MG01

I feel like I'm hopscotching all over the place at the moment...but back to PSUs for now! @Tomatobro I've found one like yours here which seems reasonable: https://www.hamradiostore.co.uk/product/power-supply-30-amps-variable-voltage-analogue-design/ One question I did have was if a load like the mount which has motors would impart additional noise in the form of voltage ripple that could impact on the CCDs? Would making two separate cable runs make any difference? I'm probably doing some overthinking here and if i just run this to a power hub and distribute from there it would be fine.

Sorry for the delay @Richard_ I've been having a mild panic about the CCD I just purchased, bit that's another thread! I've managed to etch out something and I think what I'm looking for is either a 35mm (ish) SCT extension tube, or a similar length extension for the position of the green arrow? image train.pdf I was concerned that the SCT tube might y affect the light cone, but without drawing the whole tube it's difficult to tell.

funnily enough I filled my EQ6 2" steel legs with concrete and lead. I kid you not! The legs alone weigh in at 17.5kg now and are even more solid than they were before hand. I only did it because I know the height I image at ( almost as low as possible) and don't need much adjustment! I'm sure we'll figure something out. What were the wooden discs for on your EQ5's?

It's looking like a favourite at the moment. Great idea! Yeah I gathered that. I have some pads that might help initially as least.

Thanks everyone. I've had several pots of tea and am feeling a little less mad with myself now. I'm reassured by some of the above inages that there is some hope that I can get something out of it that's at least showing a better range than I'm Limited to with my dslr. I don't get a lot of sky time so I'm used to very slow progress, but thought I'd snatched an utter steal so the temptation of the dark side grasped me! In fairness, between this and a scope for my son, plus upgrading the scope control I wouldn't have been able to get filters until I'd recovered from Christmas so maybe I'll be thanking myself it's OSC at least in the short term. It should be here by the end of next week if I'm lucky so I'm guessing just in time for another belt of clear skies to break through this dire patch of the last fortnight. Only reminded me that size matters when thinking DSO...in that having large amounts of time on target is one of the most beneficial ways to improve images. Gives me some time to figure out how to get the correct flattener distance figured out too. Does anyone know if this camera has the same 17.5mm back focus as the mono version? Thanks for the input everyone. I just needed a little reassurance and now I have it. I'll probably post some darks etc when I get a chance and if anyone has any comments that would be great. Won't be for a few weeks though.

I'd be happy with those John...Lets see how it performs and as has been said above it'll be a good start on the journey to the darkside! 😛

Thanks John, it's not yours is it? Mine is currently being shipped from Texas! 😛 Any tips? It is still advisable to filter LRGB? I'm a little unprepared for a colour cam! Does pushing the voltage improve the noise floor at all or is it just a case of needing a good dark library? Did you find any particular sweet spots with settings? Can you tell I'm grasping for a silver lining here! 😆

Oh [removed word]! I just realised its the OSC! Goddamit I'm such an idiot! Thought it was too good to be true! aaaargh! As you can probably tell from the reaction I didn't even know that the camera came as a colour version and I've already paid. I thought it was a good deal and didn't want to miss out after reading so much good stuff about the 838L+ Is there anything I can do to improve the camera or is the chip just rubbish? The listing was "ATIK 383L+ CCD COOLED ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY CAMERA" and I didn't see colour until I looked closely just now at the photo where the sticker says colour sensor. If these photos are examples of what I'm going to expect I may just not waste clear skies on it as I get far better from my Canon 5D mkii. This was supposed to be a step up into the big leagues and turns out to be a waste of £400! Apologies for the outburst but I'm feeling burnt now! 🤢🤮 So glad I didn't waste my money buying some LRGB or Narrowband filters for it. Time for a cuppa methinks!

Would anyone be able to tell me if these images raise any concerns about the quality of the camera? I'm buying this via ebay from the US and these are the sample images the seller sent me. Initially I thought they are probably not using it to the best of its abilities, but I wanted to check that they don't give away any potential issues that might be difficult to pinpoint for someone like myself with no experience of CCD camers. Michael

I'm sure we've all scratched our heads at the vast array of different adaptor thread sizes...well I though I'd share this article here so others can delve into this 'gripping' topic so they won't get 'screwed' when trying to buy the correct adaptor for their equipment. The full article by Manish Panjwani and Brian Ventrudo can be found here: https://agenaastro.com/articles/guides/astronomy-threads-explained.html But to summarise... Common Thread Name Technical Specification Comments Webcam Thread M12x0.5 Found on webcams used in the early days of planetary imaging. Officially called an 'S' thread. Video Thread (or C or CS Thread) 1"-32 Found in security and video cameras with a C or CS mount. C-mount and CS-mount lenses mount 17.5mm and 12.5mm in front of the sensor, respectively. 1.25" Eyepiece/Filter Thread M28.5x0.6 Very common in astronomy on barrels of 1.25" eyepieces and 1.25" filters. While 1.25"=31.7mm, the actual thread diameter is 28.5mm. ETX/NexStar/NX4 Thread 1.375"-24 Found on Meade ETX telescopes from 90mm to 125mm in aperture, on Celestron Nexstar 4SE telescope, on some Celestron C90 spotting scopes, and a few other small Maksutov-Cassegrain telescopes. T/T2/"42mm T" Thread M42x0.75 Very common in photography and astronomy. The "T thread" is identical to the T2 thread from Baader. Not the same as Pentax/screw/M42 thread, which is M42x1.0. Maksutov Thread M44.5x1.0 Found on some intermediate-sized Maksutov telescopes sold by Orion, Sky-Watcher, and others. No after-market accessories available for this thread size, so users often convert to a larger 2" SCT thread. Not a standard thread on all Maksutov telescopes. Wide 'T Thread' or '48mm T Thread' M48x0.75 New, larger alternative to the "T/T2" thread. Used with larger-chip astronomy cameras to reduce vignetting. Also found onsome drawtubes, reducers, flatteners, off-axis guiders. Caution: "Wide" doesn't always mean 48mm. See section 4.2.4. 2" Filter Thread or M48 Thread M48x0.75 Very common in astronomy on barrels of 2" eyepieces and 2" filters. While 2"=50.8mm, the actual thread diameter is 48mm. 2" (Small) SCT Thread 2"-24 Very common in astronomy on 5" – 10" SCTs from Meade and Celestron (except for the 9.25" Edge HD OTA). Found on the rear cell of the SCT and on focal reducers and adapters. Also found on a few larger Mak scopes. 3.25"/3.28" (Large) SCT Thread 3.25"-16 or 3.28"-16 Meade SCTs of 12" and greater aperture use 3.25"-16 threads. Celestron 9.25" Edge HD OTA and all other SCTs of 11" and greater aperture use 3.28"-16 threads on the rear cell and for accessories. I hope someone finds this helpful...but do please visit and read the full article as it goes into some depth. Clear Skies All Michael

I've been wondering about wifi mount control and wanted to ask if there's a way to utilise wifi control (from a tablet or phone) with eqmod I may be confused but I currently use a gamepad at the scope to make manual slews and adjustments so I can make sure I avoid my mount legs. If possible I'd like to ditch the usb game pad and use either my phone or a tablet app via WiFi. Does this diy dongle allow that? Or are my wires crossed?

That's great @imakebeer - If i'm honest I sort of dismissed small refractors as the mantra has always been aperture is king...But then again I'm hearing more good things about these start scopes from skywatcher so will definitely add one to the shortlist. The main benefit is simplicity as they don't need collimating or cooling down...although the smaller newts don't take that long to cool. We do already have a small short tube 66mm refractor that we absolutely love to bits. As you've experienced they are awesome for planets and lunar. Have to say I'm loving re-learning the sky already with my kids...I think goto and astrophotography have made me less of an astronomer and more of a rig builder as the challenges are different. But children certainly keep you on your toes with questions and are forcing me to star hop a little more.

Thanks again....It seems amazon have some good discounts on the mele units...so that's promising. One thing that's puzzling me still is my lakeside focuser box. Currently I have it sat by the laptop. The control cable runs via an ethernet cable to the motor but the USB connection is to the PC. I still use the manual mode sometimes which means I don't really want to put it up at the scope, but if I'm using a scope PC it seems a bit weird to have to run a USB cable (via ethernet because of the distance) from the laptop position out to the scope...in that case the scope PC isn't really cutting down on cables anymore. Do people just leave their focus control units at the scope and operate only via the PC? Or is my situation more complex because I'm using older tech?

Thanks Peter, that looks like a solid choice. Love the profile pic btw...awesome enthusiasm!

Thanks allworlds...now that you mention it, I recall hearing about spherical vs parabolic mirrors... Are the Bressier newtonians parabolic? I like the idea of the goto...he's pretty good with tech and it might actually pull him into it a bit more. Although I think if I did go that sort of price it'd be looking at more aperture I think. I was already worried about dipping under 6" and I think the 4.5" may be a tad small. Thanks Rob, I think he'll be happy with EQ as that's what he has used with our EQ6... I'll keep looking as it's probably going to be a Christmas prezzie.

Brilliant thanks!

Thanks Dark...when you consider the cost of a decent hub and usb over ethernet, then these cheaper computers do seem pretty good value. I would still need to rig up some power distribution for it, mount, dew and camera unless any of the minipc's have power out....I'll have to check. One concern I did have about the minipc was that I've had significant amounts of dew on my mount before and would be concerned about them getting wet. Especially the Eagle you linked...its covered in holes! But thanks again, you've given me food for thought.

I say experienced...well not so much in knowledge acquired but I have been at it for about 15 odd years.... Anyhow...our eldest has shown a desire to get his hands on his own scope. Having after great debate convinced him of the benefits of a newtonian over a refractor I've not been able to sell him on a 6" dob which would be my recommendation to most people in his position...apparently its not telescopy enough. So he showed me the following on amazon and other than 'don't buy a telescope from amazon' I'm struggling to find much wrong with it and so thought I'd run it by the lounge for a once over! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B000MLL6RS/ref=ox_sc_saved_image_1?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&psc=1 My main reason for no amazon is concerns over shipping and damage...and for those with less experience, collimation. I seem to recall celestron make some okay kit, and this is about £100 more expensive elsewhere...so is it worth the risk? Or should I persist with the 6" dob. Trouble is, I'd rather he has a less 'optimum' scope he uses than one he doesn't because it's not the one he would choose. But I also don't want him to be disappointed having spent some time at the eyepiece of our 5" apo and some large dobs at star camp. What do people think? (Budget £250 ish)

For the most part I use belkin or anker data cables where I can. But I'm considering usb over ethernet for the longer run since i realised my astro laptop doesn't have USB3 and therefore switching to a USB3 hub won't provide the benefit I'm expecting. For power I have a 6mm² flex runnjng from my 13.8vdc source and only use 2cores...I did wonder if I could use one core just to provide power to the imaging camera and the other for everything else. Would this reduce noise in the dc signal or does the shared ground become the issue? Previously I have run my power flex and usb (now ethernet) in a shared braided sleeving to help with cable management, but sounds like this should be avoided? Would it help if I used shielded ethernet cable? Although I'm not clear on how to terminate the shielding as I think it's only one end...I just don't know which! Apologies for more questions...its just I tend to find that there's often small details that can have big impacts.

One other thought I had was if bundling all the cables together (12v lines, ethernet and/or USB) is going to cause problems. Should I make sure they are separated? I know from installing built in speakers and wiring networks that cables containing power and signal should only cross at 90⁰ and not be run in parallel, but wasn't sure if this was just because of induction from the AC circuit? My physics a-level was a looooong time ago I'm afraid!

I did wonder about that...if I take a single line up to a distro box at the mount is it possible to filter the supply to the cameras? I'm afraid I'm not that experienced in electronics and wouldn't really know what to do... I'm looking at 13.5-14volt supplies as most 12v devices are intended to run off old lead acid batteries which typically deliver 13.8 I believe.

I think the new carousel is where I'm heading...I'd worry about getting adaptors that positioned all the filters in the same plane. Not much point paying for parfocal filters if the holders mess that up. Out of interest what combination of filters would you go for? I'm leaning towards Ha, OIII, and SII. Possibly with some form of parfocal clear or LP filter for general luminance. DOes that seem sensible or am I better just sticking to LRGB to begin with?

The SX 1.23" carousel would be cheapest option then...@ONLY £45... gotta love astronomy...I'm about to buy a £17 clone of the celestron vibration suppression pads....will they be as good? maybe not. Are the originals 4x better? will be hard to tell I guess yay!

I should have been more specific....I was thinking adaptors to screw into my SX 2" filter wheel carousel to enable it to take 1.25" filters. Ain't no way I'm not going with metal for anything that's taking weight! Unless it's some form of fancy space polymer or carbon fibre...maybe then if someone else is paying! 😆

Just from the specs...so theoretical max? Does that suggest that maybe there's a fault that's causing the PSU to shut down (with the overload light staying on)?