StevieDvd

Some Seestar S50 images from this week: The moon and a close up: Arcturus (why not) and M44 Beehive cluster (looks like a join the dots puzzle) This was a session from the front of the house with street lights and security lights aplenty., not my preferred location but the moon was at the front.

If you check out the 2 YouTube videos in this thread I posted yesterday you will see that's what I have just started to try out. It's what I bought the SW Wedge for.

@JonHigh the Amazon M6 ratchet is this one came as a 2pc set. @LondonNeil the above is the same as you linked to and it's the female type. I used an M8 20mm male for the dovetail clamp which came as a 4pc set, so I have enough clearance from the base of the Seestar S50. I have not got the PA, and more importantly the calibration process, completely figured out yet. The PA is basically aligning the body of the Seestar to polaris (not the moving part with the lens). My starting point was just with it pointing north and approx. 52 degrees latitude. Others have added basic finder scopes to the side of the Seestar as @Elp mentioned. The trickier part is fooling it to calibrate, there are 2 ways I've seen: 1. Fooling the Seestar to align on a target you choose - see Cuiv first cheat 2. Setting your location to the North Pole - see Cuiv second cheat My M13 was after a lot of trying and I'd find the exact process hard to replicate why it worked. Hence, I am planning on trying the second way in the Cuiv videos linked above.

The ratchets arrived today and though not high quality they seem robust enough. The M8 one is to lock the dovetail in place without it getting in the way, so the ratchet let's the handle be moved to a better position once locked in place. The M6 one replaces the plastic/nylon handle which was slipping when tightened to much, I thought I'd broken it at one time but checked inside and though it was unbroken it was obviously a weak point for anyone heavy handed. The replacement allows a much tighter solution so this should now be a proper solution though not as pretty as the William Optics wedge. If I needed to adjust this for each session I'd probably go for a WO wedge if one came up for sale used, but for the Seestar S50/Dwarf in EQ mode it will do just fine.

Thanks, I've ordered a ratchet for both the clamp and alt bolt (same maker as yours) from Amazon for my SW wedge. If that fails to be as stable as expected then I'll go for the Omegon Deluxe (in stock at Altair but they did not confirm it includes a dovetail - though I did ask in my email).

Out of interest was the ratchet for the clamp (M8) and was it long enough at 20mm. And was it from Amazon/Ebay? I think the SW needs a better Alt ratchet as well (M6) - with those replaced it should be a workable wedge. I used to have a WO one for an AZ-GTi setup but sold it, doh!

Starting to try using the Seestar in EQ mode, had issues first time getting it aligned but managed to hit a rough PA before calling it a night. I did a goto to M13 to check it was aligned and managed a 10 minutes of 10 sec exposures, with a quick process in Pixinsight as below. It even caught NGC6207 in top right of image. Once I get the hang of setup and PA it properly I can try longer exposures and more of them.

The Omegon one is sold at widescreen deluxe metal version or slightly cheaper (if they have stock) at Altair for base version or deluxe metal version

@JamesF has not been on the forum since 2021 and I have not seen any updates to the oacapture program on https://www.openastroproject.org/oacapture/

An often talked about comparison is the Nexstar 4SE and SW AZ-GTi with SW 127 mak - see this old thread

He assumes it is. Unless the power ports, usb ports & wifi are on the end of extended cables it's likely a re-configured base board. Though could be the basics of the ASIAir Mini or the SeeStar.

ZWO have parted with using Raspberry Pi boards and have their own using Rockchip processors so can be more flexible on their internals. Likely to be similar to what's in the ZWO Seestar but with more external ports.

If I decide to switch over from my ASIAir Plus for Astro imaging (to use non ZWO gear) I'd still keep an ASIAir for PA (I have an ASIAir Pro in my unused gear collection).🙃 I was one of the first UK users of the Polemaster and dabbled with the Python PhotoPolarAlignment (PPA) program first introduced by an SGL member @themos which was later adopted & adapted into SharpCap. Back then on another now defunct forum I did mention to Robin (SharpCap author) that t would be nice to have a PA tool like PPA in SharpCap but with the capture repeating automatically. I believe he was already considering it but I'd then got the Polemaster before his PA routine was made available.

And today the FLO delivery for me seems to be the rain resistant packing - just in case. A new SW wedge to try out EQ mode on my Seestar & Dwarf smart scopes (weather permitting).

I'd think a simpler solution would to make the base part that rotates the unit bigger (so that it is more robust) and an optional wedge for those who want to use it in EQ mode. Perhaps the wedge could be used for other mounts and include a Polar Alignment feature (camera etc)

You are likely to say: "Alexa, polar align and focus my scope on M42 and image for 4 hours. And don't forget to use the cloud removal filter" And of course add "Please" as bio AI appreciates good manners.

I have the same freebie though they sent me an XXXL!!! I think they are telling me to lose weight.

The mount on its own has a flat base with many pre-drilled/tapped holes. The central being a 3/8" standard, but several others for the accessory plates (4 x M6 and 4 x M8). Using the 3/8" alone would not stop the possibility of the mount turning on the base, but would be simpler to make the steel plate. Dimensions are on the FLO page linked to earlier be @Elp

I have the AM5 and both of the extensions (PE160 & PE200). The AM5 on it' s own can use a 3/8" tripod/base but needs access from below. The extenders have the same top fitting as the tripod so you can 'drop' the AM5 into it and tighten the upper clamps. You could bolt one of these onto the pier (permanently if needed). I have one on my pier using the eq5 adapter (supplied) that can be bolted to the extension - but that needs access from below as well.

Not having done a swap of a focuser on a dob myself but brain-storming a solution I had the idea of using 2 templates to get a good alignment. Create a template of the current SW focuser (A) note the position of the screw holes & centre cut-out Make a similar one (B) for the Baader - make allowance for the tube curvature Centre the SW template on top of the Baader one so you can use the 4 holes of the SW template to align the Baader template. If the cut-out on each is the same size then a simple alignment, if not then you would need to find the centre of each cut-out to align with. Though I expect someone may come up with a better/simpler solution if they've actually done the deed themselves🙃

Is this the video? Looks like the 4 screws are just to hold the plate in position for you to line up the plate with the tube hole. Are you using the same 4 holes as the video (i.e. the elongated ones)? Otherwise you need to do the same alignment but with another method to hold the plate in place whilst you drill/mark the new holes. Or make up a cardboard template and tape that to the tube and drill through that. Hopefully, someone here may have swapped the focuser for a Baader one on the same scope.

I'm a bit outdated on the sd-card transfer speeds then - like in other things too 😶 I normally copy my image files using wi-fi/ethernet as it's less hassle, though I did try the USB-c connected to my laptop which seemed faster than using the sd-card via a USB3 adapter.

The HEQ5 base is/was slightly smaller then the standard EQ5 base so in the past I could mount my HEQ5 on a standard EQ5 tripod but some EQ5 mounts could be a tight fit in a HEQ5 base. I have a an old HEQ5 pier adapter (no longer have the HEQ5) and tried to use the EQ5 adapter supplied with my ZWO AM5 extender, it would not fit in so I had to sand the adapter by a few millimetres to get it to fit. Check with US suppliers to confirm that you can buy an EQ5 tripod and they should confirm it will be fine for your HEQ5. It makes no sense to try sourcing from abroad when a local seller should stock an EQ5 tripod.

The early ASIAir Plus used the PI Composite module (processor) on a ZWO board. These were soon replaced with a new ZWO board and a Rockchip processor. ZWO cameras use Rockchip processors so they had a supplier when PI units were harder to source in volume. When transferring files from the ASIAir Plus the sd-card is the slowest. If not using wifi or ethernet you can also just connect the unit via the USB-c port and it should then act like a USB device to your PC, it's not well documented by ZWO but is mentioned here.

The ZWO sd-card is 32gb as that's the size of (all) the Linux partitions defined. Unlike the PC disk copiers the sd-card write programs don't have an option to use the free space. I believe it is possible to resize the partition(s) later on a Linux system but not a trivial exercise for someone not familiar with Linux.