Jonny_H

I have been looking at the Mele. Looks like a nice size compaired to others and plenty powerful enough if using it just as a 'capture/control' computer. Out of interest, how are you mounting the two? Do you have the advance or ultimate? Do you use the Pegasus mounting brackets to mount the Mele on top of the powerbox? Do you power your mount from the powerbox? Sorry for all the questions Thanks @Len1257 I am tempted to go down the route of using NINA. I am using an ASIAir at the moment but lately I have been having issues with connection etc... and I'm slowly but surely thinking that I do not like the idea of being tied into one manufacturers products.

Thanks Nish, Have you had any issues with the USBs going through the PPBA? I have seen a number of posts where individuals have said to try to avoid USB hubs etc...hence my question on utilising the USB ports on a NUC or similar and just have a PPB to handle the 12v power output only (and dew heater power).

Hi all, This is more to satisfy my curiosity as I have read many conflicting posts across various forums so thought i would ask on here to get everyone's views who perhaps have such set-ups already. For those who are using NUCs/mini PC's - do you use a separate USB hub or do you try to intergrate as much as you can within the NUC/mini PC? Appreciating that 12V power outputs and dew heater outputs have to be separate 'units'. For example, in your view(s) is it better to have a NUC and something like a Pegasus Powerbox with the latter taking care of 'everything' (all USB devices, dew heaters, power outputs etc...) or a NUC which caters for all of the USB-related gear and a more simplistic power unit such as the Pegasus powerbox micro which takes care of just the 12V power outputs and the dew heaters? Curious is all

Hmm....difficult one. You could give it a blast with some UV light to try to stop it progressing and then drop Es Reid an email to see if it is something he could address. This is the reason why I generally just leave my scopes 'out' in the house. Only downside to that is dust tends to gather if not used for a while.....but even worse than that is Mrs Jonny_H nagging me that it all takes up too much room

From memory I think we ordered ours at roughly the same time as each other. I will double check but mine took about 3 months.

Thanks @michael8554 It took me a few goes at this but I finally got it sorted and can now connect to my ASIAir Pro through my home network via the Vonets wifi extender! For some reason the extender really didnt like the firmware to be updated and it crashed every time I tried (following the attempted updates - I couldn't connect to it through my home network despite the device showing as connected in my router settings. Nor could I connect to it directly.....very odd) so I gave up and just left it in the end. Don't wake sleeping dogs ey!?

Thanks @michael8554, I will have a look. I'm not suggesting that there is anything wrong with what I have done. I just have it in my head that it would he better all round if the device acts as a bridge rather than a repeater (I believe that's the right word to describe the current/default configuration. Although I I not an IT expert so could he talking complete nonsense!

Hi all, I have recently purchased the ZWO wifi extender for my ASIAIR Pro (made by Vonets) and have initially followed the quick ser-up guide to connect, I.e. plugged the device into my Air pro, connected to the vonets wifi using my phone, then switching on the AirPro and connecting via the vonets wifi. However just for my understanding - is this simply using my phones Wifi to connect? I was under the impression that the vonets device would act as a 'bridge' between my wifi router and the Air Pro. I can see that you can set-up the vonets device in bridge mode but the instructions aren't clear to me and are more aimed at using a computer as oposed to as opposed an Air Pro. I wondered how others have set theirs up, I.e. which settings have been used in the vonets set up page and also the Air Pro settings, e.g. station mode on or off etc....

Hi all, A quick question re: harmonic drive mounts such as the Rainbow RST-135e, 300 etc.... do the typical payload rules apply to these as they do for traditional worm drive mounts for astrophotogrpahy? E.g. there is a general rule for the latter to take the manufacturers total payload for AP and then take 60-75 (ish) % of that figure to get the true viable magic number. Is this also true for harmonic drive mounts? Taking the 13.5kg payload (without counterweights) for the RST-135e for example, does this infact mean it can realistically support just 8.5kg (ish) for AP use (without counterweights)? I am curious is all Thanks, Jon

I have looked at these but I'm drawn towards a velcro solution for reasons I cannot really explain.

Thanks @johninderby Ordered

Hi all, A bit of a random one - but can anyone recommend a thin but strong Velcro strap or similar which can be re-used and can hold the weight of a 4" refractor? What will it be used for I hear you ask. Well - in an attempt to making me feel better about scope safety/security when imagine and leaving the scope outside for hours on end - I have been using cable ties which I wrap around the scope tube rings and the saddle adjustment knobs on my mount. This basically does the same thing as putting a 'safety bolt' into the front of the scope dovetail which i know some use as an alternative method. Anyhow, I am after Velcro strap or something similar which i can re-use (cable ties are a pain having to cut them off and put new ones on each time i set-up and dismantle each session. Ideally, the straps need to be approximately 5mm in width and length isnt really an issue but just as an idea the cable ties i use are 370mm but realistically they only really need to be 300mm or there abouts. Enough of me waffling Thanks, Jonny

Thanks @michael8554 I think that is what I was advised to use to view the graphs which I posted on the other thread (link to other thread posted above earlier)?

Thanks @Laurin Dave I do have dithering spikes in that graph to.....but at least I am aware what those ones are! just not sure on the other ones but hoping that someone can help.

Hi @michael8554 I posted these up a few days back albeit under another thread. My logs are from an ASIAir Pro but believe these are no different to those produced by the 'actual' PHD2 utility. The graph produced by the app which Scotty advised me to use were based on the longer of the guiding sessions.

Thanks for the comments @wuthton @Xsubmariner @michael8554 I do not really have any issues with my current set-up (as such). Although I am trying to get to the bottom of a recent issue where by all of my stars across the entire field where slightly elongated in the same direction. I haven't had a chance to go back out yet though to test if it was just bad PA etc... The idea behind the OAG was to make the set-up more compact and to free-up the top of the scope to potentially place other equipment, such as a Pegasus PB etc.... that's not to say I can't fit things elsewhere and work around the guidescope.

Hi all, I am debating getting an OAG to add to my set-up (Esprit 100ED with ZWO 2600MC as main camera and ZWO 120MM Mini as guide camera). That said I have to main questions: 1) would you recommend an OAG over a guide scope for my set-up? My current guide scope albeit a tad ott is an Evoguide 50ED. 2) if yes to the above, I am torn between the ZWO OAG and the OAG-L. The latter seems to give a much larger prism and aperture but seems more 'complex' to actually fit it to my scope and camera. The former is very simple but has a much smaller prism and aperture. Just not sure which would be best, if any (see question 1 ) Any help or guidance would be appreciated. Thanks, Jon

In my case a bucket wasn't big enough, so I upgraded to a keg! 😉

Apologies mods. I have realised that this is probably best placed elsewhere. Perhaps the whole set-up discussion forum instead? Apologies for any inconvenience.

Hi all, As above, I have an Esprit 100ED and a ZWO 2600MC and I am looking to get an OAG to 'hopefully' simplify my setup/reduce weight etc... That said - I am torn between the ZWO Off Axis Guider (OAG) v2 versus the ZWO OAG-L. The latter has a larger imaging circle and prism but seems a lot more complicated to actually fit it to my equipment over the first OAG above. However will I run into any othet issues or restrictions by going with the first one? Any help appreciated.

Thanks @scotty38 Admittedly I haven't had a detailed look at the 2nd link yet - i did however upload my PHD2 guiding log to the application from the first link and i have attached a screen-dump from the longest of the 4 guiding sessions from the night of the 17th Jan this year. As previously mentioned - analysing guide logs is new to me but i will learn Nothing is screaming out at me other than the fact that i see the occasional 'blip' from both RA and Dec axis' which seem to be outside of dithering. I just dont know how to read this data properly yet to work out what these blips are or even if it is possible to do so?

Hi all, Hoping that someone can assist or point me in the right direction. I would like to try to understand how to 'read' guide logs, namely PHD2 guide logs from an ASIAir Pro as i am curious to see PE and/or whether anything looks particularly untoward. Is there a piece of software or an application exist where you can upload the log to get a simplistic view as to what is happening? Or can this be seen by manually looking at the log? If the latter......how do you read this 'Matrix' data? For reference I have uploaded a log file from earlier in the week. Any assistance appreciated. Thanks, Jon PHD2_GuideLog_2022-01-17_202253.txt

Thank you @CaptainKingsmill I am really pleased with it and it is a huge improvement over my last attempt. Just a couple of issues to iron out and I am hoping someone can point me in the right direction!

Further to the above (and i am not sure if this helps) but I ran the FWHMEccentricity script in PI on the original image (converted into Greyscale) and the following results emerged. Admittedly I am a complete novice to this and I am not 100% what this tells me ☺️

Apologies, I said 'images' above and realised the second one didn't post. Now added this is a close-up of the stars where the 'blip' described above can be seen in the larger stars. Could this be a spacing issue and/or tilt? Would this cause the stars to have the same issue across the entire image? I can also see what I believe is pinched optics but will let others clarify that. It was around -2 and I've 'expected' this as I have heard many an issue with these scopes. Anyhow, enough of my waffling...:)