Nikolas74

Finally I bought it...and I have done a quick test 1 time only...with the same setup like yours...the field of view with the Redcat51 is too wide , I can't really say the I liked it so much but will check again.

I am happy that I own an Esprit100ED which will give me a better field of view with this camera.

Yes the sensor is large specially if you have used before other camera's , but it doesn't cause any problems except the field of view.

Thank you all so much for your assistance! 

I will check other RDP software but so far Team Viewer was not so bad, also Chrome Remote Desktop is not bad also but simpler in use. 

Anyway the first think was to set up Windows updates not to restart the NUC upon downloading and installing updates anf ofcourse the Power settings not to turn off the NUC after sometime. 

When everything is ready my final test would be to check how it works in 12volts.

👍

I am so amazed on how easy things can be now....

I don't have an observatory but my rig is setup on a pier with wheels.. Now the only thing I have to do is to bring my rig out in the balcony, place it on my floor marks pointing North, make a polar alignment with Polemaster... and after go back to my living room and control everything with my laptop.. 

Currently I am using Team Viewer... Any other recommendations maybe? 

1 hour ago, Space Oddities said:

3M Dual Lock bands

That's good to know I will go to the shop to check tomorrow, its a good idea because I was thinking how to attach it and not fall down. 

1 hour ago, inFINNity Deck said:

And the colour of the illuminated front

I didn't know there is a light there....!! I will check it out. 

What a beautiful little thing 😀 its even smaller than looking at photo, a bit heavier than what expected so it's better to mount it on the pier than on top of the telescope. 

I bought also 16GB of RAM which should be more than enough and an SSD Samsung EvoPlus 250GB.

Now its time to install everything from scratch and make a good solid network with it so I can remote control.... Let's see.... 

I feel like Santa came back for me.... 😁

Wired connections generally speaking yes they are more reliable , in my case is it wired connection from router to NUC or wired connection from laptop directly to NUC ?

1 hour ago, AngryDonkey said:

If you can, then I would recommend wired. You will need a router to plug in the ethernet cable running to your NUC (or just use your existing router). The laptop can then join the same network either by also being connected to the router by a cable or via wifi.

I think i will need a long ethernet cable from the router inside my house to the balcony were the NUC will be, or maybe i can try a wifi extender but then again it's actually wifi connection...the thing is if there are any advantages using a wired connection in terms of speed and not to have disconnection issues due to weak signal or lag etc..

On 20/01/2021 at 12:38, alacant said:

Hi

Why not simply leave your laptop at the telescope and control it using your 'phone/tablet/desktop using vnc/teamviewer/autodesk? From anywhere.

Cheers

Actually just to follow up , i tested the other day and it works pretty well....only that the tablet monitor is small even though 10''inch , it was a bit difficult to press buttons with my finger , i prefer using a mouse and a bigger monitor....but it worked !!

Excellent setups I see here 😀

So I have order mine , the NUC 8i5BEK which is the slim version , I will pick it up tomorrow and start installing all the necessary software.

I chose that over the others because the price difference was very small and maybe in the future I can do processing directly in the nuc than in my laptop.

I was wondering what would be the best solution for remote connection , wired or over wi-fi ?

If wired ,then do I need a cable to run from my laptop to the NUC outside ?what kind of cable usb or CAT5/6 ?

Anyone knows if the NUC's need ventilation for high temperatures in summer? 

Actually i am after in one of these two options :

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc8i3bek.html 

or , 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/boards-kits/nuc/kits/nuc8i5bek.html

I think they should be more than enough for what i need them for...There was a post in cloudy nights and someone claimed that even with an Intel Celeron processor we can do the job...but i think Celeron is too old , yes maybe cheaper by £100

8 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

Why not simply leave your laptop at the telescope and control it using your 'phone/tablet/desktop using vnc/teamviewer/autodesk? From anywhere.

Cheers

I didn't try that yet but it's worth an effort , although my laptop is expensive and i feel sorry to leave it outside in winter time.

19 minutes ago, Skipper Billy said:

here you go.....  

 

Thank you very much for the information given...

I have already contacted Tim about the USB Extender..he is selling it at an excellent price..but I think he prefers to give it away in UK. 

Just wanted to ask how do you power up your Nuc? 

I have a Pegasus Astropocket power box that gives 12volt, 10amps...could that work? 

I know that not all Nuc's work with 12volts so this is another point to check before buying..... 

37 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Just get a raspberry PI, it will do the lot with Astroberry....cheap and very small....you can run it all from that, or just use it as a INdI driver server on the mount, and then run the Kstars software from your indoor PC, completely wireless........ 👍🏼

I am going to have a look again about the raspberry Pi, now i see there is a version 4, I think its the newest.

I am afraid that it will be complicated to buy cables, housing etc and all the other spare parts it may need... 

Just looking for Nuc as it looks like a more ready made solution.. and more easy for me to understand how it works. 

Just to buy memory RAM and hdd and install Windows. 

I have started also to think how can i remote control my telescope mount and rig for the cold nights of winter, so i can stay inside my room with my laptop and remote controlling my telescope outside.

So i start reading and looking everywhere for options..

My first option was a Usb extender over cat5/6 cable since the distance is only 15 meters of cable , from my room to the balcony.....make a small hole on the wall pass the cable and that's it....but , there were a few concerns like 5v of power , is it going to work flawlessly or am i going to have delays or disconnections ?? etc, plus the fact that it was almost half the price of buying an intel nuc.

Then i checked about the USB active cables , but then i would need a bigger hole in the wall to pass the cable out and still i was reading about connection problems and disconnection issues.

Now i am checking for an Intel Nuc , there are a lot of threads here about them and many people use them with success , but there are so many options available which makes it so much difficult to choose the one that would be appropriate for just capturing images and remote operation etc..

Small versions vs Tall versions ?

Core i3 or core i5 ? 2.3Ghz or 3.80Ghz or more ?

Which generation ? 8th or 10th ?

Which Graphic card ? is it important ? Iris 655 or UHD ?

Which hard disk drive ? SSD or SATA ?

If someone could be kind enough to give me some advice on what to look for before buying one of these , i would much appreciate it...

Many thanks, 

Nikolas.

Yeap !!! i had better success by levelling the camera to the horizon and just going a bit backwards so i can get the whole field of view of my balcony.

I used Google Street View app on my phone and it works perfectly to take panorama's , i have tried also the Binostitch which is not bad.

I will try to experiment more , i think i can get it much better and of course i must check it at night to see if everything match.

You see, its the wall above that blocks my FOV , the telescope goes at the right corner side as far as i can place it so to have more of the sky at night.

Thank you all for helping.

Tomorrow I will take a new image....

one thing I discovered and it's very important is that if you want to rotate the image to match the cardinal points let's say angle_rotatez = 24 you must insert the number as 024...

Excellent I will read it !

Just a quick notice....the angle of my camera sitting on a tripod was not straight at the horizon but looking at the sky like a telescope on a mount..

Many thanks I will check again everything that you have mentioned....maybe I will try to make a new image...

Many thanks for your answer , 

I have found out that if i put angle_rotatez = 332 then North is exactly where it should be ,but then again i have a problem like the above.....the Sun isn't located where it should be when doing a visual check.....

Could it be on the way i made my panorama image starting from South ?

I am posting a photo to be more clear.....

The Sun in the following photo shouldn't be there....normally is more on the left at this time of the day behind the buildings....It should be somewhere close to my flowers.

I don't know how can i fix that......

If i could rotate my panorama image ????

That is weird......

I made my panorama image , I placed in the .ini file the correct angle rotatez for North after finding the correct position using 3 different apps on my telephone , but , this morning as I did a visual check with Stellarium and the position of the Sun , the Sun in Stellarium was in another position as the visual..

What you think ?

I believe for 2 things , first to check my coordinates put on the .ink file because I think I didn't put them in the correct formats...the other is to check Stellarium time zone...

1 hour ago, TerryMcK said:

I just stood by my scope and did a 360 photo with my iPhone and pointed it level at the horizon (which I estimated). You can fine tune the position of it within Stellarium.

So actually the camera was looking straight to the horizon or pointing up like a telescope on mount?