david_taurus83

My kit is permanently left out under a Telegizmos cover. It does get pretty warm under there but no issues to report. The Pegasus Power Box reports above 35°C under there on hot days but I haven't seen 40°C. My shed, for example, when the sun beats down on it after lunchtime, regularly gets above 40°C with the doors shut. My mini PC is in there switched on 24/7 and that's fine. What we consider hot weather, (though the media trend this year is to describe it as extreme...) is normal for other parts of the world and they get on just fine.

Just reading @inFINNity Deck website there and it's very disappointing to see how they have designed the fine focus control. On one hand we have a good sturdy rack and pinion system for the course focus but essentially a crayford type friction system on the fine focus and not easy to adjust either. Very poor on a scope designed for imaging.

I'm guessing I also have this same issue. Fine focus still works but slight pressure on the drawtube and it slips if I adjust coarse focus. I thought it was the fine focus knob itself slipping on the round shaft so I ground a flat surface on one side but even then the shaft stays stationary while course will turn. 20220809_203914.mp4

Its not NINA or the AF3. Its the Esprit fine focus. I can move the coarse focus knob fairly easily while the fine focus is held firm. 20220809_203914.mp4 Will start another thread elsewhere as its not a software issue.

Something isn't right. It appears something is shifting slowly and the AF3 is compensating to keep up. It could well be that it is getting good focus at the time but shifting over the course of 20 minutes or so until the next focus run. I've just checked back on months of focus routines and the average focuser position is roughly a stable 510500 steps. Just looking back 4 days ago and the steps were reading 510089 and last night ended up on 505776. That's 4313 steps in 4 days! Something must be slipping.

Have posted this to the NINA Discord channel but no harm putting in here as well. On the outset it looks like a software issue but I'm not exactly sure so have posted in this thread as could also be mechanical, atmospherical issue etc Hi all, I have been having issues the last couple of nights with focusing after meridian flips. Never had an issue before and when I start my sequence everything looks perfect. Went to check my subs from a few nights ago and realised most if not all subs after the flip, auto focus had failed miserably. I kept an eye on this last night and sure enough, issues started after the flip. See below screenshot of my focus graphs. Imaging Witches Broom in Oiii, Esprit 100, Astronomik 6nm filters and DSD AF3. First few focus routines are perfect and results of 300s subs tending to be 1.7/1.8 HFR. These are my typical focus curves and yield good results. These are in fact from last night before meridian flip. Notice the final position doesn't change too much. To be expected as temperature cools. However, after meridian flip, things change. First one at 00.55 I let it take the first post flip sub. HFR jumps from 1.8 to almost 3. I stop sequence and run auto focus myself. There's a huge difference in final focus position and these were only taken minutes apart. I thought maybe focuser is slipping but doesn't explain why everything was fine before meridian flip? I left it to run overnight anyway and HFR values throughout the night are tending to be 2.2 or there abouts. Inspecting the subs today in Blink and its noticeable to my critical eyes that they are below standard and I can't use them. Any ideas? We have a few rare clear nights here in the UK this week so was hoping to jump to Ha this week with the full moon but this could be a significant stumbling block if I can't figure it out! TIA

Another vote for flanged pier. You'll never know if you ever need to move or remove it, even temporarily. Can't be done with an insitu pier.

The Facebook page was fairly busy there in July. There is a group on .io now for users. So the mounts are being shipped.

I had the GT71 a few years ago and tried with the Hotech 1.0 flattener. Couldn't get on with it at all and that was with an ASI1600. Like I said in the other thread, best results were with the WO reducer.

Who done the modification?

I'd get the WO reducer as well if possible as if you try a generic one and your not happy with results, you'll just start convincing yourself the WO one is needed anyway. I've yet to find the reducer/flattener anyway that gives perfect stars into the corners..

I used a custard tin.

I've had this issue before. As you've suggested, if there's no obvious bugs in your current version, wait for a couple of revisions and download then.

The 1.25" Lunt wedge used to come without the ND filter in place. I had this version and it required screwing the an ND filter into the eyepiec each time. I believe the newer ones now come with it already installed in the wedge. Just a thought if your buying second hand so you know what to look for.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I made my solar cap over the last couple of evenings. Made it out of a 6" plastic drain pipe cap. Cut a 100mm hole out of the middle and inserted the filter cell on the inside. With some strips of soft velcro it is a perfect snug fit. I added some safety cord as a precaution as well. Had a quick go earlier. I'm glad I got the 5.0 film as I have to set gain to 0 and only 3.5 millisecond exposures. Anyway, here's my first picture captured with the Oiii filter. It seemed a bit steadier than the green today. Stacked 20% of 700 frames or so in Autostakkert3. Pseudo colour version out of mono. Not sure if it's just seeing or focus but I'm pleased with the result. Will experiment more with AS3 in future.

Should I also stop down to f10? Any benefit leaving things at native f5.5?

The Baader 5.0 film came today. Should have enough spare to knock something up for my 150 heritage dob and maybe the binos. That's why I didn't order the 3.8.

Yeah thas too hot. Below 20°C EXIF temps and its pretty good though. Was the screen off and opened out?

With this warmer weather, if it was me, I would dither every frame.

Thanks for clarifying. I also would prob use the Ha filter in the filterwheel as it seems most appropriate. I'm guessing I would be better off making the aperture 55mm so imaging at F10?

I've only tried this once in the past and enjoyed it but I didn't keep up with it as it meant changing out all my deep sky image train to fit a Lunt wedge. Seeing all the great WL images now the sun is becoming active again so I fancy giving it a go again. My question is can I simply put a solar film filter up front of my Esprit 100 during the day and image in WL with my deep sky imaging kit? Ie is it safe to use with my filterwheel etc. Do I need the Baader photo film or will the normal stuff be OK? Would be using my ASI533MM.

This.

Perfectly fine to use a clip in filter and hold up the mirror. I use a LP filter myself in this way. Who done the mod? They should have also shimmed the sensor a little to compensate the fact the IR filter has been removed. As Michael above has mentioned, this is usually done so you can focus properly with camera lenses. If using on a telescope, then it's not necessary but the 2 main camera modifiers in the UK always do it anyway.

Yes, I'd say that's a tad too much! Do you have a 20mm spacer?

That looks like way too much between the camera and filter wheel. If the EF2 is 22mm and the Atik has 13mm to sensor, you should only have a 20mm spacer to make up the difference as the SW reducers are usually only 55mm requirement. That spacer looks more than 20mm to me. Also, you should have the camera threaded as close as possible to the filterwheel and the spacer between filterwheel and reducer if possible. Edit: You should have this much spacing between end of camera to the reducer.