David Ettie

A friend has asked if I can locate a driver for an old (very) Philips webcam which at some time in the past was converted for Planetary imaging, the product label is worn so its hard to see the model albei I think it was the one commonly used before the ready availability of dedicated astro cameras, thoughts? My thought was why does he not just buy a camera (ZWO ASI 120cs?)

My Societys EQ8 has become somewhat unreliable of late failing to correctly identify which planet is "above the horizon" this has been corrected, in part, by updating the handset (version 3) but now the Auto Home is not acting normally and only correctly functions if slewing is stopped part way through the process after which it succeeds in finding home position, after a single star alignment the GoTo function is then reasonably accurate, thoughts? My next move will be to update the mount motor firmware but cannot find any clear instructions as to how this should be approached, can anyone help?, I should have mentioned that some time back we disabled the auxilary encoder which greatly improved GoTo accuracy. Any help appreciated. Dave Ettie

At last I found a source for a fully functional replacement LiFePo 9.6V battery with a slightly higher Ah (all to the good, will fit in the next 24 hours and, actually, contrary to the manufacturers advise its a very easy job once you are confident whenopening up the mount casing. The supplier was a UK company BBLBatteries based in Bristol (you can find them on line) delivered to me within 48 hours of ordering, nice folk to deal with as well...

My now aging Evolution mount, originally bought to support my 9.25" SCT has had issues with its internal battery for a couple of years but now continously messages "low battery" when in use despite having an external lthium Iron battery connected, question has anyone modified the wiring to the internal battery to convince the sytem that it should reference the external supply rather than the internal battery. I think the external supply is actually charging the internal source rather than providing power directly. It might seem "cheapskate" to not simply buy a new battery but I am informed that the type of battery has changed and that fitting a new one also requires a new control board which can only be fitted by Celestrons agents at a high hourly rate for an undisclosed period of time, could ell end up costing more than the mount is worth.

I use a HitecAstro 4 port Dew controller which also feature two additional 12V output ports, I thought these were standard phono sockets (wrong!) does anyone know what they are and the correct spec of female connectors required to use them (with my rig using them will eliminate the need for a power distribution box) alos where such connectors can be sourced in the UK would be useful.

Just fitted a ZWO EAF to my 9.25" SCT only issue I have is getting the focuser to cover the full range of focusing requirements without needing to release the coupling and manually centre the focus range, my reuirements are as follows, DSO F6.3 focal reducer with 105mm back focus, Lunar no reducer camera at prime and Planetary no reducer but x2 barlow. I have considered refitting my crayford with the EAF attached to that allowing manual coarse focus via mirror adjustment but really would rather not, thoughts and suggestions welcomed.

I use Astrophotography Tools and currently have a Skywatcher motor focuser fitted to a crayford attached to the back of my 9.25" SCT, I am looking to upgrade this by fitting either a ZWO EFA focuser or a Celestron focuser directly to the OTA removing the Crayford. The attraction of the ZWO given it can be supplied with a hand controller (I am using an HEQ5 pro mount) whereas the Celestron is designed to work only with a Celestron mount hand control. I wondered whether anyone has experience using the Celestron focuser with APT? given it is the one specifically designed for my SCT and in some ways looks a tidier install. Help appreciated Dave Ettie

I have had an Evolution AltAZ since 2015, and for the last couple of years its internal battery struggles to hold charge so is supplemented with an external lithium Iron battery and functions normally as long as the internal one is charged, if not its slewing is erratic and at time uncontrolled. Has anyone either fitted a new battery or even removed it to rely on an external power source only? Luckily I only use this mount for outreach events and visual imaging with my main OTA now sitting on an HEQ5 pro, it would be nice to get the EVO back to more normal operation.

I have been using APT for some time now and connect my HEQ5 via a Serial to USB cable to my laptop without issue, I have now changed my laptop to a significantly higher specified model and have just completed working through the multitude of installations including APT. Everything is fine other than the software / PC's refusal to see the mount, informing me that "No driver was found for the serial to USB connector" it consequently sees no "com port" in the Ascom connection menu, thoughts. The options I see unless anyone can flag up the source of a driver is to connect via my WiFi dongle or get a new "direct cable that bypasses the serial connector? Help much appreciated

Anyone out there replaced the Motherboard on an Orion GoTO truss tobe Dobsonian, our Societys 16" started giving error messages stating it could not connect to either axis, we ordered and replaced the Motherboard which promptly "burnt" out, we are seeking a repair (believe this is basically a re-branded Skywatcher) any advise or help greatly appreciated.

I would like to know what the subtle signs are this handset shows the issue on multiple mounts of various types whilst existing version three handsets work perfectly on all of them (as does another newer version 4, I opened it up cleaned the connectors and visually checked the board (no obvious issues) without any improvement.

All this would be great if they lasted 10 years, mine has been playing up for the lst 12 months and now only gives about 2 hours use, I have also found its not straight forward to use an eternal power supply, I wish the promised replacements and instruction video were available now, the response I got was £these items cannot be fitted by the customer and require fitting by a technician (for which the UK agent will charge a pretty penny!...

Just bought a non-synscan motorised HEQ5 primarily for the 10" Newtonian that came with it but would nonetheless like to use the mount if possible, I applied power at 12 volt and got lights on the simple handset but no response from the mount (other than a faint buzz), suddenly thought "is it 12 volt" as I know some of the EQ5 mounts were 6 volt, advise appreciated, think the mount might need the lub clearing out as it feels a bit tight (relative to the HEQ5 pro I have in my Obsy, which is 12volt) Wally Newtonian_01.TIF