teoria_del_big_bang

It works for me 🙂 

Steve

1 hour ago, david_taurus83 said:

I would say try the things you think are least likely to be at fault. I had connectivity issues with my cameras and it turned out to be my old W7 laptop. If you haven't got another laptop or PC to try you could try a session with sharpcap. You can connect to all the kit in that as well. It would at least rule out APT.

Good idea 

Mt setup has run for about 5 hours today taking darks but changing filter each time with camera at -20 without putting a foot wrong. Typical, if that were a real clear night session odd it would have been different.

Steve

19 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

What have you plugged the FW into? Have you tried via the 1600 hub? I'm sure its powered off the power supply to the cooler.

Normally it is plugged into the 1600 hub and I originally used the flat USB leads provided with the camera and then with a 0.3M  Cromo USB cable. Had same issue with both leads. Power supply is a 5A supply the one recommended for these cameras from FLO .

I am pretty sure I have had the issue when plugged into a startech powered usb hub but my memory not great so not totally sure on this.

Steve

Thanks for the replies, I agree about the issue with poor USB cables and hence a few months ago spent a fair bit on replacing all I had with the Lindy Cromo range making sure they were no longer than required. I currently have the filterwheel connected to the usb2 hub on the ZWO camera via a 0.3M lindy cable but I have tried with a cable through an expensive usb 3 hub as well.

But it is encouraging that nobody suspects an issue with the FW itself as I really like it apart from this issue.

I am currently trying the test Olly suggest and running sequences without the -20C and I will also try with a cable direct back to laptop and no hubs unvolved.

Steve

I have a Starlight Xpress USB filter wheel which has my ZWO 1600 mm pro camera mounted as closely coupled as it will go.

Every time so far I have had used the setup for more than a couple of hours the filter wheel seems to fault.

I am using APT and when trying to get a nights worth of data using LGRB filters everything starts out fine but a few hours later it seems at some stage in the plan APT lost communication with the filter wheel, but no fault appeared and the plan continued to go through to completion just stop changing filters. When I manually try to connect to the filter it wont.  

Sometimes I can manage to get it going again (not sure how yet as when I do it was by closing programs and restarting them and maybe remobing power to FW).

One thought I have is that it is due to the camera running at -20C which then makes the fiter wheel -20C and causes issues with the electronics.

Has anyone had similar issues ?

I am thinking of getting a ZWO filter wheel as this should just work wit the ZWO camera but I do like the starlight one as I have 1.25" wheel and 2" wheel that can be changed easily. As far as I can see if I wanted to progress to 2" filters with the ZWO then I have to but another full wheel assemby I have not seen the filter mounts sold seperately.

Also do not want to splash out £300 if this can be fixed.

Any advice?

Steve

Very nice, clear image with lots of detail.

Certainly worth clicking on the picture to see the full image.  This is the type of image I aspire to obtain - one day I will but still on the learning curve as yet 🙂 

Steve

Nothing much I can add to all the comments above - that image is simply stunning 🙂 

Steve

I did have server enabled but I think because APT was running under administrator it also runs EQMOD as Administrator which means PHD cannot use the same instance unless it also runs as administrator.

Steve

After hours trying to get it to work I think I have found a possible reason.

I had APT set to run in Administrator mode but not PHD. If I set them both to Administrator mode then it seems I can connect both to the mount, I am now not sure whether both should be in this mode or both not in Administrator mode.

OK I am pretty much aware that there is a very simple answer to this and I am being a numpty but can somebody give this dummy a push 🙂 

How do I connect APT and PHD to the mount.

I can stat APT first and connect it to the mount using "EQMOD HEQ5/6" and it connects okay.

And the EQMOD opens as normal.

But then when I open PHD and try to connect to the mount it opens a 2nd instance of EQMOD which of course cannot then connect to the same mount.

I sort of understand why I get the error, and obviously the same happens if I open PHD first that will connect but the APT will not, but cannot see what to connect to as both applications have to communicate with same mount. I have tried connecting to POTH hub and Generic Hub. APT will connect to POTH hub but not Generic hub but PHD will not connect to either.

????????????????

Steve

9 hours ago, Gina said:

Bedrock is the best base of all.

yabba dabba doo!",

That's an Amazing sketch.

This is not my particular area of interest (mostly because I can't draw for my life) but I like to look at the sketching threads as I am amazed what some people can draw and the effort that goes into it. After all this is how it all started with the first telescopes and early astronomers. 🙂

Steve

If there is only 800Kg then you will not have  lot left over as you need 710 KG. If you need to use all up then you could either just make it a tad bigger with the extra bag of cement or just dig the hole a bit deeper and line the bottom of the hole with some dry ballast (around 1/8 of the bag).

Maybe just check with wickes what the weight of the bag is.

Steve

1 hour ago, souls33k3r said:

blimey ... that's a lot of concrete. 

If i go for what John has done which is 75cm in all areas, that comes to 0.4218 m3 ... now i know that whether i go for 75cm or  the 2feet version, it will be either between 0.3 - 0.4 m3 ... i'm very naive on this subject so should i look to keep a 1:4? I was looking at one of these bad boys. https://www.wickes.co.uk/Tarmac-Ballast---Jumbo-Bag/p/131896 . Now this is where my inexperience comes in to play. I have no idea if this is all that i'll need for what i want to achieve? 

I am not a professional builder but have done plenty of building in the garden and so far everything is still standing.  I would use a 3:2:1 mix

3 parts aggregrate , 2 parts coarse sand and 1 Portland Cement

You can use the calculator here:-

Concrete Mix Calculator

I am assuming the Wickes jumbo bag is the same size as what is often called tonne bags available from most builders merchants. Which is a bit misleading as I think they are generally 800Kg and not a metric tonne.

So you need 6 bags of cement (25Kg), 11 bags sharp sand (usually in 25 or 30 Kg bags) not soft sand as used in mortar, and 21 bags of aggregate (25 or 30 Kg).

The jumbo bag of ballast is actually both concreting sand or sharp sand AND aggregate mixed in the right ratio and is usually much cheaper than buying in seperate 25 Kg bags. So this replaces the sand & aggregate and just needs cement and water adding.

So 1 jumbo bag of Ballast will be a bit more than the 0.7 tonnes you need + 6 bags of cement would suffice and will be the cheapest way I would think. I might be tempted to get 7 bags of cement just in case you get the quantities a bit out as you do not want to run out of cement before the foundation is done  as it should be poured all in one go ( can be several mixes pored one after each other). Personally I would be tempted to put some rebar in as well.

Steve

Welcome to SGL and amazing images for such a short time of owning a scope.

Steve

16 minutes ago, Vangelis said:

Hi folks. Just took delivery of a new EQ6R.  My problem is how do I secure the polemaster adapter to the mount? You can't get access to the grub screws once you sit it in the mount. Yes theres the big screw knob but that just secures the actual polemaster body to the adapter.  And the grub screws to secure the camera to the other red bit are accessible as this half sits onto the adapter but what about the other bit that sits in the mount? Am I being really dumb here? 

 

 

 

Hi,

Is it not the same as other Polemaster mounts such as the HEQ5 etc ?  For those you separate the lower adaptor ring from the camera and fix that to the mount, which means you can get to the grub screws through the opening. Then when secure refit the camera and secure with the big screw.

I do not have one of these wonderful mounts (YET) so forgive me if there is a different method for these 🙂 

Steve

Would something like this do?

4 channel 12V relay board

Steve

Wow, what a discussion this is.

I have only just seen this thread and just read from start to the latest post. My passion at the moment is imaging but love to read threads about any aspect of Astronomy on often read observing threads as well as loads of other aspects of Astronomy.

I am not experienced enough in any form of Astronomy to say what is right or wrong (if there is a wrong?)  but a couple of things I would like to comment on.

• Congratulations to all for having what sounds to be a fairly heated debate at times from people with a passion for their particular aspect of this hobby without verbally abusing anyone for their opinion. That is what a good Forum is about and believe me I have been on countless others (not astronomy related) where the language does get somewhat offensive. 
• But having said that it does appear a very small minority that use NV are being ostracised from where they feel they want to be included (i.e. as observers) for no other reason than the true observers (which I admire greatly and do read many observing reports despite not being my area of interest) feeling it is not really observing.
• If it was the small minority wanting to break away then I would say yes a separate section is required and fine as there is still a large section of members left in the observing section, and they can still know where to find any NV reports if they wish and minorities should be catered for. But until there are many more than 3 or 4 that would post in that section I would say it is not required.
• My thoughts are that often we create too many sub sections and try to get everyone in a defined section. We have some wonderful images in NB showing wonderful colours. But these are not true colours. So as I take images in RGB should I not really want to see NB images in this section ? and probably both would offend somebody imaging in B&W as this is probably more realistic to the true image.

Sorry for going on but I think what I am trying to say is leave the small minority in the section they feel comfortable in. They must only contribute a small percentage of the posts in that section so anyone from the majority that are true purists that accidentally opens up a NV thread will soon realise and can soon close it again and move to the next thread.

And please nobody take offence to my very simplistic view I do not mean to offend any form of this wonderful hobby / obsession.

Steve

I had read the thread already on this section about 365 Astronomy and it had some very mixed reviews, some saying very good and others not so.

So reading these normally I would not order from them BUT it was the only site I could find suitable replacement Latitude adjustment bolts for the HEQ5 from in UK without resorting to Ebay. The price was very reasonable and postage reasonable at £3.85 so I ordered them.

And they appeared through my letterbox almost before I hit the return key. Super fast delivery, I can only report my experience with them and had absolutely no issues.

Steve

it happens ? 

Steve

23 hours ago, Moonshane said:

Obviously here ?

So that is what that is for. You learn something new everyday on this site ? 

An absolutely marvellous achievement, you well deserve a glass or two ?

Steve

51 minutes ago, Obi Wan Ken00bi said:

The new love of my life!! 

You must remember to take her out now and again ?

Steve

Nice. Now you just need some sun ? 

Steve

If that is a first I would be very proud of that image. Nice work 

I am just about to start using narrowband / RGB for the first time soon (weather permitting) after starting out with a DSLR. If I can manage anything half as good I will be very happy.

Steve

Fantastic image, so much detail in there it is hard to know where to look first. 

Steve