Mount GM 4000 HPS II GoTo

GENERAL FEATURES:

• Weight: about 120 kg
• Maximum load capacity: 150 Kg pure instrument load capacity (necessary counterweights must be added)
• Optimum load capacity: 125 Kg instrument load capacity (necessary counterweights must be added)
• Optimum useful loading capacity: 125 kg (Teleskope weight plus counterweights)
• Latitude Range 23 to 68° adjustable with finetuning screws
• Azimuth adjustment: with two micrometric screws Range ± 10°
• Counterweight shaft Ø 60 Length 600mm stainless steel, weight 13 Kg

Optional Accessories:

• Counterweights kg 20 in plated steel (nickel and chromium coatings), 5 pc required

PRELIMINARY TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

RA / DEC AXES

• RA axis diameter: 85 mm. Lightened - Material of construction: alloy steel
• DEC axis diameter: 80 mm. Lightened - Material of construction: alloy steel
• Bearings: multiple roller conical diameter 130 mm
• The Axis have holes of 60 and 65 mm to allow the insertion of connecting cables for control of CCD cameras, filter wheels, electric focusers, ecc.

Worm Wheel RA / DEC

• R.A. Ø 330 mm bronze - 430 teeth
• DEC Ø 244 mm bronze - 315 teeth
• Worm gears - Ø 32 mm alloy tempered steel. Rectified Automatic backlash control system

MOTORS / CONTROL

• Motoris A.C.servo-brushless F.I.S Power Supply 24 V
• Power Consumption 1,5 A at sidereal rate, 5 A max
• QCI SYSTEM CONTROL Guide Speed 0,5x Slew (GoTo)
• Speed 5°/sec Pointing Precision (average error)
• Tracking Precision ±3" typical without PEC

DIMENSIONS

• Total Height (with polar axis inclined at 45°): about 800 mm
• Width (diameter of the Base Plate) 360 mm Length (without counterweight shaft): about 750 mm
• Distance between pier axis and declination axis: about 250 mm, optional 375 mm for long refractors

CONTROL BOX QCI FOR GM4000

• QCI Automatic GoTo System QCI is a active automatic pointing device designed, developed and fully integrated directly by our technicians and programmers; it uses high technology and high performance industrial components to guarantee the best level of affordability

Main technical specifications:

• New generation quick Control AC servo brushless motors with F.I.S. (fully integrated servomotors) system: F.I.S. is a brand new technology in the field of the total Integration of the electronics for control, power, encoder e communications, all built in the motor's body.
• Pointing Speed: up to a 1200x in both axis
• Pointing precision: errors less than 1arcmin; better results can be obtained using TPoint software, ecc.
• Tracking Speeds: sidereal, solar, lunar (same as LX 200 specs) It is possibile to obtain different speed for the two axis, using dedicated software (for comet or artificial satellite tracking.).
• Tracking precision: best than ± 2 arcsec.
• Control keypdad: the QCI system uses an progressive ergonomic joystick with inductive sensor using an HALL element, which allow the user to pilot the mount with very smooth and slow motion or with fast speed on the desired object. The joystick include a 2 meter cable and can be operated within a wide range of ambient temperatures ( + 50°C to -25°C).
• Connection to the PC: via serial RS 232. The mount is controlled by the PC by means of the extended LX200 protocol, (same as Meade 16"GPS) and Astro Physics GTO protocol.
• GPS Sync: the system automatically links and adjust itself to the GPS network (date, time, position)
• Remote Control: The mount can be controlled up to 15 meters from the PC with the serial RS232 connection. In case of requirement of a much longer distance, it is available an optional optical fibre system, capable of managing control signals at distance up to 80 meters. The system can be controlled even remotely by mean of an ethernet host server or or by wireless links and Internet.
• Encoders: QCI has built in encoders inside the motors which allow to obtain a theoretic final resolution of 0.1 arcsec. They allow to always maintain the position reference of the mount in every given moment, also after the system shutdown (park), because the system automatically records the coordinates in the internal memory of the motors; every time the system is switched on, it automatically initialise the soft homing of itself. Furthermore the system can do a Hard Homing in case of the total loose of reference positions.
• PEC function: to obtain a better tracking precision during the guide it is possible to activate the P.E.C. function (Periodic Error Correction): it is allowed to train the PEC function even in more steps using a dedicated software to optimise the resulting tracking algorithms (similar to ProTrack).
• Autoguider Interface: it uses the more popular standards: SBIG and Starlight Xpress, and it provide two parts: 6 contacts western standard phone jack (TTL) ad 15 pins SubD connector (relays port).
• Cord wrap Function: the system take in account the number of turns automatically and/or manually mode by the axis and prevents their wrapping, de?winding them every time that the system goes to slew a new object.
• Meridian flip function: the system automatically calculate the idea pointing position avoiding the collision of the telescope with the base of the pier or of the tripod. It is allowed to surpass by 10 degrees the limit, to point an object up to 5 degrees under the horizon, for example to wait for his raising, and it does not stop the sidereal tracking during a long exposure photographic session if the telescope goes over the meridian, assuring the continuation of the guiding session for maximum 20 degrees, equivalent to 1 hour and 20 minutes.

The HPS series: True precision for your astronomical future Take photographs without autoguiding, track satellites, find exoplanets using high-precision spectroscopy - and all with portable equipment!

GM 1000 HPS: - 25kg load capacity

GM 2000 HPS: - 50kg load capacity

GM 3000 HPS: - 100kg load capacity

GM 4000 HPS: - 150kg load capacity

MECHANICS

• Self-locking, high-precision worm drive with classic sliding clutch
• DC high-powered servo motor - no stalling due to imbalance
• GM 1000 HPS with integrated high-precision encoders for portable stand-alone operation
• Internal wiring - no external motor cables

ELECTRONICS

• Absolute encoder installed in both RA and DEC axes with more than 10 million increments (interpolated), fully encapsulated and calibrated
• RMS tracking precision up to 0.5“ - for long exposures without guiding!
• Satellite tracking speed of up to 20 degrees per second!
• Extremely low energy consumption, small electronics box (20x15x8cm)
• The electronics (box and hand-held controls) can be simply removed after each use. This prevents damage due to premature ageing and moisture.

FIRMWARE

• Fully automatic correction of atmospheric refraction - the only way to get perfect long exposures without guiding
• Intuitive V 2 firmware and QSI controller, with Linux-based computer system incl. AMD microprocessor.
• Precise GoTo - thanks to the Multistar alignment system and pointing models. Possibility to import satellite and comet orbits from web directories. Multiple individually programmable observation sessions
• Very well documented firmware, German and English instructions
• Autonomous operation without planetarium software, stand-alone operation using the hand-controller
• Option to connect to all common planetarium software for remote operation (LAN, RS).
• Electronic balancing - without opening the axes (pointing model is preserved)
• Precise, fast and extremely accurate polar alignment thanks to the latest alignment software

INTERFACES

• RS232, Ethernet, Wi-Fi
• Connections for: GPS, autoguider, keypad, mount, AUX and remote switch
• PC software: Virtual Keypad, Clock Sync Tool, Multi Mount, ASCOM drivers