adyj1

Is it hiding behind that pterodactyl? 😂 

Awesome shot 👍 

5 hours ago, Mr niall said:

But I’m still not sold on the power pack idea, I really don’t think I should have to spend an extra £50 on top of the purchase price just to make it work when it says it should run on batteries! 

Do you have a 12v DC plug-in transformer with a 5.5mm/2.1mm barrel plug (min. 750mA ouptput)? If you were able to temporarily try the mount with a 12v supply - maybe with a mains extension lead from the house - it would be a good way to establish whether  power is causing you a problem.

44 minutes ago, centroid said:

I don't mind paying, but I do like to get value for money, and its not a case of not being able to pay.

Whilst I've spend many, many times more than I ever expected on astronomy, I do still prefer to look for the cost-effective solution. If buying cheap isn't too expensive, then I'll give it a go - inevitably there's some things that just aren't good enough, but my home-made FTDI cable (spliced with a cable that had the correct end for the AZ-Gti) has been reliable, so hasn't needed the expensive replacement... (so far!) 

1 hour ago, Girders said:

Thanks.  Must admit it's a steeper learning curve than I was expecting (and I knew it would be pretty tough).  Big lessons so far are (1) Altitude matters more than I realised (2) If I don't get my set up and finder alignment perfect then I'm going to waste most of my session scrambling to get things in the camera FOV. 

At the rate of clear nights with good seeing I get in Glasgow I should have something acceptable by around 2027. 😀

 

 

Surely that's a typo? Got to be 2037 😉

But seriously, although the learning curve has a chuffing great hump at the beginning you have made really good progress. What seems like endless unconnected problems slowly get resolved as you learn more, and an understanding of your particular process clicks into place. When you transition from 'hump' to steady 'curve' you will start to feel a sense of accomplishment as your results slowly improve. (Of course the learning curve never actually flattens out 😁)

Advice from more experienced astronomers who have been through what you're experiencing and have come out the other side is invaluable, so keep asking questions here. If you are thinking about making changes perhaps ask in advance of investing time and money (and potentially wasted clear nights). 

It will all fall into place eventually (and well before 2027), so stick with it!

Ady

Welcome, and good luck for a speedy delivery! 

1 hour ago, geeklee said:

I've heard a long forgotten story, an ancient tale, that there was a time...

Oh, ye of little faith. Every full moon! 😉

14 minutes ago, Trikeflyer said:

I’ve just booked fri and sat night In Oaks field  - not sure of my pitch number as booked online but I told them I’m with swag so hopefully near the action. 

@Trikeflyer, I would ring them up and ask for a pitch number. They are very helpful and will probably already have allocated you a pitch - I'm sure everything is fine, but it's best to know now just in case there's been a hiccup.

Hello and welcome.

It's less cloudy over here 😉

(I wish)

27 minutes ago, JimothyC said:

So would have been the same or whatever spec they're using now. 

Thanks for getting back with the information @JimothyC, I guessed as much but worth checking. 

I think we have to fall back on the fact that if you know your dc barrel is 2.1mm then it will *only* fit a 2.1mm socket... 

2 hours ago, woodblock said:

Hi Ady, I ordered the V2 but on the website page I'm looking at it says 

5 x 12V @ 10A (5.5mm x 2.1mm dc socket)

INPUT: 12V, 10A max (5.5mm x 2.5mm dc socket)

https://deepskydad.com/dchub2

Am I looking at the wrong page?

I think DSD needs to do some Web site management 😉  

https://shop.deepskydad.com/product/dc-hub-2/

1 hour ago, JimothyC said:

All the replacement bearings were purchased form a 3rd party supplier.

My apologies, I meant were the replacement motors quoted at £150 ones that would come from Skywatcher? As you say, way too expensive, but if you knew they were going to be better quality it might be able to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse 😉

1 hour ago, JimothyC said:

Which side is the movement coming from when adjusting the backlash? If it's the worm side, it could be the bearing. If it's the motor side when there maybe some movement in the planetary gear head on the motor.

It is the motor side, and the thought of opening and fiddling with internal gears fills me with dread - I don't have the right sized hammer, for a start 🤣

Your helpful list of bearings has been bookmarked, though, thanks 👍

I'm wondering whether you've got a DC Hub V2, which on the DSD website says is a 5.5/2.1 input, the same as the outputs.  I think it was the V1 that advertised as 5.5/2.5 input and may be the cause of some of the confusion.

But the main thing is If a 5.5/2.1 barrel tip fits, then the socket is 5.5/2.1 as well and you are good to go. (@callisto linked to a 5.5/2.1 that he uses, so this does seem to be the case.)

If you do get into the situation where you have a 2.5mm barrel connecting into a 2.1mm socket the general advice is to swap the barrel connector to 2.1mm for reliability (if it actually works at all - it can depend on the design of the barrel) - or get a connector as mentioned by @bottletopburly

Ady

54 minutes ago, woodblock said:

I've bought a dc hub from Deep Sky Dad and I've got to make up a few cables. I'm slightly confused with the connector sizes. The 12v output from the hub is on 5.5mm x 2.1mm connectors but the input is on a 5.5mm x 2.5mm connector. I did actually buy some 5.5mm x 2.1mm short cables and I seem to be able to plug them into both size sockets. Can I get away with that or do I need to get a 2.5mm version?

It looks like the connector on my HEQ5 is a 2.1mm

Cheers

Steve

 

Steve,

I think I am missing something...

Are you saying that the female power input connector on your DC hub has a 2.5mm pin and the male connector on the cable you have been able to plug in to it has a 2.1mm barrel?

If it were the other way round (a 2.1mm pin and 2.5mm barrel) I would say that it normally works, but they aren't designed to be that way so if you are making cables then get the correctly-sized connector, but it sounds like the socket on the hub is a 2.1mm pin...

Unless I'm missing something 😉

Ady

On 30/07/2021 at 15:37, JimothyC said:

Just a quick follow up on this if anyone is interested. I spoke to the UK Distributor Optical Vision who offered to order a replacement motor and worm drive unit from Skywatcher. The cost for both axis was going to be around £150 including delivery and it would take at least 4 months. Give that a new unit is £250, I think I'm going to have a go at replacing the bearings myself and if I break the unit catastrophically I'll order a new one. I'll try and document the process, in case it goes well. 

I'd like to mention that Optical Vision were extremely helpful and prompt in their responses, so thanks to them. 

@JimothyCWere the replacements from SkyWatcher (i.e. the same as those already in the AZ-GTI?

When I tried to move the motor to reduce the backlash on mine, I noticed that the spindle on one of them moved slightly side-to-side which meant that the gear engagement was always slightly loose.

I'd be interested if I can get a better quality replacement, but if I still have to rely on the luck of the draw in terms of SW quality then it wouldn't be worth it.

Have booked 7th-10th with the option of the 11th... 

Adyj1

Great result! 

Do you mind saying how much it ended up costing with shipping and any duty? 

2 hours ago, Midnight_lightning said:

A smart plug solution would work fine, just wondered what others were using.

Scripts - sounds useful, do you know if this would also allow SGP to disconnect all equipment before shutting down PC - is it necessary to disconnect equipment or is it ok just to turn PC off?

 

I'll let someone with practical SGP experience step in now... I would not have thought there any reason to disconnect all equipment before shutting down, but it is good practice to do a slow warm-up of your cooled camera sensor at the end of a session.

I'm confident that SGP will do what you want... 

20 hours ago, Midnight_lightning said:

1) Remotely rebooting my QHY600 camera - its a fickle device and sometimes only a reboot will do, it can be rebooted by turning the 12v supply off and on. It is on a 240v / 12v adapter so I'm thinking I could buy a wireless or maybe Google assistant type Plug to enable the plug to be turned on and off but is there a better way?

2) Shutting down a PC at the end of a session - I could just leave it on overnight but wastes power. It would need to disconnect equipment first - perhaps SGP does this (I will check). 

1) what improvement would you like over the smart plug solution? I imagine it's the sort of thing that needs you to decide a camera reboot is necessary. 

2) SGpro will run scripts (vbs, cmd, bat etc) at the end of a session, and so you should be able to find a 'shutdown pc after n minutes' script somewhere.

Ady

14 hours ago, AstroDKP said:

Yh sure. I was going to get it from the link given to me...

 

Good luck - I'd be interested to know the final cost, as it looks a good option... 

14 minutes ago, AstroDKP said:

thus I plan to purchase an EQStarEQ5 upgrade kit in the few days

Out of interest, where will you be sourcing it from?

I had an untracked EQ5, upgraded it with the dual-axis motor kit you first proposed and then got bitten by both the GOTO and DIY bugs at the same time. Had to sell the 6v motors as they weren't suitable and went with an AstroEQ controller and stepper motors (a bit like the onstep).

The EQStarEQ5 setup looks like a good choice.

47 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Of course, under a cover it probably gets warmer than out in the open which won't help.

I basically built an oven. 

Stop sniggering at the back...

Ady

I haven't tried the Prusia slicer, but get on well with Cura - which is what the Creality slicer is based on (a very, very old version of Cura as I understand it).

13 minutes ago, AbsolutelyN said:

Brill thanks ... new to this so didn't even consider my printer could print any of those other filaments, will look into it. 

A word of warning - some exotic materials have very specific requirements (such as a heated enclosure for ABS) so do your homework before ordering...

Ady

lol - I did a test print of a stepper mount in PLA and then ended up using it. I was very happy.

Then I left it out under the cover on one of those really scorching days recently (there was clear sky the night before and clear sky the following night...).

oops;

Lesson learned. PETG for important stuff, and better protection from the heat if I do leave it out...

Ady