R26 oldtimer

Diy is half the fun of this hobby...🥰

Here is my humble contribution to this thread. It wasn't meant to be a serious attempt, more of a quick test for my new (to me) full spectrum modified Nikon D5300 with a Newtonian. Really happy with the data it produces. 50x180sec subs, no calibration frames

Are those physical buttons from a normal keyboard or touch buttons? The autoguiding commands go through just fine, that's one more reason to suspect directional button issues. Sorry if I can't be of any more help, that's because in my case every wifi related problem with the diy module seems to replicate with the inbuilt module of the azgti

Hi there is definitely a latency with the direction buttons, to the point they become unusable. My experience is that most of these problems are because of the way smartphones work (I have to turn off GSM data in order to connect to the mount) and touch buttons. I haven't used the skywatcher module but my diy adapter produces the same problems as the integrated module in my azgti. Definitely use a mini pc or laptop, use the key board's physical arrow buttons to slew around, even better use APT's goto++ function to find a target. It also works (almost fine) with my phone in conjunction with skysafari. Almost every problem goes away when using pc and physical buttons (the same applies to the az-gti)

Hello @bthoven. I see that you 've posted your efforts here: https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/656206-diy-wifi-adapter-for-skywatcher-telescope-mounts/page-2 Although this diy built is meant to be free and accessible to every amateur astronomer, and besides the pleasing fact that the word is spread out to other fora, it would be great if there were at least some credits and a link to this thread in your posts at CN

The 46,5 mm flange distance is a bit of a hassle with this camera as 17,5mm are used up in the camera. That's why I made another 2mm thick metal plate for the filter wheel instead of modifying its own 4mm thick one and gain some focus room inside and outside. It looks like the zwo adapter with 1.25" filter will fit though.

To be honest, I would not use aperture control, I would go for wide open. The aperture blades create bad diffraction spikes, so if you have to step your lens down, it is better to do so by using a front aperture mask (carton or 3d printed) or filter step-down rings.

I 've just modified a manual 5x1.25" filter wheel to use my mono sxv-h9 with Nikon lenses. Perhaps this will give you some more ideas.

Has anyone found instruction on how-to build a simple version of the mfp2 with an esp 32. I looking for a dummies guide (solder a wire from this pin to that...) as I get lost in the details for the many features. I just want to make a simple usb ascom controlled version

Very glad you liked it! The response time becomes really better if there are not many wifi networks interfering with the signal. Most of the connection problems I've encountered were due to the smartphone's power & wifi settings. Ofcourse you can use your PC (thats what I do). Just download the "synscan app pro" for windows and the "synscan app" ascom driver from here: https://www.skywatcher.com/download/software/ascom-driver/ and use it with APT, stellarium, cdc etch.

🤔How long before there is an astro-mod / ir filter removal service for phone sensors?

I suspect that all the southern coasts will have a pretty much lp free view of the south. The south coast of Crete, here in Greece, facing miles and miles of empty sea before north Africa, is great and not so crowded even during summer holiday season.

How about an EU warehouse?

A 6" frac isn't an excessive load for this mount and in any case it would not cause any damage to the motor itself. There are two different friction clutches in the RA gear train that prevent damage to the motor and allow manual movement, my guess would be that they need some adjustment. There are two pdfs on the mount's strip down in this thread.

Shot from Athens Greece one day later, on the 22 of December, with Canon 600d and SW 120ed. Didn't gave it more than 10mins, couldn't get my eye of the eyepiece...

These clouds have to go away, there bad for my pocket.🤣

A warm welcome from me too. My only advice is to start with something smaller and lighter like an 80-100 F/5-F/7 doublet or triplet refractor or a fast & wide lens as the samyang 135 f/2. The main thing with astrophotography is how accurate you can track your target, and while you have no astrophotography background, you seem pretty seasoned photographer to understand that you'll get a worst photography with a 300mm telephoto lens than with an 85 when hand held.

Hello all, I need your ideas on this! With a mono camera and narrowband filters, should I be aiming for equal total exposure time per channel, or get longer total integration time for the fainter channels?? Also, is it a good idea to keep identical sub exposure time on all three channels, or should I try to have the histogram peek at the same point on all channels by adjusting my sub exposure time accordingly?

What is more expensive than astrophotography?? The answer is diy astrophotography equipment... Unfortunately I've managed to cut the tiny wire, not from the start but after 4 hours of successful scraping, when I was almost there. 😱🤬

Ok, that's a teaser. 😁 More photos and info please....

Is it a Matrix kind of thing? 😊

It probably is an older model without set point cooling which runs to the max. APT has no way of knowing what the Tec is doing. So feel the casing of the camera after 5-10 minutes, and if it is a bit warm, then the cooling works fine.

You can use a toothpick, those contacts don't seem ultra fragile.

Had a similar neighbor a couple of years ago. I asked really politely to turn off the lights, even invited him for a session, which he rudely declined. Then I just set both of my scopes and cameras facing various windows of his house for a couple of days. When he came complaining, I complained back that since I couldn't stargaze then I would just.... gaze. It's been 3 years and those powerful bulbs haven't tasted electricity since.

I don't think that he says that he is dissatisfied with the scope, just with the extra and seperatly charged "check service". My feel is that since the vendor, whoever that is, decides to offer a full refund, that should be for the product/service in question and not the full order.