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CEM40 refuses to park all of a sudden

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Hello,
I got my CEM40 just over a month ago.
I have it permanently installed and polar aligned.
After all initial problems were settled it was working pretty well.

Yesterday, in the end of the session I parked it and it parked at some random almost horizontal position.
I issued HOME command and it homed. My Home and PARK are the same (CW down, scope facing Polaris).

Tonight I tried to see what was wrong but now the mount would just refuse to park.
The info window/log says - "parking in progress" but the mount doesn't move.

Also the mount starts as "unparked". Not sure if that was the case before.

I don't have a hand controller attached (never connected it).

Any ideas?

Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
1 year 9 months ago #83885

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  • Thank you received: 86
Did my research...
This turned out to be a known issue with CEM/GEM.
iOptron doesn't like to have the Park pointing exactly at NCP.

It is also known that it works fine for some people.
For me it worked for a while but then stopped.

I just set the parking position slightly away from NCP and this worked.
Now I can park/unpark.
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 1 year 8 months ago by maxthebuilder.
1 year 8 months ago #83908

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Glad you figured it out. My CEM40 had the same behavior - Park was unpredictable until I set a new Park position just nudged a bit away from the iOptron Home position.
1 year 8 months ago #83918

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Yes, I had the same issues with my CEM60 when I got it. I thought the solution had been incorporated in EKOS at that time to not store the exact NCP, but a tad away from it? I've never checked this again, as I only use 'goto home' instead of parking....
1 year 8 months ago #83920

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On my CEM25P, I have a similar behaviour. If I set the park position slightly below the horizontal plane (counterweight bar horizontal, scope horizontal) then it refuses to park.
I think if one of the coordinate values was negative, it stopped the parking. I had to park it slightly above the horizontal plane.
Not sure if this is a bug of just an annoyance that you have to live with.
1 year 8 months ago #83942

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So, if I have Home and Park defined differently, what happens when I do Polar Alignment?
The procedure is supposed go back to park position after it finishes.
Does it just go two rotations back or really goes to Park?
It would be logical just to go back two rotations (i.e. to the initial position. Not real Park.)
?
Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
1 year 8 months ago #83992

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I never really understood this return-to-park policy anyhow, which is why I have disabled it.
I usually don't even start from park/home, but first slew 45 degrees east and do two 45 deg steps. And in doubt just run a second time with reversed direction to check the adjustment....

That said, last time I had used it, it really went to the park position, even if that is somewhere completely different...
1 year 8 months ago #83993

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So, it actually goes to the Park position in the end of the PA?
This is not right....
It should go to the initial position.
Hy?

Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
1 year 8 months ago #83998

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On the CEM, there is the Home position and the defined user park position.
With home position being counter weight down, scope straight up to Polaris.
Check out this video about polar alignment with Ekos, found it quite interesting
1 year 8 months ago #84016

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OK. Got it.
It really goes to the parking position.
I think, it would be nice and logical, just to go two rotations back to the initial position (when doing the polar alignment).
Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 1 year 8 months ago by maxthebuilder.
1 year 8 months ago #84020

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I agree, moving back to start (wherever that was) would make more sense. The option to have it stay where it ended up should nevertheless stay :)
1 year 8 months ago #84022

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