Dave_D

finally managed to get my scope out for a play tonight... fired up sharpcap and (although i've never used it before) within minutes had the best polar alignment i've EVER had...

Robin, you're a goddamn hero

wasn't intending to try any AP as, with my personal situation meaning it's been 2 years since i did any, i'm rusty as hell, but fired off a few subs anyway. no guiding whatsoever, balance was questionable and the dew was starting to form at -3 degrees at 2am this morning but what the hell... for totally unguided, i'm really impressed with sharpcaps abilities

even managed a small amount of detail my new favourite, Barnards Merope Nebula lol

just a quick stretch and not much else. got a bit of distortion in star images but thats probably down to having to clean the mirror and it needing a bit more poking and prodding to get into shape, but all the software updates/new stuff apart from phd2 (which totally refused to calibrate and failed every time on the clearing backlash phase) worked flawlessly.

"Even going gently (best results are obtained by scraping with a small baguette)" that made me laugh...

Robin, have you been poking about in code again? just did a completely fresh install of ascom standards, ssag drivers (including ascom driver) and sharpcap 2.9 and lo and behold, my orion SSAG worked straight off the bat... happy is an understatement... will save me a fortune not getting a polemaster

Or, failing that, hit it with a mallet

Have you looked here? http://www.homautomation.org/2015/01/22/expand-arduino-io-with-1wire-ds2408/

have you tried the Dallas one-wire library? I had to use it for a DS18B20 one-wire device

Don't know if it's been mentioned or asked, but is the 450 sensor a direct replacement in the 1100d?

There's just one faulty 1100D on ebay which I'm bidding on but there's still days left and the bids are shooting up!

dunno about you Gina, but it never fails to amaze me the monetry value people place on broken items...

Nice find..   I personally prefer not to rely on a mechanical connection, but for those who want a quick way of making an EQDirect cable, that's a great suggestion

just bought one... still gonna solder it though

have to retain my rep as the demon soldered of olde manchester town...

this would save messing with soldering irons and shrink tube. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RJ45-UTP-Cat-5e-Cat6-Gigabit-Ethernet-Network-Tool-less-Connector-termination-/331322561179?hash=item4d245d129b

Seriously, these mounts are upwards of £700, the EQ8 being a few grand.  Purchese a genuine FTDI cable from the manufactures.  I wouldn't (didn't) risk using what can only be cloan chips costing a couple of quid off e-bay.

Drivers up to windows 10 are available http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

Alternatively, if in doubt, spend £40 - £60 and purchase one of the commercially made EQDirect cables that will have a warranty, and if things go pearshapped you can have some course of redress.  It depends on your confidence.  Personally using genuine FTDI chips I have no worries with the DIY cable I made and use with my HEQ5, which has been fine for the passed three years

true, i'm more inclined to use 'quality' parts too, but isn't that just perpetuating the overpricing of a great deal of kit that has 'astro' associated to it.

Hi,

Anyone know where to source a 'USB to UART (TTL) Cable module PL2303 Converter' or current equivalent? It's no longer available from EBay.

I'd like to try my hand at a DIY EQDIR for my EQ8 mount - assuming EQDIR is compatible with the EQ8.

Thanks in anticipation, hot soldering iron at the ready! :-)

there's this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2pcs-PL2303-PL2303HX-USB-to-TTL-RS232-USB-Serial-Cable-Connector-Adapter-/261110516124?hash=item3ccb66499c only thing to worry about is the listing says it's not compatible with windows 8. wonder if that rules out windows 10 as the free upgrade is out in a few days. I use XP but y'know, others might have trouble.

I doubt that a CNC machining could be directly used in color filter removal. Tolerances are so small (and/or the cost of such precision machine would be sky high).

However, use of the CNC like machine in slowly polishing the surface would be a whole another idea.

getting the sensor absolutely square would be a pain though. wonder if a 'wedge of cheese' profile sensor would still work

i used this one and it works a treat. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-4-phase-5-wire-Stepper-Motor-Gear-Motor-28BYJ-48-12V-for-DIY-Project-XN-/271475220977?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3f352f21f1

this may be a daft suggestion, but has anyone tried putting the wooden scraper inside a spring loaded biro pen or something similar? that way it would be much harder to put too much pressure on the cmos surface... just a thought.

I'm planning to do a second attempt. Either by soda blasting it or using the same scraping method applied a bit more carefull (without applying as much pressure) on a second 350D sensor I took from another broken 15 euro body...

you have some luck there... i've been looking for broken 1100D to try to debayer, unfortunalely, people seem to think broken items have some intrinsic high value attached to them. last dead 1100D i saw went for over 50 euros 

£110! Meep           

ahhh but you forget the dreaded 'astro' link with it's auto 4x cost calculator

i'd just end up depressed using one of those...

itching to have a go at debayering but there seems to be a complete lack of 1100d sensors available and the only place i found that *could* supply them wanted more than the cost of the camera when it was new

stupid for a discontinued model methinks.

I did run mine with the Synscan EQ5 kit but found it really noisy

Gotta love a good understatement i could hear mine through double glazed kitchen window...

Upgrade Of A Vixen GP mount With A SynScan EQ3/EQ5 Skywatcher Goto Kit: https://youtu.be/7yYAg8zZCDw

Here you go...

There's a video on youtube on how to fit the eq5 synscan kit. It's very easy to do. I did it to my GP with no issues whatsoever. Dunno about others, but i find my GP to be an absolute trooper of a mount, easily coping with my 10" f4.8 newt, unless it gets a bit breezy

Meh... seen better...

AHAHAH! just kidding cause no, i haven't.

You need to set your laptop up as a wireless access point. There are free apps only a google away or something like this..

http://www.firewall.cx/microsoft-knowledgebase/windows-xp-7-8/968-windows-7-access-point.html

Not tried using win7 but i connect wirelessly to my win xp scope computer with my tablet using this method. No, cables, no routers, no internet... no problem

Also, why mess with teamviewer when windoze has perfectly functional RDP built in?