Tomatobro

I just wrote my first line of code in Python. I do not know what to do next but I will think of something (apologies to the Ape and the monolith of intelligence.....)

The manual for the mount explains how to calibrate the polar scope. This ensures its aligned with the mount axis. You can do this during the day. Polaris prescribes a circle around the true north so the HH:MM is the position of the pole star on the circle. Think of it as a clock face. The problem with the use of the Barlow is harder to comment on. Others will chip in with suggestions but I would...... Check collimation then see if you can focus on an object some distance away during daylight and see where the focuser ends up travel wise.

While looking for something for a different project I found that the Allendale Group do a rotary shaft encoder and display for £32. A shame its not backlit but at that price it has to be a steal. There is a set to zero button so its ideal for the Az position. Its listed as:- Rotary angle encoder with a remote LCD display with a resolution of 0.1 degrees.

The Flo website gives 8.8kg for the 200P. This is the bare tube but finders and eyepieces are not going to add that much

There is a video on Youtube which although in German has English subtitles. As I thought it needs a bit of setting up and once working gives feedback via Bluetooth to a smartphone App. The App shows where it's told the encoders are pointing. There seems to be a bit of confusion about the size of the Newt the mount will take as I think different sites say 6 inch and 8 inch max. I guess that if I did not have the skills to make a Dob base then I would consider it as an alternative. I will find a picture of a larger version of my setup built by a club member and attach it to this reply The scope is an 8 inch. The pointer for the Azimuth ring has still to be added. Also in the first picture just below the Telrad the Altitude finder can be seen. Its magnetic base works well with the steel tube

It does the same as my method, i.e. you have to push the scope in Altitude and Azimuth to the target. The main benefit seems to be that it gives you feedback via a smartphone display as to its pointing position. I wonder if its been reviewed on Youtube?

I am not a fan of Alt/Az goto mounts if the need is just for celestial navigation. Stellarium gives you Alt/Az coordinates so all you need is find the angles of the scope. In the picture attached I used online software Blocklayer to print out a protractor (big ones are segmented so all you need is an A4 printer) and for Altitude Floureon (look up on E..y) do an angle finder with an illuminated display for about £14. I just level the base, set the scope at an angle of 52 degrees, centre the pole star in the eyepiece, zero the protractor and you are ready to go. If the pole star is not visible then set the angle for Vega or whatever. Under the Az pointer is a low power red led (black box) The green display is very bright at night so add some red plastic over the display to keep your night vision

I think that what Angie is saying is that the collimation screws with the springs have become completes unscrewed with the result that the mirror cell is loose. The best solution is to find out where your nearest Astronomy Club meets and contact them. I am sure that a member will come to your rescue and show you how to fix it. Otherwise the cell has to be removed and the screws reconnected and then the scope will need to be collimated. I am guessing that you have the three screws that came away?

I am not familiar with these but I am guessing that the "+" inside the cap indicates that its the cap that holds the battery in. If so then I would drill and tap the side of the cap to take 3 M2.5 grub screws placed at equal spacings. You could then push on the cap and tighten the grub screws to hold it in place. Best I can suggest as a repair

This is a problem that those of us that set up for each session will face sooner or later. All my scopes except my big Mak have handles which makes it a bit easier. Only the Mak has to be bear hugged onto the mount.

A while ago I made a radio controlled focuser unit for the Skywatcher DC motor unit. I had to rob a female connector from a SW handset but got a curly cable from that well known online site. Search on "RJ10 to RJ10 (4P4C) Coiled Telephone Handset Cable Curly Lead Cord Wire – BLACK" to see the one I used. It appears to be identical to the SW one

I made up a couple of magnet weights for a club member so they could be moved around to trim the balance. His was a steel tube Dob .

I have to set up my mount every time and use Sharpcap to PA. The Alt adjustment bolts are very tight to use when the mount is fully loaded so I made up a 60mm finder scope and ZWO mono camera in the clamp and just use this to get the PA somewhere near. With little weight on the Alt bolts they are much easier to adjust. I then pull this scope and fit my imaging gear and then make a final PA adjustment again using Sharpcap on the tracking scope.. Sounds a bit long winded but in practice takes no time at all especially as I can usually do the PA long before it gets fully dark. 3 second exposures allow Sharpcap to do its stuff. I think the location data is so that Sharpcap can allow for atmospheric diffraction. I see PHD making adjustments in both directions so I figure the PA cannot be that far out

I can add a bit more info. The cooling idea was based on Robin Glovers data. Sharpcap reads the temperature of the sensor (part of the FITS data?) and displays it. Without cooling you will see the chip increase temperature over ambient. The idea was to maintain the imaging chip at a constant cooled temperature over the imaging session. The latest version has a control system to keep the CMOS chip a couple of degrees above zero although you can drive it lower. The cooling fan is one made to cool CPU's. The Peltier cooler is a 12 volt 4 amp unit. The conversion cost about £22 Regarding the picture quality on my version of the above camera you see it in the Dark's

Try taking advantage of the different expansion rates of the steel screws and the aluminium holder. Hold a soldering iron on the head of the screw to warm it up then try to loosen the screw.

I was looking at Jupiter through my 20/40 x 100 bins the other night and with the 40x all I could see was a disc. Just occasionally the surface detail would snap into focus for a fraction of a second and then be gone so it depends on the conditions.

Once you have your mount and PC talking to each other you can also use a bluetooth game pad and set up the joysicks and switches to do different things. Add voice confirmation as well.

Thanks......I was asked by a club member and I confessed that I did not know so will pass it on.👍

Can anyone tell me what the markers that appear in this screen shot relate to? The reddish short marks that appear under green 03 and red 13 are the ones, first one on the day night band and in the grey on the second.

I have had an EQ6-R for just over a year and it works well. I am sure you will not be disappointed. 🙃

listening to other club members it seems that once a particular equipment path is chosen and the pain of commissioning is over they are most reluctant to change and I can understand this. It really matters not provided whatever you choose works for you. Folks tend to promote what they use and understand. Best of Luck

No light gets to the black ring as its covered by the secondary mirror so I would leave the dust where it is.

M4 is available in two pitch sizes. 0.7 and 0.5

my less than a year old EQ6-R does not have this USB socket (I had to go and have a look to check!). Mine has the green setting circles. I use a Lynx cable that Flo supplied and do all my control from a remote PC using CdC and PHD with no problems Its worth the time to get set up with EQmod as there are lost of nice features you can use such as a gamepad for remote control and voice confirmation of changes. Its been quite a while since I set this up with an EQ5 pro so I would have to read up again if I was doing it from scratch but as I recall it was not to bad. Cloudy Nights entry says USB is only used for software updates of the mount

I recently loaded Stellarium on a couple of laptops for club members. The first installation (Win 10) worked but would not show any stars. Constellation lines yes and DSO's but no stars. Deleted and reinstalled and it worked ok. The second on a windows 7 machine would not run and had to load an earlier version.