malc-c

😲 Wow - !! Thanks once again Gus. I think we got lucky on the repair in that it didn't involve further troubleshooting after the PICs were replaced...They don't always go so smoothly !! Just wanted to add that the £60 quoted covered return post via next day special delivery, and even though I offered a lower price as he was bringing the kit with him he still insisted on paying the £60. - Which was really decent of him. That's a lovely looking rig you've set up and just please to see it action again

During the week I was contacted by a member who had inadvertently blown there MC003 board on their goto Dobsonian, and after some discussion as he was in a reasonable travelling distance we agreed to meet up yesterday and I attempted a repair whilst he waited. Gus brought everything I needed and after a quick chat I set to replacing the PICs I had already programmed. Gus kept my 18 month old German Shepherd amused playing ball whilst I replaced the two PICs and then tested the repair with the handset, which pleasingly displayed the firmware version rather then the no connection error message. Gus not only covered the cost of the components and something for my time and expertise which was nice, he also gifted me a SVBony 105 planetary camera that he apparently had no use for having upgraded. The generosity of the members I have helped on this thread has really astounded me. I spent a good couple of hours talking to Gus whilst drinking tea, and he is a real gentleman.... It was nice meeting a fellow SGL member, and being able to get his scope back in action. I moved away form Luna imaging several years ago, but receiving this camera has encouraged me to swap out the dSLR and give it a go if the weather improves before the moon reaches full. I've lost count of the number of scopes that have got a new lease of life curtesy of this thread, but I'm pleased to have been involved in it. The look on Gus's face when the handset came to life made it all worth while

Googling the net I came across this image The processor is an LG 8bit - 4k rom device running at 12 mhz. The sad news is the L in the part number means its designed to operate at 2.7v - 3.6v, and as there doesn't appear to be any obvious regulation, other than the small 8 pin X25045P device which results in no matches when searched.... Unless there is something being obscured under the wires. However, if either of these parts have been blown they are not something readily available, and in the case of the main processor, the firmware is not readily available. Best advice - buy a new one, and put this down to experience. I bet in future you will be more careful when plugging in multiple power supplies

If you could take the cover off and upload some pictures if the board inside it might help... Bristol Cameras have these listed for £105 at the moment so not cheap, but not expensive to replace. Over voltage and reverse polarity protection seem to be something Synta overlooked when developing their mounts and handsets Interesting -- that image has been used before in this thread 🤔

The good thing is that both EQMOD and GSServer have an active support group and the original developers are still able to provide input

Model railways used to be a hobby that most people associated with low outlay, and granted you can still buy a basic oval of track, loco and some wagons for a couple of hundred quid. But if you want something that is more detailed, is DCC enabled with sound, and realistic smoke, pulling a rake of Pullman coaches, then kiss goodbye to £700 + The good thing is in most of the hobbies listed there is always a second hand market place. Astronomy is no different, with deals form retailers like FLO, through to private sales in the classifieds. If you take that into account then again, I don't feel astronomy is being priced out of reach of those on the low paid sector

Just closed my small (120ltr) reef tank down after 11 years.... I stopped keeping tabs of what I spent, but even buying budget equipment it still ran into thousands... and then as others have said, you have the constant running costs of salt, dosing, test kits, food, and electricity... In comparison, astronomy is one hobby that is more affordable for those on low income

Patrick, I've just commented on a similar post showing examples between a typical dSLR and some cheap webcams that were available at the time - rather than repeat the post and use up server space, have a look at the images here

If you want full disk then dSLR is ideal, if you want details of craters etc then a dedicated camera is better. Both these images were taken through a 200P on HEQ5 Firstly using a Canon 400D body attached (prime focus) The image below was taken with an SPC900 Philips CCD webcam (640x480 max) And finally this one was taken with an MS Livecam HD web cam So if I could get those results using £50 web cams, I'm sure that dedicated planetary astro cams would give even finer resolution

I tried GSS too, but as I use a modified HEQ5 with a 4:1 gear ratio owing to the original developments of belt driving the thing in 2011 needed the developers to offer this option. They tried, but in testing things went astray and I nearly damaged my mount so I gave up and went back to EQMOD, which already had the offsets needed built in. You have to think on that EQMOD has been around for around 15 years now... and was originally developed to control just two mounts, the HEQ5 and EQ6. It's been developed over the years, but is somewhat dated. GSS was originally written to take advantage of features found in the EQ8 and provide functionality for the EQ8 that EQMOD lacked. It too has since been developed and now supports more and more mounts. Like Stuart, EQMOD does everything I need, and with my mount I have little choice but to stick with it.

By definition, astronomy is one hobby where you don't need to spend anything on equipment to enjoy it. Just get to a dark site and look up... If you want to take it to the next level, then a pair of basic 8x40 binoculars will work wonders. But in respect of true astronomical gear, such as telescopes and cameras, is it really that expensive or elitist ? - My son is a semi-serious angler, by that I mean he will spend 24-48 hours most weekends from spring to autumn fishing at various lakes. His rods, reels, bivi, bedchair, plus all the other kit and a barrow to carry it all on cost him two - three times what an HEQ5/200P rig cost now. One of my friends is into paintballing at National levels. They started with guns that cost around the same as most entry level scopes cost now, EQ3 pro goto and an 150P for example. Now they have guns that again, cost more than my HEQ5 mount. They can also quite easily spend the equivalent of a top branded eyepiece just on paint balls for a weekend tournament. I could go on and list other past times or interests such as flying RC models.... all require similar levels of investment to get started.

I'm not saying you have to strip down an EQ5.... 🙄

That's entirely at your discretion, but at least at the end of the session if you imaged you would be able to see what results you are likely to get.

Sounds like a backlash issue with the worm. With the clutches locked, make small adjustments on the RA worm alignment screws to take up the backlash, and see if that helps

Ok please don't take this as in a condescending way, but here are some suggestions, which I also apologies if any sound patronising - it's not my intention, just ignore any points that seem obvious. In the day time, confirm that the mount is operating smoothly with no binding when the clutches are released. Check that the scope is balanced with all the camera gear in operation. It's critical to get the centre of gravity correct too - have a search on youtube for Astronomy Shed. Dion's videos are quite old now, but the information on how to balance a scope within the tube rings (more applicable to newts) is still relevant. Place the scope in the default home position facing North, ideally at twilight so that you can still see to set up the hardware and have everything operational. When a bright star is visible in deep twilight, power the mount up, launch whatever software you use to position the scope and unpark it, then select sidereal tracking Release the cutches and point the scope at the star, until its centred in the screen of the imaging software, and lock the clutches. launch sharpcap or similar and connect to the guidescope camera. Adjust the positioning screws on the guidescope until the image has the same star centred in the software screen. You now have the guidescope and main scope aligned as both applications will have the same star in the centre of the window Release the clutches and set EQMOD or whatever software to the default home park position. Position the scope in the default home position and lock the clutches. I would suggest paying a years subscription to Sharpcap Pro as it has an excellent polar alignment tool. Using this you should be able to fine tune your polar alignment better. If you are relying on the polar scope in the mount, it could be that this is out of alignment and causing you such a large PA error. Having polar aligned the mount, check a few settings in EQMOD (and I'm sure NINA or GSServer have similar options) and that is to set the pulse guiding rates to x0.9 for both axis Now here comes the bone of contention. Some will suggest you run the PHD2 calibration at the target, where others suggest selecting a star that is as close to the intersection of the meridian with the celestial equator. I would suggest the latter as this is where things move fastest. With a star selected, launch PHD2, which should still retain the profile containing camera and guidescope details. Set the exposure to around 1.5 - 3 seconds and run a calibration routine, followed by the guide assistant for a good 2-4 minutes Accept the recommendations. - Hopefully it won't find anything too bad, and then once complete stop guiding if PHD2 reverts back to that state. Clear the graphs and target screens in PHD2 and then let PHD2 auto select a single guide start and engage guiding. If it runs another calibration routine so much the better. Let the guiding run for a good 20 - 40 minutes or more to gather some decent data, taking care not to touch the scope or do anything that will upset the guiding. Stop guiding and clear the graphs and target track in PHD2 Slew to the target you want to image. Let PHD2 auto select a single star, and begin guiding. Again, if it does a calibration that's fine. Once the guiding graph has settled down after a couple of minutes, then start your imaging run, again, taking care not to move the mount or do anything that will upset the guiding. Once the imaging run has started walk away, make a cuppa, and just keep an eye on things as it runs. A long guide log helps give a true picture on how the mount is performing. Once the imaging session is complete stop PHD2 guiding before moving the scope, such as issuing a park instruction. Close down the software, power down the mount and retire to bed Hopefully this workflow will help, and provide a decent set of logs to allow the likes of Michael and Vlaiv to provide feedback on the performance.

Sorry to say that there is a lot of "user error" in the logs... It would seem that you continued PHD guiding when you moved the scope seeing the huge peak at the end of one trace. This skews the data somewhat. Ideally a guide log of a few hours is better than one lasting 11minutes as it will pick up the harmonics of the drive. But as my old teachers used to say "good effort ! "👍 Maybe Michael will be able to decipher something from it?

SpaceX has lost dozens of satellites after they were hit by a geomagnetic storm a day after launch, causing them to fall from orbit and burn up. Full story So sad......😁 😆

You might be lucky and get a reply, but the user you have asked the question of has only posted 8 times and was last active nine months ago

Hi Claire, I agree, there are some incorrect information entered so the calculation of RMS etc will be out. I've looked back at your previous post and see that you are using an HEQ5 and possibly an ED80, can you confirm (most of us place details of our equipment as a signature in our profiles as it helps others provide assistance ). The log suggest a QHY5LII-C guide camera, and I presume you are using the Canon dSLR mentioned in a previous post as your main imaging camera. I'm no expert on deciphering the logs files, but form what I can see your calibration was good, with little or no backlash. But a calibration step of 10750ms is quite a long time.... The 50mm focal length stated would be a very short guidescope - this needs to be corrected to the focal length and not the objective of the guidescope. Other than that for me the RMS values are irrelevant as its calculated based on the focal length and camera pixel size. But both DEC and RA are trending in the same flat plane over the 4hrs of guiding. There are quite a few members who can give you more feedback so I'll leave my comments at that

Depending on the condition and age of the mount and if you still have the original packaging in pristine condition then a retailer may offer you a part exchange deal. It depends on how resalable the item is. But you shouldn't expect a lot for it. The alternative is to sell it privately, either through an well known online auction site or via the classified section on this forum once you have complied with the rules with regards to post count and membership duration. The HEQ5 is a nice mount, as is the EQ6-R, the latter having a larger load capability. The choice is really down to your own preference and budget.

my mistake

You don't need goto to polar alight. Many ways to polar align, some use software such as Sharpcap or NINA which have built in routines (Sharpcap required a subscription ) or you could use the polar scope built into the EQ5 When selecting a target, you don't need a planetarium program as you don't have goto. Release the clutches and swing the scope to the target area, using the finder to help. Lock the clutches and engage the motors so the scope is been set to track, and then with your eyepiece in place use the direction buttons to centre the target in the eyepiece. Remove the eyepiece and place the camera in the focuser, then take an exposure to get focus and also a rough framing to see if the target is where you want it. Use the directional buttons to frame the target how you want the final image to look if required. Then launch PHD2 and run through the calibration as described. Once PHD is guiding you can then do your imaging.

Normal practice is to frame your target in the imaging camera, and once your happy, then let PHD pick a star in the guide camera's image, let it calibrate, run the guide assistant and apply its recommendations and then either run guide assistant once more or just start guiding. Once guiding has been running I typically let it run for a few minutes to settle down and then start the imaging run. Once its all running I walk away and make a cuppa and let it do its thing. Imaging is something you can't rush... it is a learning curve, sometimes steep and frustrating... Vlaiv may remember a thread a while back were between us we wrote a very detailed step by step process for a guy who was struggling to grasp the basics - and then he simply stopped posting - so no idea if he gave up or it resolved his issue. I don't think you are at that level, but people here are here to offer advice and guidance... just be patient and you'll get there.

Sounds like a nice spec'd machine. I use Maxim Reflect to take regular images of the drive as backups. Makes restoring a PC a doddle - I had issues after installing NINA on the observatory PC and rather than try and figure out how to role back various C++ run time files etc to try and revert the machine back into the pre NINA install it was quicker to just re-image the drive back to the pre-install state. - Took 20 minutes. If you place an old image on a new PC the only thing that is required is to re-activate windows as the change in hardware gets detected. I can't recall the last time I built a windows install from scratch and installed all the programs needed.

Bit of a wobble at the start which has skewed the peak values somewhat, the rest of the trace of the longest guide session looked quite reasonable to me for the equipment used. The drift suggests a 16.1 arc minute polar alignment error so better polar alignment might improve the guide accuracy a little more. Hopefully @vlaiv will be able to provide a more detailed in depth diagnosis of the log.