Stuart1971

2 minutes ago, DaveS said:

The SX combined Autofocuser and Active Optics does look very interesting but probably very expensive. it would be interesting to know the bore.

I agree, SX kit is superb, but always on the very expensive side, I have been waiting for them to bring out an IMX571 based camera, but now they are, I dare not ask the price…😮😮

1 minute ago, Rob_Jn said:

The beta version was what I installed originally but anyway went ahead again with admin this time and I was very hopeful because for the first time oddly the QHY5III appeared with the QHY5II, so ticked both boxes, restarted and alas again no drivers installed and camera wouldn’t work. Time to roll back 🤔

Not sure if it will help, but I would install all the camera drivers available in the list when installing the driver, as I have a feeling I did the same as you and it didn’t work when I first got my camera…

This is going to happen more and more now, just buy a cheap £500 scope and use BlurX….😂

I think you should always aim to get the best possible collimation, and tilt adjusted out, at the end of the day you have paid a lot for the scope, so why be happy with it working about as well as as one that would have been 1/4 of the price…in my eyes you will have wasted a lot of money….

I really wouldn’t go down the QHY beta route, the stable drivers from QHY are pretty dire at the best of times, hence why I don’t upgrade from a 2022 version, it’s not worth the trouble….especially with latest windows 11…

But that’s just me….🤷🏼‍♂️

You won’t go far wrong with buying any of the available CMOS IMX571 based cameras, which is what the ASI2600 is along with the QHY268, which I have both mono and colour models.

It’s a perfect APS-C size sensor and a good pixel size, hight sensitivity and low noise, no amp glow, I think these cameras will be around for a very long time… if you want al, the same spec in a smaller sensor, depending on your set up, then the IMX533 seems to fit that bill, known as the 2600’s little brother and 1” square sensor, yes a square sensor so no need to worry about framing or rotating as much…

1 hour ago, Rob_Jn said:

That’s very helpful thanks. Of the files you mention none are familiar to me when I browsed through all the usual folders for a driver so I suspect the all in one package isn’t installing correctly. I’ll give it a go tomorrow and see if I can connect it to the driver if it’s there on my system.

The odd WestBridge entry does disappear when I disconnect the camera.

I think it may be to do with the boxes you are selecting or not selecting during the driver set up process…

You should select the cameras and the ASCOM driver ONLY when installing, whatever happens do not select any of the software boxes, such as NINA or Sharpcap, as it uninstalls the proper SDK for the QHY and re installed the one included with the driver, and the NINA devs will tell you this is bad….really bad…

Also if you forget to select a certain box, it will assume that you want that particular item uninstalled, if it is already installed, it’s an awful driver and QHY will not change the way it works as the NINA devs again have tried to tell them on numerous occasions…

11 minutes ago, Rob_Jn said:

What version is it, I could try that…

I’m using the one that was the latest version when I bought the camera, which was approx March 2022..and the camera firmware is the same as what it came with from 2021, when I assume is was made, but there are newer drivers and firmware for this camera….but if it ain’t broke…….👍🏻

I use a Mele mini PC with windows 11 and all runs fine with my QHY268, but I do use an older QHY all in one driver, as I heard the latest one is buggy…

I don’t think it is yet obsolete, certainly not in some parts of the world, but here in the U.K. when you would need at least 5-10 min subs with CCD to match a 2-3 min sub in CMOS, I would say it is, or at least CMOS is far better and you can get much more data in a much smaller amount of imaging time.

I was a long time user and supporter of CCD and was stubborn and did not want to change, but in the end I did, and never looked back, one of the best decisions I ever made, albeit late to the CMOS game…

3 minutes ago, SteveNickolls said:

Intersting question. SkyWatcher produce a weekly webcast, more here.

https://youtube.com/@SkyWatcherUSA?si=IMaR3Aa4yywmToFH

Maybe worth posing the question to them though I don't expect a necessaily straight answer. 🤐

Cheers,

Steve

I might just do that…thanks 👍🏻

I would have thought with the size of the Skywatcher company and there mount range it would make sense to produce there own EQMOD equivalent driver, but more up to date, along the lines of GSS, but get the point about technical support, but a user based forum could take care of most of that…

31 minutes ago, malc-c said:

But I agree with you, it does make sense to provide an application along the lines of EQMOD or GSS, even if it was stripped down and had less options.  

Yes, I totally agree here. Thanks for the reply…..👍🏻

22 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

I'd just use Hammerite. No real surface preparation needed. They only seem to do the liquid form here but the trick with Hammerite is to put it on warm. This is easy with a counterweight, which can just be put in the oven till warm (not hot) and its large thermal mass will let the paint flow nice and evenly after application.

Olly

Very useful tip, I have used this loads and never got the finish that they show…👍🏻

11 hours ago, Elp said:

The thing with rust which I presume is on it, if it's on the metal it is extremely difficult to get rid of without some sort of real surface grinding and pre treatment, hammerite is supposed to cover the rust and metal but does it continue to rust underneath?

When I painted an area on a previous car, even when sanded down to bare shiny metal, a few coats of primer and a few coats of spray paint and lacquer, it still continued to rust a few months after. I suppose this application it isn't so exposed to the elements.

With paint you usually want a good keyed (textured) surface so there's something and more surface area to adhere to in the absence of an electro static process. Maybe use a coarse grit sandpaper to finish the surface prior to coating. You can always sand down with wet and dry to smooth it off afterward but needs a few coats of paint prior.

The rust will not continue if both air and water can’t get to the metal…

now on a car when you treat the rust and sand it down to bare metal, then treat, you are only doing the outer surface, a lot of rust on cars comes from underneath or the back of a panel, so really you need to treat both sides to stop it altogether..I found this out when I renovated my first car 40 years ago, I spent 18 months on it, only for 6 months later it to be just as bad and all the paint I had put on was bubbled back up with rust form underneath…☹️☹️ learnt my lesson

22 hours ago, FLO said:

@FLO What is the item here above the QSI camera…??

1 minute ago, Colinhunter said:

Forgive me if this isn’t what you need. I use this to connect my heq5 pro direct from mount to my pc. 
Lynx Astro FTDI EQDIR USB Adapter for Sky-Watcher Mounts

 

Yes that is an EQMOD cable which uses the third party EQMOD driver…I was asking why skywatcher don’t provide a driver, I have owned a few SW scopes so I do know how they work….👍🏻

I like the look of the new Harmonic mounts from Skywatcher….🤔👍🏻

So I have owned a few Skywatcher mounts, including the EQ6 and EQ8, and I have always used third party ASCOM drivers such as EQMOD and GSS, but with all the modern latest mounts from all other mount manufacturers, they provide an ASCOM driver for you to connect your mount direct to a PC via the mounts USB port, so my question is..

Why don’t Skywatcher provide their own ASCOM driver that allows the connection of the mount direct to PC from the mounts USB port…?? Why do they rely on the third party drivers that people have to use…?? 
is this just laziness or for a reason…?

I know they provide a Synscan Ascom driver that connects the mount handset to a PC, for control but this is not the same…I am talking about direct connection like all other mounts on the market with USB connection

Or am I missing something here…

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

Don’t let one idiot put you off! 👍

😂😂 no we won’t…it wouldn’t be around Yeovil anyway, looking more like Wells, or Shepton Mallet…👍🏻

Hmmm, and here are us looking at moving to Somerset…in the next 6 months…😮

You don’t even need USB 3 cables, you get far too much interference with them, USB 2 is perfectly fine and better in nearly all cases of long exposures, USB 3 is only needed for fast frame rate capture, like planetary imaging with a ROI, give yourself less headaches and just use a USB2 cable and set the USB traffic on about 10, in saying that i use 0 on my 268 with USB 2 and it works flawlessly..👍🏻

One little scope comes to mind, that’s the Skywatcher Evoguide ED50, very light and good FPL53 glass, with an optional flattener if needed, it’s an non rotating helical focuser, but it’s used a lot for imaging too, but in your case you only want for visual so no need for the flattener. I think a scope with a traditional focuser will always be in the realms of 1.5 ish KG…just my thoughts for an ultra lightweight little scope.

Yea, back up again now….👍🏻

Down again for me, this is becoming a real issue for them, but if they will insist on using cloudfare then theses issues are not at all uncommon…and to be expected 

5 minutes ago, therealt said:

"I don’t see the Moon anywhere" that's incorrect. Look at 1:16. You can clearly see the eclipse starting to pass through the clouds. Sorry no one here has given any explanation at all. I know clouds move. That does not explain why it started out slow moving then suddenly rapidly moved later in the video.

It happens because the earth is flat…which is obvious to anyone…👍🏻

Sorry but you started it…..😂😂