Tomatobro

I guess with the kind of weather of late we all knew this was a possibility.

Glad to help......

If you could lay your hands on some electrical contact cleaner I would spray up the cable and mount connections and install and remove twenty or thirty times to ensure the connections are clean and bright and then retry the mount. If no success then try manipulating the wire next to the connector(s) to see if the mount comes to life. If it does then suspect a broken wire. This is based on what sounds like a connection issue given the random intermittent nature of the problem. It could be a lot deeper problem but that is where I would start. Be sure the power supply is good also

I have been asked what are those red and black connectors. They are Anderson 30 amp. The internal connecting fingers can be replaced when worn. The red/black plastic half's have dovetails so can be locked together and the when the centre screw is fitted they are locked. The fingers will take 12 swg cable at a pinch but are better with 14 swg. Fingers can be crimped or soldered.

I seem to recall Tomato mentioning that multiple "park" positions can be set with his Mesu 200.

almcl mentions about 8 bit and 16bit. I have two ASI220, one is rock solid at 16 bit and the other has the problem but for guiding its not an issue

these cameras work very well as a guide camera. The only weakness is the micro USB connector. If the cable gets pulled slightly it can disconnect and if you lift the scope off the mount and forget to pull the USB the cable will fail at the plug (found from experience!). I loop the cable back on itself and retain with a reusable tie. Minor issue really though

We did a lot of work to improve the damping of the pier and its not bad as is with three M16 stainless studs but it will be monitored. So is it the journey or the destination that gives the most pleasure, for me its been both🙃

Join and enjoy......

I like the use of the round roller guide on the one side and just a channel on the other. Nice

I owned a HEQ pro for quite a while and its a very good mount. The only issue I have with the HEQ 5 and 6-r is the altitude adjustment method. Its a very popular mount and there is lots of support for it on the net and upgrades are available but I guess you have looked into this already. It also holds its resale value well I would put the HEQ mount firmly into the zero risk category

Interesting. I guess the RA could be rotated 180 so the clamp knobs are on the opposite side and replace the scope. If its FoV is the other way then it has to be the saddle?

from preference I use Carbon fibre plate 1 or 1.5mm. It also takes 3M VHB tape well. Use only small squares of VHB in the corners otherwise your box and plate become one forever........

SGL is back to its old self. As I mentioned this is a Linux operating system so the comments on Windows don't apply. I think the browser was probably at fault.

Strange, when I clicked on SGL the first thing what I saw was a different screen than the one I was used to, It had a big FLo banner and when I scrolled down the text was all greyed (pale blue) out. When I scrolled back up there was a "this website uses cookies" banner. As the this users experience was not good I thought I should create a post....Which I did in what I consider to be a "normal" screen. When I came back to see if others had had the same experience I viewed what I call a standard SGL screen. Each time now its normal. This is on a Linux operating system by the way

Pale blue text on a white background totally unreadable on my laptop screen But now I go straight into the usual screen so was this just for the cookies notification I wonder?

2 hours @ 120c. Green as Holly when they went in

This post reminded me that I had not changed mine for a few weeks, and i am down to my last two dry ones. There are now thirty in a fan oven at 120c, been in 25 mins so far will report on results

the nearest I have got to returning them to the brown colour is to put them on a plate, stick them in the microwave on defrost for a while. keep checking on progress to see how they are getting on. I store them is a jam jar with a tight fitting lid. I tried some at full power but the plastic melted.

If you go for the 130 you will need some collimation tools to check the mirror alignment from time to time so allow for this in the budget.

That is good enough. Once you start adjusting from that level you will walk several kilometres and discover why you should have left it alone. On a more serious note I am sure I have read somewhere what HG collimate to at the factory. If I find it I will post a reply. 15 arc seconds is the factory setting

Its been a while since I sold my HEQ5 pro but I made up a 6 inch C/W shaft extension out of brass so I could move the weights out to get the balance. It had a belt modification fitted and it tracked very well with PHD, 60mm Altair guide scope and a ZWO ASI220 mono camera. I think you can buy a proper Skywatcher version (extension shaft) I also had a new saddle fitted and it did move the scope out and away from the mount head a little more which further aggravated the balance issue Flo list a bar under Skywatcher accessories and in the write up give its measurements.

There is a book called "Making every photon count" by Steve Richards. Its available from Flo. If you want to get into imaging I would get this book as it will save you a lot of time and money. You can do some basic imaging with what you have but have a read of the book first.

30 euros? I had a vision of the Life of Brian sketch about the Gourd 😊

I found this on SGL "Batch convert FITS to TIFF?"