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AYODigi II arrives finally


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I've had this on order since before Christmas, it was due in January but finally arrived yesterday. This completes my rig for the Vixen, and will give me a very stable platform on the Meade Giant tripod and half pillar. It also gives me push-to functionality using the built-in encoders and the Nexus from the Sumerian. Should improve my ability to find those doubles under my rubbish skies!

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Looking forward to first light with new mount, and the Vixen with its new motor focuser.

Stu

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Good choice on the Nexus. I have the Nexus S and it's a cracking little device and much smaller and quicker than the lumbersome SkyFi. It also leads me suspect the Ayo is much smaller than it looks? Is this so, appreciate the density count might be right up there!

Russell

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I'm really impressed with the Nexus, only used it properly at SGLX (on the Sumerian) but it's an excellent system.

I've used SkyFi with my Atlux mount and it works very well too.

For scale, the mount is 486mm from the middle of the alt axis to the base.

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It looks very nice Stu :smiley:

I'm still looking for an alt-az for my big Istar. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with it. I believe your Vixen is around the same weight as my Istar but a bit shorter.

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It looks very nice Stu :smiley:

I'm still looking for an alt-az for my big Istar. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with it. I believe your Vixen is around the same weight as my Istar but a bit shorter.

Thanks John. You are correct about the weight and lengths. The Digi II is specced up to 18kg and scopes up to 1500mm. I hope it copes with the Vixen!! The Ercole was nearly there and the AYO feels more solid so it should be fine. Will post results here once I've tried it.

The only flex in the tripod is the rubber feet, everything else is rock solid. Should all work very well and I've got plenty of height range to play with.

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......The only flex in the tripod is the rubber feet, everything else is rock solid. Should all work very well and ice got plenty of height range to play with.

My Meade Giant Field Tripod seems to have lost it's rubber feet. It has cast metal ones. I have a set of Meade Anti-Vibration pads so those will have to do.

I'll look out for your results on the Ayo II :smiley:

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Tried the Vixen on it briefly today, all seems well. Will be interesting to see how it goes actually observing.

The mount itself and the tripod are rock steady. There is perhaps a little flex where the clamp meets the mount but perhaps this will depend upon the balance and tension of the clutches. I'm pretty sure this is as good as it is going to get without going to a custom 'dob' style mount ie a yoke with two bearings either side of the scope.

I will experiment with using the pillar vs having the tripod extended. With the pillar there is no issue of the scope hitting the tripod at the zenith so it works well.

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The Nexus sits nicely on the plate built into the mount, held by Velcro. Just need somewhere for the battery and dew controller to sit now, sure I can find somewhere on the tripod or pillar.

I tried the encoders out with the Nexus and it seemed to work fine with SkySafari.

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It looks great Stu but I agree about reserving judgement until it sees "action". I've tried a number of what seemed to be very hefty mounts with my big refractor but found, so far at least, that they have not quite been up to the task.

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Thanks John. I'm hoping too that the motor focuser, which is working really well, will help by avoiding vibrations apart from when moving the scope.

What is your definition of 'up to the job'? I guess it's down to amount of vibration, damping time and smoothness of movement.

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....What is your definition of 'up to the job'? I guess it's down to amount of vibration, damping time and smoothness of movement.

Yes, it's those 3 things really. I'll accept that rock solid stability is too much to expect while a degree of portability / movability is retained though. It's finding an acceptable compromise. I hope you have with the AYO Digi II :smiley:

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Well from what I've seen the movement is very smooth, and the tension adjustment very controllable. Damping time seems very good but the actual level at high mag is what needs to be determined. Tomorrow night hopefully.

Having really enjoyed using the Nexus push to on the Dob, I'm looking forward to having this will the Vixen. It will be far more useable, and with Jamie's cover I'll be able to put it out safely in anticipation of clear skies, and not necessarily have to pack it all down at the end.

Last thing, for an idea of scale the alt axis is around eye level for me. Most of my observing is above 40 degrees or so, so it works out ok. The Catsperch will help for stuff near the Zenith.

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Stu that looks like a great setup, I was looking at those mounts to use with the nexus if I ever bought a frac.

Re the battery for nexus. I've bought one of these and use it with 8 rechargeable Duracell AAs to power my nexus. It was a pain finding a space for the lead acid one I was using with the sumerian. There should be enough power for at least one or maybe two nights. It's very light and easier to position. I've only used it a couple of times for a few hours at a time so far but haven't had to charge them yet. Only snag I can see is I can't gauge how much powers left in the batteries so will probably end up recharging more often than I need.

http://www.digislider.co.uk/products/8-x-aa-battery-holder-with-plug-and-on-off-switch

Ps, 8 AAs give you the required 9 volts but last much longer than the normal 9 volt battery that fits in the back of the nexus unit.

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Thanks Richard, interesting. I do have a 22Ah Tracer battery which should do the job but if it is too cumbersome I'll have a look at the AA's

Hopeful of getting a first go with it tonight, forecast is clear currently

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Well....that was exciting [emoji2]

A 150mm, 1.4 ish metre long scope in 20mph winds, probably not my best idea! I couldn't resist having a quick session with it though to test everything out.

So, the mount basically works very well. It was, of course, jumping around in the wind but I would expect that anyway. In the calm periods, it was very solid, the motion was smooth even without a counterweight (which I forgot to put on!), and the damping time around a second.

I made a fairly scary discovery after dismounting the scope though, the alt plate which holds the Losmandy clamp on had come completely lose! It is held on by four grub screws but they were only just holding it in, it's lucky the whole lot didn't fall off!! The positive is that now these are tightened I expect it to be more stable still. I really couldn't tell they were lose though which is a little concerning.

This does explain the issues I was having with the Nexus though!! It's pointing accuracy got worse as the time went on, it was great to start with but obviously as the alt axis got lose it was shifting and losing position. Hopefully then I have sorted both the flex and the Nexus for next time.

The Baader SteelDrive worked extremely well, allowing fine focus without vibrating the scope. I still think there is a minor collimation error which may need some adjustment, but even so the views of Jupiter were lovely. Callisto was very clear and dark, looking much like a shadow, and the shadow itself was also very clearly defined, looking a little elongated as it approached the limb.

There was plenty of surface detail present, but the windy conditions really weren't conducive to a long observing session. I was pleased with the level of detail and contrast though, not far from the 10" f6.3 as I recall but I haven't done a proper side by side yet.

Lastly, the only eyepiece I used was the Leica Zoom. Giving x75 to x150 or x150 to x300, this is really versatile and very good for planetary and lunar observing. I mainly stuck to without barlow tonight because of the wind, but the views were nice too above x200. I now have a quick release for the T2 thread so I can attach the eyepiece directly to the prism, or quickly add the barlow and a 1.25" Clicklock for the higher powers. It all works very well and keeps the scope balanced. I will stick to using the Leica/T2 prism for high power/planetary observing, and use the 2" prism with the Ethos' for lower power needs.

Pretty happy overall with this setup now, just need to try it in more normal conditions!!

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Good stuff overall then Stu :smiley:

I've been out myself with the dob under similar conditions tonight - got blown about a bit too !

The transit events were good though and I agree that Callisto's disk did look very dark tonight - it could have been mistaken for a shadow very easily.

Just as well you found and sorted the clamp fastening issue - it's a long way down for the scope ! :shocked:

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Thanks John. I observe on grass which is soft at the moment, but 18kg of scope dropping six feet would not have ended well. Lesson learned though, I will check it is tight each time now.

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