Skipper Billy

Try this stuff.  My son lives in northern Sweden and he couldn't believe how often we paint our woodwork compared to his. So I tried it - it is AMAZING stuff!

I would gladly come round and assist you if I was nearer but sadly I am well over 700 miles away.

Best wishes for a full and speedy return to rude health.

4 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Ha ha, thought you'd changed your name there for a second David 😂

Sounds kind of cool !   It will be the first time I have ever been cool !

Just a quick update in case anyone else is looking at house insurance.

The house insurance renewal notice came through yesterday from the Halifax - proposed increase to £645 per annum

Went on moneysupermarket.com and entered all the info - 48 quotes came back - the cheapest was £192 - yes you have guessed it - with the Halifax !!!!

I phoned the Halifax and asked them to explain why a new customer pays less than a third of a loyal 12 year plus customer and asked them to check that I am comparing apples with apples. After much coughing and spluttering and muttering about new products etc he confirmed that the new policy at £192 actually provides better cover than the £645 policy specifically unlimited rebuild costs as opposed to £500k and a lower excess. Other items are the same - accidental damage cover etc and cover for high value items outside the home - cameras, laptops etc.

Then I broached the subject of my observatory or more specifically the contents of it. Standard cover £1500 per item. Explained why he needed to put a zero on the end of  that and he came back with their 'Ultimate' level of cover for out buildings £15000 contents cover for each outbuilding. This also covers my £2k electric bike as well as all my astro gear in the obsy.

This increased the price somewhat but the total for everything is £221

Pays to shop around !!!

As they have effectively had about £4k off me over the last 10 years that I could have saved (a free Baby Tak ??) I would loved to have told them to stick it where the sun doesnt shine but its a trusted name and a good product at a good price so I swallowed my male pride and paid the £221 !!

PS your cabling looks 'interesting' 😉

Matt Black

23 minutes ago, seanpius said:

because going by system settings it says camera connected,device working.

Personally I would treat that with great suspicion. Windows often says that when clearly the device is not connected and not working especially with items connected with third party drivers.  

Has the camera worked in the past (2 years old).

I would uninstall the driver and app - reboot the machine - download the latest driver and app from here - install them in the correct order and try again.

Good luck.

I would add the Mesu 200 to the list. IF you can find one.

https://www.modernastronomy.com/shop/mounts/mesu-optics-mounts/mesu-mount-200/

https://sites.google.com/view/astro-imaging/equipment

Hi - glad you are getting it sorted out.

I didn't see your original post so apologies that I didn't reply. 

Cracking mount !!!  😉

These work REALLY well - mine sets off a flashing blue light in the indoors office.

https://www.reichelt.com/gb/en/rain-sensor-12-v-dc-m-152-p118916.html?PROVID=2788&wt_guka=54951089435_263550074609&PROVID=2788&gclid=CjwKCAjwsIbpBRBNEiwAZF8-zyeetSC6-sBQe7HbOXJ8ZlIHj0cs_mxpFmbIff0kmP8jJgbx7C-EixoCurMQAvD_BwE&&r=1

Does this help?

The first 'must have' for imaging is THIS !!!!

It will answer all your questions and reading it will expand your horizons enormously.

5 hours ago, noah4x4 said:

However, I have recently tried a different solution with interesting success. Connect  a 12v DC battery to a 12v DC/240v AC Bestek 300w power inverter (£26). Then use its 240v output with the manufacturers AC adapters supplied with camera, focuser  etc. This is a great replacement where mains electricity is not available and often used by caravanners etc. Whilst this sounds convoluted, the supply seems to be more regular/reliable as the NUC then gets its 19v, the camera get 12v, focuser 12v, with each receiving the correctly specified voltage/amperage as it uses it own AC adapter as if connected to the mains. Just make sure you buy an inverter that has enough wattage. I put battery, inverter and plug sockets in a small plastic easy to carry tool box.

Thats a fairly inefficient way of doing things - in the end although I was satisfied that the system worked on 12v in my nice warm and dry dining room I wanted to be sure that in the damp, freezing cold middle of the night that I had removed as many potential failure points so I put one of these (see link below)  in a project box to give me nice smooth 19 volts.  The box in the photograph gives out 12v to all the outlets on the side and 19v out of the top for the NUC - the other cable in the top is the 12v supply into the box. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fenshine-12V-19V-Converter-Voltage-Regulator/dp/B07L6BX7NM/ref=asc_df_B07L6BX7NM/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=255644877778&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5202075056603707898&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046988&hvtargid=aud-545671390501:pla-717633515400&psc=1

You need one of these - dont be tempted by similar ones at a slightly lower price - this one has a genuine FTDI chip - anything else will just give you grief.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html

On 19/02/2019 at 12:13, festoon said:

One other thing a lot of the Intel i5 NUC's say power requirement 12V to 19V. But then others say 19V supply needed. Has anyone run one of these succesfully off a 12V LiFePO4 battery, and what is the effect?

I have run my i5 NUC off 19v and 12v (well 13.7v) and noticed no difference at all - it is powered by a 20 amp power supply and runs the mount, PHD2, electronic focuser, SGP, etc concurrently along with a ZWO guide camera and Atik 16200 imaging cam plus CdC and Stellarium.  

'There are nae pockets in a shroud' !!

The stress of not having appropriate kit to fully enjoy your hobby may kill you - ask her if she wants you to be healthy and happy - then buy the kit.

If she doesnt want you to be healthy and happy then just buy the kit.

Either way - you get the kit.

'Simples' !

43 minutes ago, Gina said:

The cost of any insurance depends on where you live.

Hopefully that will work in my favour - the back of beyond and then some - you could have a reign of terror with a balloon on a stick around here !

Thanks guys.

I will contact the ones suggested and see what comes out on top.

Hello all.

I am about to start looking for house insurance - we have been with the same provider for over a decade just because its easy to renew.

But it looks like we are paying 'through the nose' and most probably my outbuildings are not covered.

I have two out buildings - one containing £5k + of model aircraft and the other my observatory which for 6 months of the year houses £15k +++ of astroimaging gear.

Does anyone have any suggestions of recommendations for companies worth trying for house insurance that might look kindly at the above plus a small number if high value items of jewellery and/or a stand a alone policy for the astro gear ???

 Thanks in advance!

1 hour ago, sloz1664 said:

With the active session in progress, I should still be able to use the host PC without logging off the remote device. I used to able to do this, but not now.

I have never been able to achieve that - using the local machine always logs out the remote machine.

Bravo to both parties - sensible and mutually beneficial. I will toast your continued success with a dram and my wallet !

I put a thrust washer under a penny washer on the central bolt and leave it tight - I can polar align without slackening it - problem solved - £5 from Simply bearings.

I think I got the last original spec Mesu in the UK and I find it a thing of beauty in a brutalist sort of way.

Its also the most boring mount I have ever owned - fit almost any scope and almost any combo of guide scope and guide camera and it guides at about 0.4" total, hardly needs any maintenance or fiddling with. [YAWN} 😉

Have a read here - http://www.astro-baby.com/astrobaby/help/collimation-guide-newtonian-reflector/

Everything you need to know - in simple language - for a newbie to achieve excellent collimation on a newt.

Wonderful - just wonderful.

Well done.

The tube is thin enough to bend it with your fingers - if you deliberately bend the deformed part a bit too far so that the gap is under the corners, when you tighten it down it will sort itself out to match the curve of the adapter plate. Penny washers suitably blackened on the inside would o no harm at all.