Richie092

I have a star 71 and my EAF is on the course side

20 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

If not already done install the software.

Open terminal of Raspberry Pi, install the driver by the following command
curl https://download.argon40.com/argon1.sh | bash

Then the following command
argonone-config #configure driver

 

You can then press 2 and adjust the fan speeds fan speeds for 3 different cpu temperatures (55, 60 and 65 C)., even turn fan off, for these temperatures.

If you press 3 instead you can select your own temperatures and fan speeds.

Steve

 

Thanks for your help Steve, I will give that a try this week.

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

My case is a tad on the over-priced side but it houses the SSD as well.
It does have a fan but it can e disabled or set to come on a certain cpu temperatures and really is not required as the case acts as a passive cooler and is sufficient on its own.

RPi CASE

Steve

I have that case Steve. How do you set the fan to come over a certain temp?

On 04/03/2020 at 00:11, Davey-T said:

No tilt adjustment that I'm aware of, I had a problem with mine as one of the rotation grub screws was seized and I rounded out the head trying to remove it, had to drill it out and then replaced the grub screws with ordinary allen headed bolts.

Dave

Another thread revival here, @Davey-T could you give me a bit more info on how you drilled and threaded your filter wheel, I have just rounded off the head of one of the grub screws and now that rotating bit it is a tiny bit loose. Did you do it with a  hand drill or have you got special "stuff" what size thread bolt did you use?

Thanks in advance

Richie

So now I can run camera, WiFi extender (essential) mount and both dew bands with a splitter from the ASI Air. Does make things nice and simple. 

I’ve read about bad backlash with these focuses but the 2 I have had from FLO are solid. 

It’s perfect  it works exactly like the powered one I have and saves a cable. I have mine plugged in to the back of my 533mc with a short cable. 
 

I think for the money they are hard to beat. 

OK, sounds reasonable. Once I get a couple of clear nights I will test it and see if I can tell the difference. I'm not a pixel peeper so not after perfection and would prefer to maximize my clear nights/imaging time but not at the expense of a rubbish image.

Can I ask why you aren’t using it wide open?

Just had a look at a couple of my 600 second darks at -15 and that looks perfectly normal. Don't have PI on this machine so can't stretch and save one but I don't see anything wrong with yours.

I’m fitting mine today so will let you know. 

I see your point. Still, nothing to lose so have given it a go but I am probably looking at 2 new Baader NB filters and a looong wait. ouch.

As a .p.s. I said the OIII and SII were Astrodon, they are in fact Astronomik.

Hi Adrian. I meant unscrewing the filter on the wheel, no way am I messing with the spacing of the lens now lol.

or maybe just unscrewing it half a turn?!

Thanks both for your replies. Much appreciated.

I did wonder if the filter itself would be exactly in the middle of the threaded ring so turning it around "might" change the distance.

Like you I found even .25 mm spacer made a big difference when setting the rig up so I'm now thinking about laser cutting a 1.25 spacer to go on the filter wheel. I need to reduce the back focus of the filter so this might do the trick. I'm just trying to find something thin/strong enough I can cut safely.

I finally managed to get my spacing sorted using the Samyang 135, Atik filter wheel and 383l+. The LRGB focus point with my Baader filters is exactly where it should be and the Baader Ha is only 35 steps away. All good so far. 
 

The problem I have is the Astrodon Oiii and Sii filters won’t focus. By quite a bit. 
 

my first question is - is it possible I have installed them in my filter wheel backwards and this is making a difference?

If it is just a case of them being so different to the Baader and I have to change them should I stick with the Baader regular NB filters and hope they are parfocal or go for the F2 filters? 
 

To be honest I’m pretty surprised how far out the Astrodon filters are. Just when I thought I had everything nailed...
 

I understand your (OP) hesitance to offer your opinion but I come from the camp that advice is always welcome, I don't have to take or act on it but it is always nice to have. Especially from someone who knows what they are talking about so feel free to comment on anything I post.

Also, there are so many setbacks/pitfalls/tear jerkers in this hobby that one more from you won't really hurt anyone lol.

Love it. I'm still trying to perfect the spacing on mine, nearly there and if I am honest, my stars aren't perfect but you really have to zoom in to notice. At the end of the day, you have to be extremely happy with that result. I look forward to the final image.

Have got it ordered, will let you know when it gets here. 🙂

42 minutes ago, rojach78 said:

Love the picture, that's exactly the type of image i want to be able to get, i'll invest in the uv/ir blocker, i'm in Bortle 5 so i get a descent view, also our street lights go off at 1am so i'll be doing quite a lot of early morning imaging! I'll be interested to see how you get on with the blocker if you can let me know. Thanks.

Cheers. Will do, just trying to work out how to get it in my imaging train. Have filter slider draw but of course, threads dont match, adapters are loose etc. usual stuff.

Hi.

Have recently started using the 533mc myself, it is a great camera.

All the research I did for my LP level (Bortle 5/6) led me to try without any filters at all. I was very pleased with the results. I have just purchased an IR/UV blocker but not tried it yet.

This is M42 32 x 3 min subs very basic processing.

I am told the IR/UV will cut the star bloat a little but I'm pretty happy with that kind of result as a beginner. What is your light pollution like locally?

Thanks Des. I think I finally have my spacing right and it looks like I might get an hour to test it this evening so that really helps. 

Sorry Des. I didn’t make my answer very clear

I have and use PI, the basics of it for now, I just didn’t know what script or process you used in it for that information. 

7 minutes ago, doubledoubleswifty said:

It finally arrived today!

Ordered 20th of February.

Arrived 18th of March.

On quick inspection - no major problems seen 🙂

The gamble paid off. Well done.

Thanks Des. Is that a script? Process?

1 hour ago, desmcm said:

Thanks to everyone who has posted in this thread so far, as it has all been very helpful in putting together my rig. I thought it might be helpful to others to share some of my (limited) experience so far, and to ask for comments on whether the performance of my 135 is in keeping with what one might typically expect.

First a few words on the rig:

- I opted for a Redcat 51 mounting ring as suggested by many others. This seems to hold the lens nice and snug and my preliminary assessment is that it is a good choice.

- The Astro Essentials M48 replacement plate was easy to install and seems well made.

- As I am using a ZWO filter drawer (21mm optical path length), and an ASI2600MC Pro (17.5 mm back spacing required), I decided to use an M48 extension tube to get me to the required 44mm. First attempt was to try the Astro Essentials extension tubes available from FLO. This turned out not to work particularly well as the female thread on the extension tubes were not deep enough to take the male M48 thread on the lens plate. A better option seems to be to use the TS M48 5mm extender (https://www.365astronomy.com/ts-optics-2-inch-extension-tube-with-double-sided-2-inch-filterthread-5mm-length). This gets me very close, within a 1mm, of the required back focus with everything nice and firmly attached.

First light was (surprise, surprise) the Orion complex as shown in the image: f2  21 x 120s lights, 50 flats, 50 dark flats, gain 100, -10C sensor temp. I am delighted with the result at f2, with perhaps the focus being a little soft.

Looking at the variation of the FWHM and eccentricity it is difficult to know whether the lens is performing to spec (me, the imager, most certainly is probably not) so constructive feedback welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Des

 

Hi. I'm in the process of trying to get my 135 to the correct backfocus so whilst I can't help you at the moment could you please tell me what software you are using to analyse your images?

Ta