DaveL59

if you can get the pre-made lead length you need then you could consider getting right-angle adaptor to suit that just plugs onto the end of the lead. Insulate from moisture ingress with dielectric grease or perhaps heatshrink or self amalgamating tape. something like: (there's several types) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Adapter-Degree-Female-Coupler-Connector/dp/B0734HQ178/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=right+angle+usb+adapter&qid=1579434871&sr=8-3

Hi Nigella That's good news on the scratches, my lens is a lot closer to the dome and seems to work fine tho I can't vouch for whether it induces any distortion in night star views, day views seem fine but the module isn't able to do long exposure so night sky view is limited to brighter stars and stacking. Are you planning to flock the area under the dome, or if its night use only I guess that won't be a problem regarding reflections. On the misting, I assume the box wasn't sealed at the cable entry when you did the test? If recently opened you'll have let warm air into the casing and that'll be carrying moisture, was the misting on the inside of the dome? I'd put a load of silica gel packs in the case if you can just before you finally seal and that may be all you need, assuming the box will be sealed that is. I'm guessing your camera maybe doesn't run as warm as the cctv module I'm using which seems fine without, so some form of dew heater may help if that's the case but not sure running it off USB will be feasible esp on a v long USB lead.

problem with the wibbly wobbly web tho - you'll see lots of -ve feedback or comments on items but far fewer good ones which can paint a very inaccurate picture of what your intended purchase might really be like. Similarly you can often find reviews that rave about how good something is but in reality it ain't, either bias or inexperience on the reviewers part, perhaps. It can take time and lots of research to find the information you need to make the decision, but then its down to the individual to do their due diligence. Thankfully forums like this are a great source of information and advice, but so many rely on amazon or other reviews, jump in and find the new toy a disappointment. oh, that's not aimed at Will of course, clearly he's been burned by QC failure and not poor buying choice.

I'm sure this supplier and many others have shipped lots of SW gear, but like any there will always be the odd issue and perhaps more than just the odd one. They'll most all say there are hardly ever any returns even if they know there's more than just a few so as not to discourage buyers or to try and reassure about the problem you have. No idea how SW or any fair on the QC side and I doubt any supplier will want to say much there either, but if they had a bad rep then I'm sure we'd see a lot more -ve and help posts so its likely they're reasonable overall. Given you've been a long-term customer tho, it is disappointing to find you get given the run-around when you do hit a problem and seems 3 came along at once here. If I were you and the scope arrives, I'd be extra thorough checking it over and if there are any issues at all then return the whole lot for a refund and go elsewhere. Even if the replacement scope arrives there likely will always be the nagging memory of these events when any tiny issue comes up in use, leaving you maybe doubting the equipment itself. If they query, just say with all the problems and having checked it all over with the replacements you just ain't happy with it. A reasonable retailer should understand and do the right thing I'd hope.

can you not adjust the tension on the R&P gearing so it doesn't move as freely? Usually a couple screws that press a U plate against a spring plate, might just need a slight nipping up to tune the focuser to your requirements.

tis a learning process for sure but as the old saying goes, practise makes... it does get easier after a few goes but for sure can try your patience

I think EP choice will also come down to how easy it'll be to track objects at high mag with the scope. I don't know that model but the NG I have is without slo-mo controls and it is quite difficult to stay on target given the movement isn't as smooth as I'd like. But then I rarely use it as I prefer the EQ setups I have for more than a quick squint Did make me think tho if its possible to retro-fit something as the original intention was as an entry setup for my daughter+grandaughter and I think they'd soon get frustrated at anything more than low power viewing. I did add an RDF and get a 20-something and 6.3mm plossl set to improve the viewing use tho as the stock ones were pretty poor.

now I'm home and looking at the EP view you posted, I wonder if your secondary is tilted correctly so that it is giving a full view of the primary. Or perhaps its not far enough under the focuser/too far. Tho how you'd adjust the lateral position of the secondary in your case isn't clear as on my mini 76/350 it has 4 screws as per the pic. The outer 3 set the tilt and the central one locks the setting, but the combo can be adjusted to move the secondary further in/out of the OTA. I replaced the original screws in mine so I could get the secondary placed better, seems a common issue on the NG and some others. Ideally you'd want to: 1. Centre (or offset as appropriate) the secondary in the OTA aperture 2. Centre the secondary under the focuser tube 3. Adjust secondary tilt so you can see the full primary (and clips) 4. Adjust primary I use a cheshire to fiddle with mine, don't have a collimation cap and never got round to buying a laser unit but I've managed fine so far. It's fiddly and requires patience for sure especially the first few times. I usually do adjustments in the day then check against a suitable target and later if the sky is ever clear enough will verify and tweak if needed. The focuser tube shouldn't obstruct the view of the primary even when racked all the way in (when looking down the focuser tube), it'll only obstruct the light path to the primary from the target and likely wouldn't be too far into the OTA when focused with a regular eyepiece.

one question and tbh I've no idea what the right answer is for your scope. The secondary position/offset looks different in the pics where one shows much more of the screw thread than the other. Is the secondary central in the OTA on these or slightly offset toward the focuser side? Someone with one of these may be able to answer that one, as that may be affecting your results.

ah, you're looking for it extending down into the tube hence affecting the light path to the primary, rather than obstructing the secondary

as a thought, the focuser isn't down in the light path is it? as that'll add an obstruction that might be contributing to the 2/3 defocused circle.

same site sells a lead that'd connect to the PSU with bare wire ends that you can attach to the camera, ideally by adding ring terminals. If you're planning on getting a goto mount that'll also use 12v then you might be better to get a higher output PSU than can be dual purposed using a Y-splitter to run the mount and the camera.

the NatGeographic 76/350 is the same setup with the primary fixed and no collimation screws, as Alan suggests one way is to extend the fixing screw holes and tweak that way. With time and a lot of patience you might be able to shim the primary till the alignment is better and then secure it in position, so avoiding extending the screw holes. Have you tried refitting the mirror after rotating the carrier and see if that corrects things, woth trying it in each orientation before starting any real surgery on the OTA etc. You can also find that the secondary isn't aligned well with the focuser as in too far in/out of the OTA. Once you have it as good as you can get it, the tiny scope performs pretty well really.

any info on their site regarding any other ports used and if tcp/udp? Could be it needs a bit more opening than just the one port. As to powerline, they are better these days if using the MIMO types tho a huge amount depends on the mains wiring, crossing the consumer unit, electrical noise from things like LED bulbs etc. Also never mix different spec ratings or you slow the entire network to the slowest type on the grid. I run AV1300's and they hold up reliably giving 450-800mbps, tho you do see occasional stalls on the remote CCTV camera feeds. I have the PLAs set for streaming QOS and am running trunked vlan's over them. I've also read that some go sleep the ports if no apparent traffic, which you can work around by running occasional pings to devices the other side. Yeah you've a connection so shouldn't happen, but seems it can. My LAN switches I've turned off green mode too for the same reason.

so some daytime testing, TV Aerial only aprox 100m away. Focus is a bit tricky with winds shifting everything around outside even with the 130 inside the conservatory. There's a few trees further out, say 200-250m again swaying about wildly but managed to focus. I note the in-focus range left is approx 0.5 inch and moving from aerial to trees I had to shift almost 0.5 inch inward, so perhaps the 130 might struggle to achieve focus on moon etc. I'd guess the TAL100RS would fair better as it has a lot of range on the focuser. I did have a brief try for the moon night before last, but just as I was getting somewhere the clouds took over and it disappeared altogether. Still, this little old cctv module just might get me started at low cost and then I can decide if I want to save some pennies for something better later on. Nice thing is the ability to image flip in camera settings so things are the right way up Methinks a focal reducer might be useful to add tho, 0.5x perhaps?

I had considered getting the WiFi add-on for the EQ5 to save having to mess with date/time and location settings if I were to set up elsewhere. Shame they don't just build that functionality in but then it'd bump the cost and be something else to fail or cause frustration. Besides, the new job barely covers my costs so can't really justify that for the moment.

worth trying it in the day and get accustomed to the controls, assuming you've not done that already. Doesn't necessarily have to be perfectly polar aligned and using a sky map app you should get an idea what stars might be up and approx where to see if it slews reasonably to targets it wants to align to. If that works then tell it to go to a target and see if it roughly gets there. You can check with your phone and app for this, if you can rig a way to hold the phone on the mount/OTA so its aiming along the scope then hopefully result should tally. Don't forget if you are making an adjust to centre a star during alignment to make the last to moves as up and right before you save it and move to the next. Oh - and polar aligner pro could help you getting the mount aligned in the day too, might make that step a bit easier.

from reading I did some time ago, best to normalise the batteries before hooking them together, so there's minimal voltage difference in which case you shouldn't get any arcs/sparks. Are you gonna use a controller between the panel and batteries?

do you get a light image with the camera out of the scope and just pointing toward a lit area, a window or white wall for example? should give a flat white image on the screen. If that's not working reliably then there may be an issue with the unit or perhaps the gain settings, I assume you're using sharpcap to capture the video? I noted that you can set gain up to a point then thereafter more gain meant a dark image with an un-modded C270. I may well mod it for astro at some stage after my experiment with a IP-CCTV module once I've had a chance to test that one out.

the 130M looks very like the SW130 I have, EQ2 mount and RA motor to track that can be switched for star/planet and runs off 4xD batteries. It's a competent scope tho I've yet to try it for any form of imaging. Eyepieces are OK tho I've a few better ones now so don't really use the originals. I'd double check tho if the mirror is parabolic, not sure it is since it doesn't specifically say tho I don't think it matters as much being a longer OTA version. Can't comment on the others you list as I've not met those myself

yeah I'm not expecting great results tbh, still no harm in having a play given it's sat around spare - it was the module I first used for the sky-cam experiments till I got the 5MP module that also has relatively fast slow shutter of 1/10s. None of the CCTV modules really lend themselves to running long exposure unfortunately, but they are at least starvis sensors so with long enough video capture they might give some interesting results for little outlay, time will tell...

so another cheapo experiment hopefully set and ready to try when (IF!) there's actually clear skies, tho I'd like to have a play in daylight first just to confirm focus can be achieved etc. Again using a spare Hik-able CCTV IMX290/291 sensor and webcam nose-piece with IR filter. It'll need 12V power and LAN to work, tho I guess I could also hook to it over WiFi. Limitations will be the 1/25 slowest shutter more than anything I expect but heck it'll be a free-ish experiment... Just need the moon or planets to play nice when the cloud cover opens up a bit. If it can capture any useful video on one of the tracking mounts to stack then it'll be an OK intro. I can always opt to mess with the Logi-C270 later but I think this sensor may be better than what's in the Logi.

no harm in trying it out and see if its enough before spending extra

if you're happy to go less wide... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-7mm-CS-Mount-Fisheye-Fish-Eye-Ultra-Wide-Angle-GLASS-CCTV-1-3-Lens-F-1-1-4/382826414881 might work ok tho I can't vouch for FOV, this one likely is the best but as noted, expensive https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fujinon-1-4mm-f-1-8-Fisheye-lens-CS-Mount-DF1-4HB-L1-Ideal-for-All-Sky-Camera/123866962892?hash=item1cd70bdbcc:g:HAkAAOSwDuZdSr43 I'm assuming CS mounting but that's a guess on my part

I guess then that the ZWO doesn't run too warm? The IP CCTV module I use does so I've never had it dew up so far, only the first effort has had issues because a seal had failed but not got around to getting that apart as yet. If its dewing on the inside a couple silica gel sachets will help a lot too.