Coastliner

You certainly can do dso with an eq3-2 Pro. M3, 57x60s guided, Atik 460EX, WO ZS61.

Thanks Alex.

A good thread, I will have a look at the video shortly. I wonder if you can answer a question for me regarding the encoders. I gather the ones you can see are the Auxiliary ones for the "Freedom Find" function. Can you tell me where the primary encoders are? Are they built into the motor assemblies? I'm assuming there are primary as well as Aux encoders.

Thanks,

Neil.

Found this: https://themcdonalds.net/richard/wp/basics-of-go-to-mounts/

My conclusion is that all gt mounts have encoders.  The AZ-EQ5GT has aux encoders that support freedom find.

jambouk, this is exactly my reasoning, I'm pleased that you have come up with the same.  I have been discussing this with someone else who insists  that the aux encoders are the only ones, and if they are disabled the mount counts the stepper motor steps from the home postions to  set its position in the heavens. It would be good to find evidence of two encoder sets.

1 hour ago, jambouk said:

If this mount has “freedom find” then there are two sets of encoders. It is known with the AZEQ6 that if you turn the freedom find encoders off, the GOTO accuracy improves.

Ok, my mount has Freedom Find. Do you know of any documentation that states that there are two sets of encoders? Is one set integral to the motors and the other set external?  

Thanks. I use Eqmod and have only just disabled the encoders after a few years of owning the mount. The difference makes me think that the encoders are a liability!

Hello all,

I have just discovered the  benefit of turning off the auxiliary encoders on my AZ-EQ5GT.  Goto after a PA puts the target in the fov first time with no star align or platesolving. My question is does the mount also have primary or main encoders? or does it rely on accurate home positioning and accurate stepper motors for goto? 

Hi All,

I'm trying to balance my AZ-EQ5 as perfectly as I can, all was going well (all 3 axes) until I added the Polemaster. As this is off-axis it applies torque to the RA causing the axis to rotate until the Polemaster is hanging at the lowest point.

I need to couterbalance this, any ideas how?

or,

Do I need to counterbalance this? Am I being too picky?

I have considered taking the arm off and gluing the Polemaster onto the on-axis point of the top cover, but again, is this overkill?

Thanks,

Neil.

You will also find that if you tighten the clutches too hard you will have hard time releasing them. I find that if you apply enough pressure on the clutches to stop it moving around when you nudge it that is enough. I don't screw them down so hard that I cannot alter the position at all.

I'm looking at my EQ-3 now, because it is sticky for about 120 degrees in RA. DEC is fine. I'll take out the RA setting screw as suggested above. Also, yes, the DEC was set way off on mine also. There is a small hole through the green collar that an Allen key will fit into. To correct it I took the head off and made sure the tripod was level using a spirit level rather than the bubble. With the head back on the mount I rotated the puck until the spirit level held in the clamp was showing level. Then I rotated the collar until 90 degrees was showing against the arrow, then tightened the Allen key.

Having used the mount for a while now I have to say that I am pleased with it. I can easily get 10 mins guided from it with a 6" Newt, and use it as my portable setup.

Hi Sanj, I ended up sending my AZ-EQ5GT mount to Darkframe for their Stellardrive upgrade, they fixed the DEC wobble as well, and the mount is a lot better overall. There are instructions on how to clear the DEC play on the net if you are ok with small mechanics. It just involves re-aligning the worm gear to remove the play.

Yup. Just done so. Also, strangely, since they upgraded the firmware on the handset it will slew to solar system objects but will not slew to stars, the handset says "slewing" but nnothing moves and nothing happens when any buttons are pressed. The only way out is to power-cycle the mount. Everything works via EQMOD/ Stellarium, and also works with the handset from my EQ3. As an ex-computer engineer I know that f/w upgrades can go wrong, so this is not Darkfame's fault, just bad luck.

Thanks for the replies guys. I only use mine in EQ. I might pluck up the courage to have a look inside sometime to adjust the play, but in the meantime I'll use back-heavy balance on the tube so that it sits hard on one end of the slop. I've just had the mount back fro Darkframe where it had the Stellardrive mod done, I had hoped that they would take the slop out for me.

Hi All,

If I grab hold of the puck on my AZEQ5 I can make it rock back and forth by a degree or so (DEC axis), there appears to be no play in the RA axis. Does anyone else have this? Can it be adjusted out?

Thanks,

Neil.

Joc,

I have just visited Gina's thread. Absolutely mind-blowing. I am in awe.

Neil.

Hi All, so glad I found this! I am coming to the end of building the tellurion and have a problem with meshing the gears at the end on the Earth-Moon arm, I cannot get them close enough to mesh reliably. The problem seems to be that the heavy arm that extends out from the base to hold the Earth/Moon sags down, when I lift it the gears mesh ok. It seems there is too much play in the shaft on the left of the second picture above.

Any ideas, anyone? I have tried loosening grubscrews, squeezing everything together and retightening, this improved things a bit but not entirely.

Thanks,

Neil.

I have a choice of optics btw,  the sw150pds and a swED80.

Thanks one and all, Amazon have delivered my screwdrivers and knives, I hope to do the mod in the next couple of days :-)

I'm getting overloaded now. Back to basics - I'm going to to take out the filter nearest the sensor and replace it with nothing. I have no intention of using the modded camera for anything but astro. Will this enable me to use the cam for getting more nebula detail? Is it a worthwhile mod?

"Wish me luck as you wave me goodbye, cheerio, here I go, on my way...".  I'll be back :-)

I'm going for it. I'll be removing the IR filter glass nearest the sensor and replacing it with nothing. I have gloves and an anti-static grounding mat, I'm going to see if Argos sells the modelling knife with the chisel blade.

Thanks Skybound, I'm getting more and more tempted to have a go. Looking for instructions now....

Thanks all, your passing on of knowledge is appreciated. So, I have newbie question off the back of this (sorry, I'm of an age now where monosyllabic answers are required :-) ) - getting the nice red nebulosity around images is not down to IR/UV but is down to Ha? And therefore we have decided that we need to continue blocking IR but let Ha through?  LP1 and LP2 - which one of these should be removed, and is it the one nearest the sensor or the furthest away?  Where are the best instructions I can find for doing this myself?

Hi, I am considering going for modding my camera, it seems I have a choice whether or not to have a Baader filter fitted. I would like to know if the Baader reduces the quality of the astro images? I would like to have the Baader so that I can use the camera in daytime but not at the expense of astro quality.

Thanks,

Neil.