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Hogarth

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Posts posted by Hogarth

  1. Hello
     
    I have a Altair Astro Starwave 130ED F7 refractor (2022 version). I'm looking at putting a 1.0x Flattener on it


    The focuser drawtube has a M92 thread on it

    I was wondering if the TS-Optics M92 1.0x flattener is suitable.. My head say it should work, but wanted to ask anyones opinion of why this wouldn't be a good match
    https://www.astrosho...-0x-m92/p,60621

    Or even the WO Flattener Flat68III which also has a M92 thread on the telescope side
    https://williamoptic...flattener-68iii

    Altair Astro do their own 0.8 and 1.0x flatteners, but the 1.0x flatteners are not due in stock for months according to them when I asked.

    From what I can see the Altair Starwave range looks to be an OEM scope and Orion, TS-Optics etc all appear to do the same models, with slightly different modifications, but again i've read somewhere they are technically the same scope.


    Thanks in advance

  2. Managed two targets this week.. NGC 7822 was just intended to be a practice target, until the Rosette rose.. However I just kept shooting it and with it being a new target for me..

    NGC 7822 (7hr 50mins)
    Location: York, UK
    04/01/2022, 05/01/2022, 07/01/2022
    18 x Ha @ 600s
    17 x Oiii @ 600s
    12 x Sii @ 600s
    QHY 268M Mono Camera @ -10, 56 Gain, Mode 1
    Antlia 2"" Mounted 3nm Ha, OIII, SII Filters
    QHY CFW-L 7x2"" Filter Wheel
    Celestron CGX Mount
    Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 Telescope (550mm f5.5)
    Orion 240mm Guidescope
    ZWO ASI290mm Guide Camera
    PrimaluceLab SestoSenso 2 Focuser
    Pegasus Pocket Powerbox Advance
    PHD v2.6.10
    Nina v1.10 HF3
    Pixinsight 1.8.8-12

    Astrobin Link: https://astrob.in/21lpal/0/

    NGC7822_HA_DRZ_ABE_DC_DN_LRGB-PM_COL_MORE_FINISHED-V1 smalller.jpg

    • Like 7
  3. On 14/12/2021 at 18:11, dazzystar said:

    Brilliant guys...thanks so much for the reply. They've been very helpful. I have heard of Astroberry. If it's the same as Stellarmate, why would anyone buy it? 

    I do want to image and control everything from inside so speed is very important over Wi Fi. Is Windows RDP really that much better?

    The main difference is stellarmate has an app for tablets/phones like ASIAIR does.

  4. 3 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

    I always assumed this was the actual current to hold the motor in place when not in motion but it will not be in amps for sure.
    I doubt the focusser motor will even take an amp when moving full speed with a heavy load and the hold current will be less.

    So I suspect it is just some arbitrary scale with 5 being the maximum current and 1 the lowest but what what that current is I have no idea. Also I suspect the current will be chopped (it will go on and off very fast frequency) to give a better hold but not burn out the motor coils so probably between 1 and 5 the difference in actual current could be quite small, but still I am suprise you can not see any small change in the current on the powerbox.

    All this is my assumption as I too cannot find anything on Google to define what the Hold Current actually is.

    Steve

    thanks.. looking at other generic stepper motors, the hold current appears to be in shown in milliamps.. so maybe its 1ma to 5ma.

    i'll keep looking, hopefully no "communication breakdown before the levee breaks"
     

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
  5. 1 hour ago, Carbon Brush said:

    Suggestion.

    Write down the values before you start adjusting. You can always go back to these.

    Position the focusser vertically. In other words lifting a load against gravity, not hoisting up a gradual incline.
    Add something heavy - like a weight on a string. Heavier than a big eyepiece/camera.
    Also if you drop the load......

    Gradually reduce the run current until the weight is not reliably lifted.
    Gradually reduce the hold current until you can just start to pull the weight down with a little force.

    I'm thinking you will find the motor runs OK with fairly low values set. Now increase these by say 50% and run the scope.

    HTH, David.

    thanks, thats a great suggestion

  6. So I suspect my focuser may be slipping, due to the Sesto Senso 2 not holding it (not proven, but want to rule it out)

    I have two rigs both with seperate Sesto Senso 2's fitted

    The odd thing is, I've read from the factory the default preset is to to Heavy and Slow, but when I look at both mine.. This is indeed true, but the hold current is set to 1 on one focuser and 3 on the other focuser. ( I havent changed this and they were bought from new)

    So I thought i'll just toggle through the three presets and see what the Hold Current changes to. Unfortunatly it sets it to 1 for each preset..

    The manual literally says 
    Hold: set the hold current, when the motor is stopped

    Now if this is amp's, when i change the Hold value to 5 (the max it can be), I see no amp draw difference (I have a Pegasus powerbox, so useful to see the draw being made)

    So the question is what is this Hold value and which is the right value to hold a heavy train. 


    Thanks in advance

    Capture.JPG

    • Like 1
  7. Hey 

    I’m 99% sure this will be to with the laptops power management settings in both the BIOS and/or Windows 10

    you can prove it is this first before adjusting any settings, by simple making your laptop busy whilst using the PM software. (this stops your cpu c1 state kicking in and dropping the cpu speed to save power). Play a YouTube video in the background, then see if your PM and it’s software works as expected. You can do this anytime, indoors etc, as the freezing, glitching occurs irrespective of what it’s pointing at.

    if this seems to solve this issue, you can then go ahead and fix it by turning of any cpu throttling in the bios (every laptop shows this in different ways, but is usually called CPU C1 state, cpu throttling, CPU management, CPU step down.. you get the idea). Also in Windows, choose the high performance power plan.

    I have 5 people on another forum confirm this fixed this issue for them (and also myself, when I moved to a new laptop). It does sound like the same issue your having 

    Love the channel btw. Shameless plug to mine https://youtube.com/c/HogarthUK

  8. On 16/12/2020 at 20:34, gilesco said:

    Can't help but notice you have a Pegasus attached there, how did you go about that?

    (I'm choosing to mount it on something attached to the tube rings).

    Hello

    its literally on some Velcro, which I was skeptical about, but I’ve used some incredible strong stuff. It doesn’t budge and is quite difficult to actually remove the box it’s that hooked on

  9. I have a Esprit 100 and my draw tube is also quite far out to achieve focus.

    also whilst researching back focus on the esprit range , it seems widely accepted the manual is incorrect, well certainly for the 100. The manual says for mine 63mm of back focus when using a FF, but it’s actually 55mm.  I tried mine at 63 and at 55 to test and it’s certainly way better focus at 55mm

    not saying the 120mm manual is wrong, but I would investigate this just to confirm.

     

     

    541EC421-9DC0-46AE-891A-6B945316D4BB.jpeg

    482FA164-54E1-4483-ADA1-6D1F5060F252.jpeg

    • Like 1
  10. Just had a really strange issue with my CGX

    After about 3 hours of imaging, going rather well, I noticed PHD2 start complaining it cannot send any pulse guides to the mount and the current exposure was a total mess of trails. Stopped PHD2 and did a Quick test of a 10 second exposure and sure enough it’s not tracking anymore.

    Noticed in Apt, the R.A. and DEC co-ordinates were all strange negative numbers. Just didn’t look right..(mount thinks it’s suddenly in the Southern Hemisphere ?)

    So told the mount to go home using the hand controller, it started going down towards the ground. Stopped it and shut the power off, move the axis manually back home and switched back on, did a quick home position all good. Packed up for the night.

    Details

    CGX firmware 7.15.9120 (notice a newer one came out in April 2020)

    Starsense hand controller - latest firmware

    Latest ASCOM Celestron driver

    USB Cable from PC to bottom of hand controller

    Star aligned with Celestron starsense

    APT v3.84

    PHD2 2.66

    I was Imaging M81/m82 way past the meridian at the time

    Temp around 3 degrees C

    Location : UK 54 degrees lat. Definitely northern hemisphere

     

    Feels like some odd software glitch.

     

    Anyone experienced this ?

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