RayD

Yes that's what I was thinking, just being able to watch when the roof is open. I just didn't;t know if the IR from the LED's would affect the actual imaging if the camera is perhaps off to a side on which I don't image?

I have a CCTV camera in my warm room now and am considering putting one in the scope room, but wondered what affect the IR lights on the camera would have with imaging? Does anyone use a camera with IR in a scope room, or should I switch off the IR when imaging?

Excellent image, thanks for sharing.

You would actually be spot on Michael as putting the OTA back on would probably put the PA back to somewhere near, but of course this is just a result of the actual problem which is this pretty poor design to lock of the altitude once adjusted.

Yes I have the same with mine John. It isn't the best design and whilst I love the mount I think this is a bit of a flaw and sort of lets it down a bit. Have a look to see if they are indeed allen headed bolts in there and if not you should be able to just swap them out with normal bolts. The only reason I suspect they are hand operated is due to it being a portable mount, so should be usable without tools, but in your application you want it to stay static, so using bolts and a spanner will be better (albeit make sure you don't over tighten and break something of course). As noted above I also make sure my last adjustment is in altitude as well (clockwise from memory), to make sure you are pushing the weights up.

it looks like they are M12 John but my mount is in Spain so I can't check. It's worth just having a quick look as it appears there may be an Allen headed socket inside the plastic bolt head, meaning you could use a (6mm?) Allen key to nip them up. Not sure on that but that's what is looks like in some of the pictures I have. Also when you do your polar alignment you have to make absolutely certain that your last adjustment on the altitude bolt is increasing altitude, meaning the weight is sat on the bolt and not just relying on the lock off bolts to hold it there.

I think they're M12 John but I'll have a look. I think it's not the best design, and you'll probably find the same as me, which is you can easily move the Alt screw through them even when done up.

The additional monitor as you have done seems to be the most sensible in an obsy. If you don't have the facility for dual screen, I use these in my office where I run 3 screens, and they work great.

Good that you've found it John. I would say that if you are definitely not wanting to polar align for 9 months, replace the plastic hand bolts with normal ones you can do up with a spanner. I have the same mount and this is most definitely a weak point.

No probably not John. I just thought with the weights on one end the top plate (the one attached to the pier at the bottom of the studs) which appears to be a kind of cap held in place with 4 pinch fit bolts, could easily tilt. If so this isn't an ideal scenario, but as others note, perhaps look at ground shifting.

Holy cow that's a lot of bits. Good luck!

I'd say it's more likely to be that top plate flexing (well not flexing as such but moving on its fixings). Make sure the 4 bolts that secure the (bottom) top plate to the pier top are very tight and secure, and then reduce the height of the studs to as low as you possibly can.

Yes I saw the show in Birmingham and loved every second of it. It's a great gift, your Wife must like you a lot (or Brian Cox). As you say he makes things very easy to understand. Even what you may consider complex formulas, when presented by him in the manner he does, all of a sudden make perfect sense. I'd recommend it to anyone, and good for you that it came as a surprise, I can imagine it really was a lovely one.

I use starsense on my AVX and think it's a brilliant time saver. No it isn't critical kit, nor are many things, but for me it is great, and you don't have to identify and align with any stars, you just set it off and away you go. I've not had any problems or issues with it, and upgrading the firmware, so long as you follow the guidelines precisely, is a doddle and worked fine.

I have an older lead with the Prolific chipset and a newer FTDI one and both work absolutely fine on my AZ EQ6 with EQMOD. I use the FTDI one now and have kept the Prolific one as a spare just in case.