gilesco

Surprised no one has mentioned this, all my filters are installed in my filter wheel, which is part of my imaging train, which I never take apart and is essentially sealed with a IDAS LPS filter at one end and the camera sensor at the other, assembled in a dehumidified environment.

6 minutes ago, Ags said:

Tried that, but then I need to know the IP assigned to the mount... This way just works and flipping the wifi on astroberry is much easier than changing station mode in the synscan app. I am sure re-enabling 'astroberry' wifi is simple, i just need to learn how.

Right, I'm sure you will find a way, although with a single Wifi card/chipset you can only connect / host one network at a time. So in short, it is not possible to have both the Astroberry hotspot active and connect to the SynScan at the same time, but you can easily flip between the two (although disconnecting from one may mean that you lose connectivity via VNC).

The easiest way is generally to configure everything to connect to a single network.

While I admit this can cause an issue with devices getting an IP address that you don't know what it is - there are ways around this. For instance, if connecting to your home wireless network have a look at the "DHCP reservations" in your Wifi router's set up pages. This allows you, once you know the MAC address of a Wifi card to set it up so as to ensure that it uses the same IP address each time.

If you want help identifying devices on your wireless network then I can recommend the android app "fing" - If you connect an android phone to the same wireless network then you can do a "Scan For Devices" and it will quickly show all the active IP addresses on your local network subnet.

As I peruse the sky these days looking to decide whether to set up kit or not I often spot M31 as a fuzzy bit of sky when it is crisp and good. I guess you only notice it when you know exactly where it is and when you've viewed it before through a scope etc.... once you know what to expect to see it becomes easily recognisable.

1 hour ago, Jurger said:

Yeah that's a fair shout tbh.

Just wondered on this community's thoughts on the subject as opposed to being strung along by a retailer on the hope of a potential customer. Didn't think about actually ordering something and just waiting.

 

While it is an uneasy feeling making an order and then paying the money, then waiting for the delivery - most retailers work to keep all their customers as happy as possible, just go with someone who has good reviews.

All replies on here will be skewed towards FLO as they sponsor and essentially pay for these forums, 60,000+ regular and satisfied customers is not a bad thing, but find another retailer if you wish, but apply the same criteria.

Just because an item is not in stock, doesn't mean you can't order it. Your order will go into a queue and will eventually be completed. I wouldn't expect that situation to change in the next 6 to 12 months.

I ordered an Apo in mid August, finally arrived late November.

4 minutes ago, stash_old said:

who said anything about an NUC - I didn't mention it 🙂

I have been using Indi for over 6yrs on various platforms and modes !

I have/still use RPI's (2 onwards including Zero) with Indi and in TRUE server mode (so no GUI's) running on 2 or more RPI's.

Some people expect too much of a £58 (RPI 4B+ 4GB excluding other bits) and then become disappointed and make comments which are not true about the PI. Especially when you consider the amount a lot spend on the Astro kit.

I was ,as I said, pointing out the facts!  Dont hang the messenger!  

You must not assume I'm always replying to your post.

@Stuart1971 mentioned the NUC, and I actually would like to know what its powerdraw would be.

To be honest, I was into Linux and the Raspberry Pi in general before I got into Astronomy. So I'm not going to get into whether an intel CORE or an Pi is going to be better for the task.

I will say that not everything has always worked out of the box for me with INDI on the Pi, but, by searching the Internet for advice and reading documentation I have pretty much resolved all issues.

How much power does a NUC draw?

28 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Yes absolutely.
And to ditch your current case and but this one is maybe not the best way to go but if you are just shopping for your Pi and case then as a good passive cooling case is about £15 to £20 anyway for the extra £20 or so I think you are getting an awful lot.

Also not checked but the 240Gb  SSD I got seemed a bargain at £27 otherwise would need a seperate portable SSD which I am sure will be more than that price and then you need to hang the portable drive somewhere. 
As I said it certainly isn't the cheapest case but I am certainly glad I now have one 🙂 

Steve

There's no doubt, it is a premium case, and thus it will cost more, but I think the cost is justified if you were to compare with just a case and then all the individual bits to get the same functionality. If you find that functionality useful, then it is worth it.

I tend to try and go for a slightly higher spec than necessary on most things.

11 minutes ago, pete_l said:

Interesting. Though at the price I was surprised to learn that it did not contain a Raspberry Pi4 2GB. Since the case is more expensive than its contents, I will continue to make do with some cable ties to keep my existing cases in the place where I want them. 🦉

Bear in mind that the case comes with a fan, which is PWM controllable in software, power to the Pi is provided via GPIO circuitry not the side USB C side connector and has a smart power button to cleanly shutdown Raspbian rather than  just cut power, and of course it also contains a USB to M.2 SATA circuitry. So rather than being just a case it is a bit more than that. 

10 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

I don't think I'll be contributing here after this post .

I kind of thought that, didn't think advice was being taken, etc..  might be mistaken, but trolling came to mind.

Call me out if necessary.

I suspect many UK equipment importers may be looking at setting up warehouses in the EU and establishing EU subsidiary companies so that no one has to have all the hassles of bringing stuff into the UK only for it to be exported out again.

Thank you @FLO for fulfilling every order I have placed with you this year. Not one bad apple across £6k of astronomy gear (ouch! Did I really spend that much?).

Happy New Year!! 

31 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Pi Hut so i expect it will be pretty up to date.

I recently got the same model from the same online reseller, and it already had the right firmware, which should look something like this:

astroberry@indi:~ $ sudo rpi-eeprom-update 
BCM2711 detected
VL805 firmware in bootloader EEPROM
BOOTLOADER: up-to-date
CURRENT: Thu  3 Sep 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 LATEST: Thu  3 Sep 12:11:43 UTC 2020 (1599135103)
 FW DIR: /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/critical
VL805: up-to-date
CURRENT: 000138a1
 LATEST: 000138a1

If not, reboot and run it again (once the rpi-eeprom-update package is installed/updated, it will update the firmware at boot time).

Upgraded my old Nevada PS-08 to a Nevada PSW-30

1 minute ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Thanks for this idea I have just bought a 240Gb M2. SSD and the case you recommend.  
Is there any easy instructions anywhere for booting the RPi from the SSD ?
I will start a search but just thought if you are on line if you can point me in the right direction 🙂 

Steve

Depending on where you got the Pi4 from, you will need to ensure that it has the EEPROM firmware after 1st September 2020. You can do this by booting Raspbian off a SD card, performing a "sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade", and then run "sudo rpi-eeprom-update", check that the date of the EEPROM is after 1st September 2020.

If you have booted of the SD card, then you can now plug-in the SSD, and if the space on the SD card allows, install rpi-imager "sudo apt install rpi-imager", and run it, select the Astroberry image, and select the 240GB SSD as the destination (it should be detected).

If you don't have a SD card, then on a laptop you can attach the SSD and download the raspberry imager for whatever OS you have on your laptop. If the SSD is M.2 then you may need a USB A <--> USB A cable to detect the SSD on the lower part of the M.2 case.

Some helpful links:

https://linuxhint.com/install_raspberry_pi_imager/

https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-imager-imaging-utility/

https://www.raspberrypi.org/software/

Most of the installation methods are cross-compatible with the methods for SD cards, the SSD will be detected as a valid destination just as a SD card would.

PS I recently bought a Pi4 8GB and it already had the latest firmware already loaded, but if yours has been on a warehouse shelf for a while it might not be up to date.

4 minutes ago, MBErdogan said:

Do you know what the size of this one is: https://bresser-online.nl/Bresser-Messier-NT-203S/800-HEXAFOC-EQ-5/EXOS2 ? It comes with a mount fortunately, but I don't know the length.

200mm aperture ("opening" in the spec), so it's just getting bigger, and that is a Newtonian again, so the eyepiece is in a really bad place for balcony viewing and certainly not easily transportable.

7 minutes ago, MBErdogan said:

What do you think of this one: https://bresser-online.nl/Webwinkel-Product-146565945/Messier-Telescoop-OTA-MC-152-1900-HEXAFOC.html?utm_source=tradetracker&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=feed ? Where can I buy the mount?

To me it looks too big to be transportable. I think you should look at a 102mm (4") or 127mm (5") Mak.

We don't know your budget, but as a rule of thumb, you should probably look to spend as much on the Tripod + Mount as you do on the OTA.

The best way to find out the optimum Mount for a particular OTA would be to contact the reseller, manufacturers often bundle OTAs with Mounts as a different product ID, when buying for the first time, I would recommend you get a bundle as a package, then only buy OTAs & Mounts separately when upgrades require it.

I don't have experience of that particular OTA, others might have better advice. The reseller will know, as they sell those OTAs, so they should handle queries like that all the time.

1 minute ago, MBErdogan said:

Which telescope would you reccomend to me, I want one that is very close to the skywatcher 150p but a little compacter.

These get good reviews:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/maksutov/skywatcher-skymax-127-synscan-az-goto.html

7 minutes ago, MBErdogan said:

Actually my mother has a large enough (sort of) garden. There is only one disadvantage, which is that there is limited view. You can only look high in the sky, because I am surrounded with high fences in that garden.

To be honest, if I was in your position, I would look at building something very transportable, that I could take out to a park or a dark skies site and easily set up. I would not think about being able to use the telescope on the balcony, but would look to have a set of kit that fits nicely into a couple of small flight cases, together with an accessory bag and a tripod that is reasonably sturdy, but compact.

If you do start to get serious about astronomy and the kit peeks your interest then you probably won't think twice about moving house in the future to somewhere more suitable

As has been mentioned, if you are looking at Planets, and especially, you really  want to go with the balcony set up then you should seriously look at an AltAz mount rather than an Equatorial, equatorials are good at tracking DSOs, but visually with a small aperture I don't think you'll be that impressed with the results in a town environment.

Equatorial mounts can operate in quite an anti-intuitive way for a beginner, not something you want to be happening when your viewing space and operating space is limited, just takes the counterweight bar to smash your balcony french windows, topple over the tripod, and knock your telescope off falling 5 stories to the ground below, hitting someone at the bottom on the head. Biggest nightmare scenario ever...

On 14/11/2020 at 15:10, robbymain said:

The best I found exploring from the Plymouth side was the 2 car parks on the Whiteworks road a couple of miles South of Princetown.

South of Princetown is getting to Bortle 4 territory, go a couple of miles north of Princetown just beyond Postbridge and you should find yourself in Bortle 3.

5 minutes ago, MBErdogan said:

I made some pictures of my balcony, the width of the balcony is 1,14 m. Do you think there is enough space for this telescope: ''Skywatcher Telescope N 200/1000 Explorer BD NEQ-5' or the: ''Skywatcher Telescope N 150/750 Explorer 150P EQ3-2''?

 

 

You need to find out what the leg spread of the Tripod is. If it is anything like mine you will not be able to extend the legs fully into that space, but it might fit with the legs unextended. In any case, it is going to be a very tight space and you may not be able to easily go around the scope to get to wherever the eyepiece is located. Also note that you will possibly not have a view of polaris, so polar aligning will be a real pain, and you will have a limited view of the sky as well - be sure to do the planning and work out what the limitations are going to be here.

In an ideal world you would want a 2.2m - 2.7m diameter circular, level area with a good 360 degree horizon view, horizon at 10 - 20 degree altitude is OK for many things as viewing most stuff below 20 degrees will have more atmospheric aberration.

2 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

I may be wrong but I think USB3 is only really beneficial when using high frame rate planetary cameras. If USB2 can't transfer an image from the buffer in between 2-6min subs there's a problem. 

My understanding of this issue is to not plug in  ZWO cameras into USB3 ports that are not capable of USB2 operation, in that they start off with USB2 operation and somehow upgrade to USB3 later in the process.

Without the USB2 start they don't initialise.

12 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Are you powering your RPi via the Pegasus using one of the programmable outputs ?

On my PPBA I am using the USB3 port 1 for Pi power, it is rated to power it. Thought about the ADJ output, but don't have the cable and not sure about the power amp supplied.

5 hours ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

whats it like operating remotely with the Pi, is there much lag? 

I did this for the first time on 24th. Kstars and everything off the Pi. Normally I run Kstars on study desktop and just INDI on the Pi. I was pleasantly surprised by how well it went. Although I've souped up the Pi with a SSD rather than an SD card setup, which might turn out to be the bottleneck.

Apart from some snags, power related and GPS receiver related (think overcome now). I am thinking this is now good to take out to the field, which I may be trying in a week or two.

I am working on M33, do you have info on how you assign Ha to a colour? I'm just starting to see NGC604 on my WIP, but don't have the red override that you have. BtW I use APP RGB combine tool to bring my exposures together.

PS also 1600MM and Esprit 120