Tony Connor

Thanks Malcolm, I’ll check these out later today 👍🏻👍🏻

Heeeeeelp…
Developed an alarming ‘grinding noise’ (RA) with my HEQ5 Pro with Rowan belt drive! All has been ok until now…started after only two frames then stopped everything! When I try in manual it grinds more prominently when starting and stopping and will not track, no changes in balance, electric supply or anything else apart from I left it out for a couple of nights covered with a telegizmo and tarp. Any thoughts would be much appreciated before I start stripping it down. 

Had a look in the day time now and tried/found the following
1. Checked power supply on different sources and all ok
2. Checked worm gear for being too tight and all ok
3. Worm gear runs freely when not powered up
4. Motor runs when on high slew rate (grinding noise at begining and end)

Any thoughts/comments welcome.

Thanks for all the replies chaps, I’ve sent it back and asked for a replacement 👍🏻👍🏻

6 minutes ago, Captain Magenta said:

5-6 full turns on the focus knob is huge. I'd expect backlash as such to be of the order of a quarter turn. It sounds to me as if the threaded rod which the focus-knob pulls up and down is not properly fixed at its other end to the buttress-plate behind the primary mirror. If that's the case, it may be the rod will become separated from it in due course, in which case the threaded rod will be flopping around inside the tube and potentially spreading the evil black grease with which it's covered. I'd definitely send it back I'm afraid.

Thanks for that Magnus, I’m definitely leaning that way. 👍🏻👍🏻

14 minutes ago, johninderby said:

Try turning the focus knob all the way it can go in one direction then the other. Repeat a couple of times and it should sort it. The grease they use on the focusing mechanism isn’t always evenly ditributed and doing this will spread the grease out evenly. 

That’s assuming the focus knob isn’t loose of course.

Thanks for the reply John...I tried this but no change, it’s as though whatever moves the Focuser is not meshed correctly?

Hi All,

Is their any way to adjust the backlash (5-6 turns) on the focus knob on the Skymax 127, it is a brand new scope so I’m on the brink of returning it unless there is an easy fix or I’m missing something. TIA.

2 hours ago, Knighty2112 said:

Most likely because you can’t reach focus with your camera’s, so you may need to have an extender in place in your focuser to achieve focus correctly. Test it out in the daytime focusing on something in the distance, and if you need an extender move the focuser to max out position, then carefully undo the camera so you can very carefully pull it back out of the focuser until you see you get focus OK on your camera/pc. Just be very carefull you have a hold of the camera always.  Extenders can come in 1.25” or 2” sizes, of varying lengths like attached link shows.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-80mm-125-focus-extension-tube.html

Thanks for the reply and thoughts Gus, I’ll try that out 👍🏻👍🏻

Second night out with the Celestron Nexstar 130 and Skyris 236c, iCap imaging software...

Why am I getting an image of the scopes spider instead of Venus? TIA. Tony

58 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Hi Tony, you should see something akin to what you see through the eyepiece; depending on your screen resolution.

Does your capture software record a log file of your imaging videos? If it does then could you post a copy here. Then we can see if there is anything obvious standing out. The Moon is very bright so exposure, gain, gamma etc need to be set correctly. Just as an after thought do you know what the binning was set to?

58 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

Hi Tony, you should see something akin to what you see through the eyepiece; depending on your screen resolution.

Does your capture software record a log file of your imaging videos? If it does then could you post a copy here. Then we can see if there is anything obvious standing out. The Moon is very bright so exposure, gain, gamma etc need to be set correctly. Just as an after thought do you know what the binning was set to?

Hi Bryan, thanks again for you help. I thought so with regard to some sort of image being on the screen, as for the file log...I only attempted to video twice last night with the same result. I thought I had taken a screen grab of the setting but it seems that didn’t work either! I will keep a closer eye on the log files in future and post for your comments. I might be that I’m not spending enough time with the exposure and gain combinations. Should the default setting be somewhere near? Cheers, Tony.

16 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The top photo (using the Skyris ?) has a sharp edge, which means that the camera is focused. The problem appears to be that the exposure settings need to be adjusted to bring the brightness down.

Hi Peter, thanks for the reply...yes the very bright one is with the Skyris. See my reply to Bryan re exposure. Cheers, Tony

9 minutes ago, Stargazer33 said:

First of all hello and welcome  to SGL! You are in an excellent place for help, advice and support.

How are you focusing your Skyris camera? When you change out the eyepiece, which I presume you are using to take your iPhone picture, you will have to re-focus for the Skyris camera. 

The exposure looks way too high too. Try turning the exposure (time in milliseconds ms) and gain down. It's better to be under exposed rather than over exposed.  You can always lift detail out of the shadow; but once detail has been burnt out there is nothing you can do to bring it back. 

Hi Bryan, thanks for the welcome and your reply. I am refocusing with the telescope after I’ve swapped over the eyepiece for the Skyris. I tried lots of different combinations of exposure, gain and even auto setting to no avail. Should I see a crisp, clear picture on screen? Thanks, Tony.

Hello all, I’m a newbie...that will become very apparent in the next few sentences! I have a Celestron Nexstar 130 SLT and have a desire to take up astrophotography, I started with a few reasonable shots of the moon with my iPhone and have bought a Skyris 236C with no success. I would be greatful for any tips or advise on how to focus the moon for a start, I have uploaded a couple of photos one with the iPhone and one with the Skyris taken at the same time. TIA, Tony.