david_taurus83

3 hours ago, nakiazaki said:

Paz, just a question. The self-centering twist locks are really good, the 1.25 one is holding the small diagonal and eyepieces tightly, but the one for 2" accessories is a bit loosy. As I rotate the capstan wheel it is loosening or tightening itself, but even on the most tight position, I can still pull out the inserted accessory. What do you think, is there an easy way to make it more tight? I have a feeling that if I would use some heavier camera or eyepiece it might fall off accidentally. A bit thicker inner plastic ring would be better for stronger support of the 2" diagonal. What's your experience, is it the same for you maybe?

On mine I have to really twist it to get it to clamp hard. Once its fully twisted it's solid. The downside of this is it usually unscrews the adapter from the drawtube when you try to undo it.

27 minutes ago, Lancebloke said:

Not sure of the best way to connect laptop to control the mount.

The best way is to get an EQDir cable which directly connects the mount to your computer. Going through the handset with the USB/serial cable just adds potential issues. Can you post a picture of how you have been trying to connect as I cant quite picture it from your description.

1 minute ago, Merlin66 said:

Why take bias frames?????

There are only of use when scaling darks for different temperatures????

All images include bias.

Flats and Flat darks should be all that is ever required.

Agree/ disagree??

 

I use a master bias to calibrate my flats. I have a temp matched dark library for my lights. Saves me shooting flat darks each session as flat exposures tend to vary.

But your method described above was exactly how I used to work with my ASI1600.

Typically not used with the popular ASI1600 as the ADU count is small. But on a DSLR the bias offset is quite large. On my 6D it is 2047 ADU at ISO1600 out of a possible 16k ADU. So a must for me.

I'm sure it's something I have done to a setting somewhere as it has recently started doing this.

It's a normal mini USB except the QHY version has 2 screws to keep it secured. Great idea but a normal mini USB will still fit. Worth trying to rule the existing cable out.

Cant really help but only suggest what you've already been told. Uninstall the software and download the latest software and drivers from QHY. Before you spend a score on a new cable you could try a normal mini USB cable if you have one to hand?

Has anybody had this sort of message? When I load things up I usually start with PHD2 first. When I connect to the mount I get this message? EQMod still loads and works fine after this. Last night I had issues though. After NINA performed a flip, EQMod kept rejecting the sync after a platesolve. Before I tried NINA I noticed on a few occasions with APT it also refused to sync. Another odd thing is after I disconnect everything, EQMod remains active even though no other software is running. Any ideas?

Edit: Using an AZGTi in EQ mode with the Lynx Astro cable.

On 29/11/2019 at 11:20, JeremyS said:

Thanks for the heads up on this Manfrotto offer. I just went to the Wex website and they have a Black Friday deal with 25% on the 055. It also seems to say you get get the £50 cashback on top! This seems amazing if true!

On 29/11/2019 at 17:46, robbymain said:

I just placed an order with Wex after seeing this! 25% off a MT055XPRO3 (tripod only) which is usually £150 for the sweet price of £62 after the £50 cashback?! Thankyou!!!

Just out of curiosity, did anyone recieve their cashback? I have the email that I received after claiming but nothing else? No cashback as far as I can see?!

Thought I'd add to this thread. I bought mine practically new off a member on here and rearranged my setup. Consisting of a Altair Starwave 70EDQ-R quad and Canon 6D for epic wild field imaging. I have an extra dovetail on top with mini PC running W10 pro loaded with Sharpcap, APT, PHD2, Stellarium, CdC etc. I've even got Pixinsight on there if I want to better inspect the subs. First few testing session gave me guiding of around 2.5" RMS. The AZGTi had a bit of a stiff spot when I turned the RA axis by hand. So i stripped it the other night. Barely a sliver of grease on the bearings so I rectified that. The RA motor and gears had very little play, surprisingly enough. The DEC axis however, loads of play but not in the gears. They are quite tight, but the motor output shaft has lots of lateral play so not much can be done about that. So much so that PHD cant complete the south move during calibration. Nor can it measure the DEC backlash! It guides much better now after greasing things up though. Typical RMS the last couple of nights have been around 1.5"RMS. I've set the DEC backlash compensation to around 2000ms and it seems to be able to keep up. It takes a while to bring itself into line if it starts to veer off so no big jerky movements. Overall impressed so far! It's super portable and compact. Can transport it as is without having to disassemble too much!

You could do what Trevor does on AstroBackyard and sandwich the filter between camera and flattener via the threads on the filter cell....

I wouldn't be comfortable personally!

Filter drawer it is or a large filterwheel  for 2".

Whilst researching the various 70mm quad refractors on offer, of which Sharpstar offer a version, the consensus over on CN is that Sharpstar actually make the scopes that TS and Stellarvue then rebadge for themselves, so I hope you've got yourself a nice quality instrument there. I'd be pi88ed though about the tube rings. Will the damage be an issue with the focuser and collimation?

Ps. If you get the Baader protective t ring you can rotate the camera whilst the M42 or M48 retaining ring can stay in position with the nosepiece. Just need to loosen the 6 grub screws

4 minutes ago, AndyThilo said:

 I'm not sure what testing they carry out, be they certainly didn't test the new one as I asked. They stated that they're all calibrated/tested at the factory....

...in a different climate, boxed, stacked on a pallet, forklift round a warehouse, forklift to a shipping crate, crate to lorry, lorry to port, crate to ship, a few weeks at sea, and repeat in reverse once it gets here before shipping to you!

18 hours ago, wookie1965 said:

WE NEED AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE OR THE SITE WON'T OPEN FOR US JUST NOT WORTH IT TO THEM.

COME ON A WEEKEND AWAY WITH MUCH DARKER SKIES THAN HOME WITH LIKE MINDED PEOPLE GOT TO BE WORTH A GO.

Is that 10 people booking a whole weekend stay? As I am only able to do one night due to work and family etc

That's disappointing. Sounds like OVL just simply replaced the other one without investigating. Could be overtight scope rings adding pressure. You could also try just the camera with no filter in the optical path to try and rule things out. Are you using a dew strap? I'm going to add another dew strap to my scope on the tube to also reduce the chance of pinched optics. I always run my objective dew strap on full bore BTW.

My Baader Oiii produced some bad halos but I exchanged it for another. The replacement didn't have any halos at all. Mine were unmounted so I faced them the opposite way. Worth trying if you can.

Original filter top left, and replacement with various exposures.

Stuff!!!

Its tiny! Here it is beside the GT71..

Really hoping this performs well with the full frame chip on the Canon. I'm done with flatteners and spacing!

Speaking of which, received a new 3" 0.79 flattener from TS for my 102EDR after the first ones lens elements came loose! They weren't seated properly. Also received today an AZ-GTi to go on the SA wedge thanks to Maurice @banjaxed

1 hour ago, Stu said:

I think that as long as you shield laptop or other bright screens, and preferably out a red film over them too it should be fine. It can be pretty challenging as a visual observer trying to see anything whilst staring at an unshielded laptop screen. We all normally rub along just fine though 👍👍

I have a mini PC. No screen. Control via VNC Viewer on my phone!😊

I might be interested in this. Have pencilled in the PAS on the 21st but might be tempted to this instead! Will it be imager friendly or strict no lights policy?

The Baader Ha filter is excellent and I cant see how the ZWO one is worth 80 quid more? The Oiii filters of all brands do suffer from halos usually though I had my 36mm unmounted Baader Oiii replaced and the new one was perfect. When ZWO released 'their' brand of filter they all suffered from halos. I just cant see how they can price themselves between Baader and Astronomik?

Theres hardly any SII in it anyway iirc.

It should work off your smartphone if you use one. Its restricted to only ZWO products though and some DSLR functionality. The Stellarmate works with pretty much most brands of camera, filterwheel, focuser etc but theres a learning curve to set it up. You can also use it off your phone or tablet. There is an app but I couldn't get it to work. I used VNC viewer to operate it which is essentially like TeamViewer.

If your willing to put a bit of time and effort in to the learning curve, want more functionality and are attracted to the cheap price, then Stellarmate is better (my own personal choice)

If you want a simple app based package and you only have exclusively ZWO kit, then the AIR is the one to go for, though it is essentially just an RPi3 with massively inflated price tag... they have the ASI EAF autofocuser out a while now and they haven't even sorted out autofocus yet!

Was there a joke?!

That 6" aperture will collect the same amount of photons as a 6" aperture at F2. Neither are slower or faster. The only difference is field of view and concentration of photons on the sensor pixels. Great images btw

Hi and welcome to SGL! The EQ6R is a good mount and once you nail down polar aligning and star alignment it will pretty much get you on target each time.

If you use an android smartphone there is an app called SynscanInit2 which will tell you all the settings you need to enter each time. It will also show you where to place Polaris in the polar scope reticle. You cant change the date format, as far as I know.