pete_l

Are you missing a strftime() call?

When thinking about the benefits of higher priced gear, it is always worth stopping to consider what other goodies you could spend the cost difference on if you bought the cheaper option. Then weigh up the performance improvement (if any) against the fun, quality, ease or whatever else floats your boat that you would get from the lower-cost item and all the extra stuff

Yesterday I received an IMX335 board camera and a 25mm F/L F=1.2 lens from China. Here's the first try-out of what it can do. This is a single frame grabbed from the 15FPS stream. No processing

+1 There are a small number of "crowd pleaser" objects that are frequently talked about and imaged when people start off. They also tend to be the objects illustrated in magazine reviews as they are bright (so produce results quickly), easy and familiar. However over 90% of Messier objects are smaller than 40 arc-minutes across and half of all of them are less than 10 arc-minutes. Likewise most other DSOs tha Messier didn't spot With a small FoV the biggies can be imaged as a mosaic. However with a large FoV the majority of objects will always appear small.

Yes. There are better reverse polarity protection circuits that use a p channel MOSFET

Since you know that only one reed switch will be "on" at a time, you can use a resistive divider network and just a single analog input https://www.g7smy.co.uk/2015/09/multiple-buttons-on-one-pin-with-an-arduino/

@Gina Yes, the Skywatcher manual recommends their 13.7V power supply. With the cabling and connectors it is easy to drop a Volt when the motors are drawing peak current at startup, so a 12V supply (at the source) would be right at the lower limit by the time it gets to the mount.

Excellent work! It illustrates perfectly the old adage of "those who say it can't be done should keep out of the way of people doing it"

sticky bearings? (stiction)

A wise move. The circuit-board power converters are not rated for outdoor use, so they will need protecting from the elephants elements. They don't like moisture, high or low temperatures or insects crawling on them (which can be surprisingly conductive when electrified). As for enclosures, Bitsbox have a selection at reasonable prices and honest P&P charges

I would also be inclined to run the mount from a higher voltage source (e.g. 13.8V) and to over-spec its current requirements. The reason is that there can be a significant voltage drop from the regulator in the power supply, through all the connectors and cables, to the actual mount motors. Especially if people use "cigarette lighter" type connectors. IMHO most of the "funny" problems that people have with their mounts - controlling them in particular - can be traced back to the power supply. Whether an under-voltage as the motors start up, or noise from a switched mode PSU that was only ever designed to charge a laptop or strange things happening between the zero-volts common ground with their computer..

Here are some examples of what others have produced with an ST80. You will have to check the images to see which are from a DSLR. https://www.astrobin.com/gear/10883/orion-st80/

The NEQ6 is in the "20kg" class. You will find that to take the next step up, in either quality or load capacity is where it becomes expensive. There are outfits around that will hypertune the mount for you, which might be all it needs after 8 years: degrease, clean, regrease with better lubricants, adjust the worm spacing and possibly upgrade some bearings.

Cash on collection? Doesn't sound promising. I think that a buyer would have this more for its ornamental value than to do any observing through. You can't even be sure that it would take 1.25" eyepieces

Sometimes rephrasing the question helps. If you say this instead, does it help? Should I buy a nicer scope on my cheap mount, or put my first scope on a good mount.