Stub Mandrel

Good idea for a thread, Charl. I've dug out these from 2017.

0.1 is way low, I use 0.9 and I typocally get guiding of 0.6 to 0.8 arc seconds RMS.

My guidescope is currently fixed to a side by side bar with gaffer tape 😎

Yep,. I figured that eventually. Sourceforge is set up so each program should have a separate page, that is meant for old versions. A bit worrying that the ascom downloads keep referring to W7 as well. I might dump all the downloads on an archive.

A bit??? The EQMOD site sends you to sourceforge where the download button only gives you ASCOMPad. I can see an EQASCOM folder but although I can open and explore it, I can't see how to download it. The green button just installs ASCOMPad. Wait.. I may have it...

Help? Are these the same thing? I'm trying to download EQmod and instead I get ASCOMPad which looks related but different and much simplified.

Last night it was well below zero and mount, scopes, tripod, computer, computer bag and everything else was frosted worse than that pic. Both my scope and guide scope had a 'hot hands' handwarmer bag held close to the lens cell with a rubber band and I( didn't get any condensation or frost on the lenses. Cost about £0.50p per night, and at the end of the session a friend and I were both able to warm our hands with the bags.

...yet again, but my first one with the ED66 and my first with the L-enhance, which has done for the faint blue reflection nebulas, but controlled Alnitak nicely. Just 13 500s subs, if I can get another 27 then those fainter bits would tidy up nicely. No cooling on the 450-D, my battery died.

The L-Enhance has worked well again. 27 300s subs, cooled, modded 450D, 66 ED scope, HEQ5. The tadpoles themselves haven't shown up very well - what filter is needed for them?

I love the way the filter has controlled Alnitak 🙂

Great night at Rosliston yesterday, loads of folks turned up, I imaged until midnight when my computer shut down with low battery. In the cold everything iced up severely, but my 'hot hands' kept the scope's clear. Fog rolling in and out seemed to be just a thin layer despite being fairly tick at times, as it barely affected sub quality. seeing was good in the end, close to midnight, with naked eye detail in the milky way and lots of stars. How's this for a single, unprocessed, uncooled (my leisure battery finally died) RAW dslr SUB? Taken with my modded 450D, ED 66 and L-Enhance filter. Again NO stacking, processing whatsoever this is the 5-minute sub exactly as it came off the camera!

Woo Hoo! That's sorted it. That's a relief.

Good point. The lappy has the latest version of Sharpcap Pro. Oh goodie! I can use my licence on both computers 🙂

This is testing on my PC (as debugging on my laptop is horrible with the nasty keyboard) I haven't got ASCOM on the PC, so downloading that, although not having it doesn't affect other cameras.

Hi, The problem isn't the camera freezing - I'm used to that with my ASI120, it's Sharpcap failing to detect it at all. ASICAP, the ZWO software has no problems and allows me to control the cam. So it's a Sharpcap issue. This is what I see (Ignore the ASI120 and Toupcam, it just maintains placeholders for directshow cameras used in the past, their 'proper' drivers appear when connected): For comparison, if I plug in the Toupcam instead (it shows as GPCAMAR0130M):

Help! Sharpcap is eternally stuck 'detecting cameras'. ASI1600 shows in device manager and works with ASICAP Any ideas @rwg? Thanks!

One's periodically backed up to the other. I make sure I have off-line backups of everything - I have anti-ransomeware but I don't want to take any chances.

I only keep files for my current projects on the laptop, I've got 1Tb on the desktop and that's well away from being full now I've taken my astro stuff off it to a pair of external HDDS

I'm beginning to suspect this is the case. @Alien 13 you're a computer performance guru. I need a new computer for business how would you rate this: https://store.hp.com/UKStore/Merch/Product.aspx?id=7GM19EA&opt=ABU&sel=NTB Obviously not a super duper gaming machine...

Can I assume USB 3.1 ports that are ' Data Transfer Only ' are useless for operating cameras etc? Is the work around a powered USB 3.1 hub, and how practical are these if you want to work away from mains sockets?

I might be stupid enough to join in...

Argh! I share your pain - literally, it's happened to me so I learned the same lesson, I use a scalpel now...

Interesting, pretty sure the mounts all use a 5V version of RS232 (the hideously expensive PC-mount leads can be replaced by a cheap as chips USB-RS232 converter lead plus a suitable plug). My impression was that the HEQ5 uses bi-directional communication, but I may be wrong and it's just the wired in connection that confirms the lead is connected! If it does then at least one RTS/CTS lead would need to be connected.

The mount is more likely to be echoing the commands, a way of confirming that they have been received correctly.