nephilim

My other hobby is mountain biking. Im lucky to live in the Lake District so I have amazing natural trails right on my doorstep. Its at polar opposites to Astronomy, unless im riding solo (50% of the time) im in a group of friends & its a fantastic fun way to keep fit. Where as with my Astronomy im always solo (i'll sometimes have a friend tag along but their patience doesn't usually last 😂 ) & its not particularly of any benefit towards my fitness, unless you count lugging all the gear around but that tends to only result in a dodgy back 🙄. Unfortunately Mountain biking is just as expensive as Astronomy so with both of them i'm not left with much spare cash 😒 But between the 2 they give me a good balance between physical & mental exercise.

After finally narrowing my search for a suitable remote (away from the mains & imaging sessions shouldnt exceed an optimistic 5hrs) power source I 'had' decided on this https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/celestron-lithium-lifepo4-powertank-pro.html It will be to power my Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount, 2x dew heaters, HitecAstro four-channel, four-port Dew Controller & a ZWO ASI 120mm 2.0 guide camera & further down the line a dedicated astro camera (this can be powered with the dew controller port). My laptop will need a separate power source. I messged Grant from FLO earlier & he says its suitable for what I want. Ive now come across this which is vastly cheaper than the above unit (£99 rather than £214) & i'm wondering if it will do the same job as it seems to have the same connectors & actually has more power (17Ah instead of 13.2Ah) I'm useless at working out electrical things, amps drwn/needed etc & asking if anyone knows a reason to buy the much more expensive unit over the cheaper one when they 'seem' to do the same job or am I missing something? https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/skywatcher-powertank-17ah.html Also FLO told me that the Celestron power cable on the expensive one will fit my ES mount so im assuming it will also fit on the cheaper unit TIA Steve

I'm the opposite having just started up again. I've been a visual amateur for over 35yrs but only bought my first scope around 9 years ago after years of using bino's. I then went the way many do & became interested in AP. After a while due to a limited budget, unsuitable kit & terrible weather I couldn't justify spending the money required to buy a new set up for AP & just gave up completely. As my financial situation improved over the years, getting back into it was always in the back of my mind (I was still spending a great deal of time researching all things astronomical & found I really enjoyed that & its certainly not weather dependent). I finally decided to bite the bullet & start again, so a few weeks ago I visited FLO's website for probably the 1,000,000th time that month & hit the 'Buy it now' button on an Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount & that as they say is that 😃 The mounts the biggest purchase i'll make (for now 🙄) & the one I couldn't afford first time around. I'll now be spending the next 3 or 4 months slowly buying kit until im ready to start, hopefully around the same time the nice, crisp, clear winter nights arrive here in the Lake District (that'll be that now cursed😒). I've accepted that 9 times out of 10.......sorry, out of 100 the skies wont play ball but i'll just make the most of the ones that do. With my new found interest in the research part of the hobby & my new (3yr) hobby of mountain biking, I'll hopefully have a happy balance.....Watch this space (excuse the pun) 🙂 Steve

Thats looking really good mate.

It all depends on what your wanting to image, the WO has a wider field of view & will also be a lot easier on the mount as its a fair bit lighter than the ED80, its also faster at F5.9. I'm about to buy the WO Z73II but will be mounting it on the equivalent of a HEQ5.

Thanks Chris, I'll do a bit more research on that.

Im a bit late with this one as I bought it a couple of weeks ago. My first astro purchase in 6yrs after deciding to pack it all in & now deciding not too 😃 Explore Scientific EXOS-2 PMC-Eight GOTO Mount.

Thanks for the reply mate. It's just for 1 night away from electric point (around 8 hours maximum really) I'm not bothered about the solar charger though. I'm pretty naff at working out voltages when it comes to individual bits of kit & how that transfers to the power stations capacity & power duration, its probably easily enough but I'd rather it be over specced rather than under 🙂 Thanks Steve

Hi, I'm looking at buying a power station to run my AP set up when away from home but there are so many its hard to know which will be suitable (plus I have zero experience of them) I've narrowed it down to this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DVGYDL5/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3QWR2YMF6QQ93&psc=1 Its pricey ( I'd prefer to buy good quality that will last rather than buying cheaply) but its lithium which is what i'm after with a fair few sockets but im not sure how to work out if it'll run all my gear (the station is 288Wh) My set up will be as follows: Laptop ES EXOS-2 Mount (similar to HEQ 5) 2x Dew heaters 1x Single channel, dual port dew control A dedicated astro camera further down the line I'm sure there will be something i've forgotten though. Tia Steve

Doesn't that affect your night vision (unless its red) ? Mine goes at even a hint of non red light if its close by. My desktop is backlit & is like Blackpool illuminations if I have the lights off 😂.

Im going for a refurbished laptop now (thanks to a fellow SGL member for mentioning to me) which will save a fair bit of cash. My image processing will be done at home on my desktop PC which will easily eat anything I throw at it 😃

I'll have to go the laptop route as my setup needs to be portable as I've access to some good dark skies where I live in the Lake District so a mini pc wouldnt work for me. That is a good price though 🙂

Thats good to know, cheers mate. With the money I'll save from buying a refurbished one I can now put towards a higher end camera 😃

Cheers mate. Yes im going for refurbished, i3/i5 with USB3 & now looking at a budget of £300 ish. 🙂

Thanks James, Thats a good point I would never have thought of. I'm pretty efficient on the keyboard so a US one really would be like starting from scratch with the typing 😬

Thanks very much for the link mate, i'll have a look now 🙂

Cheers mate, i've just been looking online & there are a fair few suppliers & the savings are massive. I'll spend the next few days doing a bit of research now. I never thought about going for a refurbished one, you've just saved me quite a bit of cash, very much appreciated 😃 ATB Steve

Thats great mate, thanks for the info. Do you have a link to the website you used? I've no problem at all using a refurbished laptop if I can use a reputable company 🙂

I can certainly see the advantage of using Raspberry Pi, but ive absolutely no experience when it comes to its applications or how to use it, I also have no experience of Linux. This will be my first serious attempt at AP & I think i'll have enough to learn to start with without adding further software/ hardware to the mix. It's something I'll be looking into once i've been up & running for a while.

Nice report. I first found both Neptune & Uranus on the same evening a few years ago through my 8" Newt & although only pinpoints of light, there was noticeable colour & still very enjoyable to see for the first time when you realise exactly what it is your looking at having only ever seen photos for many years.

Hope its sorted quickly mate, i'd forgotten just how much 'fun' 🙄 this hobby can be but it always draws me back in 😬

Thanks for all the advice. After a bit more research from all your answers, I think i'll up the budget to around £400/ £450 & get a low/mid range laptop. I cant operate remotely as half of my visual sessions (it'll be the same for my imaging sessions) are done away from home. I live in the Lake District (very close to the north Yorks border) & have access to very dark skies which are in the middle of nowhere, where as at home its around Bortle 5/6 (not a problem for narrowband). I'll stay clear of Celeron & probably opt for i3 (I have a very highly specced home desktop PC for image processing) Most modern laptops have 2x USB3 which i'll definitely be wanting plus, a decent storage capability will be a must. I've spotted a couple in my 'new' price range that even have an m.2 SSD which would be nice as I have one in the home PC & they are lightening fast. Thanks again Steve

Thanks for the info, I'll be using NINA so I'll have to check whats recommended for that.

Hi, Does anyone have any recommendations for a reasonably priced, good quality power station. Its for an AP setup so USB 3, DC (Barrel) output etc. I dont really want to spend over £200 so lithium battery is probably out but it would be nice if there is one in my price range that any member has used. TIA Steve

Thanks Viktiste, that's what I was thinking but I just needed someone to confirm my thoughts. Laptops in the £300-£350 range are all very similar spec wise with 2x USB 3 & 1x USB Type-C., Plus I can just get a port hub if I need extra. Steve