Alien 13

Sharp craft knife or similar to break the seal around the edge. Alan

You will need a dummy battery, the cheapest way and what I did was to buy a battery off the bay for a couple of quid and strip the innards out. Alan

I found that I had to wind the voltage up to about 7.8 V to prevent premature shut downs, the Camera electronics knows if it a battery or other connected so this might be the reason for this. Alan

It would be nice if Canon released some figures regarding supply tolerance and the cameras current consumption rather than having to second guess them, I had similar issues determining my mounts motor min voltage and current consumption in the end I resorted to measurements. Alan

Another way of adding some protection is to use two of those switching regulators in series, the first would drop the voltage to 9 V the second would then output the required 7.5 V, this will ensure that no single failure will stress the camera. Alan

If you have a Canon battery grip it comes with an adapter to use 6 AA cells which equates to 9 V so I have taken that to be the upper supply limit, more voltage does mean that the on board regulators in the camera get warmer though. Alan

Nice thread and here`s me thinking I was the only one to use the EQ3-2 for AP. Alan

I only wish we had lots of moons so that there was a full one every night Alan

To put all this into perspective even a strand of spider silk will give diffraction spikes... Alan

Looking forward to seeing how the mini PC performs. Alan

Will there be any unboxing pic,s from memory I cant recall seeing any Alan

Thats cute, I must get a SA Alan

The problem with mounts is that they are not cycle or car wheel hubs and have to endure sometimes many months of inactivity without the grease creeping away from the bearing. There are probably better alternatives around something like the stuff used in old camera lenses that had to withstand sudden sheer forces but it has to be designed for these types of loading. Alan

I have found that the cheat works well because the thread depth is quite small, I do however make this sort of adapter semi permanent with a drop of Araldite like the M42 to 15mm T extension tube I use on my scope. Alan

I have a feeling you might get quite a few differing answers my own view is that the Skywatcher people are quite smart and their engineering solution to these mounts includes the original grease. Alan

Hi Gina, its not something simple like the fact you are connecting to a plug rather than a socket so the data wires need swapping? Alan

Dells are never standard memory costs 4x anything else hard drives about the same but I would never buy any other. Alan

I think FLO priced matched the ASI1600MM Cooled. Alan

Good job, now you have built one project the world is you oyster lots of cheep stuff out there to build. Alan

That`s good progress looking forward to seeing how it performs, might have a go myself at one of the projects in the link. Alan

I am not a newt fan but I do like the Tal what a little beauty, it reminds me of a little military sighting scope I had with a one inch objective it gave stunning views. Alan

My gut feeling is that Canon may have tweaked the HA response on models post 60Da my 650D certainly has no problem but the downside is getting optics lens/scope that can bring HA and RGB into focus at the same time. Alan

It is a great Idea the issues with scopes like is that it could take several weeks before it gets 1st light and even then a smaller sensor might not show any significant errors straight away, the knowledge that the scope is A1 from the start is well worth any small fee. I do think the sticker/certificate is also a good idea and would certainly add value later on if it was sold so the extra up front would pay for itself. Alan

You could stick an astro logo on them and make a fortune......must get down to the local pound shop. Alan