Newforestgimp

Thank you for the assistance, I wish every target was as straightforward to at least get a decent attempt at, been struggling with Rosette think I need to invest in a modified camera or a dedicated Astro cam. I will take a look at that tutorial see if I can get something ANYTHING out of startools ! messing about with APP currently on the 30 day trial, it’s very good

Thank You, some M10 threaded bar has arrived today so I will check with that.

Can anyone tell me what size thread is used on the central bolt used to secure skywatcher EQM-35 mount head to its tripod ? im looking for options to secure it to a pier I’m thinking of building. Cheers Andy H

Out of interest how many sessions did it take to get it working ? I can get the individual bits to work but when hitting PLAY on a sequence something hangs, fails, loops etc ?

Dont get me wrong i really want it to work as i can see the potential but as it stands i am yet to capture a single image in NINA due to various issues, each time I overcome one I get another. As I say user error I'm sure but can I be bothered to update my Brain's firmware. ? Im not sure...

Another evening of frustration in latest encounter with NINA, wasted another 45 mins trying to get NINA to work last night, it applied all the simulator settings to my live gear so had to manually reset those, it doesnt seem to like Live View, the option when pressed on NINA did nothing, this made focusing a real PITA. I even tried the advice given about starting guiding outside of NINA. i had set up a simple sequence 30x300 second exp (5 of which seemed to e used up during the platesolving step) But success !!! Due to not enabling guiding on NINA sequence, it made it past that stage and started the first image WOOHOO, a 300 sec exposure which when complete just hung, no clue on screen as to what it was doing so I decided to close NINA only then did she think i should see the errors messages pointing to some DSLR issue that certainly wasnt there during the platesolving and centering stage !!! So once again I switched allegiance back to APT and in 5 mins, I've slewed, platesolved, centered and started the Lights plan running...... but I forgot to focus again DOH!!!!! 🙂 Hopefully i managed to get a few good ones even with the corner of my roof in frame. I wont give up entirely on NINA as there's too many people using it raving about it so I fully understand its something I'm doing but then I think about adding an auto focuser and wonder if I have enough life left to spend more time faffing. Score so far NINA 1 - 4 APT

Interesting.... After fair bit of searching eventually came up with a name “standoff bolt” they come in different shapes sizes. I’m thinking the M5 which 8mm across flats ?

Chewing Gum ?

Hi All, currently drawing up some ideas and plans for a DIY Pier for an EQM-35 which I think has same mount head as an EQ-5 ? I’m wondering what people are using as a diy Azimuth North locator stop post thingy ? regards Andy H

What did you go for ?

No problem, inside of a week, I’ll admit I was a little nervous but can’t fault the communications and the service. gives me confidence for any gear at a higher price.

Wow, thanks chaps. So many different ones to check, who knew !

I’ve seen some neat setups on here employing what looks like Velcro to hold computers, hubs & the like so I bought some Velcro. I can only assume not all Velcro is made equal, as it just wanted to fall off or the tape unstick ? so what is this industrial grade stickiness people are using ? cheers Andy H

Thank you for this suggestion, it’s arrived and it’s such a neat solution and wasn’t silly money !!!

Deep Sky Dad 12v DC HUB that somebody on here put me onto after my tinternet searches gave nothing... oh and some VW Currywurst for the bbq.

Cheese Plate, not to be confused with Cheese cake...

That's rather worrying, sounds a lot like the carbon frame bike industry just as likely to get a poor example when buying a £3k branded frame as opposed to a £500 frame direct from the factory in china, in fact in the cycling world its becoming clearer that some of the chinese branded frames are actually better quality and more likely to be within tolerances. Depressing to think I'm in another area where its like pulling a ticket from the tombola. 😞

Thank you, as I suspected. It would be nice to intercept a 100mm APO direct from China before it gets re-badged 🙂 Andy H

Ooh exciting ... 😂

He’s just sent me this link to his scope....

Hi All, A friend of mine has a TS-Optics ED Refractor in the size range of 70/73mm id like to say its a photoLine but im not sure, we are wondering if the William Optics Flat73A would be a suitable flattener for scopes of this type from other brands or does he need to buy the TS-Optics specific flattener ? Or sany other suggestions for flatteners to consider would be appreciated. Regards Andy H

I'm with you now, that makes perfect sense and where experience shows.

Ok understood, I think the current supply for the mount should be enough for current set up, I'm pretty sure the DSLR will use next to nothing and similar for the USB hub. But I'm still a little confused with regard to cabling, Am i wrong to think of taking power to the distribution box and from the dist box to the Mount ? If im understanding it would appear the suggestion is to split the power prior to the Dist box one leg to the mount the other leg to the power box. I assumed that the mount and all other ancillaries would be supplied via the distribution box?

This will probably be a silly question but ill ask anyway 🙂 If I were to buy say a 10A supply and the mount recommended supply is a 5A, does the Mount draw what it needs (5A) or does the mount accept what its given ?

Thank you both, The main objective for me is to minimise the cables from the ground to the mount, one for power and one Data USB for laptop, so the power dist box will be used at home connected to mains and away connected to leisure battery of some description (when i get that supply organised). I was thinking of using the power supply I purchased for the Skywatcher mount to supply the power to the powerbox i think its a 12v 5a supply, does this sound reasonable ? I'll confess i really do not understand electrics fully so apologies, I'm not sure what you mean by 'just a big 30A liner ? Currently I mounted a 4 way mains extension lead onto the tripod leg and that is connected to an extension reel connected to the house mains, i then have the various DSLR, Mount, USB Hub supplies into the 4 way.