Anthonyexmouth

15 minutes ago, souls33k3r said:

Ta muchly guys. 

Someone also recommended me this

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06ZXXLNR2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share&th=1&psc=1

Certainly looks the part. What do you think? 

Looks huge, even the one I got is big. What are you covering?

i bought 2 bbq covers from amazon. a black oxford kinda material one and then a beige one to go over the top to make it look a little nicer in the garden. being double layer is nice.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R6MHY4U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.co.uk/OMORC-Waterproof-Barbecue-30-Inch-Brinkmann/dp/B01MZIEKBP/ref=pd_sbs_86_1/261-2595197-8693069?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B01MZIEKBP&pd_rd_r=c3c96735-1619-4236-b0dc-cf39ee2a519a&pd_rd_w=3Tc6v&pd_rd_wg=6CMqX&pf_rd_p=2b420a2f-6593-478e-8b5f-cb43865ff16f&pf_rd_r=YBHXX2WXT2F5PSBVJBCC&psc=1&refRID=YBHXX2WXT2F5PSBVJBCC

Thanks, good to know its just my processing thats the problem. my focuser was slipping so stripped it down to clean and adjust and found a previos owner had lost one of the little rubber washers and replaced it with one similar but not quite right. that might be my problem but with a little fiddling have made it hold for now. I hate the retainer screw on the SW focuser, shifts focus when tightened so hopefully a motor focuser will stop that. Im gonna slip in one of the spacers that came with the camera and see how that shifts the image. I think its just slightly too short at the moment. 

The M51 image was taken after 1AM, was an after thought after the Wizard and as the sky was so clear i set it off and went to bed. 

Thanks for doing that. 

One of these might be a cheap option. If you've got a box for your battery then you could pop it in the side. 

I fitted one to my boat for charging my Nintendo Switch, probably wont charge a full fat laptop but a would do a thin low power one, but would at least prolong the running time of a fully charged one. maybe worth a punt at £15

Im struggling to get to grips with capture and processing with my 294mc pro. The Canon i used to use was easy as it wasnt that sensitive so my mount was the limiting factor in exposure time. Now I think i might be over cooking the subs as any kinda initial stretch is blowing everything up. Granted my processing skills are rubbish.

Can anyone a little more skilled take a look at these 2 images from the other night. just over 3 hours on each of the Wizard and Andromeda both 50x 240sec subs with darks and flats.

should i be running shorter subs or is it just down to my lack of processing skills? 

focus is a little off and i think my spacing is off too. just trying to adjust my focuser tension  on my ED80, its slipping a bit and hopefully popping on a ZWO EAF soon to help with focus. 

M31.tifWizard.tif

1 minute ago, Mr niall said:

 

If you've picked up a 150PDS with coma corrector then, well, you've bought an astrophotography oriented camera. You'd be well advised to think about getting a HEQ5 to plonk it on.

 

+1 for getting an HEQ5, the beauty is, if you get a secondhand one and find AP is not your thing you won't lose anything on the second hand market. They sell easily because they are the go-to for first time AP setups and you never really outgrow one as they are so versatile. 

Trust whatever FLO have told you. Any AP hopes you have will need an EQ mount at that focal length. 

EQ mounts are not scary. Its just a matter of learning how to polar align, which is just a fairly simply process when you've done it a couple of times. Made even easier if you have a specific place you can setup every time where you can make a few marks on the ground for the tripod legs to get the same orientation every time.

Whats your budget?

23 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Their temperamental devices at best. I'd try the second cable to see if that works.

 

If that works and you still want to stick with a single cable from outside to inside I can recommend the Startech USB2 hub (4 slots) to CAT5 ethernet. Runs my mount, focuser, both USB3 cameras and filterwheel without skipping a beat.

It's not the long usb cable as the problem is the same when I take the laptop to the mount and bypass it. 

I've got the startech usb3 hub on the mount. So it's a good hub. 

Just ordered another startech hub on Amazon to at least see if that's the problem, can always send it back after the test

15 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Fyi I never had luck with my old ASI120 plugged into the hub on the ASI1600. It would loop a couple of frames in PHD and then timeout. The only thing I use that hub for now is the filterwheel.

 

10m is a long way for a cable and 2 fast frame cameras. Is the cable only USB2?

No, it's usb3. The long usb cable isn't the issue as the problem is identical when the laptop is at the mount. Was running that long cable for the last year with the same setup but with the canon instead of the 294. I'm also never using then for high frame rates. I could understand the 290 glitching passing through the 294 hub but that's the one that consistently works. 

4 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Is there a way to connect your 290 with the other stuff and the 294 separately to it's own USB port on the laptop?

I run a single 10m usb into the house. Don't really wanna have 2 to bring through the wall. All worked fine with the same setup and my old canon. I like the single plug to the laptop solution. Just not sure if there's a conflict somewhere or the 294 is somehow faulty

Low, judging by the colour 

ok. tried a few scenarios

asi290 to the 294 hub then off to a hub with the heq5 and then into the laptop. result, 290 always shows up and 294 doesn't

294 to a hub with the heq5 and then into the laptop. result, 294 sometimes shows

asi290 to the 294 hub then straight to laptop. 290 shows up and 294 only somtimes

294 on its own straight to laptop it shows up and no problems. 

Any ideas?

the 290 is usb 3 and always works with the combo of cables and hubs , the heq5 always works. the 294 only has issues when connected with other things.. which in an AP setup is quite a problem. 

looking at the upgraded skywatcher focuser for my ed80. can the compression fittings be removed to turn it into a fully screwed image train or fit a clickloc?

1 hour ago, Mr niall said:

Yeah It could have been, I did some more investigating and they seem to like a good old flare so if you think it matches up it may have been one of them too.

Iridium pass was 10pm

was after the iridium pass, was between 10:45-10:50. watched it, and made my way inside to make a coffee and remembered to check time and it was 22:51

was defo something special to see. brightest sat ive seen.  

4 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

The bolts in my skywatcher 200p tube rings are M6x1.25 and 1 inch long

+1 for M6 . eBay is your friend. I use boltworld on there all the time for fixings. 

1 hour ago, david_taurus83 said:

Does it work on it's own plugged into the laptop

Haven't tried solely on its own. Three only other things are the heq5 and the asi290 guide. Will try on its own. I downloaded the trial of sg pro but when I tried to take any images the image was black even when stretched

ive not had the camera long and its kinda random. so few clear nights since i owned it i cant be sure if its new or been there from the start. laptop is only 2 yrs old. top spec gaming laptop so would hope its not that. 

23 minutes ago, Mr niall said:

I just had some fun recreating the scene of the crime on Stellarium.

Initial forensic results indicate the following perpetrators were in the vicinity at the time of the alleged offence:

• STSAT 2 and STSAT 3
• NOSS 8

However our current prime suspect based on the modus operandii and their history of bright flaring in and around astrophoto's is clearly:

Which is interesting as I thought they'd switched them all off and decommissioned them but I guess they must still be up there living a life of crime. 

what time was that pass?

NOS 3-1 kinda lines up time wise and position better. but no idea how bright they can get. caught my eye due to it being so very bright

My main issue was getting an error in apt saying it took longer than 30s to get image from the camera. That's the point I discovered it had warmed up too. Using a bench supply for all my power so that shouldn't be an issue. Odd that the camera connected to the rear hub is always detected too but sometimes the main one isn't. 

Very frustrating when clear nights have been rare recently. 

hi, was out with my imaging rig earlier and between bouts of pulling my hair out i saw a really bright object to the left of arcturus at about 20:45-10:50ish. it was super bright and moved slowly and horizontally to the south. at first i thought it was the ISS but it was going in the wrong direction. from what i saw it was really bright, like venus kinda bright maybe brighter and faded over 10-15 secs

any ideas?

Been having a few issues the last few nights with my ASI294. Its like its crashing, when imaging it fails to download the image and if i disconnect/reconnect the temp is quite high so obviously been off for a while. 

using APT to image. tried different usb cables, i use good lindy cables for everything. tried disconnecting guide camera from the back of the camera, tried direct to the laptop bypassing the pier hub but keeps throwing this random issue. it does sometimes not show up although the 290 guide that i usually plug into the rear of it always does.

Any ideas from you peeps before i seek help from the good guys at flo? hoping its not a camera fault and just a config issue/conflict

Are you calibrating every time you set up?

2 minutes ago, alan potts said:

I will go over this tomorrow in the house with a scope, camera and laptop. When I tried this cooling it srated but stopped saying something like it could not reach temp, but I am not sure of the exact wording, it didn't work is all I know.

Kind of you to try for me, I will report back tomorrow on what happen, with my luck it will work in the house but not outside.

Alan

ok, the cooling problem is easily solved, set the cooling step to 0.0 and let the driver deal with the cooling NOT APT. 

2 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Ascom Driver loaded for APT.

Selected Ascom camera in section.

APT tells me camera connected.

Will not cool the camera all connection fine.

Will not take a shot all connections OK .

The power thing I mentioned at the begining was when I first plug the camera in and turned the cooling on using sharpcap, it stopped the mount tracking dead. Sharpcap is not for me.

many thanks

Alan

ok, first thing to confirm is APT detecting the camera.

does it show the correct camera in the bottom right where mine shows up?

what happens when you try and start the cooling aid?

1 hour ago, alan potts said:

It does support cooling, it is the only thing I have actually got to work. I have taken it off the telescope and re fitted my Canon, I have lovely sky and I am not wasting any more nights doing something I don't understand, I may even send it back. I agree Sharpcap is aimed at planetary but people keep pointing me that way I have taken it off the laptop too. If it doesn't work with APT then it's not for me. At the moment it doesn't, I have messaged the APT man himself. I am sure I will get there, people on here are kind and do really help, but like me sometimes they don't always read all that has been said and offer information that is way over my head, this is not difficult.

Alan

I'm struggling to follow this thread.

I'm using ZWO cameras with APT.

Can you break down your main problems into a few bullet points to clarify your issues and I might see whats going wrong for you.