DaveL59

I think the upper limit is 15v for these, believe it says that in the manual but its been a while since I looked at that. I use a 12v 5A buck converter to regulate the power to mine when hooking up the car starter LiPo pack since open circuit that delivers above 12v, might be 16v from memory.

oooh now that'd be something but what'd happen if a big chunk broke off and headed our way? 😮 For me, supernova I think as that's the one on the list yet to be seen.

True but unfortunately I'm a cat person, oh well lol. As for dogs, size doesn't even matter much if they make noise. Old lady that lived across the hall at a flat I used to live at had a wee yappy terrier, darn thing would go crazy even when the outer door opened and she'd walk it around the blocks daily. A few weeks after she moved away we got broken into and a couple other places too, even the policeman that had moved into her place. That one was funny tho as he hadn't secured his bedroom window properly so it was easily forced open, seems they tell you all the things you should do but sometimes forget to themselves.

Sadly overt security measures can in fact mark your house as being worth investigating. Bought a nice detached 4-bed house in 1/3 acre in SE London many years back. Formerly owned by a little old lady who passed. Her kids had arranged to have those roll-down security shutters fitted on the rear windows to keep her secure, ye olde metal crittal windows behind them (pity they didn't just get better windows fitted really). Anyhoo, we bought it, moved in and started doing the place up after a decade or more of neglect, sort a kitchen, rewire etc. Then after replacing some of the downstairs rear and side windows with new uPVC, someone decided to try breaking in. They popped the beads out on the small side window and tried to remove the glass. Luckily the ones I fitted you bonded the glass to the inner side of the frame, so instead of coming out the external pane shattered but the inner was fine and the glass unit remained in place. They then tried another of my new windows and bent the frame on it but again didn't get it. OK so police duly called next day, no evidence of fingerprints etc but some advice on security etc. I started to look into alarm systems I could fit and while deciding wouldn't you know it but a couple days later they came back. This time they tried to force one of the casements on the huge crittal window (1.5m x1.5m huge), bent the frame and cracked the glass. Police again visited and again nothing. Joke was that the huge window had a secondary glazing panel on the inside so they'd not have got far anyway lol. So, I've decided on an alarm and just need to go get it when... third try, this time the side door into the kitchen, removing the cat flap and breaking out the panel then helping themselves to my HiFi and various other bits, even my daughter's school bag - probably to cart stuff off in. All the while on all these we were asleep upstairs, that was the scariest part of it all. Thankfully they didn't come upstairs! Of course, police came, fingerprinted all over and nothing but we then had the task of trying to clean up their special powder that really doesn't want to come off even glazed tiles. That was 3 visits in a 2 week period which made us and the police suspicious but no evidence to go anywhere with. We were also advised that they often leave it 6 months for insurance to have replaced the items then come back for the latest models, how comforting! Police also advised that while those security screens can work, they also advertise that you have something worth stealing so they'd come and try anyway. If they can't get in via the window they'll try a door and even the wall. Then some months later we had a much better idea of who it might have been, not that we could prove anything, a neighbour a couple doors down the hill or his associates. Seems they went on holiday and while away they were 'broken into'. Strange that the small glass panel in their back door was carefully placed against the wall next to the door on the outside when the glazing beads were on the inside. Even more so when a while later a friend brought them over items that were exactly what had been reported stolen and their car had been at the house during their holiday. We also noted that there was sometimes someone hanging about in the alley that ran alongside our garden but if they noticed us they retreated back into said neighbours garden. A few months later and I was woken by noises out front, car doors closing etc. Peek out of the window to see a car parked at the roadside and a group of youths looking under the bonnet of that neighbours car. Next thing they've pushed it back out onto the road and then both cars drive off up the hill. Now being a good neighbour I'd of course already called the police and was describing in detail the 2 cars and number of people. 10 mins later they called to let me know the fools had stopped at the top of the hill to sort something and they got them all 😄 Things went quiet after that, no further troubles, perhaps because they were doing time 😉 So for me, definitely worth getting a feel of who your neighbours are and those who overlook your property. Easy for them to spot a routine or possible valuables and tip of their mates etc. Round here I'm defo not planning to leave gear out unattended, been trouble free, so far but there's some less than trustable characters that pass thru and 2 adult kitties ain't gonna do much protection duty, I'd need my daughter's husky for that 😉

Not seen anything similar on sale recently, but place I used to live I'd fitted a PIR dual spotlight out front covering the drive, being 60ft it was useful to light the pathways to help find the way in the dark. Handy thing it also had was a plug-in unit for indoors that would activate with the floodlight, so it was hooked to a lamp which gave the impression to potential intruders that someone indoors was now also awake. Deterred a couple of stroll-ins to check out my car for sure. Something like this might work tho, PIR to detect movement and a light turns on indoors to deter intruders TC37- 110° PIR MOTION SENSOR TRANSMITTER AND PLUG THROUGH RECEIVER WITH GLOW LIGHT : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools

sounds idyllic to me 🙂 but then as a kid in Singapore you'd wander in the jungle and come face to web frequently and those brightly coloured spiders were the size of your hand. Used to return home covered in mosquito bites, bites on bites even but I guess I was so used to them that I never even noticed. Hence the 6-monthy shots we used to get tho I guess.

I thought it was the wee redbacks that sometimes hide under toilet seats you have to really worry about... Spider bites Australian man on penis again - BBC News

worth getting decent foam if you plan on that. I just redid the seat pads on a couple office chairs using this stuff: FOAMTOUCH High Density Ultra Firm Recon Foam With High Density Bonded Blue Square Upholstery Foam For Seat Cushion Bar Seats Layer Pads 2.5 Inch Thick Cut To Size (27" x 27") : Amazon.co.uk: Home & Kitchen Harder to cut than regular foam but much more supportive and should last well. Memory foam is worthless in seating I find and even high density firm foam only does so well unless there's a lot of thickness to it. Not sure what your seat base is but a staple gun is handy for tacking the fabric under the base. For a single small job a good hand operated one will do but for bigger jobs an electric (or air driven) will be much easier on your hands 🙂

since I've seen others swear by it... Time to overhaul the other EQ5 as it's quite heavy on both axes, always was since bought S/H and why I transferred the SynScan kit off it onto the other EQ5 I have. Now I have a dual-motor kit its time I sorted it properly I think 🙂

No really suitable place for this post really but thought I'd share in case others have a pair for their little ones to use. This pair is perma-focus and I'd got them for my grandaughter when she was 3 ish as she was fascinated by the birdies in the garden etc and wasn't really able to focus mummy's DCF pair. She's really enjoyed them, took them everywhere, even the bath lol. So 3 years on and little brother is now on the scene and not long ago he's lobbed them causing something to break loose inside causing a rattle. That said they still seemed to work. So I collected these yesterday, sounded like a prism had come adrift yet the image was correct even when rotating the bino thru 360 degrees, very odd. Then I noticed at certain angles you could see the image being blocked slightly across one diagonal edge of the view. So I took them home where I have decent fine screwdrivers etc to see if they could be sorted. Thankfully the front plates are held with 3 screws so I figure there's a chance we can open them and resolve the issue. That front 'lens' is just a protective plain plastic it seems and behind this front plate is another with a lens, again held by 3 longer screws which I assumed had the prism carrier behind it... Some wee springs allow those screws to adjust the collimation which is good as I hadn't counted turns to undo, oops! Even better was what's on the flip side: Nope, not prisms at all, mirrors! The reason for the clunking was that metal block that had originally been glued into a recess above the eyepiece and I guess added a little weight to the back end of the bino. Damned lucky it didn't do more than slightly chip those mirrors tho 😮 So I cleaned out the debris and reassembled, tweaked collimation and we're good once more. But being me I figure do I glue the metal lump back in, or remove the one from the other side just in case we get a more catastrophic event next time around? Decided to remove the other which took a while and also found that side had 3 springs vs 2 on the other, it hasn't escaped anywhere so I guess one didn't get fitted at factory. Anyway, all back together, lenses cleaned so it'll be one happy grandaughter when she gets these back 🙂

that's possible but are the lens edges blackened? Could be some of that paint has flaked off and landed on the lens surface too. I tend to use a black sharpie marker when I've done the edges black since it adds no extra width to the lens as some are a tight/snug fit.

I use these too when I'm overhauling optics, very good. I also have microfibre cloths with me when out with the camera etc for the odd occasion when I need to clean things on the move. I currently don't get the scopes out when its windy as the fronds of flower/pollen carriers blowing off the oak tree behind the garden is something I'd rather not have to faff about dealing with, the fake grass in the garden is covered in that so a light bucket would for sure have gathered lots on the mirrors. One way to clean the glass of course would be to simply dismantle the eyepieces and give then a nice wash in tepid water with some detergent, then follow with lens cleaner on reassembly. But that's not for everyone for sure and can be real fiddly with some of the tiny glass in certain models (old orthos etc). I've done this with a number of my old ones tho and taken the opportunity to black the edges while I had them apart.

They'd probably work just be very gentle when using them. I use the Zeiss ones myself, both wipes and also the spray bottles and have used them on my glasses and also bino, camera and eyepiece lenses with no ill effect 🙂

the ciggy plug has some sort of step-down in it to give 6v out. Not opened it up to see what but it does seem to work just fine when I did a quick test. Unfortunately he removed the socket for the original 6v input, probably to solder in the hard-wire from the ciggy plug which means I can't swap over to the battery box it came with, but that's not really an issue. All seems to have been done neatly and works which is the main thing 🙂 edit: Looking at the plug a bit closer, it's a RING switchable adapter with a tape over the switch to prevent accidental changes: Depending how this goes I might switch that out and pop a 6v buck converter in-line but for now it works and as the old saying goes, if it don't broke... 😉

fresh off the-bay, EQ5 dual-axis drive kit for my other EQ5 mount it's been modified for 12v feed via a ciggy plug which is handy as I can just hook it direct to my car starter LiPo pack which has a ciggy socket adaptor already. Quick test on the bench and shows is all working so will fit it later today, probably 🙂

ok, in terms of the power adaptor (wall wart etc) pretty sure the one I have is also made in China, most likely are these days, but look for the info label and it should show a solid line above a dotted one as circled in the pic below. That'd indicate that it is voltage regulated. This one is a 5A one and it'll run my SynScan mount just fine but as I recall a 2A unit would cope too, I just prefer to have the extra capacity in case I want to add other items to the scope that need power. In terms of a car starter rig, in this thread this is what I put together to run my EQ5 12v SynScan GoTo mount. I bought the LiPo pack off Amazon during one of their sale/price reduction periods and being lazy bought pre-made plug/lead parts to create the flying leads rather than fiddle with soldering plugs on wires. This give a light weight battery pack that via the buck converter delivers a regulated 12v with up to 5A current draw. There's any number of ways you could go on setting up a battery power unit with different up/down-sides. Lead battery units are likely cheaper but also heavy and the battery needs to be regularly charged else it'll fail quickly. Lithium is more expensive but is light and has less requirement for maintenance charging. Initially tho for your needs, perhaps a good power adaptor (say 3A or better) would be a start. Then you can establish if there's any other issue before spending further. When I first got the SynScan mount I did test indoors in daylight at first. That meant I wasn't fumbling in the dark trying to figure stuff out and could also observe what the mount was doing. Turned out it had some issues with drag/bearing stiffness on one axis that would have been harder to spot in the dark. No need to concern yourself with if it found the target it was seeking, just go through the fine adjust process as if you were doing it for real, then select the next target and see what the mount does, repeat until it completes the 2 or 3 star alignment and then see if it'll realign when you elect a target you want. That way you get familiar with the process while able to see what you're doing so it's easier when you head out at night to play 🙂 Oh if you are running a mains adaptor outdoors, do keep it dry (pop it into a plastic box for example) and have an RCP on the mains supply line so you don't get any nasty shocks if it suddenly rains or condensation/dew get onto things.

Are you thinking of the porro or roof prism version? A quick search returned the porro as a zoom which I'd avoid for night sky use. I've not tried either but I expect the roof should give reasonable views but may show the roof edge against a bright target like the moon - or may not depending on how well the prisms are ground etc. I've a very old jagd that are hensoldt wetzlar jagd-dialyt 6x42 circa 1945 and they show nicely when I've used them so a 8x56 pair with modern coatings might perform well too assuming build quality is up to the mark. Some other older (70-80's) roof prism bins I have and tried aimed at the moon tho do show a line in the view from the roof edge but not against the stars unless one happens to be bright and on the roof edge in the view. I tend to check collimation using the stars which is how I noted that trait. Only way to know for sure with the Bresser I guess would be to give them a try and return if they don't suit. I don't know what the build quality is like, don't Lidl/Aldi sometimes sell this brand and collimation can be lucky or not? Hopefully someone else on here can give better info from hand-on experience rather than me rambling on experience of the ones I have in my collection 🙂

For the skywatcher SynScan rig I think you need a 12v 2A PSU to drive it so that's probably a good number to start with. No harm getting a PSU that can deliver more amps as the rig will only draw what it needs. When the scope is moving on both axes the power demand peaks. Be sure it's a regulated PSU tho else the off-load volts can spike a bit higher than the electronics might survive. In my case (SynScan) I either hook a mains PSU or use a LiPo car starter pack with a 12v 5A buck converter to provide a well regulated 12v since car starter packs can deliver >15v off load and I don't fancy frying electronics, the magic smoke doesn't smell all that good 😉

I expect a lot of the low-level board stuff has changed significantly since then too and a couple generations later it'd be a lot harder to figure even with circuit diagrams, perhaps. Sure principles can be understood but the 'why' something was done a particular way might be harder to discern for those used to large IC/PIC to do the heavy lifting. At least v'ger would have been transistor generation rather than valve tubes, tho I wonder if there's any electrolytic caps in the mix somewhere... the bain of many current boards when they start to leak.

know what you mean re getting things shipped. I drove Kent to Coventry and back to pick up my TAL100RS a couple years back. Long trip but it arrived to my home safe and sound. Nothing like the value that your lovely new Tak has but in the end, vintage and hi-end optics are worth the extra care 🙂

seems they're having some minor issues ATM, offset in the display of position. They'd had issues with thrusters on the way there too with one failing, backup kicked in but also failed then the backup backup worked ok, phew!

moving in to docking now... well command-hold points at the mo Watch Boeing's Starliner dock at the space station for 1st time | Space

well I guess they don't feel the need given you aren't looking at bright colourful targets like you would with binos where the phasing would be more noticeable? Can't see tho why their prism wouldn't work ok but an expensive experiment if not, tho I'm sure you'd find other uses for it 🙂 Could always send you that cheapo Celestron one I have for you to test with, tho I've no idea what the light path length on it would be.

well in effect one half of your viewed image is bounced off one slope edge of the roof and the other from the opposite, so in Bino use the light is out of phase either side of the roof, hence the dielectric coating to correct for that. But then in bino use it only really makes much noticeable difference above x8. There is of course the possibility you can discern a line in the image where the roof edge is, for sure on some cheaper binos looking at a bright moon you can, but what are you planning to target with the franken-finder? If it's just regular night sky use then you ain't exactly looking at very bright targets most of the time and could make allowance on those that do show the roof edge. Maybe they're just not wanting a tetchy customer complaint when you do...? 😉

The only erecting diagonal I have came with the LT70AZ and that's not all that great tbh so I got a proper star diagonal for it, svbony dielectric IIRC. Then again the celestron plastic one is likely at the bottom end of things given the cost of the outfit so not the best example to compare to 😉