michael8554

Does the cable work?

If yes, I wouldn't worry what the unplugged state is.

I would worry if TXD was, say, 12V

Michael

I bought the requred chip with a bare wire end and then used an RJ45 connector and crimped the wires according to the EQmode website.

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/reqindex.html

When cheking the voltage using pin 4 (GND) and 5 (RXD) I get 4.98v but when I check on the pin 4 and 6 (TXD) it reads around 3.5v

Is this normal ? should I get around 5v on both wires ?

At a guess I'd say you're getting 4.98V data back from the mount on RXD, but the chip you have bought is only putting out 3.5V data to the mount on TXD.

According to the EQMod website, the EQ6Pro, HEQ5 type mounts will only work with 5V, the AZ-EQ6GT and EQ8 mounts have a 5V tolerant 3.3V signaling interface.

Michael

Your RA Osc figure of 0.01 is very low.

I don't have the PHD2 instructions to hand, but I seem to remember it should be about 0.5.

Above or below that required an adjustment to one of the settings, sorry can't remember which.

Michael

As I understand it, compared to the old Meade SCT's,  the ACF is already "coma corrected", so the standard Meade, Celestron etc F6.3 focal reducers are not suitable and will only worsen the images.

So ab6110 is asking for a FR only without coma correction, there are a couple of brands who make special reducers for the ACF.

Michael

Strange problem.

Try taking some images without the filter wheel, if you still see leakage have a go with the pen torch as I suggested.

Regarding the vignetting, are you able to get focus on the atik using the meade focuser without the diagonal?

If so I would guess the focuser tube is sticking way out the back of the OTA and is cutting into the light cone?

Take a squint down the tube and see if it evenly illuminated.

Hi Pete

Have I got this right?

Image 1 and 2 are taken under identical conditions, and image 2 doesn't have the light leak?

Then to me this suggests something is intermittant?

Is the camera mechanical shutter reliably opening and closing?

Or the filter wheel not indexing correctly?

You could try to find the light leak using a pen torch, this would show on short exposures I would think?

By the way, what is the effect in the second image you refer to?

To my eye there isn't a problem with image 2 apart from some vignetting?

Good work Northcanadian, that design ticks a lot of boxes.

What kind of hinges did you use?

Can you see much with the top section left in place?

Don't worry Gina, it never rains in North Canada (9 months of snow, 3 months of hail - only joking)

Cheers

Michael