Gonzo
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Everything posted by Gonzo
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Long time since I've updated this post... it hasn't been plain sailing, a remote observatory like this one is not an easy task to manage. This is what I've been able to achieve last night, single frames on M31 to test my polar alignment and guiding. HEQ5 pro + William Optics Megrez 72 with with an OVL Field Flattener and a Zwo OAG + QHY5L-II-M guide camera. 120s exposure: 240s exposure: 480s exposure: 960s exposure: 1920s exposure (that's right 32 min) yes it is over exposed but that's no big deal as I was testing my guiding and PA. 1920s exposure, bottom left corner
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@MultumInParvo I'll be happy to answer any questions you might have. Throw them into my build thread please and I'll help you once I'm back in a few days time.
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Looking for beta testers of new Polar Alignment utility.
Gonzo replied to themos's topic in Discussions - Software
I remember when I worked with Themos on the very first edition of this tool https://github.com/Trigger-broom-289/eq-polar-alignment in good old fashion bash... I like the graphical interface, but I'd like to have a command line version in python too. -
Looking for beta testers of new Polar Alignment utility.
Gonzo replied to themos's topic in Discussions - Software
If you download helvO08.pil and helvO08.pbm (Google it) and udpate the code, it looks slightly better.
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thanks for the link
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hypertuned ?
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Sadly, the weather has been quite bad since I came back from holidays, I'm checking my weather station every day and there is not enough time between clouds... to remote polar align. And I doubt they would be happy to do it at 1am... which is usually when it's mostly clear... lol
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Within Ekos there is now a great polar alignment tool, I can run it and will be able to see how far out the mount is. I have done my best to "visually" align it as much as I could....
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Forgot to mention that the fan is located slightly above the front limit switch, obviously with the water leak, it somehow went into the switch despite being IP66. I guess I must have forgot to check the gasket when I did the wiring. The good thing is that such limit switch I got is fully rebuildable. And as I purchased two pairs, it was easy to fix. Do a search on eBay for "limit switch IP66" and you'll see the style I'm talking about, not cheap well worth the money and highly recommended. The new box was setup summer 2017, it could have gone live then but I had a major issue with the rain sensor and the weather station so I left it off-line until I resolved the issues. Fast forward Christmas and it's all installed. Remember that the box is in Germany..... not like I can go for walk in the back garden and check what's wrong with the observatory. The all lot has been a journey and learnt a lot, and I do mean a LOT. I also have a v3 design which I almost picked...
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Version 2 of the box is up and running now. Everything is working, apart from the polar alignment which is not done due to bad weather this Christmas holidays I have a plan to polar align remotely... I am only going to need ultimate patience... as I'm going to get "remote hands".... One issue to note, due to a heavy snow fall, the fan was covered and when it melted down... guess what But, I do have a cunning plan for this, I'll be changing this for a mushroom style vent style.
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A powerline adapter should not really be connected to an extension, but straight to the wall socket to get maximum output. Glad to see you're almost 100% up and running, almost there.
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Not long to go now... nice work.
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I have yet to test it... had issues with the Titan so I've plugged back my QHY5 back in. Will let you know if it works...
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QHy5 + finderscope... it's there, hidden lol.
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still work in progress... I was going for a sliding roof however after contacting the manufacturer for the sliding rails, the one that I wanted is way too expensive. So I went back to my original design. Only 1 actuator in the video, I will install the second one another day, this is more for testing than anything else. Wanted to achieve a 90deg opening, but I can't seem to get this right oh yeah, there is a remote control.
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Funny you're talking about ventilation, currently in the middle of doing my research for ventilated electrical cabinets... man, don't we over engineer our observatories sometimes... lol
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thanks, I'm looking to put everything into a single electrical enclosure, din rail, IP65/7 rated and only have one cable conduit going to the telescope.
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Do you have any pictures of the electrical part of the box?
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If I do not count the water leak (my fault), my box has always been kept dry inside. Regardless of the weather, rain, heat, snow etc...
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Of that looks cold. The beauty of an observatory: you only have to polar align once, boom done. oh clouds, close the roof, off to bed. Come back tomorrow, 10 sec to open the roof and off you go imaging.
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Out of curiosity, why have you insulated the walls? I understand in your country the winters are quite a lot colder than here, but I would have thought it would help for the cool down of the telescope. I did not use any insulation in my previous box (and none in the new one), every time I opened the box, winter or summer, the scope and pier were very cold to the touch.
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Your box is bigger I believe. Internal dimensions are: 80cm W , 85cm L , 48cm H (that's without the lid, but you can add about 12cm or so...)
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105KG for the box, not bad at all. My previous box was 56KG only and the new one will be lighter by at least 15KG if not more I hope. At least you've made the effort to be in the picture... I avoid this at all costs... love taking pictures, hate being in one.
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So far about £120 : wood, screws + a new saw, wood glue, breathable membrane. It's going to cost me about £100 in aluminium composite panels, I have all of the current electronic but I will be adding/changing some, I will also be getting a new power supply and a few minor things.
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Here's a picture from above, hard to show the tolerance between the rig and the wall but believe when I say: it fits without touching anything... I do have to place the all lot (telescope, focuser, wheel) in a certain position to make it all fit in my ultra compact box... Currently I have the Starlight Xpress USB Filter Wheel, there is the Zwo wheel which is a lot more compact than this one. And I've also hinted on the forum indilib that an Indi driver for it would be good to have, it's in dev at the moment I believe.
