Xsubmariner

Thanks for the explanation I will review the links you provided.

Would you care to expand on the issues you are experiencing with a bend knee mounted system. I have been thinking of getting one made for the ROR observatory.

I used a roller gate motor kit that came with all the necessary toothed drive sections. Some minor alterations to the motor external fittings enabled me to mount the motor on the wall. As Olly said you need to mount the toothed rail sections to a solid rail, I didn’t think of using a piece of angle iron so welded some steel pieces to create a long steel rail which was mounted to the roof. The toothed rails that came with the motor kit were then fixed to the steel rail. Two roller microswitches are used for roof fully open and closed stops. One can be seen to the left of the motor, the second is next to it. To ensure the roof would never close until the mount and telescope were safely parked, I used the 12v motor inhibit circuit and fed a wiring loop to the mount which was only complete when 2 magnetic reed switches were closed. The reed switches were positioned on the mount such that they only closed when the mount parked. All in the total cost of materials was about £150. The motor kit also comes with 2 remote controllers.

Welcome and watch out for the Astrophotography bug, once bitten it takes over.

I have been asking for dual camera working on SGP for a few years and found running 2 instances of SGP slow and less than optimal, now I don’t bother. Mesu wise I have only observed one issue which was the mount flipping back and forth between the East and West side of the pier during its centre on target function, after commanding an early meridian flip in SGP after the system reports insufficient time to complete frame.

The SCT is the f8 LX850 variant with the updated focuser so an improvement on previous versions. I have a biggish refractor and enjoy experiencing the variation in different telescope characteristics. Thanks for the information reference Prism, I will look up the application specifics.

I hear you jonk, but them there is the 3rd party focus controller, mount controller, sequence generator I.e Nina or Apt or SGP that doesn't function correctly without the necessary software updates. Boy this hobby is fun with plenty of software tinkering.

There is enough tinkering with the RC, computerised accessories, camera spacing, flat fields and not least software updates and changes. I like my trouble free, zero maintenance mounts which have allow me to focus on image capture and processing. Putting the systems together is great fun also. Now if only I could get maintenance/update free Windows 10.

Hi dan-Asi, may I enquire what application you used to create the Seeing and star elongation graphs? This week I acquired a Mesu 200 non MK2, from a very nice gentleman who stored the mount for 5 years having acquired another premium mount prior to the Mesu delivery. I was unsure if a “never used” Mesu stored for that time would have some stiction problems, I needn't have worried. Commissioning the mount yesterday with a 12” Meade ACF load everything is working as it should. I will never tire of watching these mounts move large loads so effortlessly, smooth and quiet. Now looking forward to seeing how this mounts operational performance compares to my 2 Mk2 mounts. After the challenges of my first premium mount, CEM120EC2 and then the PEC, T Point, re-greasing and worm drive adjustment demands of a Paramount MX. I love the fact that the Mesu needs no more than an initial plate-solve on startup and then it centres on DSOs to within 3 pixels in 2 or less plate-solves. The guiding is excellent with the apparent limiting factor being the PA and seeing. If my Mesu’s deliver the long reliability experienced by Olly I will be a very contented man. Bring on the longer nights.

Have you tried re-drying the desiccant, if not that would be my first option. There is a link in the manual to guide the process. Good luck with the camera, they are a great CMOS camera, mine had to be sold to help fund an IMX455 based unit.

My first thought was icing or condensation, have you tried desiccating the camera. My first generation ASI 071 used to show this type of effect.

Anyone know how thick the Ultra NB filters are?

I have the Rigel dome rotation system and have a shelyak controller to manage the Dome position via computer. Word of advise, check the cabling to the drive motors and circuit board connections, mine had become brittle on the solder joints likely corrosion. Other than that it is working fine.

You are right Prathab, the problem is getting worse. I recently noticed I am now having to bin about 10% of my frames due to Sat trails. The other night, a single 5 min frame had the most so far, 5 trails crossing at different angles. The situation will only get worse now Canada and several other countries want to put up their own Sat broadband constellations. Using Pixinsight I can still see the trails in my images, I use weighted batch preprocessing and it doesn’t fully eliminate the Sat trail. Does anyone have a specific data process that improves Sat trail removal?

I would definitely consider investing in a raid storage system. I have been running a QHY600 mono with my ROR rig since end Dec and even with the limited UK opportunities and a relatively small selection of target Image sets I found my PC (i7) slowed up last week, reason found - the master drive had accumulated 1 Tb of image data in 3 months. For information: each Fits file is 29.878Kb (2x2) and 119.484Kb (1x1), each Master Pixinsight light frame is 179.234Kb and 716.876Kb respectively. I have now changed what files I keep and installed 8Tb backup drives on each PC. I can only imagine how much data you will be collecting given your excellent site/setup.

Hi and welcome to SGL, now the AP fun starts and looking forward to seeing some images. Martin

Both Mesu’s did a brace of MFs last night using the same settings, with only one anomaly. One of the Mesu’s initiated the MF before an SGP image had finished, so SGP carried on then attempted shutdown siting the guide star was lost, I may have inadvertently configured a telescope setting wrong in SGP and will compare the 2 PCs.

Hi and welcome Cosmic Monk, I used to visit the bases in San Diego and always tried to get Humphrey’s Half moon inn, the live music was great. Martin

All the flat cables that came with my cameras were binned on opening, didn’t want to risk cross contamination with my collection of healthy pedigree USB stock.

Thanks Dr-ju-ju, I reviewed the data on the link and as you say, was not brave enough. What is interesting is how Win 10 has removed the ability of the PC owner to check the USB bandwidth allocation for their PC. This would be vital information to determine the best port allocation for your given system. USB conflicts/disconnects and communication is the biggest fault generator in my observatories and has cost me so much imaging time. Ho Hum back to system fault finding.

I also have the Asi120 mm (USB 2.0 variant) as guide camera on one of my rigs and it has been working fine for ages using SGP & PHD2 with either Atik383 or Qhy 268c or 1600mm on a dual rig setup. Following a recent camera shuffle I now have the 120 guiding and a QHY268M and 1600mm pro as imaging cameras on the dual rig arrangement. During the 2 nights I have finally managed to get some imaging done I have encountered problems with the PHD guide camera (120) image fluctuating and acting strange., this was while imaging with the QHY as the main imaging camera and while the 1600 was connected to the USB hub but not operating within any SGP program. While I encountered the problem I attempted to deselect and reconnect the 120 camera with device under PHD, making sure I chose 120 as opposed 1600, then selected 8 or 16bit then connect. This seemed to recover the guiding for a short period, then the image/guiding problem started again. In the end, the only way I recovered the imaging session after repeated guiding problems was to disconnect the 1600 from the USB hub, then everything worked fine for the remainder of the evening. Now I know this setup used to work fine on the dual imaging rig so something has changed to cause the problem, while a Windows 10 update would be my first suspicion (as I have had so many problems with these in the past), or some other software SGP (SGP is limited to 3.2 variant as I choose not to subscribe), PHD2 or ZWO. I don’t think this will be a quick solve. Hay Ho.

Hi and welcome, your first priority is to get to know your new scope, upgrades can wait until you’ve determined what aspects of this hobby you want to take further. Martin

Hi Dave, welcome to SGL. Astrophotography with the SW150p on the EQ3-2 will be a challenge.

Reference the new cap I’m more interested if it make a good seal for Dark frames, the cheap clip on that came with mine let’s in lots of light so is useless for darks. Can someone advise how the new cap performs for darks.

Hi Mark, welcome back and good that you have rebuilt your setup. Martin