ORION TELESCOPES & BINOCULARS TD-1 User manual

IN 678 07/22
Orion®TD-1 and TD-2
Electronic DC Tracking Drives
#55030 TD-1
#55031 TD-2
These single-axis motor drives are designed to provide electronic, hands-free track-
ing of celestial objects when installed on select Orion equatorial mounts. Electronic
tracking of a polar aligned equatorial mount makes objects appear to stand still in
the telescope’s eld of view, rather than drifting due to the Earth’s rotation.You won’t
have to reposition the telescope to re-center an object in the eyepiece as the object
moves across the sky—a welcome convenience!
The TD-1 Tracking Drive is compatible with the equatorial mount included with the
#9250 Orion StarBlast II 4.5 EQ Reector telescope.The TD-2 Tracking Drive is com-
patible with the Orion EQ-13 Equatorial Mount and telescopes that come with that
mount, such as the #9007 Orion SpaceProbe 130ST EQ Reector, the #55027 Orion
AstroView 6 EQ Reector, and the #55028 Orion AstroView 102mm EQ Refractor
telescopes. Neither tracking drive is cross-compatible with the mount/telescope(s)
recommended for the other.
The installation instructions and operation procedures are exactly the same for both
the TD-1 and TD-2 drives.
Corporate Offices: 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076 - USA
Toll Free USA & Canada: [phone]
International: [phone]
Customer Support: [email protected]
Copyright © 2022 Orion® Telescopes & Binoculars.All Rights Reserved. No part of this product
instruction or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modied or adapted, without the
prior written consent of Orion Telescopes & Binoculars.
AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANY
INSTRUCTION MANUAL

1. Included Parts
• Motor drive
• Battery holder with cable
• Hand controller with cable
• Holder for hand controller
• 2mm and 4mm Allen keys
Refer to Figure 1 and the parts list above
to make sure all the parts are present. If
anything is missing or damaged con-
tact Orion Technical Support at www.
OrionTelescopes.com/contactus.
2. Assembly
1. First, locate the two socket head cap
screws on the equatorial mount, as
shown in Figure 2. Use the 4mm hex
key to remove these screws.
2. Next, line up the two holes in the
motor bracket with the exposed holes
in the mount, while also centering
the motor’s coupling cylinder with the
right ascension (R.A.) worm gear shaft
(Figure 3). Be sure to back out the
thumbscrew on the coupling cylinder
a few turns so that the screw is not
blocking the hole in the cylinder. Then
slide the coupling cylinder onto the
worm gear shaft.
3. Attach the motor bracket to the mount
with the two cap screws you removed
in step 1, using the 4mm hex key
(Figure 4).
4. Now tighten the thumbscrew on the
coupling cylinder (Figure 5).
5. Next, insert the hand controller cable’s
plug into the socket of the tracking
drive (Figure 6).
6. Slide the battery holder’s cover off
and install eight (8) 1.5V AA alkaline
batteries, making sure to orient the
batteries such that the + and – ends
of each battery match the + and –
designations in each battery slot
(Figure 7). Then slide the cover back
onto the battery holder.
Figure 1. Components of the TD-1 and TD-2
electronic tracking drives.
Figure 2. The two socket head cap screws
for attaching the motor can be found on the
equatorial mount’s housing.
Figure 3. Align the holes in the motor bracket
with those on the mount while placing the coupling
cylinder over the worm gear shaft.
R.A. worm
gear shaft
Thumbscrew
Coupling
cylinder
Motor
bracket
Cap
screws
Hand controller
Holder for hand
controller
Motor drive
Battery
holder
Allen
keys

Figure 4. Use the 4mm Allen key to tighten
the two socket head cap screws that attach the
motor bracket to the mount.
7. Insert the plug of the battery holder
into the port on the hand controller
labeled “12V DC Power” (Figure 7).
8. Install the hand controller holder on a
tripod leg (Figure 8). It is best to install
it above where the leg support (which
the accessory tray attaches to) is
attached to the tripod leg.This way the
holder cannot slide down very far on
the tripod leg. Tighten the hook-and-
loop strap on the back of the holder
around the tripod leg.
Assembly of the TD-1/TD-2 tracking drive
system is now complete!
Note that the 2mm Allen key is only needed
for the small setscrews in the coupling cyl-
inder (see Figure 5). For instance, if one or
both of those setscrews becomes loosened,
use the 2mm Allen key to tighten them.
3. Operation
For the TD-1 and TD-2 Tracking Drives to
work properly, the equatorial mount must
Figure 5. Tighten the thumbscrew on the
coupling cylinder to engage the tracking drive.
Loosen it to disengage the drive (in order to use
the mount’s manual slow-motion knob).
Figure 6. Plug the hand controller into the
tracking drive’s socket.
Figure 7. Install eight 1.5V AA batteries in
the battery holder, then plug the battery holder
cable into the Power port of the hand controller.
Coupling
cylinder
Thumbscrew
Setscrew
Battery
holder
Plug in

be polar-aligned.This involves aligning the
R.A. axis of the mount so it is parallel to the
Earth’s axis of rotation (polar axis). Consult
the manual that came with your equatorial
mount or telescope for details on how to
polar-align it.
Turning the Electronic Tracking
Drive On and OFF
To power the TD-1 or TD-2 Tracking Drive,
rst make sure you have loaded eight 1.5V
AA batteries into the battery holder. Then
locate the power switch on the side of the
battery holder (Figure 9). To turn the power
on, slide the switch from the “OFF” position
to “ON”. Be sure to return the switch to OFF
when you are nished using the telescope
for the evening.
You will also need to slide the power switch
on the hand controller to “ON”. It is located
near the top, to the left of the LED light.
Once the power is turned on, if the mount
is properly polar-aligned, it will track the
motion of the night sky, and the telescope
should hold any astronomical object in its
eyepiece steady over time. The LED near
the top of the hand controller will light up
to indicate the power is on and the motor
is tracking.
Using the Hand Controller
The TD-1 and TD-2 Tracking Drives can be
used in either the Northern Hemisphere or
the Southern Hemisphere. Set the switch
at top left to “N” for use in the Northern
Hemisphere, or “S” for use in the Southern
Hemisphere (see Figure 10).
There are four round buttons on the hand
controller (Figure 10). If no buttons are
pressed, when the power switch is turned
on the motor will turn the right ascension
(R.A.) axis of the mount westward at side-
real rate – the same rate at which the stars
are moving from east to west in the sky.
If the bottom right button is pressed, the
motor will turn westward at 2x sidereal
rate, which will cause objects viewed in the
Figure 8. Strap the hand controller holder to
a tripod leg with the hook-and-loop band on
the back. Slide the hand controller into the top
of the holder.
Figure 9. To use the tracking drive you must
slide the power switch on the battery holder (and
on the hand controller itself) to ON.
Figure 10. The hand controller features a
power switch, and N/S Hemisphere switch, and
four speed buttons – forward and reverse - for
centering objects in your telescope’s eld of view.

telescope’s eyepiece to move slowly east-
ward. If the bottom left button is pressed,
the motor will pause the tracking function,
which will cause objects in the eyepiece to
drift slowly westward. Releasing the button
will cause tracking to resume.
If the top right button is pressed, the motor
will turn westward at 4x sidereal rate. If the
top left button is pressed, the motor revers-
es direction at 4x sidereal rate, causing
objects in the telescope’s eld of view to
move westward.
The hand controller buttons are useful for
centering objects in the telescope’s eld of
view. To slew the telescope farther or more
quickly than is possible with the tracking
drive, you can use the mount’s manual R.A.
and Dec. slow-motion cables. (Refer to your
equatorial mount’s or telescope’s manual
for more about the slow-motion cables).
However, to use the R.A. slow-motion con-
trol you must rst disengage the tracking
drive from the R.A. worm gear.This is easily
done by simply loosening the thumbscrew
on the coupling cylinder (see Figure 5).
Once it is loosened, you can turn the R.A.
slow-motion cable via its hand knob.When
you’re nished slewing with the slow-mo-
tion cables, just re-tighten the thumbscrew
on the coupling cylinder to re-engage the
tracking drive.
When the tracking drive is engaged –
no matter whether the power is on or
off – you should not attempt to use the
mount’s R.A. slow-motion control. Doing
so could permanently damage the motor.
If you want to slew the telescope even faster
or across a wider swath of sky than you can
conveniently do using the tracking drive or
the slow-motion cables, you can do so by
loosening the mount’s R.A. and Dec axis
lock knobs by a half turn or so, then freely
rotate the tube to point to any location in
the sky. Then when you are at or near your
target, just re-tighten the R.A. and Dec. lock
knobs.You can move the telescope in this
way whether or not the tracking drive motor
is engaged.
So let’s say you’ve observed a celestial
object with your telescope and now want
to move to a new object in a different part of
the sky. First, loosen both the R.A. and Dec.
lock knobs and move the telescope by hand
until it is pointed in the general direction
of the object. Retighten the R.A. and Dec.
lock knobs. Now, disengage the tracking
drive by loosening the thumbscrew on the
coupling cylinder. Then use the R.A. and
Dec. slow-motion control cables to roughly
center the object in the telescope eyepiece.
Re-engage the tracking drive by re-tight-
ening the thumbscrew, and the motor
drive system will keep the object centered
over time. If the object does drift, maybe
because your polar alignment wasn’t very
accurate, or you need to better center the
object, you can use the buttons on the hand
control to center it electronically.
4. Specifications
• Motor type: DC stepper motor
• Tracking rate: Sidereal
• Centering rates: 2x and 4x sidereal
• Power requirement: 12V DC
• Battery type: Eight AA alkaline (1.5V), user supplied
• Operating location: Works in Northern or Southern Hemisphere
• Clutch: Thumbscrew on coupling cylinder engages and disengages
tracking motor

One-Year Limited Warranty
This Orion product is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship for
a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is for the benet of
the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes &
Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that
proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid. Proof of purchase (such
as a copy of the original receipt) is required. This warranty is only valid in the country
of purchase.
This warranty does not apply if, in Orion’s judgment, the instrument has been
abused, mishandled, or modied, nor does it apply to normal wear and tear. This war-
ranty gives you specic legal rights. It is not intended to remove or restrict your other
legal rights under applicable local consumer law; your state or national statutory con-
sumer rights governing the sale of consumer goods remain fully applicable.
For further warranty information, please visit www.OrionTelescopes.com/warranty.
Corporate Offices: 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville CA 95076 - USA
Toll Free USA & Canada: [phone]
International: [phone]
Customer Support: [email protected]
Copyright © 2022 Orion® Telescopes & Binoculars. All Rights Reserved. No part of this product instruction or
any of its contents may be reproduced, copied, modied or adapted, without the prior written consent of Orion
Telescopes & Binoculars.
AN EMPLOYEE-OWNED COMPANY