SonnyE

Michael and RB, Here is a link to some basic symbols you are encountering as you slowly sink into the mire of electronics. http://www.electronic-symbols.com/electronic-electrical-symbols/basic-electrical-electronic-symbols.htm I'm on my way to an electronic focuser as we speak. Parts on order as of today. I just needed a few confirmations from a friend who is using complete remote on his set-up in frozen North Dakota, U.S.A. One thing I changed about my plans is to go with a direct drive to my fine focus adjuster on my two-speed Crayford. I was concerned about the side loading a belt drive might impart to the tiny shaft (2.7 mm). Matthew (N.D.) has his direct coupled to his fine adjust shaft and assured me the tiny Unidirectional gear motors have plenty of torque to do the adjusting. So the side loading became a non-issue. The motors I ordered are the 28byj 48, 5 volt, with Uln2003 Driver Board for Arduino. Same format as my friend has on his focuser. Onward! Into the fog!

Everybody starts somewhere Michael. Take heart, at this point you are ahead of me.

A garage door opener is the first thing that pop's to mind for making life easy. Depending on your roof, you could put the entire drive in the roof so when it opens there is nothing but clear skies.

Worth looking into Gina.

You will find many things about Astronomy are behind the times. Like a 9 pin serial port connector on the cord for the NexStar. I haven't had a 9-pin on my computers for a while now. But there is an adapter for it to USB. I have my computer wired to my mount (AVX) with Celestron's NexRemote virtual hand control on screen. If I had an electric filter wheel and electronic focusing, I'd never have to touch my equipment. Well, almost, I'd still have to do my Polar Alignment adjust. If Astronomy was as popular as say Cell Phones, imagine how snazzy it would be.

I have a Port Powered USB hub (two in fact) that I used. But by going to the powered one, it takes the strain off of the laptop and its power supply. Plus the performance gain. But the performance gain and stability was what I was after and found. And a single cable from the powered hub to the laptop, because I do swivel my laptop when doing fine focusing. Inside, I still use a Port Powered hub to allow multiple USB inputs to a single USB of the laptop. But outside I need a powered hub to deal with the telescopes USB needs. Best of luck getting things sorted out. I was tearing my hair out before my friend told me to try a powered hub.

I run PHD2 as my guiding program on a Toshiba Satellite Laptop, L505D. And my laptop is... gosh, 10-12 years old. Dual Core processer 2.20 Ghz, Windows 10, running 4.00 Gig of RAM, and a 64-bit operating system. Whew! Bla, bla, bla... But not the latest of the greatest computer, and doing a lot for what it is now days. I use to have troubles with things, especially my main camera, dropping out and needing the USB plugged out and back in for the camera. A friend suggested I use a Powered USB Hub. Since doing that, there is not a "USB Bottleneck" slowing down anything, and plenty of power for everything USB. I have come to having my images saved to the powered USB hub to a thumb drive. This was an experiment one evening and it has become wrote for me now. Keeps the lappy happy not straining for power or storage. And cured two of the problems right up. Not to mention my pictures are easily moved from one place to another. My Laptop was running both some 32 bit, and 64 bit programs, and Windows 7. My desktop (tower) was running Windows 8.10, and 64 bit. When I was offered to upgrade to Windows 10, I did so with both, and settled on 64 bit operating for both. Essentially, I "groomed" both to be the same, for ease of working with both. 64 bit was backwards compatible to 32 bit, but sometimes 32 bit programs wouldn't run for me under the 64 bit. So when upgrading to Windows 10 I tried to eliminate the differences via the software differences. So far, so very good. (I also have both running the same programs for anything Astronomy related) I chose THIS HUB for my needs because it operates at 12 VDC, and can be powered up with my battery or the mains power adapter it comes with. And for the particular way the leads plug into it so it could mesh with my wiring harness easily. Then there is only the one USB cable coming to my Laptop from it. USB3 is also backwards compatible with USB2 which seems to be so prevalent with Astro equipment still, so there you have it, being upgradable if/when you get a newer laptop. I think that adding a Powered USB hub was probably the best thing since getting PHD2 and my guidance working to make things work smoothly. So maybe it isn't your Laptop as much as it is the USB struggling? But I don't think trying a Powered USB Hub can do you any harm. Other than the ding to the wallet for it.

So simple! So wonder-filled! Click here: http://stellarium.org/

Excellent. I find myself trapped at what I can find with where I am. Seems where ever I am is what I must work with. So I filter... And when an airplane flies through, I shamefully delete the image. I'm not worthy!

Here is a time lapse I did recently popping around on a nice evening. This was the night following the last Super Moon. (Such a disappointment) Best viewed in Full Screen.

http://www.telescope.com/Astrophotography/Astrophotography-Cameras/Orion-StarShoot-USB-Eyepiece-Camera-II/pc/-1/c/4/sc/58/p/102083.uts Orion Eyepiece Camera That's a nice video. The atmospheric distortion adds to it's authenticity. I have an Orion Eyepiece Camera for doing live viewing.

And here I am just wishing I could manage to get and keep a good focus.... Sigh.

Interesting Dave! I downloaded it for a try-out. I have two Bahtinov masks I use on occasions. I've always had to span between my mount and the table where the laptop sets. I hope your guide can help my hit-and-miss,miss, miss, dangit, miss... focusing. I got a metal mask last go-round. But don't like it's pattern, it throws a 4 point image and is very hard to see. So I repaired my plastic 3 point mask and went back to using it. I love the idea of a metal mask, but hate the pattern it has.

Well, shucks... you tried. Sorry you were disappointed. I've had my greatest successes by doing long time exposure single images. But I am very curious about Video, and woefully deep into EAA. I do enjoy having my mount and equipment outside while cozy sitting inside, controlling it, taking images of distant nebulae I cannot see without such long exposures. One friend told me that I stack with time, rather than with multiple images. It appears to me that maybe the video aspect of our 'sport' has not matured quite yet. And maybe that is the root of your frustrations with it. I have and use a lowly Orion Eyepiece camera for live viewing. Mostly for the moon when it is obnoxiously bright as it is currently. While nothing to write home about, I do find it fun to stare at as the atmospheric disturbances cause it to shimmer. And it does well with the Sun (Badder film and Ha filtering applied!). But my reason for venturing into Astronomy was to image distant nebulae, and to bring to life the wonders I would never be able to see by staring into an eyepiece. Hopefully in the near future greater advancements will enable video for deep space objects. Maybe your expectations were a little ahead of what is currently available. (Or in my case, affordable. ;^) )