screws? If you didn’t and the disk is free to rotate on the mounting bracket shaft, the IntelliScope system will not work.
6.Did you install the aluminum spacer ring on the telescope mounting bracket shaft after you attached the encoder disk? The spacer ring is important for maintaining the correct spacing between the altitude encoder disk and the sensors on the encoder board.
7.Is the compression spring seated in its hole just below the hole for the telescope mounting bracket shaft? Does it make contact with the altitude encoder board when the board is in place? This is also important for maintaining the correct spacing between the altitude encoder disk and the sensors on the encoder board.
Warp factor consistently above ±0.5 but below ±2.0
8.Check accuracy of vertical stop. Use a carpenter’s level to do this.
9.Are alignment stars being centered with reasonable precision? A
10.Check encoders as outlined previously.
11.Try to use alignment stars that are well above the horizon. Light from stars is refracted as it travels through the atmosphere and starlight near the horizon has to travel through the greatest amount of atmosphere before reaching your telescope. Stars near the horizon can appear as much as 2° away from their actual position.
12.Avoid long delays between aligning on the first and second alignment stars. The stars in the night sky appear
to move due to the rotation of the Earth. If you take more than a few minutes to align on the second star, this stellar motion will result in an increase in the warp factor (and decrease the resultant pointing accuracy). This
is because the controller does not yet have a frame of reference to tell which way the stars should appear to be moving before the second star is aligned on.
Warp numbers larger than 2.0
13.Are the stars you aligned on actually the stars you selected on the controller? Consult the finder charts in Appendix D if you are unsure.
14.The encoder sensors may be coming into contact with the encoder disks. Check both the altitude and azimuth encoders as outlined above.
Altitude readouts do not change when you move the scope (during “ALT AZM TEST”)
15.Check the altitude cable’s connections.
16.Make sure the altitude tension knob is not too loose.
Azimuth readouts do not change when you move the scope (during “ALT AZM TEST”)
17.Check the azimuth cable’s connections.
18.Make sure the hex lock nut on the azimuth axis screw is tight. The fender washer underneath the hex lock nut should not be able to move. Remember, the hex lock nut should be tightened about 3/16 to 1/4 turn beyond the point where the washer cannot move any longer.
19.Try disassembling then reassembling the azimuth encoder by disassembling the top and bottom baseplates.
32
