baggywrinkle

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B079Q2CBQT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 One of the problems with some mounts (certainly Meade) is that they use a mix of threads both imperial and metric or you have a load of bolts loose in a tin or draw.. Also trying to quickly size a particular bolt can be an issue. Found this on Amazon and ordered it. Very useful indeed. It even has a thread gauge on the back.

I'll give them a go

My Meade LX850 12" came with two weights and I am beginning to realise that and extra one is needed. When I checked on-line the price of an extra Meade mass I nearly fell out of my tree £362!!!! You can buy an OTA for that. It is a bit if steel with a threaded hole, not a bit of bullion. Does anyone out there know of any after market one? A 1.75" hole is required to go over the counter balance bar

I totally agree with the above. Check the laser is collimated. I made a V block and rested the laser on that and pointed it at a piece of paper blu-tacked marked with a X to a wall and gently rotated the laser. It was quite a way out. But you can dig out the sealant on the holes covering the collimating screws and adjust.

An error on my part the threaded holes are 3 & 4 mm.

Doh! the wee low energy light bulb goes on! Great idea.

I use the Skywatcher tripod and extension. Works perfectly well for me. Light too. https://www.tringastro.co.uk/skywatcher-star-adventurer-tripod-15995-p.asp If you need to stabilize it more then add a weight to the tray. Collapses nicely to fit in a suitcase or strap to a rucksack.

Prima Luce Eagle 3S controller I bought this as I wanted to get better control of my imaging set up as well as better cable management. I also wanted something that was integrated and not cobbled together using various bits and pieces purchased separately. I am not the greatest with IT. Previously I have been using Altair cameras powered by and dumping images to a Dell PC and also a Canon 650D (astro modified) for wide field shots. All this meant I found it hard to leave the obsy in case power lines and cords got wrapped. My mount is an LX850 holding a Meade 12” SCT and a Prima Luce Airy 65mm refractor on the side saddle. Guiding is via the built in Starlock system which works well. As I am self exiled from the observatory at present due to a complete knee replacement on the 18th October, this is not a first light but an unboxing and first impressions on initial set up. In the process of setting it to work in nice dry conditions I have found several things not made clear in the handbook. There are few 'how to' videos on line, the ones on the Prima Luce web site are just nicely produced advertorials with little real technical content. My Eagle S3 also came bundled with the ECCO Rh and temperature sensors that measure dew points and control dew heaters. To that I added a 12A power source for the Eagle 3S (it does come with a cigar lighter type power cord), a battery eliminator for the Canon 650D, a cable to power the LX850 mount from the Eagle, and two 1m extension cables. All this was ordered off 365 Astronomy the equipment arrived the next day. The Eagle 3, ECCO and power cable came well packed . Apart from recyclable plastic pouches for the cables there was no other plastic used. First impressions of the hardware is how solid it looks and feels, the Eagle 3S checks in at just over 1.2Kg. A USB thumb drive is provided with the Eagle and that has the handbook. However I took the opportunity of downloading the handbook before purchase and printing off a copy. I am glad I did as I was able to make notes in it off the problems I found. I had read the manual several times and it was clear the English version had not been proof read and further it IMO did not appear to have been edited by a technical author for workflow and simple technical omissions. However there is a huge amount of detail and it is one of the better manuals I have come across....Meade et al take note! Both top and bottom casings have an abundance of 4mm and 5mm threaded holes to take accessories and to aid mounting on plates or direct onto an OTA. I did ask Prima about the open holes not in use with regards a risk of dew forming on the metal housing and running into the internal circuitry. They suggested using plastic short sealing bolts on the top. I have these on order. There are 3 off 0-12v DC 3A sockets for dew heaters, 2 off 8A 12 v DC and 2 off 3A 12vDC power outlets to drive mounts, cameras etc. 2 HDMI slots re provided to allow connection to a monitor which I did find useful due to an error I made when setting up the wifi. The power supply outlets all have threaded connections which should ensure cables do not get pulled out when in use. There is also an Ethernet connection to allow hard wiring in lieu of using the wifi connection. 4 USB 2 and 4 USB3 ports are also provided so plenty of room for connecting USB devices. My intended use is that any images are dumped directly to thumb drives on the USB3 ports and the Altair cameras will be powered by the USB3 ports. On initial power up I could see that the Eagle was making its own Wi-Fi connection, in order to connect I downloaded the Microsoft Remote Access. The Eagle runs Windows 10 Enterprise version. This was an area I had initial problems with, the manual was confusing and the diagrams did not match any images I was seeing or what passwords were to be used where. Plus in the English version of the manual the images used were all in Italian! Zoltan at 365 Astronomy talked me through this. And I was able to connect. The manual misses out a step where it should make clear that once connected you need to do a sort of pairing in the Eagle set up Advanced menu. I missed this and was locked out. Luckily advice again from Zoltan saw me make an HDMI connection to a monitor and do that particular set up. Unless you are going to make an Ethernet connection I would recommend also buying a small USB keyboard. Once connected you see a representation of the Eagle 3 on screen. Using a mouse allows you to switch on and off the various power ports etc. It also allows you access the the Advanced menu to assign and name the various ports should you wish to do so. It also indicates the power consumption with whatever gear you have connected. You could also control the Eagle with a tablet or mobile phone. The manual states you need to make a back up of the SSD and it recommends a piece of freeware to do this. Chrome is built in, however it comes up in Italian. I went to Chrome on my main PC and found out how to change languages. You should also download Java, this appeared to be missing on the Eagle Windows 10. ASCOM, PHD and Cart de Ciel are preloaded, but you can load your own choice of software for control of your set up by the Eagle. I added BYEOS, Stellarium, SharpCap and Altair Capture. All this takes a while and I tested each piece of software with the relevant camera at each stage. All worked and there were no glitches. The Eagle 3S has an 8G RAM and 250G SSD storage which is better than my second hand Dell Latitude, that will now be the PC I'll communicate with the Eagle. There is a power on/off button and when powered there are soft red led backlights to tell you the Eagle is working. There was an extra button next to the power button which appears but is not named in the handbook illustrations. It took a thorough reading of the handbook and the answer was eventually found in the Q&A section. The extra wee button is to reset the WiFi connection! Surely a button as important as this should be marked and mentioned in the main part of the manual? The red LED's for power are not over-bright which is good news. The ECCO environmental measurement device connects easily and comes with two temperature sensors which should be put under the respective dew heater bands. Once enabled through the PC interface you get a display of the sensor temperature , dew point and the ambient Rh. It will then control the dew heaters as the dew point temperature is approached. There are three ports on the ECCO to match the 3 ports on the Eagle. However only 2 temp sensors are provided with the ECCO. You have to buy the third! The next stage is to install it onto the LX850 and get the power cable connected so it cannot tangle. That should be the only cable moving in RA & Dec. The Eagle will be mounted on the saddle plate where currently there is an RA counterweight. This will ensure that all the heater and camera cable rotate in RA without possibility of tangling. That will have to wait until a week or so as by then I think I will be able to move around without a crutch in the right hand...just a stick.

That is very good. out of interest were any of the software illustration shots still in Italian? They are in the Eagle 3Smanual.

Nice report. Was that a proper manual supplied with it? I recently bought the Eagle 3S, I'll add an unboxing and initial review later. I found some shortcomings in the manual.

I have owned a 9.25 SCT for 5 years and it produces grey fuzzies. That is because our eyes are tuned t the greener wavelengths. However as you observe and use averted vision you will see more and more. In January I bought 12" Meade (I have kept the Celestron 9.25 as it is a superb tube for outreach) and the views it provided were much more detailed, however still grey fuzzies. It is not until you start imaging that you start to see structure. Very soon M42 will be visible before midnight and that will provide some really good structure to see and train your eye.

Nice report. I have been considering their 2" focuser if it would work on a 12" Meade SCT.

Seeing the Milky Way is magical. I'm luck as I live in an area where it can be seen, but my best experience was at Kaikoura, South Island NZ. There the Southern portion stretched across the night sky and the gas lanes were naked eye visible.

I gifted my AZ-GTi to my son along with an Altair Astro 70mm Starwave. It is now down under in NZ Before that I had good use of it. The 70mm was at the top end of the weight range and you could image the Moon easily adding a DSLR and it would still track.. Any deep sky would be limited to around 20 secs exposures as it is an AZ mount. It was easy to set up and I ran it from its local WIFI on my Samsung mobile. Batteries lasted pretty well too. It is very good for grab and go and a quick set up.

This arrived yesterday. As I am banned from the obsy while my knee operation recovers, I'll tinker around in the warmth of my living room getting it all working before installing outside. I must say that Prima do environmentally friendly packaging, a minimum of plastic and the cardboard inserts all seems recycled. Hats Off!

I concur with the fan to circulate air and ventilate the obsy. Once you are in and observing then you might notice on cooler evenings that a second body in the dome might raise the temperature a bit, add a 3rd and even more warmth being given off from breathing and bare skin. I have a ROR obsy so with a wide open roof I do not have the issues that might occur with a dome.

Just invested in a Prima Luce Eagle 3S which I bought through 365 Astro. Arrived within the day, more importantly Zoltan helped me out where the manual failed to do so on the initial set up and connection to the remote PC. 5 star service. Thanks I'll do an unbxing and set up review later. I bought it now as the forecast is rubbish anyway 🙂

I'll be watching a few more of your videos, clear and well produced.

I am looking for a control unit to use with my LX850 mount. I need to control dew heaters (up to 4), a focuser and either a Canon DSLR or a range of Altair CMOS cameras. Is anyone in the group using either of these or another system. I'd be interested in your opinions.

I have been having issues with the LX850 mount as the Starlock tracking went down on me. It has taken weeks to sort out but luckily it seem I am in time for winter... Downside? In 3 weeks I am in hospital to have a full left knee replacement, the result of praticing kendo for 25+ years and a busted achilles to boot..no pun intended. I wanted this sorted so I can get back to some deep sky work. I have the mount hypertuned in the summer by Darkframe and now it is showing an improvement. Last night | had a go at M31, total 50 mins exposure at ISO1600 in one minute exposures and then the Double Cluster 35 minutes again at ISO 1600 on a Canon 650D. I was using a Prima Luce Airy 65mm OTA on the side of the LX850 mount. Nice round stars and a good flat field as their is a field corrector inbuilt. Now I need to learn more on Photoshop

The Moon this morning at 03:00 BST. Seeing was poorer than on the 20th so the detailed images using the Barlow are of a lower quality. I would estimate a 3-4 on the Damian Peach scale. For Lunar imaging 24 hours can make a major difference in quality. LX850 12" Meade + Canon 650 for the mosiac full shot and the Altair GP290M for the detailed shots. Click the link to go t the Flickr page. https://www.flickr.com/photos/165584972@N02/albums/72157711001549803

My first scope when I came back to astronomy when living is Aus was the 6SE, great scope and a good mount. But as advised above add the dew heater...SCT's are dew magnets. I still have a 9.25 SCT on the Evolution mount and use it for outreach. Simple and easy to set up.

If it is just for visual and video but not astro - photography I would stick with the AZ mount. I have the LX850 12" SCT and that is a beast, I've seen the 14" OTA at Norwich Astro Soc' and then realised I had made the right choice for my home obsy.

The waning Moon this morning at 04:00 BST. Seeing was around 4 on the Damian Peach scale, so good, I was able to add a 2.5x Barlow to the imaging chain to get the detailed shots. All done on the Meade LX850 12" SCT using a Canon 650D for the whole Moon shot and the Altair GP290M for the detailed shots. I was limited to 2000-3000 frames when using the 2.5x Barlow as I was getting drift. I stacked the best frames above 60% quality in Autostakert, tweaked in Registax and finished in Photoshop. I was really pleased to get the tiny craterlets in Plato and Archimedes, 1-3 Km diameter, not bad from 380,000 Km!

The EQ5 would offer more future proofing with its higher payload than the EQ3 versions. But that depends on how far down the slippery rad of astro photography you intend to go. Along with a heavier payload it does mean a heavier mount if you intend to move it around or take it to dark sky sites. I have had both Celestron and Skywatcher over the years and both are well supported for technical advice and user experience for apps like EQMOD. I mention Celestron as they come from the same maker but operate in a slightly different way for alignment. They too have the equivalent of the SW EQ5. Both Brands often come up for sales on second hand sites.