Geordie mc

Hi. Further to my above post, I found a great video on Graham’s Astronomy Channel on YouTube that showed the strip down procedure. Did my mount last night so just need a clear night to see if things have improved. I leaned all the old grease off and regressed everything with a light lithium grease. Fingers crossed. I know I’ll need to spend some time tweaking the backlash out of each axis but hoping I’ll get better guiding now. If you are an owner of the same mount I can confirm that the strip down is very straight forward and worth doing if you think your mount is a bit stiff. If I can do it anyone can!

Hi everyone. My Sky-Watcher AZEQ6 GT mount, which is about 6 years old, seems to be giving me a few issues this season. The RA and Dec axes seem stiff making balance hard to get accurate and guiding isn’t as good as I used to get. I think it needs a service. I’m in South West France though so no idea where I could get this done. Does anyone know where I can get a technical manual for the mount or a good step by step online guide/video so I can do it myself? I’ve tried google and YouTube but not found anything that helps much so far. Better still would be somewhere I could get it done professionally or by someone who has experience. Happy to travel a few hundred Km or could ship if cost wasn’t too much due to weight! Any pointers much appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks. I was using the same power supply as before which gave no issues. Justgone and got another one to try and it may have solved things. No idea why the old supply wasn’t doing its job. Just need to load up the scope etc and retry. Fingers crossed it works. Huge thanks for the help.

Just an update in case it helps others. I found an old driver (not on theQSI site) version 1.0.0.0.4 which works. Really think Atik need to support theQSI cameras more. I’d be happy to test drivers if they need beta testers. I love the camera and although it’s over 10 years old it still performs really well. When users have paid over £3500 for a product i think they're entitled to ongoing support. How about producing a native driver that works in N,I,N,A? That would be great.

Hi everyone. My AZEQ6 mount has started having an issue when slewing. If I slew in R.A. it’s fine. A If Islew in Dec it’s fine. But if I try R.A. and Dec together get an awe full noise and one axis stops moving. If I start with R.A. and then start the Dec the R.A. stops. If I start in Dec and then add R.A. the Dec stops. It does it even when the mount has no load on it. I’ve tried adjusting the backlash on each axis but it’s still doing it. Any advice on addressing this would be very much appreciated. The mount is about 6 years old and worked fine last season. Thank you.

Hi all. Ive just got a new mini PC and I'm having issues installing my QSI660WSG-8 CCD to use in N.I.N.A. Its a Windows 11 Pro PC. I got the latest driver from the QSI website. The camera loads ok but when i choose the filterwheel it only has 5 filters rather than 8 (I have set all 8 slots up in the tab on the QSI camera driver) and I get an error message about not being able to read filter offsets as its not enabled in the driver followed bu a success message but it isnt successful! I recall having issues on Windows 10 laptop and had to install an older driver to get things working, but I cant remember which driver or where I got it from. If anyone has any suggestions on tackling this I would be very grateful. Thank you.

Hi David. Thanks for the response. Unfortunately I’m not getting a V curve to show you. I’ve popped in the last successful run, which wasn’t perfect and why I started trying Hokus Focus. The second shot shows my curve for my TSQ65 scope where I always get a very nice parabolic curve and great HFR. The focus moves out and I get an HFR for the first exposure. The value depends on my step size but was around 5 - 7. The focus motor moves and I gets value about 2 points lower. Then the third gives a value a point lower against the curve is looking okay and in line with what I get with other scopes. Then when it moves again it says there’s not enough change in the HFR or I’m too far out of focus. It’s clearly not the latter as focus is improving at that point. As for the HFR, I wouldn’t expect much change as it nears the bottom of the curve and it’s always succeeded on other scopes - it even worked on this setup until I tried to improve things with the Hokus Pokus plugin. It’s as though this has done something to the requirements for a successful run which has stayed in place after removing the plugin. im wondering if it’s a star trail issue as I’m at 1400mm and guiding stops as I use an OAG. I did notice slight trails in the focus subs even at just 3 second exposures. I’m going to do the Pec training for my mount tonight and try an autofocus run near the pole with 2 second exposures. I might try leaving guiding on as well and lowering the step size so PHD2 can keep up. I don’t really know why I’m getting trails with very short exposures. My mount is Ona pier. I’ve checked the PA twice and I’m only a couple of seconds off perfect. The mount seems balanced. I can only think that it’s a power issue - this is my heaviest setup on my AZEQ6GT - and I use a large power tank which maybe hasn’t enough grunt, or it’s a PEC issue. I’ll take some shots of the run in progress tonight if I can’t get things sorted and report back. Thanks again. John i

Hi. My autofocus runs with an EAF on an Edge 800 kept failing last night. I kept getting a message saying the change in HFR value was not sufficient and that either my step size was too low or stars were too far out of focus. This started after I installed the Hokus Focus plug in. I tried increasing the step size with no success. I uninstalled Hokus Focus and still no luck. Can anyone with a similar setup give me some suggestions on setting they use successfully in N.I.n.a. please? I spent 3 hours trying everything I could think of to solve this, including different backlash, step size, number of exposures per point, outer crop ratio, etc. if I decide to reinstall N.I.n.a. Is there a way to save all my configurations. I use 3 scopes and 2 cameras etc and don’t really want to set everything else up again. any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Ha, well spotted! Date fixed now. If only my camera was🙁

Hi Steve. Thanks for your considered reply (and fixing the text- I typed it in Pages and thought it could be copied easily. I was wrong!) It’s certainly not meant to start arguments or bash a dealer. I’m simply recounting my poor experiences withZWO. If I thought it was just me, I would have let it go, but the issue with the Asi120mm affected everyone who bought the camera. Isuspect that is quite a large number. I thought it was something I was doing wrong and it was only in looking for a solution that I discovered the fault lay with the way ZWO had implemented the USB port on the camera. They have simply left hundreds if not thousands of customers with expensive paperweights! I would have thought that the least they could have done was ask for cameras to be returned and then the issue fixed. I would have paid a small fee for this service and informed them of this but they were extremely unhelpful. They see their ridiculous voucher offer as the solution. It’s not a late night rant. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought for a week and finally thought I’d post my experience so that others can read and make up their own mind whether or not to use ZWO. I have been a forum member for over 10 years and enjoy the discussions and help on here very much. I certainly don’t want to cause trouble or upset people. Thank you for allowing my post. Can I take this opportunity to thank you and other forum moderators for your work and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2022. Ckear Skies John

I have decided to boycott ZWO. Their poor quality control and appalling customer service over the last few years mean I have had enough. First there was my Asi120mm. This stopped working when I upgraded my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 10. I’m not alone. ZWO said it was an old camera and no longer supported. It was 3 years old when this happened! The reason it did not work is that ZWO did not stick to the USB2.0 standards in order to get faster frame rates. It doesn’t even work with their own ASIAir! Then they said there was a firmware update to try. It didn’t work. Then they said they had come up with a solution and that it would be done by the end of the year. The “solution” was to offer an $80 voucher if I spent more than $249 with them and could produce my proof of purchase. I’ve already replaced the asi120mm. How does this help? Next there’s my asi1600mm-cool. This still works but I’ve had to replace the cooling fan which failed. ASIAir pro. Terrible WiFi range of about 3m so I had to buy a WiFi extender. Most users I know did the same or had an external aerial fitted. The new Plus model has the aerial but I know 3 people who’ve had units arrive DOA and a further couple who’ve had the power board fail within a few weeks. Then they wait for replacements which currently takes a few months. Poor quality control or poor components? Either way it’s not good. Their first generation filters had reflection issues. Version 2 addressed this but that does not help those who bought the originals. It seems to me that ZWO has a strategy of rushing cheap products to market and letting their customers act as beta testers. Their customer support, in my experience, is polite but doesn’t actually help you. They fob you off with excuses and delays hoping, I believe, that you’ll give up and go away. I believe they are launching a mount. How many issues will that have. I’d avoid early adoption if I were you. I realise that this will not be true for most people. If you have ZWO products that serve you well,great. I hope it continues. My EAF is working fine, but for me this has been the exception not the rule. ZWO have one plus point - they are cheaper than the competition. But this is changing with others such as Altair Astro, QHY and Atik catching up. There are great mini PCs that rival the ASIAir plus. Yes they are more tricky to set up but they run NINA and PHD2, SharpCap etc and offer far more flexibility and better performance. You can pick one up cheaper than the ASIAir plus and add a Pegasus pocket power box for a much more powerful setup. Am I a grumpy old git? Yes! I probably am but I think I have good cause. Will my boycott have any impact on ZWO? No it won’t but it’ll make me feel better and hopefully it may make a few other people think twice before jumping on the ZWO gravy train. There are other options. Please consider them. Support your own country’s manufacturing if you can or at least a company with UK/European/North American customer support that listens. Starlight Express have always been brilliant for me in this regard. If just a few people do this and get better products or service as a result it will have made my post worthwhile. Clear skies everyone and if you’ve read this right to the end - thank you.

Thanks everyone. I’ll pass on the info. I really hope she doesn’t buy it. Her nephew is 10 and I think it’ll discourage him.

Thank you. The chap selling it said it was a 200p but I must admit I had a 200PDS which looked very different. Thanks for the mount info too. The lady asking me wants it for her nephew but I have big reservations. I think I’ll tell her to give it a miss. Much appreciated. John

Hi. A friend has been offered a Skywatcher 200p on this mount. The mount looks a bit too small for it I think but I don’t recognise it. Anyone know what it is and if it would cope with the 200P? Thanks.

Thanks for that info Tony. Olly does know his stuff so ill look into his methods. I tried without a filter last night but could only take very short exposures due to the Moon. Couldn't really see a difference, but it was great seeing so I tried to collimate again using the usual defocus method and it looked slightly off. A bit of adjustment led to an improvement. I was using the ASIair pro and forgot to save the images though. I think I'll retry using APT as it has the collimation aid. Its really hard to judge by eye if you've got things dead centre so this might help. Might try an artificial star too. It was tough adjusting the Hyperstar in sub-zero temperatures! It also means i can do it regardless of the weather - no clear nights for the next 10 days sadly. Hoping that with a very careful collimation I might not need to do anything else but ill certainly look into the tilt as well. Thanks very much for the support on this. I'll post again when Ive hopefully made good progress. Have a great Christmas and best wishes for 2022. Regards, John

Hi Tony. Thanks for help. Im indeed using a asi1600 cmos camera with a 2/3rds chip. Good point regarding checking without the filter. Ill try that tonight if it stays clear. If there's a bit of tilt too - which i think there is - have you any idea how i can adjust for that? Im presuming we are talking tiny alterations on the camera itself or do i adjust using the Hyperstar collimation screws? I'd certainly be happy enough if my stars looked like those in your image. Thanks again John

Welcome to the group. You've certainly got some great skies there in Wales if it stops raining long enough.

Hello everyone. Ive had issues with my Hyperstar setup on my Edge 8 for sonme time. Ive tried collimating it numerous times and the back focus should be correct as I'm using the adapter for my as11600 mm cool that was supplied by Starizona. Im thinking it could be camera tilt or sensor not quite perpendicular to the focal plane as the issue is really with the left hand side of the image. The further left you go the worse it gets. The image is a single 2 miunute SII sub taken through a Baader 2 inch F2 filter mounted inside the Hyperstar's camera adapter. Any insights or advice on this would be much appreciated. Thanks you.

Having just damaged my Lodestar x2 through my clumsiness in the dark, I sent it for repair. Just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the team at Starlight Xpress. They responded quickly to my request for service. Despite me living in France the repair was very quickly carried out. If you take out the time for posting and customs I’d say it was a couple of days tops. Great service. Thanks again. I’ve been using the camera for guiding for nearly 10 years and so pleased to have it back working again. We often complain of poor service but rarely mention it when we get first rate help and support so thought I’d pop this up. Thanks again.

I have the Celestron on my EdgeHD800. It’s had issues. I had to add blue loctite to the screws as they are short and kept coming loose. It’s very noisy. If you don’t have a Celestron mount there’s no way to focus without a laptop as no hand controller. As you may guess I’m not very impressed with it. I have a ZWO EAF on my refractor. Never had an issue and have now bought the bracket to try it on my Edge. Hope that helps. Mind you it’s not going to help me sell my Celestron focus motor if I decide to ditch it!

Update. Hope this may be useful to others. I have now discovered that the ascom driver for the QSI660, which you must access before you connect the camera in NINA, defaults to low gain but also will default to high speed download rather than high quality, if you took and saved any snapshot images at the end of you last session. These factors probably are the cause of the long exposure times and grainy results I got. However, after rerunning the flats wizard today the flats still seem odd. Some filters show a brighter border round the image edge. Others seem to have a more expected vignette to them, while the red filter has a clear gradient - bring much darker on the left side and extending halfway across the image. I’ll try calibrating my lights with them tomorrow and see what happens.

I haven’t tried them. They looked so wrong I thought I’d done something wrong so I deleted them thinking I’d retake as sky flats and all would be good. As soon as I started retaking they looked the same. They have a lighter border all round the edges. There’s a couple of dust motes and some odd dark patches running at an angle in the lower left. No dark corners. They look really grainy when stretched too. I think I’ll try with much lower adu target level. I can’t have exposure times for narrowband running beyond 60 seconds with a bright light panel. It would take me several hours to shoot the flats each time. I’ve heard the QSI660 has a full well capacity around 12000 in high gain mode which is the mode recommended for 1x1 binning. Maybe. Should be aiming for half. Of this and not Alf of 65000? I’ll try again today and use whatever I get to calibrate and see what happens. I’ll report back.

Thanks Steve. Sounds like I’ll have to use 2 runs of the NINA flats wizard with a much brighter light source for NB. I’ll try them again and see if they make any difference. As I don’t really see any vignetting with this scope/ccd combination I might just try to keep the optics as dust free as possible and skip flats altogether. Even those taken with lum filter and short exposures just look odd. No clear nights for a bit so time for some experimenting I think.

I’m having issues getting good flats from the NINA flats wizard with my QSI660. I’ve set adu as 25000 with 10% tolerance. I’ve tried sky flats and flat panel. They just don’t look right and with narrowband the exposures are very long. I see no vignette game, indeed I seem to have a slightly brighter edge round the image and a few strange dark bands that don’t change with t-shirt, paper etc diffusing the light. I can see a couple of clear dust motes but I think there should be more. If anyone is using the QSI660 and could help I’d be very grateful.

Thanks Adrian. I’m new to Pixinsight and gradually learning how to process images. I liked the colours but feel I need to get more detail out of it. More experimentation needed!