CrashEd

3 hours ago, Clifff said:

Yep the bottom one definitely has smoked and measuring the other it doesn't look good either. Looks like the 12V goes into the first guessing 5V and I think that feeds the second most likely 3.3V ? A Schematic would be nice.

PCB appears to have been worked on before too!

I've looked around for a schematic but so far nothing, Skywatcher won't give me one no surprise there.  Pretty sure they are 3.3V or 5V regulators , got my Handset working again today. Was a 3.3V regulator in that fried. 

The question is whether the 12V has done any damage further downstream of the regulators. Hopefully you've been lucky...

On ‎20‎/‎10‎/‎2019 at 20:07, fozzybear said:

You have to sometimes "think out of the box" as every penny counts in this hobby to make things work. You could also try B&Q for some rubber o rings in their plumbing section worth a try..

If you are desperate, and there are any long-haired folk in your family, then a hair band works great too (the type without the metal crimp on it 😉) 👌

The IC in the bottom image definitely looks as though it has let go of the magic smoke! 😉

It's hard to track down surface mount ICs from the print on the package, but if you haven't tried already then you might have better luck searching for the schematic for the board rather than the part no. At best you'll get the part number, at worst you could find something that will perform the same task.

20 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

I just uninstalled it.

Peter

Well, that's one way of fixing it! 😁

36 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

When I opened up NINA it said that there is an update and do you want to update now, so I did. Wrong choice.

Peter

There's a option in the settings that allows the software to prompt for stable, beta or nightly updates. Maybe switch to stable or beta if you want stability.

22 hours ago, DKNicholson said:

I've been using SGPro for over a year now and it work well for me, BUT I'm always willing to try something else if there are some benefits. In your opinion are there any benefits of NINA over SGPro (apart from price obviously!)?  For me the main bug bear is that SGPro is not exactly intuitive, but once you've worked out what needs to be done it certainly works.  I don't really want to try it just for the sake of trying it because there is always quite a learning curve, but if NINA is genuinely 'better' it would be worth it.

Last night I tried adding to my dark library using SGP by just having my camera and filter wheel attached to my laptop. It was such a hassle messing around with my (proven) profile to stop it complaining that I didn’t have my mount etc attached. 

I gave up and switched over to NINA and it took 2 seconds - it is very intuitive. I now do everything in there. I don’t think I’ll go back to SGP now as it’s too inflexible. It’s also quite slow, so NINA is saving me valuable imaging time (or giving me more time to collect data). It’s well worth a try. 

I tried the parabolic fit the other night but it was before I had it all dialled in, so I'll give it a go next time I'm out.

Which 1.10 nightly version are oyu finding the mose stable?

Had another great night using NINA last night. Think I've finally cracked the autofocus, although it's taken a bit of setting up. I'm still not getting a classic 'V' profile but it's close enough. It's hitting the focal point better now in any a case.

The only real issue now is that I'm still getting the odd camera error (ASI1600mm Pro). I'll try and post a log on their Discord channel. This time it was during the autofocus routine and luckily not during imaging.

Great bit of software though!

38 minutes ago, jjosefsen said:

Glad to hear you had a good time.

I don't know what version you are using? But the later versions (1.9 and onward) are running the same autostretch routine as PixInsight, and in general that is the best implementation I have seen.

In the 1.10 Nigtlies there has been a lot of work on the autofocus code, with a brandnew detection function (contrast based) and new parabolic and hyperbolic curvefitting functions as opposed to the classical v-curve functions.

This is a great improvement to autofocus!

 

BUT the 1.10 nightlies are a little volatile at the moment as there is a lot of new code being put in, so probably best to be on 1.9 or ask around which 1.10 nightly has been stable lately.

My last imaging session was on 1.10.16 and that was stable enough for a fully automated night.

27 minutes ago, artem said:

I am always downloading and using the Version 1.10 NIGHTLY #0XX ( my last used version is 1.10.16) and I did not encounter any issues..  

 

Cheers

Martin

Thanks guys - I was using the latest version (1.9 and the latest nightly), so maybe I'll try reverting to the one you mentioned just in case something got bugged in that version. There was definitely something wrong with the stretch.

I'll persevere though as it's a great bit of software!

Took NINA out for a spin last night (that sounds wrong! 😆) and I have to say, I was very impressed.

I found it more intuitive to use that SGP and the download speed with my ASI1600mm Pro is incredible in comparison! It will seriously same some time over SGP. Plate solving with ASTAP was also much faster than Platesolve2. 

I managed to get through a whole imaging session with only a few hiccups:

1. Autofocus was slightly out (50 steps) compared to what I could achieve manually, although I did realise (too late) that I didn't have the binning set to 2x2 as I would normally in SGP. This meant that there weren't enough stars for analysis. I think you can change the sensitivity of the star detection, so I'll try that as well. This leads on to the autostretch issue in # 2 below... 
2. I found the main image display to be pretty awful in terms of the stretch that was performed. It was pretty hard to distinguish the target, other than by some brighter stars. In fact the image history images were better. Not sure if this is a bug (I was using last night's nightly download). I tried messing with the black clipping setting and the stretch value, but to no avail. This could be why the autofocus struggled too? I through a few images into SGP to compare and the stretch was much better.
3. I got a couple of camera download errors, which meant a few dropped frames throughout the session. I'm using the native driver for the ASI1600mm Pro, so I might revert to the ASCOM driver next time.

So, some tweaking required here and there, but otherwise I'm converted!! 😀     

On 24/06/2019 at 18:11, woodsie said:

I an having problems getting my UPB focuser to work. It connects displays in Indi web manager and EKOS but wont move after demand .

Anybody else using Rasberry 3pi+, KSTARS AND ekos

 

Peter

Hi Woodsie, did you find a solution to this? I’m having similar issues in Ekos with my focuser. Any help would be appreciated. 

10 minutes ago, Susaron said:

Some AZEQ5 info links

http://skywatcher.com/_english/05_service/08_blog_detail.php?sid=300

You can buy the digital issue here

http://www.shopatsky.com/sky-telescope-magazine-june-2016?source=igodigital

Cheers

Cheers - many thanks!

14 hours ago, Susaron said:

It is a pleasure to help.

In the Sky and Telescope article, which was published a year after I bought the AZEQ5, is said that for visual purpose, it will fit best to the AZ any SCT 8'' or even a 9.25'' as they both exert less moments during mount movement.

But, since the beginning I fitted a 200/1000PDS, and apart from the fact that I had to buy an extra 5kg counterweight, because with the 2x3.5kg pack I could not balance the tube, all the rest have been good news, for visual observing the mount handles very well the 200, and for planetary imaging I was able to use in June a x5 ES focal extender to make videos of Saturn without any problem. 

Even one night before packaging home I tried M13 without guiding, see herewith the result of 5 stacked frames of 30 seconds. The images are (unfortunately) out of focus, as it was a quick attempt sorry.

Cheers.

Thanks for the SCT information - really helpful. Could you PM me  acopy of the article or a link? Had a look for it earlier buy couldn't find it online. Maybe I'll need to order the back-issue?

Apologies for the minor 'star-hop' guys. Back on topic now, I promise  

26 minutes ago, Susaron said:

Hi 

Yes I have an AZEQ5, and I have used first with a SW200/1000PDS, for visual duties, and planetary photographs, the picture on my profile is taken with that combination and an ASI120MM.

Last year in order to jump to DS photo I bought the SW130PDS, the reason is the weight. Thought I have made attempts in DS with the 200 (and i will continue doing), the 130 is a lightweight performer, 3.62 kgs vs the 9 kg of the 200. So in the end your guiding will suffer less problems due to lesser inertia moments. Moreover I can use the coma corrector from the 200 so less things to buy.

Though the AZEQ5 max. payload is 15kg around 30lbs, if you use a reflector you shouldn´t carry more than the 50% of the maximum payload. The 130 combined with a reflex camera, filters wheel and guide tube will achived around 6.5kg on my set up. The pictures taken on a previous message without guidance have been done with that combination.

I am a devote fan of the AZEQ5, is very very quiet, the pointing accuracy is superb, and it is highly transportable, I can do the set up in less than 30 minutes at the field. Moreover you can use it in azimutal mode with a couple of refractors. There is a review on the Sky and Telescope Magazine last June done by Alan Dyer.

A couple of problems with the AZEQ5 are, the power comsumption, so you will need a battery with around 19Ah which last a whole night, and the polar finder, which is sold apart, though you can consider as well to buy the QHY Polemaster.

if you have further questions do not hesitate to post here.

Cheers.

Many thanks for posting that Susaron - valuable information. It seems to tick all the boxes for me as I intend to use it for visual work with my SCT in AZ mode and to begin imaging with a 130pds in EQ mode. 

Without sidetracking the original thread, how does it handle the 200pds and is it possible to image with it?

Is anyone using the AZ EQ5-GT mount with the 130pds? I'm thinking of getting one (and a 130) to do some AP. Specs are similar to the HEQ5, so presimably it should be ok?