Neko

Glad to hear that! enjoy!

I think it will work fine. As far as I know the htread is the same for the vixen mounts, as the EQ3 , 5 and are clones of the vixens. Hope all goes well ^^ Carles.

ummm, maybe I missunderstood. You want to change only the reticle? I've changed the whole thing for one of this hhttps://www.alphacygni.com/buscador-de-la-polar-y-accesorios/1506-buscador-de-la-polar-sky-watcher-eq-5-eq-6.html What I did was just unscrew the whole thing out, and put this one. You don't need allen key for this. Just grab it firmly with your hand and unscrew it. or at least I didnt need to unscrew anything, And I took the mount a part few times... That's all. I had to collimate mine. So probably you'll have to do it too. That's way to expensive... https://teleskop-austria.at/polarHMRet#m this would work and is more intuitive @Dougie Smart if you wan to change only the glass reticle, then this one would do. If all the rest is OK

I'm aware of this. I followed the instructions for the Hotech ff on my Borg. Just wondered the effect. In the site they show those graphs, and according to it would distort all the field ? Guess a good way to test it would be modifying the distance in my Hotech+borg combination to see the effect. But weather is bad enough for long to waste next clear night on this 🤣🤣 Thanks for your answer anyway

I replaced my Vixen's Super Polaris polar scope with one of those, and it works great. the thread is similar, although in my case it doesn't screw all the way in. I did order EQ5/6 version, maybe for my mount EQ3 would fit better, but it works So it should work for your GP too Regards

Hi folks, I wonder what happens if one can not reach the ideal back focus distance with a field flattener? For instance, my QHY8L has 20.1mm back focus, but the Evoguide 50ED FF requires 17.5mm then, how the images would look like? those 3mm of the sensor being too close to the FF would it make it not possible to focus? or will focus but wouldn't correct the whole field? Withouth the FF I can reach focus but maybe about 50% of the frame (or more? ) is distorted, obviously So, what's the theory behind it? Not reaching the ideal backfocus makes the whole field distorted or just can not correct a certain % ? Sorry if that is a too dumb question ^^;

I wouldn't put one in front of the other..wouldn't make much sense. Instead you could do some captures with L-pro and some with :L-enhance or L-extreme, then combine them (which is what I'd like to do when I can afford to get one of those two ) guess you can extract both red and blue channels (Ha and Oiii/hb ) and make sort of HaRed+Green+Oii/HbBlue I assume that's how should be to add narrow band to RGB, but since I can't try it can't be sure haha

I see, well, if is specifically on DSLR then I don't know.. would depends also if it is modified or not. But to what point would it be that different ? The fact is that it cuts out more "unnecessary " light, so it contrasts more those specific bands. as I understand anyway... I can't tell either. I have L-pro, and a friend of mine has the L-enhance , I had a chance to process some of his files to see what comes out. but then again he uses a asi294Mc , not DSLR. Did you check Astrobin for examples on DLSR + L-extreme? will have a look too ^^

Hi,, I know it is an old post, but I was looking for this info! Although, one thing... the original Toshiba ER6V is 46.6mm, and the socket where it goes measures 48.8mm.. those batteries all are around 50mm or more.. how do you fit them ? Because I tried one 14500 and it was too long so didn't get it . And since the electronics goes closed up in a sandwich fashion...should be same size,right? how did you do it?

Well.... here you have one L-enhance vs L-extreme, same equipment, same exposure time and...very different results. It depends on what do you want to achieve. I personally own only the L-pro for now, But eventually will get one of this two to combine with the more broad signal of the L-pro. But yeah, there's a difference...

awesome video and results! So, bortle 7, no filter, and moon?? wow...I'll have to test that myself! I am at bortle 6-7 too and usually capture with Optolong L-pro with filter it takes a lot longer. To capture same light/detail as your m42 I would need some hours i think

hahaha ...not the answer I was expecting xD with my own tunned Vixen SP I get stable total RMS 0.70", sometimes as low as 0.58" , just wondered if I could get any better with belt, 😛 will research elsewhere then thank you anyway ^^ ;

Hi Dave! I know it is an old thread...but did you sort out the belt and pulley mod for your GP ? any improvements? I was thinking on trying the mod myself on my Vixen SP with SS2Kpc. Could you tell me the pulleys and belt used ? Thanks! Carles.

@ElwoodBlues Looks great! is that the full frame or did you crop? How did you processed it in StarTools? I processed once a pic from a friend of mine who has the L-enhance too (I only have L-pro for now.. ) and I tried it both straight from "open" and "Compose". Compose delivers better result IMHO. Since You can split the OII+Hb and Ha then merge them as HOO

thanks! will check it straight away! Haven't found many reviews about the evoguide50ED

about the tilt? I don't know Ed Ting ^^; could you post the link to that video ? Cheers

It could be that! In my Borg 89ED with Hotech SCA flattener I was getting trailed stars by the edges with the qhy8L.. and this flattener is more than enough for APS-C .. SO I ran it through ASTAP-CCDinspector and found out it was tilted. In my case I think is both the CCD sensor not being orthogonal and the fact that the image train is not all threaded like yours but rather with the SCA self centering (...yeah right not so efective really ) and had to play with the 3 screws on my focuser to try to center it. Here too been very bad weather so couldn't check it properly. I tried to center it indoors by taking flats on a wall during the day, taking pics on preview/loop mode, then moving the histogram to see the vigneting circle and trying to center than in the image by moving the 3screws similar to a tilter would do . Not sure if that worked but doesn'seem as bad as before! Regards! Carles

Looks rather promising! The M31 looks great although the 294 camera is not APS-C , but rather 4/3" chip... according to the specs, it chould deliver a flat 28mm image circle, that should be enough for APS-C , an it should be more than enough for a 4/3" like the asi294mm/mc pro, so maybe is the distance with the camera? back focus for the flattener is 17.5mm , exactly the same as the ZWO cameras.. could it be some sort tilt? try checking the images in ASTAP or CCD inspector maybe? Still, very good result

That's good to know! thank you! Is it a filter wheel or filter drawer? To know more or less the distance you're adding. Since you say you crop only the edges, might be able too. Although my qhy8L is APS-C so a bit bigger than the sensor on the ASI294.. I guess I'd have to crop more 😕 And about the StarTools, I use it too in case you haven't seen it, there's an unoficial manual with many tips and tutorials for downloading in the same page where you get the main software ^^ ( I did the translation into Spanish of the 1.6version, and working on the latest 1.7 now : ) is very usefull manual!) Carles.

looks great! would be interesting to see the whole image too! I've bought it also for gudiescope and hoped for wide field AP but my qhy8L has 20mm backfocus so for now will wait to get the flattener...until I can get another camera with shorter backfocus haha

Hi Ade! Sorry it took me long to answer, didn't get notified of the response.. I am very happy too with the SS2KPC, got it since 2005 and not planning on changing it. The only downsides perhaps would be not being able to set upt meridian flip...but is OK. Indeed GOTO accuracy is awesome, but I don't find mine very noisy. Usually ot it set to speed 1400x , my lx200 mount is a LOT more noisier than SS2KPC! Been tunning the mount and found out I'm missing two teflon bearings for some reason.. but even though, got to the point of 0.58" total RMS occasionally and usually steady 0.70"! So quite happy. The only problem I have is with DEC backlash, but tht might be the lack of one between the gear and the top part of the DEC axis. Working on it! Thank you for your answer anyway! Kind Regards! Carles

Oh, right.. .now I get it. So the same device (in this case the qhy8l) would have two different voltages 12 and 5 but from the same origin.. I assume this would produce image interferences or this sort of problems? in such case, isn't a wa to isolate that on the cable itself? It seems the best option would be to get 12v USB hub then.. any alternative comes to mind for all this ? Since I don't have the DC hub either yet.

good job! Very clean image Can I as what settings and drivers you use for your QHY8L ?? I have mine set to gain 6 and offset 120.. if I did the procedure correctly that was the result. And use NiNa recently using native drivers with Normal speed. thanks!

Thank you for your answer I might have misunderstood your answer but, seems you are referring to 2 individual DC hubs But I mean only one DC hub but it has. 5* 12v connections AND 2 USB ports delivering 5v. So it is the same device. And the USB hub would get powered by this DC hub through 5v USB port instead of the 12dc port. Does that still make possible the ground loop you're talking about ?

Due to the cable dragging and all... I'm thinking on getting a DC Hub from DeepSkyDad to power my QHY8L through it's DC201 , and also a powered hub. Been trying to research about it, but have a doubt. I have this little Logitech 4port USB2.0 hub, that can be powered by 5v and requires 2.4A. DDS DC hub has 2 x 5v usb ports at 3A, and 5x12V at max 10A. Now, the qhy8l uses max 4.5Ah when TEC goes 100% which is not always since when it reach the temperature, depending on the ambient temp will go pretty low to maintain it. Then to this hub would connect the DC201 to 12v socket, then the hub I could get a 3.5mmx1.3mm power socket to USB to power the Logitech HUB and will have spare 4x12v and 1x5vUSB ports . Question is... will it work? and also Read that USB 2.0 can draw from a single device a max of 0.500mAh... That is the port in my laptop, but when conneting to a hub is the external power that provides the rest of mAh , right? since for now would connect 2 devices USB 2.0, lets assume both uses their max draw of 0.500mA, a total of 1Ah would be used from the USB 2.0 hub ... I'm sorry if all this sounds too dumb!! but basically trying to figure out if I will be able to run it this way or I should need a different USB hub Thanks in advance!! Carles