wormix

16 minutes ago, StuartJPP said:

I doubt that it would be the LCD then.

It can definitely be the viewfinder causing it, best cover it up for next time to see if it helps.

If your darks aren't showing similar issues it will almost certainly be that.

Had another session last night - still to look at the data but did an auto-stretch in APT of my flats and they show a similar pattern even with lcd definitely off and viewfinder covered. 
 

At least now with some decent flats & bias I can cancel it out. 
 

15 minutes ago, StuartJPP said:

Was the rear LCD on at the time? I.e. was the LCD displaying the shutter timer during the exposure?

I've seen a similar pattern on captured frames when the LCD of my 650D was on during some testing.

Unsure as it was swivelled round (does that automatically turn it off?) and I was using remote via APT. 
 

I did wonder if it was some stray light entering via the viewfinder?

Update - pressed a button in GIMP to display Logarithmic histogram, so wasn't DSS at all.

Talk about learning curve!

Out again tonight, going to try at ISO800 this time, and potentially drop the exposure down to 120seconds.  Will also get some decent light frames.

Cheers
 

5 hours ago, wxsatuser said:

What about some decent flats.

did some really quick and dirty flats and bias this evening to see if it had any effect and its made a world of distance - all that area of exposure has gone.

onto another issue now, where i cant seem to get a nice clear histogram after messing with DeepSkyStacker settings earlier!

Ah, should have mentioned - also did 20x darks

Hi all, i took 40 x 3 min subs of M31 last night - just started doing some quick stretches this morning - exaggerated image below;

Is all the noise on the right from a hot sensor?  Camera is a new to me unmodified 600d

ta

Hi, interesting design - May look at something like this myself. 
 

Out of curiosity, what scope is that on your setup?

cheers

Finally mounted outside, but with a temporary fix for power for testing whilst I sort the permanent solution. 
 

39 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Do make sure you get the MOSFETs the right way around.  I didn't use the recommended ones for my build thread and I think the pictures in my thread are a bit misleading as to their orientation.  I keep meaning to open up one of the units and replace the photo with something more obvious.

I did also find at least one diode had leads of too large a diameter for the holes in the board, but I can't recall which ones off the top of my head.  I may mention it in my build thread.  I ended up just mounting the diodes on fly leads and wrapping them with heatshrink in the end.  My component list says that D1 and D3 through D5 are 1N5822 and D2 is a 10A10.

James

perfect, thank you!

28 minutes ago, Jonk said:

You may need to drill out the reversal protection diode holes, if I remember they aren’t big enough.

Cheers - my parts list seems to lack these Diodes - it only has D2.  Can you recall what spec they are?

ta

Time to get serious with dew control - Thanks to @Jonk for the board and @JamesF for his excellent step by step thread. 

Still not getting bored - latest addition is a 1.25” desiccant cap. 
 

Does anyone know of any reason why PLA might not be suitable for keeping within the scope?  Is it inert or could it release anything that could damage my lens?

The guidescope rings are working a treat - I’m getting 5min subs no problems at all so obviously no flexure

Got this setup and running tonight -  It’s amazing!

It kept failing to sync and I was tearing my hair out trying to get to the bottom of it. Quick tip - check you actually input your coordinates correctly first before trying the more technical fixes!  

Thanks for your replies all - I may do a bit of solo camping at the end of the month.  Coming up from Herts but the long drive is a good opportunity to unwind and escape!

Great write up - I’m inspired to give this a whirl myself as I am in need of dew control for the coming winter. 

Great guide - spent this afternoon tinkering with tech ready for when these clouds finally clear. 

@Alan64 did a very detailed strip down and tune of an EQ2 here - 

May assist with the rebuild / ID what went wrong

cheers

On 24/08/2020 at 10:08, Mark at Beaufort said:

Lucksall looks really good after the terrible flood 'Dennis' we had earlier in the year. I assume the road to Fownhope is still being repaired which was estimated to be the end of September.

Glad that Gary is keeping the site up to his usually standards

You can’t tell it was inundated now - the grass is pristine as are all the facilities. 
 

Staff have been great, all in all been a great trip away - stars even came out late last night. Unfortunately it was blowing about 3billion mph so didn’t fancy getting my SA out for some shots!

Will certainly be back, hopefully for a future SGL. 

Have gone away for a week and chose Lucksall, seems like a great place to stay, if only it wasn’t a week of rain!

I slapped a load of bitumen paint on the OSB I used for the flooring in my shed and it’s been sound for the last 5 years. 

On 18/08/2020 at 12:26, John78 said:

Its M51x0.75, but you'll need to adjust up and down in OD until you get a nice fit as FDM type printers are pretty variable in terms of printed dimensions vs cad dimensions, and you need to print at 0.1mm layers or less, it also helps not having complete 360 threads.

Found the sweet spot after lots of trial and error.  For my printer and materials, 50.75mm x0.75 and 25.5mm x 0.75 worked

I have recently acquired a 3D printer so set to work printing all and sundry, including some items for my new Megrez. 
 

Currently have a Bahtinov mask from thingiverse and 2 of my own designs created using Fusion 360. 
 

First up is a screw mount to convert a 9x50 finder to guidescope - the only design on thingiverse involves removing the front filter so I decided to modify to allow direct connection.  Couldn’t find the specs online so a lot of trial and error involved but gave a good introduction to both Fusion and 3D printing in general. 
 

Second is a guidescope mount to fit the unorthodox finder shoe on the Megrez. I could have swapped out for a traditional Vixen style, even have one in my spares box - but where’s the fun in that!?  Also wanted to be able to use the WO red dot finder I have. Couple of iterations as the first design was unnecessarily tall and introduced some flex, plus the fore/aft motion was a bit much so I added in some stats front and back to brace it against the OTA. Also did a couple of M5 screws, just because I could!  
 

Printed 100% fill and it is rock solid with no perceivable movement, but will see what PHD2 says when I finally get a clear night. Eventually I may even print it in gold silk to match the Meg. 

One day I’ll get bored of this 3D printing lark, but still going strong at the moment!

My village shows as both Bortle 4 and 5 according to CO and lightpollutionmap. 
 

Clicking on my house it’s a 5, literally the other side of the road it’s 4. So let’s say 4.5

Regardless, have fantastic skies considering I’m only 25miles from London with only the odd annoyance of being on the Luton flight path when the wind is in the right (wrong?) direction. 

Just now, discardedastro said:

Oh, that's neat. I've got some aluminium tape which I'm using to wrap my enclosure (aside from the home) to help reject solar load - it'll also completely reject UV. Could layer that and/or black flocking over the PLA and it'd be fine for extended use I'm sure.

That’s a good shout - I have some very thick black felt and aluminium tape that may work. 
 

Although is the issue more heat rather than direct sunlight, as looking at this thread the internals can get pretty toasty! 

Picked up my 3D printer (having a whole world of fun with that!) and finally finished fixing my pi into its enclosure. 
 

It’s just proof of concept tat the mo, as the mount is printed in PLA and I doubt that will stand up to direct sunlight. Will play with ABS once I’m more familiar with the printer. 
 

Anyway - photo below, power will run out the base, down a pipe and into a solar charger battery.  Need to source some neoprene or similar to seal the dome.