malc-c

When I built my observatory I used standard cement and small ballast mix (sand and stone) in a 1:3 (1 shovel of cement to 3 of ballast). The pier was a standard 6" plastic drain pipe, which was then filed with rebar and concrete to the same mix

I've managed to repair half a dozen Skywatcher motor boards, but they use easily programmed PICs and readily available firmware. The part indicated is the main processor, and in a package that is not easily programmed by the hobbyist (assuming you can get the firmware The part isn't listed on the Celestron website, so may well no longer be in production.

As I said, best get quotes from a qualified sparks.... The regs are constantly changing and being updated, so what might have been OK 10 years back would not pass inspection now...

When I stripped my HEQ5 I used white lithium grease so yeah that should do - Mine cam in a tube and resembled the consistency of toothpaste

Guys, as FLO have mentions it's down to shipping costs. There have bee reports where the normal cost pre covid to "book" a container was £1000, and is now £10,000. With these grossly inflated prices to secure space on fewer ships suppliers have no alternative but to increase the cost..... I've just taken delivery of a new Sony 4K TV, and had to spend a fair amount of time to track down the model I wanted as nearly every major retailer (Curry's, AO, Richer Sounds etc) were out of stock. The supplier I purchased the TV from said that his stock was limited, and whilst they will be getting some in as the container was on the water, they certainly wouldn't be at the same price, with an estimated 30-35% increase due to the shipping costs... I have no idea of margins on astronomical equipment, nor how large a turn over or how much cash in the bank FLO have, but it is really a sign of just how customer focused they are when they are willing to absorb the increase for existing back orders and help ease the pain of these hikes.

You're welcome... I've heard that praying to the clear sky gods sometimes works.....

There ya go... a simple fix. There could be 1001 reasons the gear wasn't engaging correctly. At any stage in transportation (factory to docks, dock to ship, transit by ship, ship to dock, dock to distribution, distribution to OVL, OVL to retailer, retailer to customer) the box could have taken a knock... or it could have been one that slipped through the QC... I doubt that they QC every single mount off the production line...

👍 Excellent.... have fun When you unplug the cable from the mount, I would suggest unplugging the main plug first and then remove the 12v connector... just to be safe. There shouldn't be any real risk, but it's just a practice I get into on any powered device, switch off at the mains and then remove cables....

No. It's a standard 13A UK plug, rated at 250v - your mains supply is typically 220 -240v ac. You should be able to prize up the fuse holder using a small screwdriver in those small square holes where it says "fuse". Fit a 3A and give it a go

Hi, You should be able to remove the 10A fuse and fit it with a 3A if you have one, but if not then that would be fine for a simple quick test. As the 60w power block gives around 2.5 amps out, a 3A would blow if there was an issue, where as a 10A or 13A fuse would still allow current to flow and would only blow if the current exceeded that value.

When I got back into astronomy after a long break I purchased a 200P on an EQ5 pro goto mount. The mount was OK and handled the load of the 200P for visual observing. However due to the poor light polluted skies at the time (pre LED streetlights) I got interested in astrophotography. For me the mount's limitations then became evident. The slightest gust and the 200P acting like a sail would move. The weight of the camera and cables took the mount to its limit if not beyond. In 2011 I started the construction of my observatory to home the EQ5 / 200p The images I got were good, but as I wanted to add a guidescope, additional cameras etc I really needed to upgrade the mount, and was lucky enough to pick up a secondhand HEQ5 with an ST80 and QHY5 from a fellow SGL member. In the observatory the mount is more than capable of taking this weight, and the higher precision gearing of the mount has resulted in decent tracking and for me, I'm really pleased with the results. My claim to fame was to do the first belt drive modification of the HEQ5 back in 2011 Detailed in this post The only major inconvenience for a portable set up is the weight of the mount, but it is still what I would say is manageable. The HEQ5 in my opinion provides the ideal platform. It's not as heavy as the EQ6, yet has the same precision. It's load capability makes it ideal for most of the "non specialist" scopes (you wouldn't want to try it with a 12" planewave) and is reasonably priced at under £800 (or under £1000 with the Rowan belt drive fitted). In hindsight I should have opted for an HEQ5 from the outset. It would have saved me money, even though I went down the secondhand route, and had sold my EQ5 mount and tripod, but hindsight is a wonderful thing !

From the video it sounds like the gearing on the RA isn't engaging. It could have been like that when manufactured, or slipped out of alignment in shipping. I would suggest contacting the supplier. They will confirm if the mount needs to be returned / collected under a warranty claim, but as these goto systems for EQ3/5 are "bolt on" they can take you through steps to check and re-alight the motor. You may find it's easier than you think, and may simply be a case of tightening up a grub screw on a gear.

Googling the scope it amazes me that the weight is not one of the specifications listed, but given my HEQ5 handels my 200P and camera without issue then it would suggest that the mount should be very capable of handling the 120ED payload. Look at getting the Rowan belt modification, either as a kit or pre-installed by any of the major retailers (assuming there is stock available) - it makes for a quieter and smoother operation. Yes, as others have said it's somewhat dated ib design, but the design has been tried and tested, and fits that gap between the EQ5 and EQ6 (EQ6-R) mounts.

It depends on how you intend to use the scope and where. I have a 200P with a larger secondary effectively making it an PDS. It sits on my HEQ5, has a Canon D400 attached, along with a QHY5 on the finder and the associated cabling. It works fine and is reasonably stable in most winds because it's housed in an observatory and is fairly sheltered. If it were in an exposed field then a light breeze it could be a different story. I also think the weight "limit" is under stated, and is dependent on the scope fitted. A 6" long focal length scope may be within the load limits, but could still be unstable when compared to a large SCT where the mass is contained more central to the mount. A 250PDS would be quite a beast for an HEQ5 to handle and more suited to an EQ8 if you want a really stable platform. A 150PDS on an HEQ5 would be an alternative if you don't have the luxury of a sheltered location.

You can run the two.. there is no impact other than a little more load on the PC. I remote into my observatory and use a webcam with Sharpcap to see what position the scope is in whilst its tracking or slewing etc

Yeah, if you have no need for Sharpcap to be open then just close it down.

Wow, where to start.... and as Tomatobro asked, what's you budget. If all you want is to capture star trails then a simple tripod, a camera that has exposure settings that offer 30s and 60s exposures along with manual operation. Canon cameras have long been renowned for being the favorable astro imaging DSLR camera as their sensors have less noise and hot pixels than others. They also have the ability to be controlled using a remote shutter control. A wide angle lens will give you more sky coverage. So you could stick the camera on the tripod, set the lense to focus at infinity, and then have a remote timer trigger the shutter to take as many pictures as you like and then process them the day after on your PC. Most mid range DSLRs allow control of the camera via USB, so with a decent 5m active USB cable you can do all your imaging using applications such as APT or Backyard Eos. These allow you to take individual frames, or you can set plans to take multiple exposures of set length of the same target. The results are shown in realtime on your PC screen once the exposure is complete. Now if you want to be able to control the direction the camera is pointing, adjust the focus of any lens, and have the the set up track the target to counteract the Earth's rotation, and have any image taken appear on your PC screen in real time then you are looking at some specialist equipment that is going to set you back upwards of £1000 - £2000 as an entry point. It also then borders on whether the set up is a computerised camera rig, or you go down the route of replacing the camera lens with a telescope and move into a full astronomy imaging rig...

Having precise polar alignment doesn't compensate for backlash or PE in the mounts drive train. Even if perfectly adjusted your EQM-35 has a 2.8 arc second resolution, so you can expect some drift. If you factor in PE, backlash and any balance issues then it can be noticeable when imaging (visually you wouldn't notice). This is why we all use guiding when imaging.

I do the same as David. - Here's my QHY5 fles, including the ASCOM driver and camera application QHY5.zip

I believe HEQ5 / EQ6 use Nema 17's - Full spec can be found on the EQMOD site http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/prerequisites.html so you know what microstepping you need

Hi Richard, EQMod has been around for some time, when a lot of these newer mounts weren't around, so it will detect as close a mount as possible. However, it also has a "Custom" setting in the driver which allows you to enter the values for the worm gear, motor steps etc as defined on the prerequisite page here EQMOD actually obtains the information when it interrogates the mount when first connected (in the same way the handset does) so it doesn't really matter if HEQ5 or 6 is selected. However if you want to set the values exactly you can set a custom mount in EQMOD. If you navigate to the toolbox application (default installation is C:\Program Files (x86)\EQMOD ) and then when launched click on "driver setup" (ensuring eqmod.exe is shown in the dropdown list to the left). The ASCOM setup window appears. Top left under "mount options" choose "custom" and click on the spanner. In the next pop up select any mount (but make a note) for both RA and Dec (make it the same for both) and then enter the values from the table (total steps 4608000, worm steps 25600 )

Have you tried removing the EQTooth completely from the list of paired devices and then put the EQTooth in pairing mode and re-pair it with the laptop / PC?

No worries, it will be interesting to see how you get on, and how it performs

That should do the trick, 60w means it's capable of providing 5A at 12v, and has a stock 2.1 x 5.5 x 11mm centre positive (as indicated by the PJ1 suffix in the part number) connector. I think the difference between the two is the more expensive supply has been approved and certified for use in the medical arena. Meanwell are a decent make of PSUs.

OK if this helps, here are examples of polar alignment and guiding using the stock SW finder with the QHY5 camera And guiding As you can see the RMS guide errors for both axis is below 0.6 acr seconds with the gear stated in my signature. The QHY5 has a MT9M001 1/2" BW sensor with 5.2 x 5.2 um pixels. The sensor in the new cameras listed above is 1/3" and has smaller 3.75um pixels. What or how that impacts the quality of the image or guiding performance I don't know, and I'm sure someone will chime in and advice. My guess is that with the smaller pixel gives more precision in detecting star movement, given that both cameras have a resolution around same size (1280 x 1024 for the QHY and 1280 x 960 for the 120MM)