globular

I agree it looks a lovely zoom for glasses wearers. I'm a bit surprised at the price point though. I guess with the hyped demand and limited supply it was inevitable.

Thanks Robert (@Charlie 2436)

Hi @Charlie 2436. Did you get the 9-27mm zoom? How do you find it? I have the 7-21mm version and it's 15mm eye relief is not enough for comfortable use with glasses. I, like you back then, was wondering if the reported 18mm on the 9-27 make it glasses friendly?

Many thanks

Hi @Greymouser How have you found the 9-27mm zoom over the last few months? Is the FOV really 40 to 60? I have the similar looking Hyperflex 7-12 zoom (also claiming 40-60) but it measures more like 38 to 55 to me. And how is eye relief? The claimed 18mm (rather than the claimed 15mm of the 7-21) is the main thing that's caught my eye. Is that about right do you think - i.e. a bit more than other similar zooms?

Ask a moderator Stu, they’re bound to know 😉

Stunning.

@cajen2 How have you got on with this EP since?

From Baader's website ....

¿dn ʎɐʍ ʇɥƃᴉɹ ǝɥʇ sᴉ ʇxǝʇ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʇ oS

I have an Edge and they are locking bolts on my version. The idea is that you loosen them, focus, then tighten them again…to lock the mirror in it’s focused position…so that as the OTA moves during tracking / slewing you don’t suffer from mirror flop. For imaging this is a big deal and nice to have. For visual it’s not really necessary and I just loosen them at the start of the session and tighten them at the end before packing away.

If you’re on a PC then edit the post hold CTRL and right click the image select edit image change the pixel size to be 1/8 of whatever it is making sure keep aspect ratio is selected click update save your changes If you’re on a phone or tablet then I think double tapping the image does bullet points 2 & 3 in one go.

Do you mean you made the tubing specially to fit your coffee tub lids? 😁

Maybe I'll stick a battery on the back of one of these... https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Adeept-Compatible-Tracking-Ultrasonic-Processing/dp/B086HLJRDT ... and tell it to keep to the front of the scope while avoiding the tripod legs and me.

Yeah I considered that too... but a large battery circling around the top of my tripod doesn't feel very convienient. And I'd actually like to solve the cord wrap problem.... I could then feed power from a mains source too.

I'm feeding power to one of these... https://www.firstlightoptics.com/dew-prevention/lynx-astro-4-port-dew-controller.html ... so up to 10 Amps max @ 12v. (In reality I'm nowhere near the max but would like to match the max rating if achievable). The diameter of the circle needed is about 9" so a run of around 750mm is needed. How do I calculate what width and thickness I'll need? And my main issue is how to fashion a brush connector (that works in both directions) and how to hold it to maintain sufficient contact. And how much drop off in voltage is there likely to be? I'm all questions and no answers, unfortunately.

Thanks Michael. However it's not really a tracking issue (I'm not imaging for hours on end) it's a slewing to different targets issue (visual use) so I don't know which way I might be going from one moment to the next. I usually think "where is the cable" before I do a big movement... but I'm bound to forget eventually. But in any case, I'm trying, in this thread, to explore the possibility of a solution to the cord wrap problem - not work around or live with it.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have the same thoughts but just can't find appropriate parts in my google searching. I can see this ending up in a 3D printer purchase.... 🙃 Good suggestion - but I quite like the idea of solving the cord wrap problem. I'd probably forget to swap out the battery and lose my session to dew. It's an Alt-Azimuth mount. The anti cord wrap setting in software will amount to something similar - but I'm exploring the possibility of preventing cord wrap rather than living with it.

Thanks @wulfrun, I appreciate the reply. I did attempt to search for copper slip rings of sufficient diameter - but rather unsuccessfully. They were either too small or rather over engineered (and hence expensive) for my low power low rotation speed needs. Anyone know of something off the shelf more suitable as a starting point? I can put together and adapt parts someone else has made, but I don’t think my ‘knocking up’ skills run to copper slip rings.

Hi All, Background waffle: I have an Evolution mount that is powered by an onboard battery - so no cables to snag. Tick. However I also have other stuff (like dew bands) that I power separately using a single power cable to a controller mounted on the telescope, from where it's distributed to the devices. It's all very neat and works well - but I'm left with a cable that will wind around the tripod if the mount slews round and round in the same direction. There is a setting in the goto options that, when turned on, prevents the telescope from slewing more than 360 degrees. But if you're at 359 and want to slew to 001 then it takes a while to go all the way round in the other direction - so I don't want to turn that on. I could try mounting a battery up on the mount / telescope so that the battery and cable rotates with everything else - but the extra weight is problematic. I could try tapping into the Evolution's power... but I've heard horror stories when doing this and I actually quite like the extra battery life of having a separate power source. In all my time observing with this set-up I've just "kept an eye out" for the cable and repositioned it as needed without any incident so far - but I have had a few near misses and I'd like to try and eliminate the risk if it's doable. Solution ? I saw an aluminium lazy susan on amazon... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lazy-Susan-Rotating-Aluminium-Turntable/dp/B07G4FY6VG?th=1 It looks like this: It's aluminium with steel balls... so maybe it will conduct power from the inner ring to the outer? If I stack two of them... using the rubber feet to keep them apart... then I can feed both +ve and -ve through from the inner rings to the outer? So I've created a sort of power slip ring? I then attach the inner ring(s) to the top of the tripod, just below the mount (in an insulated way so the tripod doesn't short it). Attach the power source to the two fixed inner rings, and a cable from the outer rings to the controller mounted on the telescope. As the mount rotates it will drag the outer rings with it - while the inner remain fixed. So it can go round and round and round and the cable will never snag. Some sort of insulating cover over it all to prevent any shocks or shorts when something comes into contact with it (and to make it look 'nice'). Job done? What do you think?

[ Now we know why you pictured a colleague (expendable) using it on another thread. ]

Love your tripod (and your colleagues TeleVue flip flops). Are they available or a Mark one-off?

If you want an Ethos 21mm, have you thought about the APM XWA 20mm 100 degree eyepiece? It has 15mm eye relief and seems to get good reviews. Sorry to extend your list. 🙃