malc-c

Whilst it would be possible for an update to fail and prevent communication with handsets or wifi etc, I can't see how it would kill a mounts power. There have been a few recent cases where updating the firmware on a handset or on a motor board has resulted in communication errors, but the mount still powered up. On a couple of these an EQDir cable had been plugged into the wrong port and a new PIC microcontroller had to be programmed to replace the damaged one. Assuming you had the handset in the correct port this shouldn't be the case. Maybe you need to update the handset firmware as well ? Just searched for similar issues and it seems that updates can fail - but are fixable https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/323595-az-gti-stuck-in-firmware-update-mode/

Its not so much as "will it fit" its more of a case of comfortably working around the setup. I have a modest 200P on HEQ5 in the observatory, this is 2.2m x 4.8m split in the middle which gives a scope room of approx 1.8m x 2.2m internally. This gives me ample space to move around, however if the scope is placed in the normal home position I still have to "limbo" around the OTA

I've been a beta tester, working on reptile husbandry software and used Virtual Box to test installs on all windows OS's from 7 through to 10. I already had genuine licences for 7 and 8, and you can run windows 10 without activation, even after 30 days.It's stable and makes for a decent means of running older software on modern machines without the need for additional hardware. I doubt that the software in the link is genuine. The VB image will have a "licenced" copy of the OS, plus the application. Most database applications like that are either linked to a manufacture of a scanning tool, and have been hacked to make them work without that device attached, or it isn't hardware dependent and the software has been pirated with a genuine illegal copy of the serial number... either way that is a lot for ten quid. I used to have a similar application that all Volvo dealers used for parts identifications, circuits diagrams and fault codes etc. It didn't need hardware interfacing to the car, but with so many copies circulating apparently Volvo changed their database diagnosis system to a server client system, and now only registered dealers can log in, and when a car is connected apparently the servers communicate directly with it and send back info on the cars condition, along with any part references and wiring diagrams etc so I've been told.

Bit late to the party, but I use DipTrace for my PCB work - then have the boards made from the exported gerber files by JLPCB in China...

Just googled 203mm reflector and nearly all the results came back as an Orion, but most were GEMs not Dobs... so it's anyone's guess

Its EU law... Spain has 14 day distance selling rules. The only grey area is that the OP has dismantled the scope which may affect their rights

Drinking RO water is dangerous, to a degree and depending on what stage of the filtration process you take the water from, and what size filters are used as RO units for domestic supplies are different from those sued in fish keeping. As mentioned above, I use a 4 stage aquarium rated RO unit for producing the water for top up and weekly water changes. Out of the tap the water has around 350-375 PPM of dissolved solids (including the additives the loacy authority drop in). Our water is also very hard. We tee off after the membrane stage and use that for making tea and coffee. The kettle has never been de-furred in years, and still looks as good as the day it was first used. The tea and coffee also taste a lot nicer. The water is around 30-50 ppm at this stage. We also use the water with squashes, and haven't suffered any long term health issues over the past decade. However, I wouldn't recommend drinking the water after the 4th stage, as the water after this stage is pure with zero ppm. If you did it would start to re-absorb minerals and calcium from your body, which is not ideal !

I keep a reef tank so have my own RO unit under the sink. This is a four stage unit, the last stage being the DI resin, so the output is fully filtered and deionized with zero PPM of dissolved solids. I used this to clean the optics of my 200P. You can get deionized water for use in car radiators, steam irons etc, or if you do get water from a local tropical fish supplier it will do the same job

To be fair to the supplier, presuming the scope is from a mainstream manufacturer such as Synta, Mead, etc, the supplier has no knowledge of the condition of the mirror as it's only going to be visible if the mirror cell is removed as is the case here. The issue is a lack of quality control at the manufacturer. If the supplier has raised an RMA and sent you a returns label, arranges collection, and ships you a replacement (hopefully one they have checked themselves to ensure the fault isn't consistent in the batch) then they have resolved the situation to the best of their ability and well within your consumer rights. If the replacement scope has the same issue then you would be well within your rights to return that, again at the suppliers expense, and this time have a refund for the full cost. If the scope was purchased via a website then you als have additional rights under the distant selling regulations and can return it for any reason for a full refund provided you notify the supplier of the fault or reason (it can be any reason, even if you don't like the colour) within a set number of days (I'm not a legal expert, but believe its 14 days). The only issue here is if the supplier is not based in the UK

Ahh... that is the one real advantage of a warm room....... but then again, is the rest of your family up at 2am?

Seeing that I seldom do an imaging session in the observatory these days as I remote desktop into the observatory PC I would suggest that you may not even need a shed near the mount. You could get away with a small form factor PC and house that with a mount power supply in a small box next to the mount. You could have the extension cable stored in the box as well so there is no need to have a permanently installed electrical feed. When you want to observe, open the box, reel out the cable and plug it in to the nearest 13amp outlet and away you go. If you want to image, have a wi-fi card in the PC and remote desktop into the PC from your main PC in the comfort of your living room. The box could be as small as 18" x 18" x 24" depending on the PC you use. A local shop was selling HP8200 SFF (i5, 4GB Ram, 500GB HDD) for £60 inc vat which is ample to drive a scope and run the software required...

Here's my 2p worth. I started with a 200P on an goto EQ-5 mount. Fantastic scope for visual observing, and with the use of a webcam (as was the trend back then) produced some good images of the Moon. However due to the level of light pollution in the area (pre LED street lights) I ventured into imaging with a DSLR (Canon D400). The mount was simply not up to the task. The weight of even a small DSLR camera body was pushing the mount to its limit. It was doable for bright objects that meant you got away with short exposures, but you needed very precise polar alignment, and no wind to get anything halfway decent. Adding additional weight for some form of guiding would also compound the issue, and for me I wanted to enjoy imaging and not have to fight the constant issues the set up threw at me. So I took the plunge and built myself an ROR observatory so I could remove a few obstacles such as wind and having to set up polar alignment every time. But whilst it helped a little, I was still having problems and needed to use some form of guiding. I also noticed a strange artifact in the images where bright stars had a 5th spike, and despite a lot of tests (and a post on here that rand for well over a year and into double digit pages) was resolved by fitting a secondary that was the same size as the 200 PDS version of the scope. Also, as I need to guide I needed to upgrade the mount to something that would take the weight of a guide scope, guide camera and all the cables that go with it, so purchased a secondhand HEQ5, ST80 and QHY5 from someone on the forum who was selling one at the time. However, even in the observatory, the Explorer 200 with D400, ST80, QHY5 and all the cables was really pushing the HEQ5 to its limits, and as I couldn't afford to replace it with an EQ6, U had to come up with a form of guiding that would reduce the mass, opting to convert the finder to s guidescope, which works to a degree, but having a short focal length that is half that of the ST80 means the guide ratio is on its limit, but it works. Looking back in hindsight I should have opted for the 200PDS on an HEQ5 or possibly the EQ6 from the start for an imaging rig. It would have been cheaper, and I wouldn't have had to run through the steep learning curve and try an overcome the issues I had.

Cheers, and glad to be of assistance...

Excellent, Nice to see another mount given a new lease of life. Please to of been assistance, and if my 21 year old Volvo V70 fails her MOT (so far she hasn't failed yet !)and I need parts I'll be sure to take you up on our offer 🍻

Which scope are you referring to Adam, the ED50, evoguide or ST 80 ?

The Evoguide is a nice scope, and benefits from a slightly longer focal length of a standard 9 x 50 finder, but the standard ST80 is £60 less, and almost double the focal length, which gives a better guide ratio with any given camera. But is twice the weight of the ED50....

It may well be, but at under 2kg would be well with in the load capability of an EQ6, and he already has the scope.

The ED 72 would make a very nice guidescope

Just some comments based on my own experience. Explorer 200P is fine for visual on an EQ5 or HEQ5 mount. The belt vs gear drive won't make any real difference for naked eye observing. However if you are also looking at an explorer 200 for imaging, then get the PDS version. A few years back there was a long thread that spanned 16 months of trying to resolve an issue I had with a 5th and sometimes 6th spikes of the image with any bright stars. The issue was resolved by swapping out the standard 200P secondary mirror for one the size of the PDS secondary. I also found that the EQ5 was at its limit for visual observing, and upgraded to an HEQ5. My setup was housed in a purpose built observatory so it is protected against the breeze so that may have had some bearing on the mounts stability. The Rowan belt mod originated from this forum. A few guys had done their own DIY modification to convert their EQ6's, and at the time (around late 2011 if memory serves me correctly) I started messing about with pulleys and a belt to convert my own HEQ5. https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/121114-heq5-experiments-with-belt-drive/?tab=comments#comment-1198047 https://youtu.be/dh3F1xkdj98 As I used EQMod to control the scope I could use a 4:1 ratio, and even though I made up and sold a few kits for others, it was another guy with his own CNC engineering business that took both the belt drive for EQ6 and HEQ5 to the commercial level as he could machine the small pulley to maintain the default ratio so the mount could be used with the standard handset. For imaging the belt driven mount is far better than the geared version, not only making the mount quieter, but it removes one area of backlash in the gear train and thus makes guiding less of a challenge. In my case having a even ratio of 4:1 helps with PE as the error is very regular. Some form of guiding is essential when imaging, and yes an ST80, small dovetail and rings, plus the camera and cables is soon going to put the total weight to the max for the HEQ5, and unless you have a sheltered spot it might be an issue. For me I went around seven years with an ST80 / QHY5 arrangement However, recently I've tried to reduce the mass that the mount has to swing about, so I sold the ST80, small dovetail and rings, and converted the 9x50 finder to a Guidescope using a £30 adapter ring to mount the QHY5 camera to it, and whilst a scope with a longer focal length helps with tighter guiding, the recent results in testing and calibrating the set up are very encouraging. The stars are small and round which is the main thing. So to summarise, opt for the PDS version of the 200P, if you can stretch to it, opt for the EQ6 with a belt drive, or if you observe from a sheltered area, a belt driven HEQ5. The EQ6 has a better load rating, and would handle a 200P with a ST80 (or larger) guidescope, and should be more stable in a light breeze. But no mount would hold a 200P steady enough in windy conditions. Hope that helps,

I quite agree, it's so easy to plug the wrong device into the wrong socket, and that clamp will certainly prevent it happening, well done, and possibly something worthy of production as a sideline seeing that I've replaced three PIC microcontrollers now in as many weeks 🥴 To be honest I can't see why Skywatcher doesn't either orientate the connection between the two boards so that its internal only connection, or as you say have a cable that is soldered directly to the ALT board with a RJ45 that plugs into the AZ board (as that only has one connector). I can't see the reason for having the connection made externally unless an internal or direct connection would prevent the OTA from being removed from the mount.

The two boards were received this lunchtime. Plugging in the PIC programmer to the ICSP header confirmed the PICs were blown as they could not be detected. Two new 16F886's were programmed and the old PICs removed. Only one pad lifted, but an easy fix with a link to the via that the track the pad connected to was all that was needed. Once the new PIC had been soldered to the boards the PIC programmer was connected to each board in turn and it detected and confirmed the PIC type. The code was also read back from the PIC confirming each one is running. Palatine included return postage so the boards were packed and dropped off at the local post office, so hopefully by this time tomorrow we'll know if this is another goto dob that has been brought back from the dead If the mount still fails to respond after swapping out the PICs then I'm at a loss as to what might be the problem, and as mentioned in AstroGeek's thread, without a schematic, and dedicated test equipment there would be little more that we can do. But, hopefully it was just the PICs that were blown and replacing them will fix it.

Yes it won't budge !! - the pipe is sunk into the "standard" 1m cube of concrete, reinforced with rebar. The 18" long studs are then sunk into the concrete filled pipe. This is indeed in my observatory, which was built around this time some nine years ago (build thread in my signature)

The best bit is that it still maintains balance good enough for visual observing as the tube doesn't slide down the rings

Or you have a local machine shop make one from two aluminium disks three sets of short studs, and three sets of long studs that is sunk into the concrete filled tube

You can try, but if the PIC's are fried it won't work. The new PICs will come with this firmware coded directly into them. I was really wondering what response you get when you have the PC connected to the motor boards via the handset and use the motor firmware updater application to read back the current firmware of the motor boards. If this responds then the PICs are OK, however it has been reported that sometimes the newer handset firmware may give a false result, but Synscan hand controllers with older firmware ( 3.08) will report the motor board firmware without issue, which is strange.