chubster1302

OK, tonight is the night.....hopefully. 

Going to try and get PhD side of things setup. Will be using zwo mini 120 as the guide cam. Any tips, dos and don't from the off I need to know about, any tips to help it go as quick as it can 🤔🤔

.....what this hobby is all about. 

It's been WEEKS since I bought my new set up and yet it's not left the study once....🤔

I have PHD2 installed, William Optics 32mm guide scope and a AS120mini guide cam. Is there a way to "practice" getting the cam in focus indoors 🤔 

1 minute ago, AstroKeith said:

Magnetic declination, sometimes called magnetic variation, is the angle between magnetic north and true north. Declination is positive east of true north and negative when west. Magnetic declination changes over time and with location. As the compass points with local magnetic fields, declination value is needed to obtain true north

yup...but going from those figures up there how many degrees do i need to move my declination on the compass? 

Trying to use a compass to find true north. I have my declination info but no idea how to translate that to a compass ?

Looking for an android app that will allow me scan my local horizon and give me the azimuth and altitude of objects blocking my view, does such a thing exist ?

14 minutes ago, Elbasso said:

That's a lovely looking setup 👌

Thanks. Just got to actually put it to use . 

Thank you to everyone on here who has helped me get back into this insane hobby. 

3 weeks ago I didnt have a single piece of astro gear.  Now I'm up to my eyes in cables, cameras, scopes, NINA, Eqmod, plate solving etc 

Now just got to wait for some weather 

9 hours ago, scotty38 said:

It's the pointing state of the mount and of course changes side after a flip

OK....so I assume I need yo set this at startup, so which side of the mount is this? Assuming mount is aligned etc ?

Nina has filled this in with "west". i believe this is to do with Meridian flip but where does the West or East come from? How does NINA know, is that from my lat/long settings ? 

6 hours ago, malc-c said:

I covered this in your other thread earlier.... I'll elaborate 

Basically the handset when used communicates with the synscan unit  using TTL serial (ie 5volts) at 9600 baud rate.  On synscan units (external such as the EQ3 or EQ5, or mounts such as the HEQ5 and EQ6) that lack a USB port the handset port is connected directly to the microcontrollers (PIC16F886's) serial port pins.  These micro controllers have built in TTL serial ports the speed of which is set in the firmware to 9600.   So when using an EQDIR cable that replaces the handset and thus connects via the handset port it needs to be set to 9600 baud rate in order to communicate.

On synscan units and newer mounts that have the USB-B type socket the USB to TTL serial conversion is done by a Prolific 2303 type chip on the same synscan board, which then connects to the RS232 TTL port pins of the ARM processor.  The firmware running on these new processors uses 115200 baud rate.  Therefore when connecting a new mount via USB you need to change the ports speed via the com port properties.  This may also be required when setting up EQMOD via the EQASCOM toolbox, and possibly in NINA too when pointing its settings to use EQMOD as the driver...  You want all application, driver and device properties singing from the same hymn sheet.

Damn, you did indeed amd I remember reading it....then I must have started fiddling, ran into a problem and promptly forgot everything you had said.  Gives myself a slap. Cheers Malcom 

33 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Do you use an EQMOD cable, or does you mount have a USB port on the panel, and are you using that, if you are using an EQMOD cable, then the baud rate is wrong and should be 9600 max…it’s correct for a direct USB connection, but won’t hurt to try 9600 anyway…👍🏻

Perfect, thanks Stuart, that seems to have got me up and running, but why am i seeing 115200 as the baud rate on lots of youtube vids ? 

@malc-c Thanks Malcolm

Can I clarify one thing. You said "I also note that your synscan unit is one of the newer ones with built in USB, so there was no real need for the EQDir cable"  Would I be better using the built in USB port?

22 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Do you use an EQMOD cable, or does you mount have a USB port on the panel, and are you using that, if you are using an EQMOD cable, then the baud rate is wrong and should be 9600 max…it’s correct for a direct USB connection, but won’t hurt to try 9600 anyway…👍🏻

Im currently using EQMOD cable, so i should set that to 9600 in both places ?

Trying to connect the mount, EQ5 Pro Goto to Nina but keep getting "Telescope connection lost!" messages. 

Im using a Startech USB2004EXTV extender and that shows a solid connection. Its listed in my Device Manager as USB Serial port COM3. I can confirm this as it disappears from device manager when i unplug it. I've set the bits per second and baud rate so that they match (following advice from youtube) in both device manager and EQMOD but when i try to connect i get the timed out message in NINA. 

Ive set the com port to com3 manually in EQMod, as an aside, when i click the binoculars next to port in eqmod it searches and reports nothing found, so assuming the issue is there somewhere ? 

Any help muchly appreciated 

Ok...Thanks all. So does this look right ? Just getting it sorted in my head before attaching everything.

I have a startech usb extender, in which i've plugged the eqmod cable, dlsr and guide cam. This then goes back to the host startech unit via cat6, then said host attaches to PC.

I assume the round cable, labelled 1, goes into the mount but where? R.A. In, Dec In, Dec Out ? 

I then have another identical cable, again where does this go.

"Logically" id assume cable from unit goes to R.A. In and the the other cable goes from Dec In to Dec out? 

1 hour ago, Budgie1 said:

I've run my EQ5 & HEQ5 without the handset, just using the EQDIR cable.  

I have the cable, what does that plug into ?🤔

If I'm planning to do everything from with NINA/pc do I need to even bother installing the skywatcher handset ? 

Thanks all....this is how the dovetail was attached when the scope arrived (from retailer). Looking at it it would make sense if it was the other way round, then the screws on mount would fit into groove 🤔

Is it a case of just sliding gold WO mounting bar into mount head and screwing down ?

Eq5 pro with WO ZS 73

So manual has options for either short or long mounting plate. Only seem to have short supplied with mount. So how do I attach the scope....with the mount supplied by WO ? 

Now just got try and figure out how to put it all together 

I "think" I've set this up right. Anyone see any glaring errors? 

I believe i need to set the measuring gauge to a specific setting for my Nikon. I assume that's what the 2nd image is saying ?? 

Well helloooo. 🥰

But man, why didn't they ship my mount at the same time.....now I've got to wait to play 

I'll let you all know shortly......all I can say is that van must be delivering to every single house in my town before he comes to me..... 🙄