david_taurus83

Excellent, as usual!

Don't accept a decent RMS value in PHD as everything is going good. All it takes is one big 2 or 3 arc second spike in either axis to ruin a sub. Check your peak to peak values as well.

Have you had a look at Patriot Astro? I used this tutorial before fine tuning things on my Esprit. He uses a Pegasus focus cube so step sizes may not be the same as your EAF but he has it paired to an 8" SCT so may be of help to you.

Can you post up some examples of your V Curves from last night? I don't have an SCT but I did spend a few hours the other night fine tuning my focus settings for new filters. Did you watch the image previews as they happened?

Took mine off the WO wedge last night and reverted back to AZ mode for a peek at Saturn with my Heritage 150. Tracking looked a bit notchy and jumpy through the eyepiece. Just a bit more than what I would consider acceptable. Any ideas to reduce this? When I stripped it I locked down the worm so it's not on the spring tension. Perhaps go back to spring?

The handset will work but you need to purchase a separate cable as it has the smaller plug. https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/lynx-astro-premium-handset-cables-for-sky-watcher-az-goto-az-gti-mounts.html

My wallet is on life support now.

Has StarXterminator sorted out the over-softening of the star areas? When I trialled it, it was very good and very quick but it over softened the area of where the stars were and it didn't look right over a noisy background. I've stuck with Starnet2. I have bought the excellent NoiseXterminator though.

Pretty sure the grub screw on the right doesn't do anything so whip it out and then you'll have access to the 2 grub screws holding the coarse knob on.

It definitely looks like they forgot to take the bahtinov mask off before launch. We're all guilty!

Is that pixels or arc seconds. That's into £££££ territory hardware if arc seconds..

To be fair, it's not much different than a group of investors putting down cash and waiting a fews years for that return...Though I appreciate the question of using the actual consumers as the investors. I can't say I'd have been bold enough to put down the money on an idea though. At least they are being shipped out now and the early results look promising.

Before I sold it, I was using a 90° angle USB cable on my 460. Its less prone to jiggling about and sits much closer to the body of the camera therefore much more secure. Also used an elbow for the power cable. https://amzn.eu/d/b1tK270

Be interested to see how you got on with guiding and dithering Adam..

Second image now with the ASI533MM. Have to say, this camera is excellent. Decent integration time on this one as well. Had some issues with the Esprit focuser for this so had to throw away a lot of subs. As a consequence I had to image through a full moon to get half of the OIII data but this target is very strong in OIII anyway. 100 x 300s Ha 6nm 86 x 300s OIII 6nm 20 x 60s each RGB for stars All done in Pixinsight Ha OIII Animated GIF

We're you looping frames in the imaging tab by any chance?

Get 2 trainers with soft soles, sandwich the adapter between them and push and twist. Works a charm. I've tried straps, mole grip, in a vice, heat, everything. The 2 Trainer Technique beats them all.

I take it that's just the locking ring and the threaded part can be move in and out? Have you tried the 2 trainer technique? I think T2 or M42 is a bit small as well for that sensor. Would be better with M48 if using an OAG.

Be interested to see results if you used PHD PPEC algorithm. I find my AZGTI improves quite a bit after 15 mins or so of guiding on target.

When I had my CEM25, I did just as you described when setting up first. Put it in home (zero) position manually via the clutches and set zero on the handset. No need for it to find zero afterwards.

I would try and switch back to EQMod and see if it's the same there. If so, it's an issue with the mount, if not, it's the software.

That CN thread makes for depressing reading. Seems like the new SA GTi is pretty much the AZ GTi internals in a purpose made EQ platform and twice the price. If its using the same reduction gearbox on the motor with the 3 nylon planetary gears then that's very disappointing as it's the main source of backlash in the AZ GTi. Still waiting to see how folk on here are faring with theirs.

Batteries? Edit: Ah, sorry, just reread your post. Can you not send it back under warranty? You could test it by rigging a laser pen to it and let it run for a few hours to see how far the dot moves and measure the angle to see if it's moved enough. Or let it run for 24 hours and the dot should return back to its starting point.

Is it set to debayer the previews?

Cartes du Ciel works much better with your mount. Yes, it looks a bit Windows 90's but it works great. Stellarium looks pretty, but myself personally, I can't get on with the user interface.