws provided. Foot Round base assembly (the bottom side) Side and front panel setup Right side panel (12”) (8” and 10”) Handle Reinforce board Hex socket flat head screw 7x50 Right side panel assembly Left side panel (8” and 10”) Locate the hand control holder. Using the two screws provided, attach the holder to the latitude motor box.
Mount setup (12”) (8” and 10”) Right side panel assembly Right side panel assembly Hex socket head cap screw M5x60 Hex socket head cap screw M5x60 Large washer for M5 screw Large washer for M5 screw Azimuth Motor box Azimuth Motor box (12”) (8” and 10”) Altitude Motor box Altitude Motor box Left side panel assembly Left side panel assembly Hex socket head cap screw M5x60 Hex socket head cap screw M5x60 Large washer for M5 screw Large washer for M5 screw (8” and 10”) (12”) Hex socket fla
14”and 16” S ide and front panel setup Right side panel L eft side panel Locate the hand control holder.
PRIMARY MIRROR INSTALLATION 1. When installing the mirror into the optical tube, you must first remove the rear end ring attached to the lower section of the optical tube. Simply unthread and remove the eight Phillips-head screws that connect the end ring to the tube (Figure 1), and then pull the end ring off of the tube. Fig.1 Caution: The raw edge of the tube itself will be exposed after the rear end ring is removed from the tube. Be careful not to cut or injure yourself on the tube’s edge.
Fig.3 Figure 3. Find the area of tube that is bulging out and obstructing it from seating in the end ring. Press on the bulge to force the tube into the end ring. 3. It can be a tricky task when assembling the end ring (and mirror cell) back onto the tube. The complication is that the large diameter and thin metal of the tube will cause the tube to become somewhat out of round once the end ring is removed.
TELESCOPE SETUP 1. Place the mount on the ground. Place a bubble level on the top of the round base to ensure the mount is set on a leveled plane. Better leveling will yield better tracking performance. 2. To extend the telescope tube, loosen the three slider lock screws and pull the top part of the telescope assembly out until it clicks in place Tighten the slider lock screws. Do not over-tighten. 3. Remove the dust cap and the protective cover in the front of the tube. Loosen these screws 4.
Connecting the cables Altitude motor box Power supply cable: The Dobsonian SynScan requires 12-Volts DC Nominal power. The power cable from the battery pack or other power supply goes into the jack labeled Power on the altitude motor box. (Fig.a). Fig.a To avoid tangling of the power cable, the battery pack or power tank can be placed on the round base, behind the front panel. Pass the cable through the first hole on the left side panel to plug into the power jack.
AZ I ntroduction to the SynScan AZ TM The SynScan AZ is a precision-engineered instrument that provides two different operation modes: TM AUTO-TRACKING MODE The Sky-Watcher Dobsonian SynScan telescope has a patented dual encoder design incorporated to record the position of the telescope. Under the Auto-Tracking Mode, you may choose to manually, or electronically, move the telescope to any position without deactivating the tracking mode first.
Mode keys Fig.f The mode keys are located near the top, close to the LCD display. They include the ESC, ENTER, and SETUP keys: ESC key is used to escape from a certain command or to go back a level in the menu tree. SETUP key is a quick hot key that takes you to the Setup submenu. ENTER key is used to select the functions and submenus in the menu tree, and to confirm certain functional operations.
AUTOTRACKING OPERATION I nitial Setup Fig.h 1. Make sure that the telescope is set on a level NORTH ground. Point the telescope to the North. 2. Locate the altitude scale on the inside of the left side board. Lower the telescope tube in altitude until it reads 0. (Fig.h). 3. Connect the hand control to the mount with the provided cable. Plug the DC 12 volt power into the outlet of the mount. Turn on the power. The initial screen displayed on the hand control is the Version Screen. 4.
AZ GOTO OPERATION I nitial Setup 1. Make sure the mount is level to the ground. 2. Point the telescope roughly to the brightest star in the sky to your naked eyes. 3. Connect the hand control to the mount with the provided cable. Plug the DC 12 volt power into the outlet of the mount to turn on the power. Flip the power switch to the “on” position. 4. The initial screen displayed on the hand control is the Version Screen. Press ENTER to proceed. 5.
Brightest Star Alignment This alignment method is the most suitable if you are unfamiliar with the night sky, or are unsure of the name of the brighter stars. 1. Find a visible single bright star that is far apart from any object in the sky. Point the telescope roughly to the star. 2. In the alignment screen, select Brightest-Star Align using the scroll keys. Press ENTER to confirm.
Two-Star Alignment The two star alignment procedure is similar to the Brightest Star alignment, except that the hand control will not prompt for you to select a directional region for a bright star. Below describes a step-by-step procedure on how to perform the Two-Star Alignment: 1. In the alignment screen, select 2-Star Align using the scroll keys. Press ENTER to confirm. 2. The SynScan AZ will provide a list of stars available in your current sky for you to choose as the first alignment star.
3. After slewing to the object, press ESC to exit from the object catalog. Press the Utility button to enter to the Utility menu. Choose PAE under the utility menu and press ENTER. The SynScan hand control provides a short cut to quickly activate the PAE function. After exiting from the object catalog, instead of using the Utility menu, press and hold down the ESC key for 2 seconds. 4. The hand control will display “Re-centering obj” and the name of the PAE object will appear in a blinking mode (3 times).
O bject database in the SynScan TM AZ The SynScan AZ comes with a vast database with over 42,900 objects coordinates and information all available in the palm of your hand. The database contains the following catalogs: TM Solar System - The other 8 planets of our solar system, plus the Moon. Named Star - A list of 212 best known stars from the SynScan AZ database. *NGC - 7,840 of the brightest deep sky objects from the Revised New General Catalog.
U tility Functions Utility Functions are useful tools that provide simple, one-step processes to your SynScan AZ. Show Position - This displays the coordinates of the location where the telescope is currently pointed. The coordinates can be displayed in Dec and RA, Alt and Azm, or Ax1 (the angular reading of the elevation) and Ax2 (the azimuth axes of the mount). Use the scroll keys to choose your desired reading.
RIGHT directional key to move the cursor to the next digit. First set the value for R.A. Press ENTER to proceed to Dec. Tracking Sid. Rate: This activates tracking in Sidereal rate (Dual Axes Tracking). Lunar Rate: This activates tracking in Lunar rate (Dual Axes Tracking). Solar Rate: This activates tracking in Solar rate (Dual Axes Tracking). Stop Tracking: This stops the tracking instantly. Auto Tracking - Allows the telescope to automatically track a celestial object without star alignment.
1. The SynScan™ AZ hand control will display the coordinates where the telescope is currently pointed at in your desired format. See Fig.l for an example of the RA-Dec readout. If this is the location you would like to save, simply press ENTER to record the coordinates. You may also change the coordinates using the numeric keypad to enter numbers and the scroll keys to choose between “+” and “-”. The RIGHT or LEFT directional keys will move the cursor to the next or previous digit.
Do not use RS-232 cable other than the one provided to connect between the hand control and your computer. It may damage your computer or the hand control. If you are making your own cable based on the information provided in Appendix B, make sure that only pin 2, 3 and 5 connect to the com connector on your computer. 3.
Fig.q Fig.r SynScan Firmware Loader SynScan Firmware Loader Ver. 3.0 SynScan Update Ver. 1.7 Firmware File: Browse Enforce database update ESC SETUP Auto-detect COM Port COM Port COM 1 ENTER Update HC. Version 5. Click "Browse" to select the SynScanVXXXXAZ.ssf file in the SynScan folder. Click "Update" to start downloading the new firmware into your SynScan AZ hand control. You will see the status of the update below the "Update" and "HC. Version" buttons (Fig.s). TM Fig.
AZ MAIN MENU TOUR OBJECT CATALOG SETUP MODE UTILITY FUNC. Date Show Position Named Star Time Show Information Solar System Observ. Site Time Version Temperature Power Voltage Daylight Saving Alignment Brightest Star Align.
SynScan AZ SPECIFICATIONS TM Power Supply: Motor type: Slew speeds: Tracking Rates: Tracking Mode: Alignment Method: Database: Go-To Pointing Accuracy: Resolution: 10 to 15 V DC 1Amp, 2.1mm Plug (Center positive) DC Servo Motors Rate 0 = 1.0X Rate 1 = 2.0X Rate 2 = 8X Rate 3 = 16X Rate 4 = 32X Rate 5 = 200X Rate 6 = 400X Rate 7 = 600X Rate 8 = 800X Rate 9 = 1000X Sidereal, Lunar, Solar Dual Axes Tracking Brightest-Star Alignment, Two-Star Alignment 25 user defined objects.
The SynScan AZ telescopes are designed to receive control commands sent from a computer via the RS-232 port and RS-232 cable. Once connected, the SynScan AZ can be controlled by most popular planetarium software program. The SynScan AZ will communicate with the personal computer at 9600 bits/sec, no parity and stop bit. All angles are communicated with 16 bit angle and communicated using ASCII hexadecimal.
Physical Connection Diagram RJ-11 Connector 1= NC 2= RD 3= GND 4= NC 5= TD 6= NC 1 2 3 4 5 RD = 2 GND = 5 1 2 3 5 TD = 3 6 The Back of the DB9 Pinout 6 9 A dditional RS232 Commands Sending a track rate through RS232 to the hand control 1. Multiply the desired tracking rate (arc seconds /second) by 4. For example: if the desired track rate is 120 arc seconds/second (proximately 8 times of sidereal rate), then the TRACKRATE = 480. 2. Separate TRACKRATE into two bytes, such that (TRACKRATE = 3.
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Caution! NEVER USE YOUR TELESCOPE TO LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. PERMANENT EYE DAMAGE WILL RESULT. USE A PROPER SOLAR FILTER FOR VIEWING THE SUN. WHEN OBSERVING THE SUN, PLACE A DUST CAP OVER YOUR FINDERSCOPE TO PROTECT IT FROM EXPOSURE. NEVER USE AN EYEPIECE-TYPE SOLAR FILTER AND NEVER USE YOUR TELESCOPE TO PROJECT SUNLIGHT ONTO ANOTHER SURFACE, THE INTERNAL HEAT BUILD-UP WILL DAMAGE THE TELESCOPE OPTICAL ELEMENTS.
