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Ade Turner

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Everything posted by Ade Turner

  1. Ade Turner
    Living in the UK clear nights are at a premium. Unfortunately, I rarely make full use of them because I’m wary of leaving my gear unattended in my suburban garden. Interested to hear what other people use for security. Alarms? GPS trackers? Ground tethers? Something else? Nothing at all? Don’t get me wrong I’m not living in some lawless backwater, but burglaries do happen occasionally so I always dismantle and store before hitting the sack. However, I’d really like to run longer plans with my ASIAIR with peace of mind. Thanks in advance.
  2. Ade Turner
    I noticed that too, but the camera’s manual which covers all variants states “There is an AR-AR and IR-CUT protect window in ASI178 series camera to prevent the sensor from humidity and dust.” From that I’m assuming the MM version does too. btw apologies if you received two replies from me - my earlier reply didn’t seem to get published.
  3. Ade Turner
    Atm I’m using it in my WO ZenithStar 61 on my 8” Edge HD, however I will be getting an oag in a couple of months. Good to know, thanks 🙂
  4. Ade Turner
    Ah, I didn’t pick that up, though mine is the 178MM mono. I’ll see if it does too. Thanks 🙂
  5. Ade Turner
    Thank you. I suspected it might, cheers 👍
  6. Ade Turner
    Thanks very much. My instinct was that it probably would help but it’s good to get confirmation 😉 My unfiltered mini always seemed a bit rough tbh.
  7. Ade Turner
    Hi I’ve just replaced my ASI 120 mini guide camera with an ASI 178. If I screw in a simple IR cut filter will it degrade or enhance my guiding? Thanks 👍
  8. Ade Turner
    Thanks very much Michael I feared that might be the case. I’ll have to potter on for now using my WO 61 ZenithStar as a guide scope and start saving. Cheers Ade
  9. Ade Turner
    Has anyone any experience of using the Celestron oag with either a ZWO ASI 120MM mini or ASI 224MC as a guide camera? After a few nights of unsatisfactory guiding my 8” Edge HD with a piggy back 60mm scope I’m thinking about getting the oag. Unfortunately I can only afford the oag and not a new guide camera with a sensor large enough to make best use of the large prism. I already own the 120 mini and 224 and wondered whether they’d work. Thanks.
  10. Ade Turner
    Thanks very much for the offer Steve, although tbh I’m much more likely to buy one of the commercial options once the pennies allow. I was briefly a member of Wolves A. S. back in the mid 70s. I remember getting advice from a chap named Astle or Astley when I was looking to grind my own mirror. Circumstances changed and I didn’t take it further. The availability of astro kit now is just astonishing, and getting good quality optics seems far more affordable than it was.
  11. Ade Turner
    Thanks, but honestly I wouldn’t know where to start! I’d certainly end up frying something important 😂 I do appreciate the cost savings and flexibility of a home brewed supply, but for safety’s sake I’ll give it a miss I think 👍
  12. Ade Turner
    Worth a shot though. I guess there are some occasions where it just wouldn’t be doable.
  13. Ade Turner
    Those Tracer batteries look promising, must admit I’d not come across them before, thanks.
  14. Ade Turner
    Thanks very much for taking the time writing such a comprehensive breakdown Steve, much appreciated. As you say, my situation is straightforward in that everything is 12V, and I am controlling everything from the ASIAIR Pro/iPad Pro so there's no laptop in sight. Looking at it I would love to go the Lithium route, it's so light and compact, but £260 is on the heavy side for the amount of use I'd realistically get from it. That said, the downside of keeping traditional batteries healthy, along with their weight and bulk, is nudging me towards to investing in it as a more robust, and 'cleaner', solution... I need to do some thinking (and probably a lot of sweet-talking...) Thanks again, its great to get a bit of clarity rather than me trying to half guess at a solution 👍
  15. Ade Turner
    Thanks very much. I’ve seen mentions of home-made power supplies but I’d need to find some clear, blow-by-blow instructions if I went down that route. In terms of needing a supply to last 12h, it’s unlikely I’d need to run my rig that long, so 6h tops maybe. in terms of power draw, I don’t think I’ve seen it draw more than about 3A in total, that’s with everything running and the mount slewing, but admittedly I wasn’t paying close attention. I’ll take a look at leisure batteries and jump starters, thanks for the suggestions. I suspect Lithium would be beyond my budget unfortunately.
  16. Ade Turner
    At the moment I take my photos from my garden so access to power isn’t a problem. However, I’m considering taking my rig to a dark sky site and would appreciate suggestions on a suitable portable power solution please (budget is tight). Currently I run DC power via 2 cables to my EQ6-R Pro and ASIAIR Pro from a Nevada regulated supply. Accessory wise I power my ZWO focus motor, 2 dew heaters (8” Astrozap and 3” Lynx) and the ZWO Vonet wifi extender from three of the 12V outlets on the ASIAIR Pro. I already have a Celestron 7Ah Power Tank, but I’m not convinced it would be ‘beefy’ enough. What do your think, would it work and be reliable? Thanks.
  17. Ade Turner
    Thanks for the suggestion. As it happens over the past hour I have experimented using a separate 12v power supply, but still no joy. Even Celestron’s basic focuser utility still can’t detect the focuser. The focuser continues to be listed by name by Windows under devices but indicates no driver. And the ASCOM profile explorer shows 2 entries: ‘ASCOM.Celestron.Focuser’ and ‘ASCOM.CelestronUsbMotorFocuser.Focuser’ Short of uninstalling the motor focuser entirely and going back to manual, I’m at a loss how to proceed 🙁
  18. Ade Turner
    Now I’ve managed to sort out control of my EQ6-R Pro using Stellarium via EQASCOM, I’m working my way through the other equipment I want to control from my Windows 7 laptop. I’m stuck trying to get my Celestron focuser to be recognised. This is what I’ve done so far: Downloaded the Celestron Focuser Utility Program (.exe file) from here: https://www.celestron.com/pages/manuals-software Also downloaded the December 2019 USB ASCOM driver set up from above. I ran the ASCOM driver set up and restarted the laptop. Connected focuser direct to laptop via USB. The focuser’s power light shows red and in Windows control panel it recognises the device as ‘Celestron Focuser’ but indicates no driver present. Ran the Celestron focuser utility program hoping it would connect and install the right driver so I could calibrate, but it can’t detect the focuser at all. Finally, ran APT to see if I could connect by choosing the ASCOM driver under ‘Gear’ but this doesn’t work either. Stuck now. I’m guessing I need to somehow ‘tell’ Windows where the driver is...? Any thoughts? Thanks everyone 🙂 EDIT: I have previously had this focuser working correctly both with StarSense handset and via ASCOM (Celestron unified driver) through the aux on my old Evolution mount. However, now I’ve changed to a Sky-Watcher mount, I need it to function direct through USB.
  19. Ade Turner
    That’s interesting, thanks. I’ll investigate that if it carries on once I get the correct cable installed 👍
  20. Ade Turner
    Thanks for the recommendation, but I’ve already ordered this one, just waiting for it to arrive 👍😁: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html I’m hoping that it I really is just the wrong cable causing the connection issue. If it continues once I install the ‘right’ cable I might just start to pull out what’s left of my hair.
  21. Ade Turner
    Everything seems absolutely fine. The handset initialises and goes through its usual lat-long, time and date inputs, and the motors respond as expected. Beyond that I can’t really check built-in alignment routines. Thanks for your help - hopefully all will work smoothly once I get hold of the right cable 👍
  22. Ade Turner
    UPDATE OK, I think I’ve found the problem and it’s physical. Yes I have a Lynx EQDIR cable, but looking back at my order from FLO I think it’s this one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-az-gti-mounts.html when it should have been this one: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html DOH! Feeling pretty dumb atm. Just hoping that this won’t have damaged the mount board... is that possible?
  23. Ade Turner
    With drivers I’m into things I truly don’t understand. I’m using Windows 7, is there a way of safely clearing existing drivers out to perhaps reinstall them?
  24. Ade Turner
    Thanks for the suggestion, and I’ve just tried that after reinstalling both ASCOM and EQASCOM. I tried with both APT and Stellarium, no joy. However, while failing to connect APT did add the error message ‘Class not registered’ but I have no idea what that means.
  25. Ade Turner
    Thanks for the suggestions Malcom. I’m literally just about to reinstall ASCOM and EQASCOM, but as you suggested I’ve taken a look at the driver with the Lynx EQDIR cable connected. Windows 7 automatically downloaded and configured it. To be honest I’ve really no idea whether or not it’s the best driver for the job. The baud rate, data bits and parity match your suggestion. I’ll post a couple of pics of the driver properties below:
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