I just modified my HEQ5-Pro this afternoon. When I opended the housing, I checked the mechanical backlash of the three Gearwheels . The backlash was really big. I could turn the wheel on the screwaxis with my fingers about half a tooth or maybe even 1 tooth before it was blocked by the small gearwheel on the motor-Axis. I was really astonished about that. Now, after installing the belts, I cannot see or feel any backlash anymore. Unfortunately there is (ofcourse) no clear sky this eveneing, so that I cannot check it on positioning a star with my telescope , but (as I hope, there is not much backlash in the screwaxis itself ) it should have made the backlash much smaller. For everybody who thinks of upgrading his HEQ5-Pro with that belt-set : In no case forget to order that small tool to remove the small gearwheel, from the motor-axis !! I am rather sure, that I would have had big problems to take it off the motor-axis without this small and well working Tool !
I fitted this to my HEQ5PRO a couple of years ago, mines on a permanent pillar so once aligned never changes, It was the best investment I have made. All driven remotely from the house. Perfect tracking compared to the gears. Cannot rate it any greater.
Hey Tim, I just found your channel after starting an astrophotography channel myself. I’ve also got the HEQ5 with Rowan belt mod. Really enjoyed your video, keep it up! 😊
Hi, I did it too, couple of years ago. Guiding got smoother, especially after re-configuring PEC. (Belt mod also cancels out center cog's periodic error). Once a year I still have to disassemble and check and tighten everything, since the mount is on my roof whole year. I just remove the scope and cover it to protect from the elements.
Is that a guide scope and camera you have installed in the polar scope housing? If so, do you have a link to a tutorial or review about installing a guide scope there?
@AstroAddict - Did you realize an improvement in your guiding of one or both axes with the Rowan upgrade? I have a Orion Sirius EQ-G and it's got some backlash as well as that horrid noise when it starts moving at the high rates. I bought it second hand about a year ago and it's worked pretty well but I'd like better guiding (who wouldn't). I'm considering the belt drive installation and would love some feedback.
I was able to get the guiding down to sub arc-second on good nights. You will see an overall improvement in every aspect (like sound, tracking, etc) but if your guiding is enough to get round stars, it's not necessary, only optional.
Welcome in "Rowan" club! I bought my HEQ5 used.. Almost immediatelly ordered this belt mod.And that worth it so much! But I recommend one thing: Use some thread lock "grease" for the grub screw. Once one grub screw get loosen, and the tracking was worse and worse.. And that was not so easy to figure out why.. Other thing, I recommend to you to strip down the mount and change the grease. The original SW grease qualiti is....... I have used "super lube" that is kind of teflon grease. Mz future plan also change the the ball-bearings. The quality for these parts also very-very low!!!
And yeah, the tracking performance with my SW ED80 is always under 0.5", aound 75% under 0.4" With my Bresser Mak-Newton is around 0.6-0.8. But this is quite heavy setup, around 9kg. I am prety sure if i will change each bearing it will makes significant improve too..
I did that a few months ago also doing great activity in this weather and a whole improvement only I haven't had much of it for the same reason but we keep hoping.
Hi - interested to hear your thoughts on whether this mod was worth it in terms of improved guiding accuracy. I don't see a follow up comment or video - if there is could you point me to it or comment on your results to date? thanks!
I want this mount. I’m still using my Orion Skyview Pro and it is giving me so many issues, especially after I got my brand new WO Z73 doublet. Hope your mount is treating you well. Clear skies!
Hi Tim!, Excellent video on how to modify the HEQ5 Rowan Belt Modification,you made it look so easy , l watched Astro Farsography video on how to modify the HEQ5 a few months ago a very well explained video,My HEQ5 is only a few months old not sure if it is worth modifying at the moment. Your Crescent Nebula absolutely amazing,was this done after you modified your mount?.
What is your feedback on improving the performance e.g. you said it was quieter but how much has it helped with PEC accuracy? Is the PEC a SPEC e.g. it's not programmed in the mount but provided in software by the handset e.g. can you set the PEC without needing the handset? With/without the belt mod, do you do anything special with balance e.g. slightly unbalanced to load RA or "off polar alignment" to keep Decl. in tension e.g. on/off not plus/minus? When the motor drives the belt, it looks uneven e.g. wobbles. Did you need to reapply/adjust it/replace the drive pulleys? Before the "mod" had you greased/re-greased and set the tension of the motors?
I use the mount exactly the way as before, no difference in balancing. I never used periodic error correction, that's what AutoGuiding is for anyways. The RMS error definitely improved, and the average dither time decreased from 50 to 25 seconds
If you have made it all correct you will have a big improvement in your guiding, for reference at my heq5pro with the belt mod i can get under 1'' when imaging with my rc8''. Some tips for your mount that will improve its performance (i found them out the bad way aka many lost imaging nights with a lot of frustration). First of all install a spreader at the base of the tripod, this will improve the stability of the mount also if you can change the tripod altogether go for a wooden tripod, i got a berlebach planet and the mount is rock solid also there are no vibrations as metal is more prone to vibrations. Eliminate the cone error of your mount as it will improve your pointing accuracy and polar alignment, you can use conesharp Finally get rid of the vixen dovetail saddle and get yourself an adm dual saddle, this will improve the stability of your imaging setup, for reference here is a pic of my equipment facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=320564405502285&set=a.320564432168949&type=3&eid=ARDucfylf_IHJWPABtkoWIf3Oaho5j6zqYNkNIq4bItQxfb--tN-0JTIN3vv71cgMsBnxDbwvOYpbqEd
Nice video. Wondering if switching from gears to belts will affect performance in the cold and the very cold? I use my rig down to -30C. What do you think? Have you heard anything?
Well done. I would be ashamed if I manufactured this mount and saw how many people were doing this mod. The manufacturer should have made this improvement years ago. Manufacturing costs would be very similar.
I don't think that they need to improve on old products. Why not keep these (still great working) products on the market, and improve in the next version. I think the newer mounts are beld driven from the get go
@@AstroAddict But..... I am under the impression they still produce the mount with with spur gears. If they have in fact converted over and made a running change then I take back my negative comment. Thanks for the reply and again, well done on your mod.
Great (and very clear) video Tim! A great help for the ones, like me, that bought a HEQ5. Mine will arrive tomorrow! One question though. Where can I get the upgrade kit from? Many thanks, keep up the good work! Clear Skies
Gloryhammer sehr gut ! Ich würde zum Belt upgrade noch empfehlen die Lager auszutauschen. Gegen ordentliche Kugellager und keine Gleitlager. Das sollte sogar mehr bringen als das Belt upgrade
@@AstroAddict www.astro-baby.com/heq5-rebuild/heq5-m1.htm Angemerkt sei das man immer das Risiko hat etwas kaputt zu machen. Ob Skywatcher in der Zwischenzeit andere Lager verbaut weiß ich nicht. Ich nutze im Moment eine EQ6-R Pro. Die hat seit der letzten Neuauflage von SW die Riemen Antriebe ja schon drinnen. Hier ist es aber auch Rat sam bei Zeit die Plastik/Kunststoff Riemen gegen neue Auszutauschen. Temperaturschwankungen von kalt ins warme ins ganz kalte ist für Kunststoff auf dauer nicht gut^^
@@AstroAddict Lmao. I want to thank you for this video. I couldn't find much online about the insides of an equatorial mount. I want to build one from scratch for my engineering project at school, and seeing the motors and gears inside really cleared things up for me.
@@andygaras It's the sound of the motor being driven in crude steps, at an appropriate rate. When will some astronomy mount use Trinamic StealthChop stepper drivers instead of 1970s era drivers? (There's a whole bunch of features in them that would help, e.g. MicroPlyer alone could shift the stepping out of audible range.)
Mit billigem Werkzeug macht man jeder Schraube krumm, das sollte einem doch schon selbst einfallen ^^ Und dein Motorritzel eiert...für 200 Mäuse sollte das schon gerade sein ^^
Great video. I absolutely love the slewing sound on a mount it’s just ohhh yyeeeaaahhhh.
Super useful, thanks! I modded my heq5 yesterday with perfect result, only thanks to the tips in this video.
I just modified my HEQ5-Pro this afternoon. When I opended the housing, I checked the mechanical backlash of the three Gearwheels . The backlash was really big.
I could turn the wheel on the screwaxis with my fingers about half a tooth or maybe even 1 tooth before it was blocked by the small gearwheel on the motor-Axis.
I was really astonished about that. Now, after installing the belts, I cannot see or feel any backlash anymore. Unfortunately there is (ofcourse) no clear sky this eveneing,
so that I cannot check it on positioning a star with my telescope , but (as I hope, there is not much backlash in the screwaxis itself ) it should have made the
backlash much smaller.
For everybody who thinks of upgrading his HEQ5-Pro with that belt-set : In no case forget to order that small tool to remove the small gearwheel, from the
motor-axis !! I am rather sure, that I would have had big problems to take it off the motor-axis without this small and well working Tool !
I fitted this to my HEQ5PRO a couple of years ago, mines on a permanent pillar so once aligned never changes, It was the best investment I have made. All driven remotely from the house. Perfect tracking compared to the gears. Cannot rate it any greater.
I just wanted to see whats inside these. Not many videos taking these apart.
After I modded mine I reduced the backlash settings to zero, the mount is really quiet and tracks well in PHD...
Hey Tim, I just found your channel after starting an astrophotography channel myself. I’ve also got the HEQ5 with Rowan belt mod. Really enjoyed your video, keep it up! 😊
Hi, I did it too, couple of years ago.
Guiding got smoother, especially after re-configuring PEC.
(Belt mod also cancels out center cog's periodic error).
Once a year I still have to disassemble and check and tighten everything, since the mount is on my roof whole year. I just remove the scope and cover it to protect from the elements.
Is that a guide scope and camera you have installed in the polar scope housing? If so, do you have a link to a tutorial or review about installing a guide scope there?
No, that's the PoleMaster. It's for polar alignment
Useful! Looking forward to the tracking performance numbers.
@AstroAddict - Did you realize an improvement in your guiding of one or both axes with the Rowan upgrade? I have a Orion Sirius EQ-G and it's got some backlash as well as that horrid noise when it starts moving at the high rates. I bought it second hand about a year ago and it's worked pretty well but I'd like better guiding (who wouldn't). I'm considering the belt drive installation and would love some feedback.
I was able to get the guiding down to sub arc-second on good nights. You will see an overall improvement in every aspect (like sound, tracking, etc) but if your guiding is enough to get round stars, it's not necessary, only optional.
Keep up the good work hope this mod gives you better results not that you need them! Metal? Oh Yeah!
Love your taste in music! ;)
Hi Tim, I just found out that the kit is made by Rowan Astronomy and that my Astronomy supplier has it. Thanks anyway
Nice video, I'll have to get the kit and update mine
Welcome in "Rowan" club! I bought my HEQ5 used.. Almost immediatelly ordered this belt mod.And that worth it so much! But I recommend one thing: Use some thread lock "grease" for the grub screw. Once one grub screw get loosen, and the tracking was worse and worse.. And that was not so easy to figure out why.. Other thing, I recommend to you to strip down the mount and change the grease. The original SW grease qualiti is....... I have used "super lube" that is kind of teflon grease. Mz future plan also change the the ball-bearings. The quality for these parts also very-very low!!!
And yeah, the tracking performance with my SW ED80 is always under 0.5", aound 75% under 0.4" With my Bresser Mak-Newton is around 0.6-0.8. But this is quite heavy setup, around 9kg. I am prety sure if i will change each bearing it will makes significant improve too..
I'll look into it
I did that a few months ago also doing great activity in this weather and a whole improvement only I haven't had much of it for the same reason but we keep hoping.
Hi - interested to hear your thoughts on whether this mod was worth it in terms of improved guiding accuracy. I don't see a follow up comment or video - if there is could you point me to it or comment on your results to date? thanks!
For astrophotography how much weight do you have on the HEQ-5? thnx
About 10 kilos
Sehr gut! Das steht mir auch noch bevor 👍🏼
I want this mount. I’m still using my Orion Skyview Pro and it is giving me so many issues, especially after I got my brand new WO Z73 doublet. Hope your mount is treating you well. Clear skies!
I orderd this upgrade 2 days ago 😄 hoping to get it tomorrow
Hi Tim!, Excellent video on how to modify the HEQ5 Rowan Belt Modification,you made it look so easy , l watched Astro Farsography video on how to modify the HEQ5 a few months ago a very well explained video,My HEQ5 is only a few months old not sure if it is worth modifying at the moment.
Your Crescent Nebula absolutely amazing,was this done after you modified your mount?.
No, last summer
Hi Tim. I think I noticed a small wobbling in your new RA pinion from belt mod after you installed it. Please check.
I saw that as well, but the pinion itself does not move, it's the tip that is not perfectly symmetrical
No need to pull out the motors connectors which were at the PCB board, just turn the power off.
Best money I ever spent if only for the noise but also much more
This is a good mod! Your next one should be to replace the horrible stock Vixen saddle. Thanks for the great vids!
modification kit dropped!
Und auch 01:02 ❤️ erinnert mich immer an den ersten Abend mit meiner neuen Montierung. Und meine Nachbarn auch 😅
nicely done !
Cool dog Tim. Good show you have.
What is your feedback on improving the performance e.g. you said it was quieter but how much has it helped with PEC accuracy? Is the PEC a SPEC e.g. it's not programmed in the mount but provided in software by the handset e.g. can you set the PEC without needing the handset? With/without the belt mod, do you do anything special with balance e.g. slightly unbalanced to load RA or "off polar alignment" to keep Decl. in tension e.g. on/off not plus/minus? When the motor drives the belt, it looks uneven e.g. wobbles. Did you need to reapply/adjust it/replace the drive pulleys? Before the "mod" had you greased/re-greased and set the tension of the motors?
I use the mount exactly the way as before, no difference in balancing. I never used periodic error correction, that's what AutoGuiding is for anyways. The RMS error definitely improved, and the average dither time decreased from 50 to 25 seconds
Great video. What was your typical guide RMS before and after this mod?
Dunno
If you have made it all correct you will have a big improvement in your guiding, for reference at my heq5pro with the belt mod i can get under 1'' when imaging with my rc8''.
Some tips for your mount that will improve its performance (i found them out the bad way aka many lost imaging nights with a lot of frustration). First of all install a spreader at the base of the tripod, this will improve the stability of the mount also if you can change the tripod altogether go for a wooden tripod, i got a berlebach planet and the mount is rock solid also there are no vibrations as metal is more prone to vibrations.
Eliminate the cone error of your mount as it will improve your pointing accuracy and polar alignment, you can use conesharp
Finally get rid of the vixen dovetail saddle and get yourself an adm dual saddle, this will improve the stability of your imaging setup, for reference here is a pic of my equipment facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=320564405502285&set=a.320564432168949&type=3&eid=ARDucfylf_IHJWPABtkoWIf3Oaho5j6zqYNkNIq4bItQxfb--tN-0JTIN3vv71cgMsBnxDbwvOYpbqEd
I will take a look
How old was your HEQ5? You had very noisy gears!
Nice video, like to see a follow up on how it works
Nice video. Wondering if switching from gears to belts will affect performance in the cold and the very cold? I use my rig down to -30C. What do you think? Have you heard anything?
I doubt that the cold will have different effect, now
My azqe5gt rate 3~4arc I wonder anyway to improve even my one is already belts system
GLORY. HAMMER. :'D
Hi, was your RA axis belt a bit of a tighter fit to the Dec?
Off, don't know anymore, I guess they were about the same
@@AstroAddict ok thank you
Well done. I would be ashamed if I manufactured this mount and saw how many people were doing this mod. The manufacturer should have made this improvement years ago. Manufacturing costs would be very similar.
I don't think that they need to improve on old products. Why not keep these (still great working) products on the market, and improve in the next version. I think the newer mounts are beld driven from the get go
@@AstroAddict But..... I am under the impression they still produce the mount with with spur gears. If they have in fact converted over and made a running change then I take back my negative comment. Thanks for the reply and again, well done on your mod.
Great (and very clear) video Tim!
A great help for the ones, like me, that bought a HEQ5.
Mine will arrive tomorrow!
One question though. Where can I get the upgrade kit from?
Many thanks, keep up the good work!
Clear Skies
Nice tutorial, Tim. Have u ever thought of doing ur videos in Deutsch with English subtitles?
Why should I do that?
Gloryhammer sehr gut !
Ich würde zum Belt upgrade noch empfehlen die Lager auszutauschen. Gegen ordentliche Kugellager und keine Gleitlager.
Das sollte sogar mehr bringen als das Belt upgrade
Hast du ne Anleitung dazu?
Und: GLORY - HAMMER!!!
@@AstroAddict Ich muss in meinem Email Archiv schauen. Irgendwo müsste ich eine Explosionszeichnung der EQ5-Reihe haben.
@@AstroAddict www.astro-baby.com/heq5-rebuild/heq5-m1.htm
Angemerkt sei das man immer das Risiko hat etwas kaputt zu machen. Ob Skywatcher in der Zwischenzeit andere Lager verbaut weiß ich nicht.
Ich nutze im Moment eine EQ6-R Pro. Die hat seit der letzten Neuauflage von SW die Riemen Antriebe ja schon drinnen. Hier ist es aber auch Rat sam bei Zeit
die Plastik/Kunststoff Riemen gegen neue Auszutauschen. Temperaturschwankungen von kalt ins warme ins ganz kalte ist für Kunststoff auf dauer nicht gut^^
Should've shown the bad gears with the cover off to see what was really happening. Great job regardless!!! Thanks for sharing.
00:22 ❤️
FOR THE POWER AND THE GLORYYY!!
It still sounds like pacman dying
WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA WAKA
@@AstroAddict Lmao. I want to thank you for this video. I couldn't find much online about the insides of an equatorial mount. I want to build one from scratch for my engineering project at school, and seeing the motors and gears inside really cleared things up for me.
That's the sound of the motor being driven correctly.
@@andygaras It's the sound of the motor being driven in crude steps, at an appropriate rate. When will some astronomy mount use Trinamic StealthChop stepper drivers instead of 1970s era drivers? (There's a whole bunch of features in them that would help, e.g. MicroPlyer alone could shift the stepping out of audible range.)
@@0LoneTech you also need to consider loss of torque at higher stepping rates
Here is a typical PHD2 log with SWED80: drive.google.com/file/d/1ZzlJavurvCYDZPWyQX6jp4AqX-UEgYPb/view?usp=sharing
Interesting. Seems good enough for an 80mm?
Hätte auch sein können das deine alten Zahnräder Zuviel Spiel hatten und es deshalb zu den knack Geräuschen kam.
Werden wir jetzt nie erfahren :D
Annoying gear teeth chatter from oscillating steppers gone, Hyper tuning probably next step to get error even further down.
Bau doch gleich selbst nen Tracker xD der Skill scheint dir nicht zu fehlen
Excellent example why I will never buy this damn mount
Mit billigem Werkzeug macht man jeder Schraube krumm, das sollte einem doch schon selbst einfallen ^^ Und dein Motorritzel eiert...für 200 Mäuse sollte das schon gerade sein ^^