HowardHopkinson

Well, trying to charge the battery with the supplied charger was a no go. So, I'm currently pulse charging the battery via a smart charger and hopefully that'll work.

How long do you think it will take to repair the battery via the pulse charge?

I went out last night and setup my gear only to find out my Skywatcher 17AH powertank was dead as a dodo. Apparently I'd accidentally left it switched on and the battery was completely drained.

Once I'd stopped cursing and packed up my gear, I tried charging it but the red charging light only came on for a second and went out with an audible click.

After many attempts I got it to start charging, however, the green light says it's fully charged and the red charging light only stays on for a few minutes.

I hooked it up to my mount after several hours and it powered my Synscan handset, but would not allow me to slew the mount.

I have checked the output voltage using my meter and it's showing just over 13 volts output.

Is the Power tank beyond repair or should I keep on trying to charge it for a couple of days?

Though I haven't used the exact lens you're thinking of buying, I have used a Sigma 120-400 mm F4.5-5.6 zoom lens with a Canon 60D APS-C camera and gotten some pretty useful results. See below for an example image.

I have the EQ3 Pro Synscan mount on the lightweight tripod. With my ES ED80 and my Canon 60D, I haven't noticed any issues thus far. Obviously, the HEQ5 will be more stable and able to take a significantly greater weight. However, portability was of primary concern to me and that's why I went with the EQ3 pro.

My EQ3 submission is the Elephant's Trunk nebula.

Shot using my ES ED80 triplet APO and my Canon 60D

69x90sec light frames
29x dark frames
25x flat frames
50x bias frames

It's just a cheap one off of Amazon, I think it cost £15 or there abouts. I'm not bothered if it gets damaged as it's cheap enough to replace mate.

I don't bother with SA timelape settings, I use my trusty intervalometer instead.

That's a stunning image Russ, very well done mate.

Here's a couple of pics of how I have my SA and camera mounted.

Yes you can loosen the large clutch ring and turn it to wherever you want with no issues at all. It won't affect your polar alignment.

Hi Paul and welcome to SGL.

I'm a Lancashire lad too, I live in Padiham, so not too far from you mate. I also have the Skywatcher 200P and an EQ5 mount. It's a great scope and I have managed to see some wonderful sights with it as well as take some nice photos with it. I recently upgraded the EQ5 by means of a Synscan upgrade kit and would recommend it, particularly if you intend to do any astrophotography and even if you don't, it makes viewing visually a lot more relaxed and satisfying.