Craig a

It is to control the mount, the commands would be sent through the usb3 cable from the laptop to the usb2 hub onboard the camera to which the eq dir cable is plugged into, that usb2 hub on the camera must take commands because a filter wheel takes commands if one was plugged into the on camera usb hub

i already have the guide cam plugged into one of the usb2 ports on the camera and that takes commands like changing exposure time etc

what difference would it make if the eq dir is plugged into the port aswell? 
All I would be doing is unplugging the eq dir cable from the hub I use on the telescope and plugging it into the cameras usb hub instead, doing away with the usb hub on the scope 

I’m wanting to do away with the usb3 hub on my mount that has the eq dir cable and usb from the camera but I was wondering if the usb hub onboard the 533 would run the eq direct cable aswell as the guide cam so I can just have the one usb3 cable from the camera to the lappy?

I ask as I would need to buy a longer eq dir cable and a new 3m usb3 cable but before I shell out I need to know if the single usb3 cable from the camera to the laptop could handle the data from the guide cam, main cam and eq dir commands? 
im just thinking of ways to get rid of as many cables as possible 

A: no 

b:yes

Really astonishing, not so much a dark nebula anymore it’s bright and beautiful 

I found cutting the material into 4 or 5 inch strips was better than trying to do the whole area of the 130pds, it is tight getting your hands in there, I wouldn’t worry too much if it’s not  perfectly neat, I over lapped each strip I did 

8 minutes ago, BrendanC said:

Hi,

I know this is an old thread but I'm considering doing the same with my 130PDS to possibly cut down on internal reflections.

@Craig a, do you have links please to the flocking paper you used? Also, if you used the acetate sheet method, and it was successful, do you have a link to whatever sheet you used too?

Thanks, Brendan

 

Sure thing, here you go here is where I got mine 

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/black-velour-telescope-flocking-material.html

Possible cosmic ray hit?

I like these kind of images from these huge distances the light has travelled, I would carry on and leave the framing as is as it’s different to the norm, and looking at all them faint background galaxys they will pop with more time added, it could be a fantastic image in the end 

9 hours ago, Rodd said:

Hmmm.   Not sure I want to open up g to his spanking new machine. It’s not all roses.  It’s a 4K screen and I don’t like it. Colors seem off.  Can’t win 

Maybe the screen needs colour calibrating, do you know what the gamut range of the screen is? 

Breathtaking Orion, one of the best I’ve seen this winter season 

Great news you got a new one and good specs too, I hated downloading and installing everything back on the new lappy and setting up everything again but once it’s done it’s done, my old laptop sits in the house now during a session linked to my new lappy by the scope via AnyDesk and just control everything from the living room

That’s a great find, I wonder how it will affect the grease in the mount on hot days with it being black I may get very warm under there. I look forward to an update later on in summer 👍

So here is the hole 

it’s a start 

I’ve made the hole slightly bigger now to 18x18 inch and 700mm Deep put some rebar 12inches deep at the bottom of the hole in the corners and 12 inches poke into the hole that should stop any movement if there is any but I doubt there will be 

7 minutes ago, Rodd said:

When I proces images I have a real hard time judging when they should be posted.  i have to look at teh image on all my screens--they all look different.  The iphone looks the best--but it is very small.  My work computer is an el cheapo and images look terrible, my current 4K looks great, but tends to be a bit darker.  My old 4K is even darker--but larger.   On top of all this, when posted, no matter on which screen they look different.  Its all about the images--maximizing the image.  4K seems great--or even 5K or 8K, but on a 15" monitor the resolution may be wasted, though I have heard that the higher resolution screens will still handle transitions better and provide a more pleasing image.   4K is pricey though.  

I’m not totally technical but posting images online changes images anyway I think, and every screen has different gamut coverage and the higher the coverage the Mose expensive they become a monitor that covers 100% of Adobe rgb and sRGB costs a bomb

im sure I read somewhere that If posting images online the internet only supports sRGB anyway 

3 minutes ago, Rodd said:

My screen now is 4K--how do images look on full HD--can you see a difference?.  Also--how do you delete stuff that is in Wndows--all teh features and things that I don't want but cant be removed?

A lot of “stuff” that’s on there is needed to actually run windows, but to delete something it’s in control panel and programs then click on a programme or feature and click uninstall but be carefull  in knowing what your deleting, as for 4K I don’t think it matters on a laptop screen personally 1080p is enough if it’s a separate bigger external monitor then it may be better to have 4K but I don’t think it’s essential 

Aha I’ve found my actual model 

scroll down to specification 

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i7-512-gb-ssd-silver-10226817-pdt.html

39 minutes ago, Rodd said:

I read that the Acer Aspire 5 can be upgraded to 12 GB RAM--how did you get to 20?

My model can be upgraded to 20gb it all depends on the model, the screen is full HD not 4K or anything special just normal 1080p. 
I just delete any programs on there I don’t need 

this is mine but I have the i7 version read the specs on installable ram

https://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/acer-aspire-5-a515-56g-15-6-laptop-intel-core-i5-512-gb-ssd-silver-10224404-pdt.html

I would say if your processing images  aswell get all the best specs you can afford, I recently got a acer aspire 5 with I7 and nvidia graphics card and I upgraded and installed myself from the 8gb ram to 20gb ram and also upgraded the 512gb ssd to a 1tb crucial  p5 plus, it’s as fast as lightning now and memory is pretty cheap these days and easy to install yourself, it was my first go at upgrading the ram and ssd on a laptop and was a piece of cake, if just using to run your setup nothing special is required really 

1 hour ago, Rusted said:

Turnbuckle is the term used for fencing strainers and pole stays.

I found a picture of my carport foundation blocks.
It might offer inspiration. They sell for about £16 each over here.

 

 

To be honest I’ve never ever seen anything like that in England, and I think I’m just going to bite the bullet and build the pier, well not build the pier because I’m buying one pre made I will be just pouring the concrete and bolting it down, so watch this space 

24 minutes ago, malc-c said:

it could always be turned into a fancy bird table when you move out

The pier would of been a skyshed pier bolted onto the concrete slab and the concrete covered over so if I did move out it would of been as simple as unbolting the pier and taking it with me leaving behind no trace of the slab underneath, I really need to make my mind up ASAP 😂 

im back and forth with should I or shouldn’t I, I hate it when I Carnt make my mind up it drives me bonkers 

26 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Got rid of my SW pillar just for that reason.

Think the problem could be cured by fitting diagonal braces between the ends of the legs and the tube. 

It’s a pain isn’t it, the braces sounds like a good plan, I would go back to the tripod that came with my neq6 but the scope bangs into the legs, the tripod it came with never had that problem of wobble 

Just wondering if anybody has any ideas on stiffening up my pillar mount like this

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-pillar-mount-support-for-heq5-eq6-series-mounts.html

I have a 10 inch newt ontop and 15kg of counterweight but all that weight onto of that long tube induces abit of wobble in the slightest breeze or even touching the scope, has anybody got any ideas on stiffening up this pillar to reduce the wobble, it’s solid nothing is loose it’s just a wobble machine 😅

Another reason for thinking of a pier was that at the moment my rig is on the skywatcher pillar tripod like this…

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/skywatcher-pillar-mount-support-for-heq5-eq6-series-mounts.html

but as my rig is quite heavy there is abit of wobble in the pillar you only have to flick the scope and it’s off on it’s wobble dance, so was going to build the pier to help stop its wobble, I think I need to think of a way of stiffening it up abit now I’ve abandoned the whole build your pier idea I may need to start a new thread in equipment help for ideas to stiffen the pillar mount up abit 

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

The general thinking in the day was 1cu metre was the "normal" defacto hole when concreting in a pipe.  Much better to go large and over engineer something rather than find you skimped and the base moves, due to soft soil or soil shrinkage in hot weather

I understand your reasoning but in northwest England we don’t worry about long hot weather or frost heave 😂, I can count on one hand the amount of frosts we get here in winter in recent years, we just get mild wet winters these days our ground here is a few inches of soil then rock hard clay that’s impossible to dig out without a clay digging attachment to a small jackhammer 🤣, even though I’ve dug the hole I’m beginning to rethink the whole thing to be honest do I really want to spend the time and money on it in a rented property where there’s no guarantee I will still be here in 12 months time even though our landlord is a nice bloke, somthing may come up and we have to move out, I would be gutted after building a permanent pier, I think it was a moment of madness, is it time to call in the straight jacket now?