Astro_Ben

On 25/10/2019 at 12:16, Carbon Brush said:

Hi Ben. Two comments on your post.

If the Skywatcher powerbank is a lead acid type, battery degradation is not surprising.
Lead acid batteries start to degrade from the day they are manufactured. A situation made worse by low cost (china) manufacturing methods.
It might be worth taking it to bits to see the battery type. Replace it by a reputable brand battery.
Lead acid batteries tend to come in standard physical sizes making replacement easy.

On the mains to 12V supply. Don't forget you are going to have the mains extension reel and power supply mains lead outside. Subject to condensation.
Ensure you have RCD protection in place indoors.
The mount power connector has a positive centre pin. 99% of power supplies have this arrangement. The remaining 1% will destroy your mount!
The photo detail doesn't show enough detail to be certain. Check before connecting!

HTH, David.

Thanks for this, David, this was very informative for someone who is not particularly au fait with electrics (I'm now 20 and kicking myself for not paying attention in my physics lessons 4 years ago). The power cable is centre positive and I've got a Masterplug RCD adapter, so if all goes to plan this should solve my power supply woes.

Kind regards, Ben.

I have been using a skywatcher power tank which just seems to fail every time. Fully charged and I’m lucky to get three hours out of it (it’s been properly maintained and is relatively new which is disappointing). Will this combination of cable and extension work for my HEQ5? Using a mains port would save me some headaches. 

20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Don't worry about it, my HEQ5 guides best when the left side is distinctly heavy, not just a few ounces. I get 0.65" RMS.

You don't want to upset it by being too far out of balance, but if the mount slews without problems, it will guide OK.

I suspect moving the counterweight out by six inches will improve your guiding more than a weightier guidescope. Also make sure you have minimised backlash in the gears.

Forgive me if I’m being dim but I don’t see how moving the counterweight 6 inches towards the already heavier side of the rig would make it any better? Never experienced that before, I always have it slightly east heavy but never by a distinct amount. 

On 08/09/2019 at 01:04, Calzune said:

How did you balance the equipment? I have almost the same gear and when I put the counterweight to the top is just alittle heavier than the telescope, can you post a pic? 

You could try leaving half the counterweight bar not fully out - this might add a few hundred grams to the scope side. 

This is mine. I’m pretty sure it’s a way off perfect balance but it guides reasonably well at 0.9-1.2rms roughly. I’m gonna get a bulkier guide scope just to add some weight. 

Finally got round to getting a decent scope and mount, the Evostar 72ed and HEQ5 pro. Taken from a Bortle 7 zone 01/09/19.

55 x 180s (10 Darks/20 bias/Dithered) ISO800

Canon 700Da

Skywatcher Evostar 72ED

Skytech CLS EOS clip

HEQ5 Pro

Guided and dithered with ZWO ASIair guiding bundle

11 hours ago, rockinrome said:

Soz. As they say - a picture speaks a thousand words, and this sure does - great photo.
If you don't mind - what was the amount of data and what tools used for processing??

Thanks and all the best!
MJ

 

 

Thanks! 55 x 180s subs, 10 darks, 20 bias and dithered every 4 subs. Processed in photoshop 

Can't remember my editing workflow but this is my basic PS stuff -

Crop stacking artefacts

Star reduction pre stretch

Basic levels stretch

Gradient Xterminator

Colour blotch reduction

Black Point Set

Star reduction

Select colour range (red nebulosity)

Select and Mask colour range selection

Selective colour adjustment Layer

(I rinse and repeat the Colour range/Select and mask/Selective colour step a few times)

10 hours ago, rockinrome said:

Hi Ben

This will be no effort for the HEQ5 PRO which should come with 2 counter weights - 2 x 5kg.
Payload capacity: 11kg for imaging, 15kg for visual.

All the best.

Thanks for your reply, but I think you’ve misunderstood me. I was worried about the counterweight being too heavy and overpowering the scope. 

Anyway, I’ve answered my own question with a night under the stars  

Evening folks,

My new HEQ5 pro is being delivered next week, I’ll be using it with an Evostar 72ed, OVL flattener and canon 700d. Not sure of the weight of the OVL but I reckon it’s 500g max, total weight on the mount will be (estimated) 3kg or so (possibly less depending on the OVL weight). 

Will I have issues balancing this with the HEQ5’s 5.1kg counterweight? If so, can anyone recommend an alternative counterweight that won’t break the bank? I’ve looked at EQ3-2 counterweights just in case but I’m not sure if these will fit an HEQ5 pro. 

Thanks,

Ben.