Geoff Lister

The usual advice, is to use the 'scope with its 25mm and 10mm eyepieces, and then decide. The 10mm is probably the weak link. I can only advise, based on my experience, but this would be my order of purchase. 1 A 32mm Plossl eyepiece - the Mak gives a narrow field of view, but this will give you the widest view with a 1.25" eyepiece. 2 A x2 Barlow - this will give you the equivalent of 16mm and 12.5mm eyepieces, using the 32mm Plossl and the supplied 25mm. 3 An 8-24mm zoom eyepiece - the Skywatcher and Celestron offerings at about £80 work for me, without breaking the bank. 4 A suitable power supply - the Az-GTi mount is not thirsty, but 8-off alkaline AA cells will probably not last very long. This is what I use:- The 6V packs were "borrowed" from my radio-controlled model sailing yachts, and the plug-top supply came from an obsolete ethernet switch (the white, heavy-duty, bell flex shows up well in the dark), but there are plenty of 1.5 or 2A equivalents, often sold for powering the 12V LED flexible, stick-on, lighting strips. Geoff

+1 for the 127. The AZ-GTI mount is an improved version of my Skymax mount - mine does not have the manual clutches. The Synscan GoTo is very effective, but I found that I had to do a bit of homework on my bright stars to speed up alignment. Quite often, I would select the suggested second alignment star, only to find that it was behind a tree, roof, or fence. I spent a couple of hours with the excellent "Stellarium" program on my PC, and, by adjusting date and time, for dusk at the middle of each month of the year, I was able to produce a table of 14 bright stars, visible from my garden's patio, and select a few of these, with rough compass direction and altitude angle. I did the same for an hour before dawn, but that table is rarely used! By selecting a pair of alignment stars with about 90 degrees difference in alignment, the Synscan software does a good job of compensating for any errors in leveling the tripod. Once the bug takes hold, it is possible to use different OTAs on each other's mounts, although there may be some limitations on maximum altitude angle. If I want a wider angle view, I can (carefully) remove the 127 Mak OTA and fit the Newtoian OTA from my Heritage 130P, or my Star Travel 120mm refractor, without having to repeat alignment. Geoff

I did the opposite with my Skyliner Dob base. There is no adjustment for the feet. I line-up one foot with the 'down' side of a bubble level (an addition to the base), and slide a wedge under the foot until the bubble is central.

Most tripods have an adjustable clamp on each leg, so the bubble level on the Virtuoso mount will show when the leg lengths are correct.

Sorry, I can't remember. It was probably about a decade ago.

This is a photo of my Heritage 130P. The mount base is similar to that of the Virtuoso. The plastic table/stool and glass-top table allow easy 360 degree access. Geoff

My Skymax and Skyliner mounts have the Synscan handset, and, as mentioned by John, above, need at least +11V. As Alan also mentions, the 8-cell battery holders are a poor way of connecting to the individual cells - 16 contact points of dubious quality. I found the best way to provide portable power, was to use a series pair of 5-cell, 6V, 2600mAh NiMH packs, borrowed from radio-controlled model sailing yachts. These packs are designed to work with the peak demands of servo motors, have spot-welded connections, and are terminated with decent connectors, and, despite my best efforts at sailing, somtimes get a bit wet (no problem with astronomy). I also found a 10-cell battery holder, so, if necessary, can use NiCd or NiMH cells. A 3S LiPo battery will also work, but discharges to 9V at its rated capacity, so not quite so useful; but a buck-boost power converter may well solve that problem. I measured the current consumption of my mounts:- It's the auto-slew to the 2nd alignment star, that will use both axes at max rate, and highlight any poor contact resistance. Geoff

I have used several different 12V, 1.5 or 2A, plug-top mains supplies with my various Skywatcher and Celestron mounts. These supplies came from old USB powered hubs, desk-top external hard drives, and ones supplied with LED stick-on lighting strips. Geoff

I use a plastic patio stool/table, or, a slightly larger glass-topped patio table. This gives an idea of some possible additions to the mount Geoff

I have the 127mm Mak., and a Heritage 130P. Both are excellent. My 127 came as part of a Skymax setup, with a Synscan GoTo mount and handset. This is my Skymax setup, in a format similar to that of the Travelscope 70. Total weight about 11kg, with a few eyepieces and a couple of sets of batteries. I liked it so much, that I bought a second one for my holiday home (house sold just before COVID hit) in France. This is the setup with a modified webcam in place of the eyepiece - fine for Jupiter, Saturn and the Moon. The Mak. with its longer focal length, really benefits from a tracking mount, and preferrably, full GoTo. This is my preferred portable battery supply; the packs were "borrowed" from my radio-controlled model sailing yachts. The contact resistance is much lower than individual cells in spring-loaded plastic holders. This is my Heritage 130P, and Virtuoso 90mm Mak. The tracking on the Virtuoso mount is good for longer, high magnification, views without having to touch the mount, and for daytime solar viewing with a solar-film filter over the front. The Virtuoso mount will, with care, just about handle the 130P and 127 Mak OTAs; as long as I limit the maximum slewing rate; and, as a bonus, I can plug-in my Synscan handset, for full GoTo. Geoff

I have the same Skymax mount, and my Skyliner Dob mount also has the same Nyloc nut. The difference between a slack axis and a tight one is a fraction of a turn of the nut. I have adjusted the clamping force, so that there is no slip in normal operation, but that it will slip if part of the OTA touches other parts of the mount or tripod. Geoff

I have a 2" 56mm Plossl that I use with my 10" Dob, but it only gets very occasional use. All my other eyepieces and cameras are 1.25", so to use a 2", I have to remove the 1.25" adaptor from the end of the focus draw-tube and replace it with the 2" one, then reverse the process for all the others. I have also found that I need a short extension tube to achieve focus, so adding to a bulky, and heavy, extension at the front of the tube. To compensate for the extra weight, I had to add a balance weight at the primary mirror end. I haven't done the sums, but I would have thought a 32mm 52 1.25 Plossl would do a similar job, in a more user-friendly, and cheaper, package. I normally start my sessions with mine. Geoff

+1 for the 32mm Plossl and 7-21mm zoom. I tend to start a session with my 32mm, and then the zoom. The zoom is particularly useful, with Jupiter & Saturn, for getting the best compromise between magnification and clarity of view. Geoff

Hello Brad, and welcome to SGL. I have the same system, with the older, V3, Synscan handset. Several years ago, I had problems with the azimuth axis control; not exactly your problem, but it would not align or give fine positional control. The problem was inside the azimuth gearbox cover. There is a motor control board, with several ribbon cable connectors going to the motor and the 2 encoders (motor position and, if moved manually, axis position). One of the ribbon connectors was partly disconnected from its pins. It was difficult to see, as it was on the underside of the board, and the ribbon cables have very little slack. I managed to re-seat the connector, (using manual dexterity and a dental mirror!), and the mount has behaved perfectly since. From your description, it looks as though the motor position control loop is not getting the encoder feedback. I have used my mount with 1.5A and 2A plug-top supplies, but the Synscan system is likely to give problems if the internal voltage drops below about 11V when doing a maximum-rate slew in both axes simultaneously, usually during the alignment auto-slew to the 2nd alignment star. This voltage drop is often caused by poor power-connector contact or thin/long (higher resistance) power leads. Geoff

+1 for the standard focuser with the Lacerta dual-speed upgrade. I fitted the upgrade to my Skyliner 250PX and found it easy to fit, and a pleasure to use. Geoff

Hello Chris, welcome to the forum. I have the Skymax 127mm Mak, and I tend to start my observing sessions with my 32mm Plossl. Next, I tend to use a 8-24mm zoom, to get the best magnification/visual clarity compromise, particularly when viewing Jupiter and Saturn. My version came with a 6x30 straight-through finderscope, and I replaced it with a 6x30 RACI version - much easier when aligning on high-altitude stars. Geoff

I used the main objective dust-cap, supplied with the TS70 kit, and part of an A4 sheet of solar film. The main cap has a smaller secondary cap, and if this is removed, it reveals a nice hole, just right for a solar film sandwich. I made up 2 rings of cereal-packet cardboard, and using sticky film made up a solar film sandwich. I then used a bit more sticky film to mount this inside the TS70's cap. I used a bit more of the card and some PVC electrical tape, to lengthen the sides of the cap, so it would not blow off. Geoff

The version of Starsense fitted in the SkyProdigy has 6 possible settings to help the alignment. "Hazy/Urban" seems to be the default. "Full Moon" is probably the best for northern summer. The others are "Suburban", "Dark", "Windy" - to ignore blurred stars, and "Custom" - it may be possible to adjust the settings to get alignment under semi-dark conditions. I have also found that, if the camera is not finding quite enough stars, it is worth doing a power down, rotate by about 20 degrees azimuth, power up and start again. If this fails, or you have obstructed views, there is a manual alignment option so you can point the 'scope towards a few areas of sky with a reasonable number of visible (through a low magnification eyepiece) stars. Geoff

There is an on-line web resource site for this book at https://www.cambridge.org/turnleft Enjoy the Heritage 130P. I have had mine for several years, and it works well for me. Geoff

I have Starsense camera and software built-in to my Celestron SkyProdigy mount. The camera is a 640 x 480 pixel device, similar to a basic webcam, and needs fairly dark skies to "see" enough stars to perform its plate solving. If it cannot "see" several tens of stars, it tries another section of sky, but eventually gives up. I also have the Skywatcher Skymax mount. The Synscan software requires the user to select alignment stars, and manually centre them in the eyepiece. I recon that I can perform a "Brightest Star" 2-star alignment, using bright stars such as Vega, Altair or Capella, a good 45 minutes before it is dark enough for Starsense to work. On a dark night, the Starsense system gets me aligned a couple of minutes faster than I can achieve with the Synscan system. Geoff

Unfortunately, consumer-grade tripod-mounted optical equipment is supplied with an internal 1/4" - 20 UNC thread. It would be a brave manufacturer that used an ISO metric thread form; the returns, under warranty would be huge. I prefer Whitworth, but my tool box contains something suitable for most imperial and metric fastenings; and if necessary, 4 different-sized adjustable spanners, pump pliers, and a Stillson wrench. My "come in handy" box (well lots of boxes and biscuit tins) contains an assortment of nuts, bolts and washers. I also invested in a 1/4" - 20 UNC tap, so I can add tripod threads at various OTA balance points on a dovetail plate. Geoff

Mine came with 20mm, 10mm & 4mm eyepieces. I tend to use a 32mm Plossl and 7-21mm zoom. Geoff

The dovetail bar on my Travelscope 70 fits several of my Skywatcher/Celestron mounts and has a 1/4" -20 UNC internal thread for use with much better photographic tripods (than the one supplied).

I'm not sure about this particular one, but some handsets have an internal, replacable, button cell to power the real-time clock, when the handset/mount is powered down. Geoff

Hello, and welcome to SGL. If you could tell us the model of the telescope, we should be able to help you. Celestron make a wide range of different telescopes, and the setup instructions are somewhat different for each type. With any new telescope, it is worth setting it up during the day; it's much easier to focus on a distant tree/post/building, than it is a star. Geoff