Waldemar

congratulations for a good decision!

It does not feel right to you in one way or the other, otherwise you would not ask the forum... That is a (not so) subtle sign to stay away from it. Besides that the Vixen mounting bar on the scope in your picture is damaged by two screws, so not that new... I also think a 10 years warranty is more than worth the difference in price with a new one... Adding up all the answers in this thread, the sum is a definite 'don't do it' !

Vey nice and solid upgrade those XLR sockets, Davey! 👍

Hi and welcome to the forum. This is the right place to be. The Netherlands are not the best place for this hobby, especially not where you live... Beside the light pollution the weather is not really co-operative either... Especially not when you just bought new gear, as you found out. Good to hear you found your way back into Astronomy and nice to see another countryman! Have great fun!

be aware this 2,5 mm central tip,. not 2,1 mm

Your schematic tells a different story...

The fuse you used is too heavy and in the wrong place. The only function it has now would be to protect your battery against fast drain, which is not needed. There should a fuse before every outlet, just big enough for the intended use. For example 3A fuse for USB; 2,5A fuse for the mount; 3A fuse for dew control. What will happen now if something is going wrong, is that your 20A fuse will not protect anything, for it will not blow in time to protect your equipment so your fuse will still live and your equipment will be fried... Just a warning...

Please do NOT use those, they will fry your mount. Use 13Volts max Dew control depends on where you are situated, you will find out if that is necessary soon enough...

If you just would have read the thread, you would have known. That smell tells you something went seriously wrong...

again: buy once, cry once...

Owning also an iOptron mount, the iEQ45Pro, I know in spite of the fact that I am very pleased with it, the load bearing number is a bit optimistic, so I assume that is the case for the 70 as well. 50% for imaging (rule of thumb for this class mount) of the quoted number leaves you with 35-40 lbs for imaging. For a big scope like the one mentioned, that leaves just a very little safety margin especially in not not well shielded circumstances. Of course you absolutely right, it is the OP who has to decide on this, for us it is easy talking...

Good for you, Phill ! Enjoy your new hobby and be prepared to be hooked for life 😎 I will keep my fingers crossed for you (and myself)

I think there is no such thing as 'overkill' when mounts are concerned, especially not when imaging comes into play... Your occasional imaging will probably change into serious imaging, once you get into a succes mode with it...

Hi and welcome, LuckyPhil, You do not mention collimation anywhere, while this type of telescope really needs to be collimated every time you set up, because of the open construction, which leaves room for flaws in collimation. So I kind of expect that that will be your issue. Read about collimation with this particular scope and try to get it right. You should be able to get real nice views with this great telescope.

Your mount has a 2,1 mm central positive connector. If your mount is the only thing you want to power, a little power converter from mains to 12Volt / 2,5Amp is big enough. If you also want to power dew control, it works better if you buy a separate converter for that, so your mount gets a continuous power supply without being influenced buy the dew control. At the power converter side many possibilities for connection are available, also with a fixed cable with the right connector. In the link mentioned by MarkAr is an option to choose for that. If I were you I would try to avoid the cigarette lighter types to connect anything. They make a bad connection, because of the spring loaded central connector tip. I never understood why a bad connector like that is used in expensive equipment like ours... Maybe economics? Personally I use 3 power supplies, all of the switching type: 1 for the mount only, one for the camera's only and one for the rest like dew control, focusers and auxiliaries

The thing with big telescopes like this is that they act like a sail, which causes a lot more strain to the mount than the relatively low weight. In a shielded environment like an observatory it won't be a very big issue, but less shielded or not at all, you will need a strong mount that is capable of correcting the effects of wind gusts. I think Nigella is on the right track with CEM120 or EQ8 and maybe those are still on the edge...

Lenscaps are deceiving creatures. I had some confrontations, too...

+1

That 279 is without 20% VAT...

This will help you: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=how+to+set+up+aequatorial+mount&qpvt=how+to+set+up+aequatorial+mount&FORM=VDRE

If choosing between Celestron or Tracer, Tracer always wins... For Celestron this is only a sidestep, Tracer is the specialist. Far better priced also.

Why not try another power supply as well... 1.5 Amps is very little. Very little effort to rule that possibility out

If your cousin is looking at the Esprit 120 and money is not a real issue, he will need a nice mount as well, like the EQ6Pro or an iOptron GEM45 many other choices as well. That will keep him of the streets for a while and he will have plenty capacity for ap, which will be quite a challenge for him too. Camera recommendations are hard to make, depends on his interest, but the new CMOS cameras are very promising. I would not go for a 60megapix camera or so, because then he will have to invest in a fast pc or laptop with mega storage room as well. I am just throwing some options at you ... In this hobby, especially the dark ap side, money runs out of your wallet like water if you are not well informed! So, in fact the best thing to do now is to buy a book called "making every photon count" which can be purchased at FLO. This will show a number of options and possibilities and will save the both of you a lot of trouble, money and possibly some confrontations.

This Berlebach wooden tripod works great for the Star Adventurer and such: https://www.berlebach.de/en/?bereich=details&id=439

On the outside edge of the filter casing, the filtertype and bandwith is mentioned. The difference between the visual and imaging filter is an extra UV and IR coating. Will be no problem. Just try and you will know from experience...