festoon

Thanks for the info Mark 😀 Im also wondering how heavy the mount and tripod is together. I have an eq6 and heq5 and find the heq5 mount and tripod is about the maximum I can carry without struggling 😀

Hi FLO, How does the weight of these mounts compare with say an HEQ5? And what size of SCT OTA will this fit up to max e.g. C925 or C8 Thank you :)

Thanks for the very helpful advice Chris 😀 Top SGL user!

Thanks Chris! As I mentioned in my earlier post, I did have a go, but did not get very far. I have an EQDIR cable on order so will try that next week? Just out of interest how would I know if I did any damage? I just did a visual session and nothing seemed to be wrong

OK...so I tried this, and on setting up EQMOD I got as far as trying to find the port. Unfortunately the port could not be found by the software. Any ideas what to try. I know the usb rs232 driver installed OK. I have latest ascom installed. and USB connected directly to mount port (labelled handcontroller)

Thanks Julian I'll give it a go Is there anything that can go horribly wrong if say the wiring is incorrect...for the sake of a few pounds I dont want to destroy my HEQ5

Thank you Martin Am I able to bypass the handset and just plug the mount to the computer?

Hello, I want to control my HEQ5 pro synscan mount via my laptop computer by ASCOM via EQDIR (not through/via synscan handcontroller). I understand there are EQDIR cables you can buy (e.g. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/skywatcher-mounts/lynx-astro-ftdi-eqdir-usb-adapter-for-sky-watcher-eq5-pro-heq5-syntrek-pro-az-eq5-gt-az-eq6-gt-and-eq8-mounts.html). If I understand correctly with EQDIR I connect the PC directly to the RJ45 handset connection on the mount. However after searching in my garage I thought maybe I have components to do this already. I have a USB to RS232 connector and a RJ45 to RS232 cable (see pics below). If I connet these together will this work or is there something special about the EQDIR cables?

Hi Ian, I know this has been here for a while but is the EQDIR cable still for sale...if so I'd be happy to buy

Book now sold Thank you Brantuk

This book is still for sale....I still can't believe no one wants it If it helps make me an offer, as this is a great book and deserves to have a nice Dobsonian built after someone reads it

Thank you Peter...yes you are right, this will help

Thank you for posting the picture Micheal...thats a nice arrangement I have thought about putting my ED80 ontop of my C8 but when I planned it, the ED80 OTA seemed very long for my C8. I guess it works better on a C9.25

Thank you for the replies John and Gus. If the finder is placed to the side does that mean that you should re-balance depending on which side of the meridian you are observing?

I guess this is a simple question to answer!! I have a C8 OTA on a HEQ5 mount. I have just bought a Baader Standard Base finder shoe to fit on the OTA to attach my Altair 10x60mm right angled finder scope. It appears I have screw hole pairs that I can use that are in 3 places around the perimeter back of the OTA. If you consider the vixen dovetail bar to the bottom of the OTA, then these positions would be a screw set right at the top, to the right, and to the left. The picture below is not my OTA but I wanted to use a web stock picture to illustrate what I mean Is there a correct position to place the finder in terms of balancing the set up for equatorial use? The finder is quite heavy at 1kg. My gut feeling is to use the screw set right at the top, as that would keep the weight axis in a straight line from the counterweights through the OTA and through the finder scope. But in the picture, the left hand screw set has been used. Do you have any advice as to if this is important and what I should do?