teoria_del_big_bang

Outstanding 🙂 Steve

I think it has all been said already so sorry to repeat it but that is incredible 🙂 Steve

NOTE: This review is only my assessment of this piece of kit, I only have used one other auto-focuser before (which worked brilliantly) but means I cannot compare it a myriad of other similar devices and am not claiming this is better or worse than them as I cannot. I have just fit one of these to my Esprit 100ED. The main reasons I chose this over others were: Looked a very neat solution with probably the smallest footprint of all focussers as far as I could see (I guess similar to ZWO EAF focuser but without the addition of a bracket), mainly due to the direct connection and not requiring a timing belt and the way it attaches onto the collar and thus does not require a bracket. Price was very reasonable at £259, so about in the mid price range for this type of device. A well know and what seems to be a good manufacturer. I do not think a hand help controller is available for this unit but I did not require one as it would all be done through APT or similar. I was very impressed with the fact everything is included in the box in order to fit and use the auto-focuser on most popular focusers. Auto-Focuser 5 couplings to fit the most popular focussers, all grub screws (+ a fair sew spares as they are impossible to find one dropped) + the two allen keys required Red bushing Ø2.5mm for AIRY refractors (ED72, APO80, ED90, ED100, APO104T, APO120, APO150T), OrionOpticsUK VX and CT, Baader Steeltrack® focusers, TS-Optics V-Power,Omegon V-Power and Skywatcher Black bushing Ø2.8mm for Feather Touch focusers Green bushing Ø3.5mm for Takahashi telescopes Silver bushing Ø3.1mm for Moonlite focusers Yellow bushing Ø4.0mm for AIRY refractors (APO 65F, BLACK 80T) and SharpStar telescopes with 2" focusers Power cable with cigarette style 12V plug. Usb cable to connect to computer All software on USB stick (Application, drivers for focuser, ASCOM drivers 32 & 64 bit, manual) The unit requires that you have to take off the rough and fine focussing knobs which on the Esprit was very easy. For myself the fitting was very straight forward, I have heard of issues with alignment from other users so maybe I was lucky and I can easily see how there can be alignment issues. Because the coupling is solid the alignments need to be pretty accurate. Any misalignment risks damaging wither the focuser or the auto focuser, although damage is probably unlikely but what will definitely happen is the focuser will bind meaning it will not run smooth and maybe difficult to obtain accurate focus. The software looks pretty good and set up and calibration is very easy. 32 & 64 bit ASCOM drivers provided as you seem to need the 32 bit driver for APT to work even if you have 64 bit Windows. I did have an initial issue with alignment and binding but was down to me not reading instructions (at all). The idea is simple as supplied are 5 couplings all with one bore to fit the motor shaft and the other bores various diameters designed to fit popular focusers. Also provided with the couplers were around 8 small grub screws. You need 2 to tighten the coupling to the shaft, the others some of the others I assumed were to fit into tapped holes around the collar (there are 3 tapped holes that fit the grub screws and I assumed this was to aid alignment and that they were to be used as jacking screws, that are used to align the two shafts in the coupling, together with the bigger screw to tighten the collar on the boss of the focuser. But using these grub screws caused the two shafts to be offset. Any slight offset and you can tell as when you manually use the focuser you can feel it go tight once per rev. When I removed the grub screws and just tightened the main screw , as the instructions tell you, it all seemed to align perfectly. When I actually read the instructions the three extra grub screws are only required for certain focusers where the focuser collar size is smaller than the inner diameter of the sesto-senso and are used to retain an adapter bush (a bush not required for the 100ED so not sure what they look like but assume some sort of split ring). Now whether not all collars even on focussers that supposedly do not require this bush are exactly the same diameter for differing manufacturers or not but I guess they would only need to me fractions of a millimeter different to start causing some issues as the split collar on the sesto-senso will not clamp in same radial position for differing diameters. And how easy alignment is if you have to buy an adapter bush again I cannot comment but comments on other threads of users seems to suggest not all align as easily and it has been commented that alignment can take several attempts and some time before the action is smooth and there is no binding. To check it is smooth is really a manual thing in that when fitted and no current is flowing in the motor you can wind the focuser fully in and out by hand, using the one remaining knob, and it is smooth without any tight spots. Yes it is a little stiffer due to the stepper motor residual magnetism but this should be consistent for the whole stroke of the focuser. I think maybe I was lucky and the collar on the 100ED is band on size. I think the omission in providing flexible couplings instead of solid ones is a big shame and probably lets down what looks otherwise to be a very neat auto focuser. Even if you had to buy the flexible couplings seperate or just state which size you require to fit your focuser. I think one big improvement would be the addition these:- These flexible couplings allow for some small misalignment without causing a problem. The flexibility though is just in the up-down and side to side movement not radially. Radially they are stiff and so cause no loss of rotary motion. SUMMARY: PROS:- Small footprint, probably the neatest of all auto-focussers No need to buy specialised bracket and find some available threaded holes which to attach the bracket to Everything provided for a lot of popular focusers in the box All software on usb memory stick makes installation easier Nice easy to use software application and easy to calibrate Looks very neat. Not sat up above or below the scope with timing belt in between I thought price was reasonable at £259 - not the cheapest but certainly not the most expensive. CONS:- Although I did not see an issue many report being difficult to align without causing focuser to bind. Provision of flexible couplings would alleviate this issue as it accounts for some small misalignment. The temperature probe is a seperate item and if bought from same manufacturer is a ridiculous £41. I already had a sensor I bought from DeepSkyDad with my other focuser and so far seems to work perfectly well. This cost 15 euros but not sure if sold separately by DeepSkyDad does mean the removal of the manual fine focusing knob so manually only the rough focussing is available. So far I have not had the clear skies to use it in anger, if the review is not locked then I will update it when I have something to report. Steve

Regarding the flexible coupling talked about in earlier posts. Regarding the diameter it will fit as these are between 19 and 20 mm diameter but they are a tad long. I nearly ordered one with the intention of shortening it slightly but actually I fit mine with the stock solid coupling very easily (well the 2nd attempt). The first failure was my error as normal I blundered in without reading any instructions and fit it because it looked obvious how to do it. The idea is simple as supplied are about 6 couplings all with one bore to fit the motor shaft and the other bores various diameters designed to fit popular focusers. Also provided with the couplers were around 8 small grub screws. You need 2 to tighten the coupling to the shaft, the others some of the others I assumed were to fit into tapped holes around the collar (there are 3 tapped holes that fit the grub screws and I assumed this was to aid alignment and that they were to be used as jacking holes together with the bigger screw to tighten the collar on the boss of the focuser. But using these grub screws caused the two shafts to be offset. Any slight offset and you can tell as when you manually use the focuser you can feel it go tight once per rev. When I removed the grub screws and just tightened the main screw it all seemed to align perfectly.When I actually read the instructions the three extra grub screws are only required for certain focusers where the focuser collar size is smaller than the inner diameter of the sesto-senso and are used to retain an adapter bush (a bush not required for the 100ED so not sure what they look like but assume some sort of split ring). Now whether not all collars even on focussers that supposedly do not require this bush are exactly the same diameter for differing manufacturers or not but I guess they would only need to me fractions of a millimeter different to start causing some issues as the split collar on the sesto-senso will not clamp in same radial position for differing diameters. I think maybe I was lucky and the collar on the 100ED is band on size. I think the omission in providing flexible couplings instead of solid ones is a big shame and probably lets down what looks otherwise to be a very neat auto focuser. Even if you had to buy the flexible couplings seperate or just state which size you require to fit your focuser.

I actually had some of these from an old 3D printer, one of the bores was the wrong size but good enough to see if it would fit. The diameter is actually okay, the small issue is that the grub screws are further apart than the slot that is there to gain access to them. But I think I could tighten the grub screws onto the focuser and the grub screw for the Sesto could still be tightened through the slot. So I will order one with the right bores and try it. Steve

Nice one. Those are just the job. They are stock items from many places, used similar on a lot of things in the past. Its very easy to buy one with bores slightly smaller than required and open them out if the correct sizes not available off the shelf. I would think the diameter is just too big for the Sesto, unfortunately. Steve

Yes as an Engineer I was wondering how the alignments would be. Some sort of semi flexible coupling would be better, the type that has no radial movement but does allow for some slight misalignment of the two shafts. Maybe a bit much to ask for something so small. Steve

I have just taken delivery of one of these to fit to my new Esprit 100 but not yet fitted (maybe tonight I will find time) so cannot give any definite answer but my other auto focuser is very good at holding focuser position and that is with a timing belt. However, even the best auto focuser will not really help with slop in the focuser so if the issue is just slippage then I would say it would help but if there is play or slop then it would not help. Also @AKB makes a very good point about the slippage being due to the tube slipping due to overcomming the friction in the mechanism and really requiring a rack and pinion. What I do like about the sesto is the lack of timing belt and the fact it fits a host of populat scopes right out of the box so when upgrading you can probably still use same auto focuser without buying any extra bits. Steve

Yes the left is really very crisp and clear. 🙂 Steve

Right, it all starts to make sense now. It's just maths. Although I have not done the maths as such as I have not measured any distances from centre of rotation. It does surprises me what some of this gear does weigh. The bar is fully extended by the way and measures same as @vlaiv Now I did make one big error when balancing in that I left the lens cap on the scope and that weighs over 200 g. With this removed as it stands I can just balance the rig with the two 5Kg weights (that do weight 5Kg I checked) but they are at the very end of the bar. What is on top of mount:- New Geoptic saddle and puck (replaces old saddle & puck so not too much difference) ------------ 1.02 Kg Losmandy Dovetail -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.67 Kg Primaluce clamp (Used on Losmandy at top for safety to stop rig sliding down when fitting to mount 0.29 Kg Supplied Scope Clamps (420g each x2) ---------------------------------------------------------------- 0.84 Kg Esprit 100ED + Flattener + 20 mm spacer -------------------------------------------------------------- 6.30 Kg Filter wheel + filters -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.78 Kg ASI 1600 MM Camera ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0.43 Kg Vixen Dovetail on top of Main Scope rings to mount guidescope to --------------------------------- 0.47 Kg Guidescope, guidescope mount & Altair Guidescope ------------------------------------------------- 0.85 Kg TOTAL ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11.65 Kg I didn't weight the dew bands and controller for these but they are not much. There looks a lot on there but there was reasoning behind it. The extra clamp under the losmandy is really useful as when lifting the scope you can safely slide it into the dovetail in the clamp and it only slides down as far as the clamp. So you are not trying to hold around 10Kg of expensive gear in one hand while tightening the clamp with the other on a cold night risking the whole lot sliding down onto the deck. Maybe overkill but I really feel much safer this way. Also it marks exactly the right position for balance each time it is mounted. I guess I could save 200 g if I replace with a 3D printed stop somehow. The vixen on top of the main scope was for reason of rigidity to stop any flex between main scope and guidescope but again maybe this could be shorter and save another 200 to 300 g if it is shorter, or maybe if no issue with flexing then I could remove it and save all the 470 g and at same time it would lower the height of the guidescope. So looks like I can easily save around 600 g and lower height of rig together with turning the filter wheel 180 degrees might in effect save 1 Kg and I then should be easily balanced with the two weights. I will let you know when I get this done. Only issue then is the new guidescope will weigh a bit more than the 50mm one I currently use and maybe have to decide do I continue to live with the current guidescope to save weight. Steve

You know I have often thought the same. I have lots of N Gauge model railway stuff, a lot of it never used then there my astronomy gear but I think it may frighten me how much it is worth and also the wife may divorce me when she realises. Steve

Yes on reflection I agree about not adding another weight. I will actually be interested to see what the scope rings weight they are fairly hefty things . I will report back with the weights. If my new guidescope I intend to use is heavier I wonder if a side by side setup would be better, I guess it is a try and see as the guidescope moves closer to the mount but then the added weight of the dual saddle? I did have my Z73 setup like this in early stages but it had the skywatcher guidescope mount which is a great piece of kit but it weights a lot and really I didn't need it, as I always found a guide star without needing adjustment, so when I took it off decided just to reduce weight as much as I could so took the side by side ADM bar off as well and mounted guidescope on top of Z73. Steve

I have fitted a fairly hefty Geoptic saddle and puck so yes that will add some weight to the scope side but it is aluminium and the old clamp and puck were removes so should not be too much extra. Steve

Cheers Adam, I will weigh the rig and take a pic. I am in the middle of fitting a better scope to use for guiding as my current starwave 50 mm is okay but some big halos on the stars, but the new one is heavier so will add to the issue. I also need to look and double check the bar is extending fully, just something I thought of just now. I can't see why it should not be but should check to be sure. Steve

Cheers @vlaiv Yes one reason for posting what seems a very basic question is that I was surprised I might need a third weight. But good tip about filter wheel. It is a 7 position SX USB which is well built and weights a bit and yes I do have it pointing up so will change that. I am really surprised because my previous setup was the same with the exception of the main scope which was a WO Z73 - very light compared to the Esprit but I only has one weight and it was not at end of the unextended bar. So thought I would need two weights but no any more. The guidescope and camera are very light and are on top of main scope but only the width of a vixen dovetail and normal scope rings. Yes I have a slightly longer Losmandy for my Esprit than the very short supplies one so I can balance it easier without having the bar partially out of the saddle but it is aluminium and obviously very close to mount so should not be a big issue. Vixen for mounting guidescope is also aluminium. Let me rotate the filter wheel and see if that gets me in balance, failing that I am just wondering if something is stopping the bar extending fully anyway and it is actually shorter than it is designed to be - I will check when I get home from work. Thanks for the advice 🙂 Steve

It certainly has made a difference 🙂 Steve

+1 APT and platesolving was a Godsend for me in my early stages of AP. Before I discovered this I spent so long finding the image and framing it correctly the clouds were out before I got any proper data. Now I am there in maybe 3 clicks of different command buttons in APT. I am sure lots of apps use platesolving (and yes as you say strictly speaking the work is not done with APT but other software) and are just as easy. I couldn't think of being without it now. Steve

This sounds a silly question as the answer should be obvious (when you find them they often are). But I now have a SW Esprit 100ED which is surprisingly heavy. In addition I have the flattener, filter wheel, and ASI1600 MM camera fitted and currently a fairly lightweight 50mm guidescope and Altair camera. I have not weighed all this lot and perhaps I should. But I had looked about on Google images at pictures of similar setups and the few I found seem to show the HEQ5 with both counterweights attached but not at the very end of the bar. But with my bar fully extended and both weights as far down as I can get it still needs about another 1/2 kilo to balance. It maybe the images I looked at had the extension bar added and I cannot tell. So there must be plenty on this forum with similar setups do you have to use an extension bar or extra weights? If so is it better to get a third 5 Kg weight which means the weights can go nearer to the mount than right at the end of the bar or stick to 2 weights with an extension? Steve

Hi, Welcome to SGL, I have found lots of help on here so you are in good hands. Steve

I have hired a campervan and just had an email to say I have a free upgrade so I should have a fairly large van. So if it is raining anyone is welcome to shelter for a brew at any time, but let's be positive and hope the rain will keep away 🙂 Steve

Maybe the filters they were talking about were for DSLR cameras as these are often stacked to create certain effects as indeed the mounted ones will screw into each other but not sure it would have any practical use in RGB or NB for astronomy, in fact you probably would just block everything getting to the sensor. People often put a light pollution filter of some sort in the train as well as a RGB or NB filter but it is hardly stacking as they are not exactly screwed together. Steve

I would also add that the power issue may not be the only issue. You may have more than one issue (I really hope not), so do not despair if everything does not magically work 100% even after buying a new battery and charger, Hopefully it does but if there is more than one issue you have to address each in turn and put those right. And a good power source is the first thing that looks an issue so address that then see how it goes. Whilst power for me was not an issue I had plenty and it can get disheartening especially when you identify some issue, spend money correcting it and then something else goes wrong. But keep at it when it all comes together you will be so glad you did. Steve

Some really nice clear images thanks for sharing them with us 🙂 Steve

@James is spot on. The battery is not charged. I thought when fully charged but off load these batteries should be nearly 13.8V ? It is okay saying the mount only requires 12V but essentially it is current it needs at or around 12V to operate correctly and I suspect a lead acid battery that measures even 12V without load will struggle to provide the 2A slewing current, and if you put a voltmeter on when slewing I think you will see the voltage drop well down below 12V. You could be lucky and a proper charge from a proper charger may give the battery some life but if it has continuously been drained then only a short top up from a car then it my well be beyond being useful. As above I would get a new battery and charger and make sure it is always fully charged before a session, do not fully discharge and recharge after every session. I would also be tempted to get a bit bigger capacity battery then 7Ah. Steve

No Problem @Amajed I did a bit more searching and came to the same conclusion so I am now the proud owner of an Esprit 100 ED. Clouds not cleared yet for me to use it but I live in hope 🙂 Steve