AKB
-
Posts
1,438 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Events
Blogs
Posts posted by AKB
-
-
Thanks for that. I have recent acquired a RASA 11 and have fitted the UFC system I had previously on my Hyperstar. Since the weather has been so bad, I still have not fully commissioned the kit, so haven't tried any filters yet. I will look out for this when the time comes.
Tony
-
1
-
-
Your experience echoes mine, although the actual fault is slightly different. I had all the same doubts about being sure what was wrong. This is why I prevaricated for so long. Although it's an expensive controller replacement (and VAT and handling added about £100 to that) it is only a fraction of the overall cost of the mount. I diluted the pain, in a strange way, by buying an expensive telescope to go with it...!
The acid test, of course, would be to borrow a controller from someone nearby. If I was closer, I'd happily do the honours – someone else here offered to do the same for me. In the end, after SiTech's diagnosis, I just went for it without trying a replacement. Received wisdom is that the controllers rarely fail, so much so that Lucas has actually glued them on the underside of the mount in some incarnations.
It's a bit like buses... nothing happens for ages then two come along at once.
Tony.
-
1
-
-
It’s a while since I used a SkyWatcher mount, but I don’t recall having to align first. IIRC, all I did was to point to a know target (bright star), select that in Stellarium, and then sync with CTRL-SHIFT-1.
Tony
-
1
-
-
13 hours ago, tooth_dr said:
If anyone can screen shot there utility menu that would be appreciated.
Here's mine... and I see that Equaltorial is not checked for me either.
-
1
-
-
So sorry to hear this, when you thought you were close to a solution. Still, better now than when Lucas comes back saying that all is well. My fault was exhibited when I powered on the mount. The RA slewed immediately for a few seconds, then stopped in blinky mode. This was without the computer connected.
Must be controller related, but whether it’s hardware or firmware is hard to say (although you said you’d tried different versions?). I did notice on your screenshot that equatorial mode was not selected. That seems a wrong configuration for the Mesu? Double check the settings??
It’s at this point that it’s probably worth contacting SciTech support. In the end, they logged in remotely using AnyDesk and diagnosed a controller issue.
-
Well, very good luck with that, and speedy recovery.
My own issues last year only took so long because I had an alternative mount, and also that I was hesitant to embrace the task and get on with it !
You're well on the way.
PS: It’s a great deal better than having to send the whole mount back, which was always my worry!
-
1
-
-
Is it easily replaceable?
Edit: Ah yes, I see that it is (along with the motor.)
Laundry marker should be indelible? Can't you etch it with a dental drill?
-
1
-
-
11 hours ago, tooth_dr said:
Stupid question - which bit is the encoder or is the motor and encoder all one?
I don’t know. So, not a stupid question at all, but one which the groups.io SciTech board could answer in a flash.….or Lucas Mesu, for that matter.
I found both Lucas and SciTech support to be extremely helpful.
Do you know anyone within range who has another e200 mount? Would be a good sanity check to try your controller on another, perhaps.
-
1
-
-
Since the axis doesn’t change, the issue may be with the encoder. You can look at the encoder values changing in the servo software.
The “stop moving and go into blinky mode” seems to happen when connection to an encoder is lost, amongst other things.
-
1
-
-
How often do you polish your kit?. It’s SO clean!?
-
1
-
-
One thing to try is to unplug the hand controller… it may be the faulty item.
The Y cable is the one you showed in your first photo that splits into two phone connectors.Do you have the in-line phone connectors too? So many points of continuity to check.
-
1
-
-
Yes, swap both power and encoders as you describe. If the problem axis changes, then the issue is on the controller side of what you swapped, else it’s towards the mount side. Note that it may not be the controller itself, since there is still the Y-shaped cable and the connectors in the controller itself. Cleaning connectors and testing cables is a next step.
I’m told that the controllers themselves fail very rarely.
-
1
-
-
On 05/01/2024 at 19:35, tooth_dr said:
I carry out the normal startup procedure for the mount and it starts tracking for about 5 seconds, then I hear the RA motor make a bit of a fuss, and it shoots off by itself, rotating about 30 degrees, then it stops abruptly and I get the message 'motors blinky'.
Sorry to hear this... it's exactly the issue I had myself last year.
My advice from the SciTech forum was to check the wiring. A good test is to swap the RA and DEC power AND encoder lines. Does the problem axis change, or not?
There are rather too many connectors in the path for my liking. Perhaps one is flakey. Good luck.
Tony
-
1
-
-
3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:
What the RASA needs, based on two years and hundreds of hours use, are the following:
- A system of collimation which leaves the camera in place.
- A system of tilt adjustment which leaves the camera in place.
If these could be managed remotely, or even automated into the system, the RASA would be perfect.
- A built-in slide drawer.
Those would be nice, for sure. One disadvantage of the RASA 8 is limited back focus which restricts your options with respect to collimation and tilt adjustment. The RASA 11, on the other hand, has much more space to play with, and a solution which works well (although, as usual, expensively) is the Baader UFC system, including its tilt adjuster which may be tweaked with the camera in place. The UFC also allows space for a filter drawer.
Full automation of tilt and collimation would be great – I'm thinking of something like Starlight Xpress Active Optic guiding system – but we're getting into expensive realms here!
Tony
-
1
-
-
Just now, Mandy D said:
A 1 inch sensor, paradoxically, is not 25.4 mm diagonal nor side length.
I stand corrected.
-
3 hours ago, ollypenrice said:
The diagonal of the 2600 is 28.3mm which, for me, seems an awful lot bigger than 15.97mm...
Ah yes, but not a lot bigger than the 25.4mm which you originally quoted for the 533.
I don’t have an axe to grind, I was just trying to correct diameter stated for that camera. Sorry to the OP for going off topic!Tony
-
2 hours ago, alacant said:
I've never understood the logic in paying €large for telescopes which produce a nice big flat field. Then discarding most of it by using just a small bit in the centre.
…because they often come with nice big apertures?
-
1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:
The 1 inch sensor of the 533 strikes me as a bit small for a deep sky camera
The diagonal measurement seems to be 15.97mm (according to FLO) so about 0.6 of an inch.
Your point still stands that bigger is better, of course, but one inch is nearly as big as an ASI2600?
Tony
-
33 minutes ago, Rodd said:
How do you track without stars?
Tracking, the thing which most motorised mounts do, is not to be confused with guiding, which, indeed, generally requires stars.
-
On 27/12/2023 at 17:00, Adam J said:
I side by side mount mine with the guide scope.
…and number ALL of your equipment assets??!
Impressive. You have a spreadsheet or database, I take it?
-
Is it on the flats?
-
Preprint of the original publication available here, for all your detailed questions:
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.05145.pdf
-
Ah yes, well that is the other way to do it!
I must say that Lucas was very responsive to my issue too, in terms of aiding diagnosis.
Add another 50 points!
-
So sorry to hear you are having problems. I've been through some issues recently with my Mesu e200 and, in the end, it needed a whole new servo controller. I'm sure this isn't the case for your problem – all out failure of the SciTech box is, I'm told, very unusual. It certainly is, though, a bit of a learning curve compared to others.
When I had problems initially, I was advised by some good folk here to try the Mesu and SciTech boards here:
...where there are some very knowledgeable people, who may well have seen this all before.
Good luck,
Tony
Mesu mount (all versions) owner's thread
in Discussions - Mounts
Posted
Nice job! (Even if it makes no difference.) You obviously have all the right tools.
I’m sure you must be able to get inline female phone connectors, in which case you could ditch those back-to-back phone sockets, which would give me a bit more faith in the cabling.
Regarding the controller, I’ve always worried that it is somewhat open to the elements, but enclosing it brings added issues of temperature and humidity control, I suppose.