Astro-Geek

Yes, no argument there, the random facets of the individual surface particles of the flocking absorb any light from deflecting down to the mirror. Unlike the smooth surface of the metal tube.

Yes, an important point. When I paint my Newtonian focus tubes, I mask any area that will have friction afterwards, so I don't paint the inside for the depth of any inserted eyepiece, and I only paint the outside at the bottom, the part that extends into the OTA, and I'm careful to not get any where the roller bearings press against it.

I'm fortunate enough to observe from an area with quite low light pollution (Bortle 4), and the nearest street light is about 5 miles away 🙂, so it's difficult to compare the before and after for general viewing given other variations in conditions. Probably the best indicator I have is during bright moon periods there's far less reflection down the tube when I'm trying to view deep space objects close to its glow. Also, when applying the paint in the daytime, the difference when looking along the tube after it has dried is markedly less reflective than the manufacturer's standard matt black paint.

I used some of its predecessor, "black 2.0" to paint the inside of a 250mm GSO newtonian and it was indeed much better than any matt black paint I'd tried before. Most so called matt black paints may appear to be non-reflective when viewed face-on, but at an angle they usually become surprisingly reflective. Hence people resorting to flocking or baffles. The black 2.0 was very good though, almost as good as flock, and much easier to apply. I also covered the spider vane, back and edge of the secondary, the part of the focus tube that protruded into the OTA, and all of the fixing nuts inside.

"A field rotator", mmmm... I hadn't thought of that. 👍

The helpful replies to this post have confirmed my previous research ( sigh... 🤓) I'll probably stay with my 12 inch goto Dob and use the EQ6 with my other scopes, as before. I'll have to get round the field rotation with either an EQ platform or maybe in the software. Thanks for the replies.

Thanks for the detailed reply Rich. Yes, the bigger secondary mirror making visual less contrasty is my main concern, as it can't be remedied by add-ons.

I've read quite a few threads on here and elsewhere on the Internet where people have asked the same question. There seems to be a consensus that extension tubes will enable enough focus range for eyepieces, that the additional light path blockage of the larger secondary mirror will reduce the contrast slightly, and they need Coma correctors even for eyepieces to get acceptable sharpness over the whole field for visual. They've started to appeal to me for a number of reasons. I like using Binoviewers, and if I could achieve focus with its hollow nosepiece rather than its 1.8 barlow, that would be a big plus for me. My 200PDS doesn't have enough in-focus for that, despite also being shorter for prime focus with cameras.(maybe the tube shortening is to a lesser extent with those than Quatros ?) They have physically shorter OTA tubes, so I may be able to use quite a large aperture one on my EQ6 Pro without it becoming too unwieldy. Ideally, I would prefer a 300, then I could dispense with my wheeled Skywatcher 300p goto Dob, giving me more room in my Skyshed Pod. There are many opinions on forums that a 12 inch is too much payload for an EQ6, especially for AP, but if it was a Quatro, maybe the much shorter tube would make it more stable, even though it's about the same weight ( 21kg) ? A 250 Quatro is much lighter, around 14kg, and hardly any longer than my 200PDS, but I do like my 300 Dob's light gathering power and max magnification when conditions permit. Apologies for yet another of my long rambling posts, but I guess I'm interested in hearing from anyone that uses a large Quatro as their main scope for visual as well as AP, and also anyone that uses a 250 or 300 Netwonian on an EQ6 Pro..... 🤓

USB Hubs (mostly 3.0) can be quite a lottery with certain hardware drivers. One of my other money pits is Computer VR with flight sims. When I started using my Oculus Rift, it had several room sensors, and only one or two specific named USB 3.0 hubs would co-operate with them. 😬

Thanks again to everyone who replied with help on this, and especially Malcolm who persuaded me to try changing some of the ICs as well. It hasn't actually solved it, but it has confirmed that the fault must be the main pre-programmed PIC chip, which is likely to have copy-protected parts to its firmware, so that's a show stopper. Nothings been lost though, the ICs were only a pound or two, and I now understand the circuit much better and I am confident at replacing surface mount ICs now ! It's now just a question of waiting for replacement to become available through the importer, when China resumes supplies.

It didn't even like the straight USB 3.0 ports on the NUCs motherboard !

,,,and yet another "wrinkle" to this.... 😬 I've been tidying the (rats nest) wiring around my EQ6 wheeled pier, and the Synscan USB then refused to connect again ! Went over all the red herrings first, (drivers, win 10 permissions etc.) to no avail. It turned out that the USB lead from it will only work in my NUC PC's single USB 2.0 port. No connection via any of the USB 3.0 ports, or the (good quality) powered USB 3.0 hub. I'm still very happy with it though. Once you have it tamed it works with so many other things, and in either of my EQ and AZ mounts. I wondered if the tiny little box was just a Prolific serial to USB adapter, so I tried connecting my EQ6 with my skywatcher RJ45 serial cable to my prolific serial-USB adapter lead. That connects to Stellarium ok, but the windows Synscan Pro app refuses to connect, so there must be some other circuitry in there.

Sorry for the delay in replying, the sky was clear so I was having a look at the new Moon, just before the clouds rolled across it, (thank God for permanent Obsys..) 🤓 ..Wow, thanks for all the detail. Yes, the goto Dobs (Skywatcher and Orion) have "dual encoders", and the ability to push to saves a lot of time with big slews. I'll read through your suggestions a few times then give them a try tomorrow in the Obsy (it's too big to drag indoors !)

I'm using my skyshed POD a bit differently to most people I think. Instead of using a permanent pier in the centre, I use an EQ6 Pro mount on a wheeled pier and a 12" goto Dobsonian on a wheeled trolley. This enables me to position either scope in the best position for the night's intended viewing targets and avoid the zenith being obscured by the dome hemisphere. It's quite stable even though it's on an elevated wooden deck becuase I reinforced the centre underneath with unistrut steel rack. I initially used vinyl lino on the floor inside to cover the plank joints but that still caused a problem with moving the heavy wheeled mounts because it tended to ruck up. I thought I'd give some cheapo laminate click lock flooring a go, and it has worked out really well. The surface is now really hard, so the wheels move very easily, and yet are easily anchored with the corner jacks. I pre-assembled the planks in the lounge and cut the 80 inch circle after marking it out (each piece at a time with a jigsaw), and then re-assembled it in the dome. I sealed the edges with a silicon bead, so it should be ok with the very occasional drips. If it was more leaky I'd have needed to use vinly clicklock instead of laminate clicklock, because that is impervious to water. I used two 2.5 sq metre packs at £16 each. (SWMBO still moaned though, something about the house taking second place........ 🤓)

Keep them coming..... 🤓 (please) I don't think it could be the RJ45 lead because it is the AZ slave board that has the fully operational motor, so that is working perfectly together with the single RJ45 connection to it. That's why it's so tantalising, the "master" Alt board is able to run the synscan hand controller and power and operate the slave AZ board, and yet it can't get any response from "its own" directly connected Alt motor connections.....

Thanks for the further replies, all ideas gratefully received..... Yes, the circuitry in the goto Dobs differs from most other goto motor boards in having two almost identical layouts, one for each axis. This photo shows the pair, the one on the left is the AZ from the base and the one on the right is the ALT from the left side trunnion. The Alt acts as the "master" with the coax power input, handset RJ11 (because it's an altaz mount), and the RJ45 to the RJ45 socket on the "slave" AZ board and motor. Yes, each board has connectors on it for the motor and encoders closest to it. So as they're identical, there's probably redundant circuitry on the "slave" AZ board, even though it has empty solder points for the missing sockets.

Well I have to admit a further wrinkle to this, and it is indeed due to the way Windows mis-handles the Prolific drivers when left to auto-install. When I posted that I thought I'd cracked it by running SynscapPro in administrator mode, I'd forgotten that I had tinkered with the drivers as well. I've now installed it on my Obsy NUC pc, and the SynscanPro app wouldn't connect via the Synscan USB adapter. I then remembered installing the Prolific driver downloaded from the Skywatcher website. I did that, but then there was another glitch, it still wouldn't connect. I then looked at the prolific Com port in windows device manager and selected "update" driver, I then specified "I will select from a list" rather than auto, and in the list there were two Prolific drivers, one dated 2016, and the other dated 2018. Windows had still auto selected the older one, despite me running the Prolific driver installer from Skywatcher. I manually selected the newer 2018 one, and then rebooted (important), and it now works fine.

Thanks for the very detailed reply Malcolm. Yes, as each of the two identical motor sub-assembles still function perfectly when the two (almost identical) driver boards are swapped over, I'm relieved that all indications point to just the main "ALT" MC004 motor board. After gratefully received helpful suggestions on this thread, I've tested the voltage at various points and the resistence of inductors and the momentary "kick" of the capacitors with a multimeter. I have middle of the road abilities in un-soldering and re-soldering most surface mounted components on the board, (temp controlled iron, sucker etc.), but yes, the chips are certainly out of the question for me, even though it's not a multi layer sandwich pcb. I'd happily order a new replacement board and have tried most UK and EU spares stockists, but the current extreme circumstances has resulted in understandably vague quotes of "several months", so I'd prefer to not be tied into any specific open ended delivery date order. I did contact OVL, and they did reply two weeks ago to say that the factory advised them that "a different one was available now" and they were seeking further clarification. No further reply yet though. I guess it's probably just a coincidence, but initially I was able to get a replacement MC004-Alt board form Teleskop Express, but when it came it was a completely different type, with a completely different model number, as explained on this thread: It's curious though, it was exactly the same size, with the same fixing hole centres, and had the same flying lead connectors on it, but it had absolutely no components on it at all, no chips, inductors, capacitors etc.. so I can only guess that it was some sort of breakout board for testing possibly ? (there were additional lead connectors on it, to presumably couple it up to another board). Teleskop Express were very good though, they immediately sent a postage paid EU express return label, and have refunded me in full.

Thanks for the encouragement, I did find the correct firmware loader and motor controller firmware on the Skywatcher website, and you were quite right, it was a straightforward turnkey operation. MC Firmware loader v1.74 and DOB Goto Motor Controller Ver 209.mcf I connected it to my PC via the skywatcher cable from the RJ11 on the handset to an RS232/USB adapter in the PC. The firmware loader identified the existing motor firmware as v 2.9.98 It then went from 1% to 100% of programming "MCU1", then after a few seconds, said that the update had failed, and to try again. I did it three times, but with the same result. When I then started the Synscan in the normal way, it was the same symptoms as before, it went through the startup tests, and then I could operate the left/right AZ axis successfully, but the moment I tried the up/down ALT, the motor didn't move, and the controller froze. I'm confident that both of the motors themselves are ok, because when I fit the Alt board to the AZ motor and the AZ board to the Alt motor, then the Alt motor moves the scope up and down, and then the AZ freezes with no movement. It's tantalsing me, the fault appears to be something quite minor (though I could be quite wrong), with no apparent problems to the power circuit, because it runs one axis, powers the handset, and even allows the firmware loader to communicate with it, up to a point. Getting a replacment board appears to be a hopeless task for several months under the current circumstances, I've tried everywhere.

Yes, I noticed the comments about problems with Prolific in my search, prior to posting. I think I may be ok for the moment with the lack of IDs though, I'm only using one serial adapter. Windows keeps coming up (down) to my expectations......

I've cracked it at last.... 🤓 It was bl**dy Windows 10 again. When using the SynscanPro app with the Synscan USB Dongle, you need to edit the "connect setting" to "serial". Quite logical, and that's what I was trying to do, but the setting kept reverting back to "network" as soon as the mouse button was released. I then tried it on my notebook, which had a slightly older version of Win 10, and it worked ! I was able to set it to serial and connected ok. So I went back to my main PC and tried to run the SynscanPro App as "Administrator" - Bingo ! it then worked and held the "serial" setting and after I chose the correct com port (from Device manager), it connected and controlled my mount. 👍

I'd missed that, the incriminating text being an image. Still bl**dy annoying though, when you think that ebay goes to such great lengths to prevent genuine honest private sellers from giving an email address in the description, because they're paranoid about sales outside their control (and cut)...... I've tried all sorts of work-arounds in order to communicate with sellers or buyers to send or recieve high res photos etc.., but then Ebay gets nasty and sends a snotty email about "suspicious" activity.....

It's dissapointing that Ebay doesn't take immediate action against listings like that. I've seen several over the past few months, with ridiculously low start prices and then the obviously bent instructions to "phone this number" or email, rather than bidding. Just as bad too, they frequently appear on Amazon, from third party sellers selling brand new expensive mounts at under half retail, with the same instructions, to email the seller direct. I've reported several now, which are then removed, but it's a poor reflection of Ebay & Amazon's procedures that they even get published. Surely they could flag key phrases in their listing submission code, like "all bids will be removed", so that they can be inspected as soon as they go live....

Spurred on by my success with my Synscan Wifi adapter, I noticed that Skywatcher now do a cabled version: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/sky-watcher-synscan-usb-adapter.html ...which appears to be the same thing, but connects via a USB lead rather than wifi. My PC is a NUC on the scope pedestal itself, so as this wired one is only £20, I took the opportunity to simplify things and get it. It states that it can be controlled by the SynscanPro app for Windows, as well as EQmod. It was delivered with the usual amazingly fast FLO service, (next day, even under the current difficult circumstances !) I've plugged it in, and although the device manager sees it as "Prolific USB-to-serial Comm Port (COM3)", I can't get SynscanPro to connect, (even when I choose "Com" in the settings. Helpppppp... 🥴

Blast....... 🥴 It was me again, not understanding the Ascom setup routine for focusers. It's now working nicely, my cheapo bluetooth PC gamepad is controlling the EQ6 mount via Ascompad and Synscan wifi, and now also operates my skywatcher auto focuser via my HitecAstro DC Focus adapter. I hadn't realised that I had to set the number of steps for each of the four focus increments (which default to zero), so after I set them to 1, 10, 50 and 500, it's stepping back and forth nicely, either via the wireless gamepad, the dedicated HitecDCFocus software, or any of my other ascom enabled apps, (eg Sharpcap, APT etc..) So now they're all working together (with my Skywatcher EQ and Alt/Az mounts), Stellarium, SynscanPro, AscomPad, and HitecDCFocus, so I can control everything from the PC or the remote gamepad. Bliss........