dark knight

Omg Stuart you will love it,  the esprit is awesome,  mine had a moonlite focuser on it when I bought it second hand so don't know much about the sw focuser fitted to yours but the optics are fantastic, suppose that means months of clouds now then 

Just a thought but what telescope are you using?  as I had this same conundrum a while back, I ended up getting a Canon 6d dslr as I wanted a full frame sensor for my esprit 120 Pro ed, this was a much cheaper alternative  than buying a osc full frame. The canon does have fairly good ha response without being modded, after modding it is outstanding. There is an online calculator  which will help you match sensor size to your telescope.

OMG, simply stunning, no other way for me to describe it!!!

Personally I would save the money and put it towards a Canon dslr which are better supported, keep an eye on the for sale section as they come up frequently. Would think cost of sending a nikon away to be modded will cost between £150 to £200+

Thnx Stuart, wow yes that is just 10 min drive away, small world eh, if your ever in area come an have a brew

Finally got it connected, had to get bluez blueman installed , now just finding my way around the software, managed to plate solve an take some pics!!  Just trying the inbuilt  guiding, not sure of best settings though

Hmm it assigns /dev/ttyUSB0

Hi all I'm trying to connect the Bluetooth dongle on my neq6 to astroberry pi4, it has paired but I can't seem to get any further, ekos doesn't connect to the mount, what have I got wrong

Ok got astroberry working, canon 6d connects, guide cam connects, however Im now stuck, how do I get astroberry to use my neq6 bluetooth dongle to control the telescope, I have already paired it to astroberry but it doesn't connect, help please

I,ll be running the canon 6d via its own power( dc step down) and use another for the Powered hub, maybe get another one to power the pi4 so all can be running from 12v.

That's the pi4 8gb ordered today and some dc step down voltage converters an a couple of sd cards

I already have a Powered USB hub so that should be OK, also I want to run off 12v so will be making a 12v dc to 5v 3 amp dc step down for the pi4, just realised may need something similar for the Powered  USB hub. 

Thnx for that Stuart, can you recommend a case that would allow the stepper motor hat to be in the same case as the pi and maybe a fan to help cool everything or should they be in separate cases

After many years of using a laptop outside at the mount I've finally decided to evolve with technology and go down the raspberry pi4 8gb route and vnc to it from indoors using my desktop PC running windows 10. I'd like a Bluetooth connection between mount and the pi to utilise my existing Bluetooth module attached to the neq6 and therfore one cable less, I'd also like to control a stepper motor for focusing (will the flirc case house both the pi and stepper motor controller hat?). I'll be imaging using a Canon 6d, guided by ASI 120 mini guider and sw evoguide, main scope sw 120 esprit and moonlite focuser. Will buy a stepper motor and diy mount it. Anyone see any problems, have tips an tricks that may help. Will probably install stellarmate on the pi.

A warm welcome to the lounge and a great hobby

Srry for hijacking, How much room is there inside a flirt case, I'd like to have a pi4 8gb and add a hat for controlling a stepper motor for my focuser so I can automate things. I have no prior knowledge of using a pi for astro imaging and haven't bought anything yet, I'd also like to use bluetooth between pi and mount as that's how I do it now but with a windows 10 laptop, will my existing bluetooth module attached to the mount still work?? 

Did you also download the astap star catalogues?

Make sure nina is pointing to the correct directory on your PC where your plate solving software is installed, 

I use NINA and rate it very highly. I normally use the following method (from memory). Connect all equipment up and power on. Start cartes du ceil.  Connect all to nina. Ensure eqmod is tracking. Take sample image using the imaging tab to check for focus. Do a plate solve and sync coordinates to mount. Use ninas sky atlas to find suitable target and add it to a sequence. Go to the sequence tab, set how many frames to take and exposure length an hit start sequence.  Mine then slews to target and platesolves automatically until target is centred (the accuracy of this can be adjusted) WAITS 10 secs for telescope to settle and then starts guiding and takes the required number of images. I normally then switch to the imaging tab so I can see the images as they come in.

Once you've used it a few times nina becomes second nature in its use.

Hi and a warm welcome to the lounge, I enjoy Cygnus and Orion in equal measure

Accessory wise you will almost certainly require a long dew shield to stop dew forming on the front glass element,  you can easily make one from a camping mat. My 4se suffered terribly from dew forming on the front glass.

Thanks Rick, I only did 15x 4 minute subs, was really surprised to get this result. I actually thought the hockey stick was a mote of sorts until I checked online!!

Not visited this target before but will definitely be back for more data!!!

Also check your PC matches or exceeds the required spec 

• dual-core x64 CPU
• 2GB of RAM
• Windows 8 (64 bit) or later, however Windows 10 is highly recommended
• 250MB of free disk space without the optional SkyAtlas image data (1.5GB with)
• .NET Framework 4.7.2 Runtime (included with Windows 10 April 2018 Update (build 1803) and later)

Are you sure you have the correct version of NINA for your PC's architecture, there is a x64 version and an x86 version. If using the x64 version ascom drivers also need to be x64. Maybe try the x86 version of NINA if you can't get the x64 ascom drivers for your mount.