iOptron SmartStar 8600A Manuals

iOptron Corp. | 6E Gill Street | Woburn, MA 01801 USA | (781) 569-0200 | Toll Free (866) 399-4587 | www.iOptron.com Quick Start Guide SmartStar® A Series Systems (8600, 8602, 8603, and 8604) Step 1. Preparing the Tripod 1. Extend tripod legs to full extension. 2. Slide tray on bottom of shaft (#7). Then screw on round black knob (#9). Step 2. Attaching the Mount 1. Raise wedge plate on the tripod by turning two tilt locks (12); 2. Attach mount to wedge plate using supplied azimuth lock screw (10). 3. lower wedge plate to it’s lowest position by turning the upper tilt lock upward while lightly push the mount down. Secure the mount by tightening the lower lock. Step 3a. Installing Batteries Note: you may use 8 AA batteries (Step 3) or the AC adaptor (Step 5) to operate the mount. Pull the batteries compartment cover (shown) open. Gently pull the batteries holder (shown next) out of the compartment to avoid breaking the attached wires. Step 3b. Insert 8 AA batteries (not included) in the holder. Refer to the diagram on the holder to orient the batteries properly. Replace the holder back into the battery compartment and replace the lid. For reference: the battery pack fits in with wires on the bottom right (See arrow in photo). Use only fresh batteries. Using/mixing old or low batteries may cause error messages. Step 4. Attaching Telescope Attach telescope to mount using dovetail lock knob (#2). (Picture shows 80mm refractor. However all scopes will attach in the same manner.) #2 knob iOptron Corp. | 6E Gill Street | Woburn, MA 01801 USA | (781) 569-0200 | Toll Free (866) 399-4587 | www.iOptron.com Step 5. Plug in hand controller and AC adaptor. Plug hand controller into either one of the two HBX ports on the mount. Next plug in AC adaptor. (Or use batteries—see step 3). Turn on power (the red light should go on). At this point you can begin observing manually. Use the 4 Arrow keys (▲▼◄►) to rotate the scope Up, Down, Left, and Right. Use the SPEED key to change the slew rate from the slowest (1X) to the fastest (MAX). The next steps show you how to set up the telescope and controller for automatic slewing and tracking. Step 6. Set up telescope for auto-observing. Level the mount using the bubble on side of mount by adjusting tripod legs. The bubble should be in the middle of the circle. It is also suggested to use additional levels (such as a torpedo level) to assure precise leveling. Step 7. Park Position for Altazimuth Operation Set telescope to PARK POSITION. (1) Position the mount so that the “SOUTH” mark is facing south (A compass may be helpful). (2) The telescope tube should be pointed directly up at the zenith. If it is not perfectly straight then loosen the altitude lock (#4) to adjust telescope. Please refer to full manual for German equatorial operation. Step 8. Main Screen Turn on the mount and wait for controller to display “GPS-OK” in top right corner —not “GPS-ON”. GPS provides Latitude, Longitude, and current time only. Step 9. Press the MENU key once. Scroll (with the ▲/▼ keys) to “Set Up Controller” Press ENTER. Then go to Set Up Local Time and Site in the next screen. Select and then press ENTER. Step 10. Set Up Local Time Go to: Set up Local Time (or “Local Time and Site”). Press ENTER. Enter date and day-light savings (Y-yes. N-no). (Note: use arrow keys to scroll through screen and select numbers) 1) South 2) Up #4 Alt lock Plug in AC adaptor here iOptron Corp. | 6E Gill Street | Woburn, MA 01801 USA | (781) 569-0200 | Toll Free (866) 399-4587 | www.iOptron.com Step 11. Set Up Site GPS will provide the longitude and latitude information. If GPS signal is not available, these values can be manually entered here. Use ▲/▼ keys to change the numbers and letters. Use ◄/► keys to scroll through the fields. The last line of this screen is for setting time zone information (add or subtract 60 minutes (Min.) per time zone). Examples: minutes “behind” UT or “ahead of” UT New York: 300 Min. “behind” UT Los Angeles: 480 Min. “behind” UT Rome: 60 Min. “ahead of” UT Sydney: 600 Min. “ahead of” UT Press ENTER when finished. The mount is now ready to find (GOTO) and track objects. Step 12. Select and Slew to an object Press Menu button. Scroll to “Select and Slew” Press ENTER. Step 13. Select a category (ex. “Planets, Sun, Moon”) by scrolling with the arrow keys. Press ENTER. Then select an object (ex. “Moon”) by scrolling with the arrow keys. Press ENTER. The telescope will automatically slew to the object and lock on. It will automatically begin to track once it locks on to the object. Step 14. Sync to Target (Use this to center and synchronize the object selected in Step 13). Press MENU. Scroll to “Sync. To Target”. Press ENTER. Next use the arrow keys (▲▼◄►) to center the object in the eyepiece. Then press ENTER again to synchronize the object with the memory. To slew to other objects simply repeat steps 12 and 13. You do not need to repeat step 14 except for adjustments as needed. (Refer to the full online manual for 1-star and 2-star alignments. Sync to Target is similar to 1-star Alignment except that you choose the object to align to.)