teoria_del_big_bang

I recently did a Update and Upgrade on my StellarMate OS RPi4 after which it tried to reboot itself but never came back on and whatever I did I could not seem to get it working again,
After plugging a monitor into the RPi every time I rebooted it said there was no firmware.

So having no other choice I reloaded StellarMate OS on my SSD drive. For some reason I did not have my original download of Stellarmate OS so had to download the latest version from their website which of course will have the latest RPi operating software included, which appears to be 5.10.17 V7L.

This worked fine and got Ekos / KStars etc all up and working but I could not load the drivers for my WiFi dongle which has been a Godsend boosting the Wifi and meaning I could discard the 50M Ethernet cable I used to use.
No matter what I tried I could not get the WiFi dongle to work anymore, I even tried several drivers that supposedly work with this dongle bit all complained of missing Kernel headers. Tis is all a bot beyond my capabilities with RPi's and linux. But I did search about loading Kernel headers and had a go but to no avail.

I also looked for another dongle that may use different drivers but unless I use the mini dongles that are not great I think I may have the same issue with them all as I found this warning on Pi Hut:

 So not sure what I can do. I do not have any old versions of StellarMate and on website there is only the latest version available for download, no archives.

I could try going to Astroberry as I think waits a while to make sure there are no issues with new software before including it with their downloads, or go back to using Ethernet andhope it does not affect anything any other third part software on my RPi.

Steve

 

3 minutes ago, Penguin said:

Ok, so if it is that the RA main gear (do you mean the worm gear?) is slightly eccentric, what can I do there? Reseat it? It seems to be binding at the same point every time (at least when going clockwise), with the scope down so not an area it will be in very often. I haven't done the belt mod and I'm not guiding so I appreciate backlash shouldn't be a massive issue for me.

Thinking about it, I am noticing, as @teoria_del_big_bang said, I can feel more backlash in some positions than in others. I'll see where the least backlash is and whether that correlates with the binding.

Dec seems to be fine, nice and smooth, no obvious backlash and no binding anywhere in the rotation.

Without accurate re-machining and sleeving the gears, or getting new gears made that are more accurate, there is nothing easily you can do. I don't think.
It is really just down to the tolerances they allow during manufacture that they allow some eccentricity errors. In true engineering these would be limited to a few micron so negligible, but for relatively cheap goods like these (I know £1000+ is not cheap really but if you look at the cost of precise mounts, relatively it is).
Because of the tolerances some gears will be made with little eccentricity and some may be near the maximum allowed (depending on how good the quality control is some may be over) so I think it is generally pot luck whether you get good ones or bad ones.

You could buy a spare gear, if you can get them, and hope it is better than the one you have but again it is pot luck.
But I would just get it the best you can so that where it is binding it is free to rotate and then a bit of backlash 180 degrees away, but at least then the backlash is the best you can get. I think all of us have to live with these errors in these types of mounts and let guiding correct for it and PEC if you need it.

HERE is a good article on Periodic Errors.

Steve

If it were much sought after, reasonably expensive when new or difficult to obtain then you may get people from most of the UK making offers as it is worth the extra £50+ or so in petrol to pick it up, whereas for something worth under £200 people are not so likely to travel more than a few miles for pick up, otherwise it is actually costing them £250+. So you probably have not so many prospective buyers.

Also if you are still thinking you may sell the scope in the near future it may be financially better to hold onto it in case you do as you may get more for both of them together than selling seperately.

Steve 

Just now, Mark68 said:

How do you get it to look like that.

Mkine looks like this

Isn't that the android version though ?
My screenshot was from Windows.

Steve

I just use the recommended BF from the flattener manufacturer, which as you say 55mm seems to be a common measurement, then add 1/3 thickness of my filters that are after the flattener (so if I have a LP filter in the train but before the flattener that is not included.

So for my setup that is 55.7 mm.
Then I put my spacers together and connect them to the filter wheel, and rotator if using one, and actually measure the total length with digital verniers as accurately as I can and use that distance as the actual distance not what the filter wheel and spacer manufacturers say they are. Then tune the distance in with different spacers until it is as close to the required distance as I can get with my spacers I have.

I then do some imaging and study the stars in the very corners to see if the distance is correct.

I try to have some of THESE thin spacers, or shims, in the set-up and start off with a 0.5mm in there so that if I need to shorten the BF to make stars correct I can take it out, or replace with a 0.3, or I can add spacers or go up to 1 mm until I get the stars perfect, usually being less than 0.3 mm out doesn't really make any noticeable distortion, to my eyes anyway.

So trial and error really I guess.

Very interesting video though and very interested in that optical rig 🙂 

Steve 

I am not sure there really is an alternative.

I am same as you, well maybe not quite because I could probably at least have a permanent pier, and probably an obsy if I ever had the time to get on with it, but mu gear is quite heavy and I am getting on so soon something will have to give.
In all honesty it is not just being unable to fix a pier or obsy but for three years we have been meaning to downsize, but so far not seen anything suitable and Covid didn't speed the move up  help all, so I was a bit wary of doing all the work then moving it all before I really got to use it.

There are things to make moving the gear in and out such as piers on wheels, or some form of wheels to move the setup out, or at least marking the patio for the position of the tripod feet (big washers superglued to patio or similar, so that tripod goes back in almost exact same position each time. Yes you still need to polar align properly if imaging, probably okay for observing. But even when imaging you can align in 2 or 3 minutes at you are almost there anyway.

Apart from that is there nowhere you could fix a pier, smack bang in middle of patio may be ideal but is there nowhere you could talk the missus into being  OK with it ?

Steve

No silly questions, so do not worry on that point.

When you refer to cradle rings are you talking about Tube Rings like this, they are sometimes called cradle rings but more often in UK Tube rings.

You would then mount these rings onto a dovetail, either a Losmandy or Vixen type depending on what your mount takes.

So unless I am misunderstanding your question (which is a good possibility) you do need them both as the tube rings hold the scope and the dovetail is what connects the scope ( and anything attached to it) to the mount.

Steve

That really is a very nice image 🙂

Steve

If there is only 16 of them do you need a batch editor, shouldn't take long to do each one separately.
Do you have PI, that would do it ?

Steve

11 hours ago, johninderby said:

If FLO built houses……..😁

Only in dark sky areas with automatic lights to red at dusk (no floodlights)  now that's what I call a house.

Steve

Stripped the focusser down and I think it is sorted, although not impressed with this mechanism to be honest.

Steve

I have a serious issue with my focusser that I think has been causing me issues probably since I obtained the scope as I have always struggled with auto focus.

When I took my Sesto Senso auto focusser off I noticed that if I move the coarse focus knob by hand I can very (very) easily move it a degree or two before I feel any resistance.
Now the focusser does move a small amount so the knob is working to an extent but if I let go of the knob then the focusser itself slips back to where it was (if winding it inwards) under the weight of camera, FW etc.

But what is worse is that the fine adjustment side does not move at all for this one or two degrees and only starts moving when I feel some resistance.
So under auto focus the fine adjustment shaft will need to rotate a fair amount before it even starts to move the focusser. Now I might expect a bit of backlash or similar but this is huge.

Video might show this better -- does anyone have any ideas how to adjust this out. I have seen several threads on Esprit focussers slipping on the fine adjustments but this is not really sliping as such but backlash, and lots of it.

Steve 

Oh no that's not good, but I would get it back ti whoever the UK distributor is for repair. At £2000 and only 6 months or so old I would get it repaired under warranty
Having fried several bits of kit on Friday (wow Friday never thought of the irony of that one before now 🙂 ) but had wonderful responses from manufacturers and very quick assistance I can only hope for you that QHY, or their UK or European distributors, are as helpful and as quick.
Fortunately it appears up until now the only bit of my rig I did not damage was the QHY268M and its filter wheel, however need to get some proper astro images to prove that for sure.

It is true what @Adam J says about the ZWO only needing 12V for cooling but I do have a feeling I have tried just the USB connected with my QHY and it didn't work without the 12V supply.

Hope you get if fixed soon before the skies clear.

Steve

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

Steve, this is an amazing turn-around.  Fantastic news.  FLO are a main stockist for ZWO, maybe it's worth dropping them a mail to see if they can offer any advice on repair.

Good call, I emailed them and asked I send it to them and they will let me know how much for repair 🙂 

Steve

1 minute ago, Rob63 said:

False hope ?

Yes usually the case 🙂 

Steve

Hello and welcome to SGL.

You do realise that adding the location Yorkshire means you will have perpetual cloudy skies from now on 🙂 
Well it did for me anyway.

Steve

That is so very nice 🙂 

Steve

7 minutes ago, banjaxed said:

Are you by any chance pulling our legs ? 😀

Would I 😉 

Steve

I used to know but have forgotten, what do the Green bits mean ?

Steve

WOW, never had one of these before, maybe I should have a few more disasters -------- OR maybe not (fingers crossed 🤞).

Steve

11 minutes ago, powerlord said:

It's also a good idea imho to get a label printer - and stick labels on the end of your cables saying what they are, and what they are for - I colour code mine for the type of connector, and then label says 'asi224' or 'eq6' or whatever. I know it's a bit anal, but though I've not had it as bad as you, I've let the magic smoke out of plenty electronics in my time, so anything I can do to make it more idiot proof I know is not time wasted.

It's a great idea and something I have done for a while. I have even marked up all my 2.1 and 2.5 connectors so I know which they are as no way of really telling visually (I originally thought the colour of the tip was to indicate the sizes but most of mine are all black tips no matter what they are).
It was just this time I was adding something to my rig, latish on and just was too eager to try it all out before I flicked the on switch. Lesson Learned (again!).

15 minutes ago, powerlord said:

you can't beat the connecting electolytic caps the wrong way around for basic errors - and since usually my face is within 6" of whatever board I'm working on.. the BANG followed by the smell of vingear and my face covered in bits of capacitor never gets old... 🙄

Yup done that, accidently a few times but only with the smaller ones, still makes one hell of a crack though when they go and gets the pulse going a bit.
In my younger days did it on some of the big cans on purpose outside and standing well back 🙂 and they do make a bang.

Steve

2 minutes ago, Shimrod said:

If you have any 'broken' bits left over, its always worth sticking them on Ebay as spares or repair. I've done this is a couple of times with damaged photography kit and I've always been surprised at what people have been prepared to pay for something I would otherwise have consigned to the bin.

Never thought of that, cheers.
It should be just the ZWO camera which I think is repairable as I would think the imaging side will be fine just the USB side. Hopefully will get it repaired and sold on if the cost of repair is viable.
If not I may well try your suggestion 🙂 

Steve

9 hours ago, old_eyes said:

Why is it that whenever clear skies are forecast at my location the moon is guaranteed to be more or less full and high in the sky during astronomical dark?

The last time I was able to open up the observatory, I had to contend with a full moon. Tonight, exactly the same!

Do solar photons bouncing off the Moon exert some weird force on the clouds?

Yes, something I had noticed on those clear nights I actually have had.
I thought it was just a North of England thing, but obviously not.

I can't remember the last time I did any LRGB stuff always seems to be NB this year at least.

Steve

1 hour ago, Ags said:

It's turning from a horror story to a feel-good story!

Ha Ha, yes it is.
I am still mad with myself for being so stupid but it is nice when people are so helpful 🙂 

Steve

Quick update: What great suppliers we have in this hobby - I am overwhelmed with the responses.

Pegasus Astro PPB unit - Pegasus contacted me yesterday and agreed to send me a full new board to fit myself at a much lower cost than a new unit.

Deep Sky Dad Rotator - Pavle contacted me yesterday and he agreed to send me a replacement board at a very good discounted price to fit myself and offered to make a video showing how to fit the board.

PrimaluceLab Senso Sesto focusser - contacted me today to say almost certainly the USB board will have been damaged and offered a repair for 65 Euros (not yet sure if this is including VAT or not but either way still much less than a replacement. I have to send to 365 Astronomy in UK for repair which is better than returning to Italy and after emailing them today they also replied within the hour.

Startech USB Hub - In the bin as it didn't smell very nice but many thanks to @M40 who has so generously offered to send me a 4 port hub he no longer used 🙂 

So that leaves the ZWO guide cam, but I am not sure who can repair this without returning it to China. I do have a Asair one I could use but remember having some issues before with this freezing EKOS when downloading so I have ordered a direct replacement and if I get this one repaired will sell it on later.

So all in all I am quite heartened at the responses I have had from suppliers, none of them in UK, and over the weekend as well.
Not many suppliers in other walks of life will give you this sort of responses so quickly.

Although I am not up and running yet potentially I could be back to normal in a week or two which means if clear skies appear I might now be able to take the rig on Holiday down to a remote area near south coast in a couple of weeks, which I thought would never happen after this disaster.

Clear skies to all and once again many thanks to SGL for moral support 🙂 

Steve