powerlord

Yeh I've got plenty of them, just need it fit one.

Good idea. Yes, I have a 10 ohm resistor on the 5v supply and another on the 12v supply. I did replace the 5v one during the move... I'll need to check what th old one is.. Maybe I've made it too low a load. Back in the beginning, I made up a wee 5v supercapacitor box for USB dew heaters connected to USB sockets, as they pulse on and off even on low, and it was tripping the USB. The supercaps smoothed that off. Not really a solution here unfortunately. But yeh.. I think as the runs are longer the pc cpu just isn't a very good fit.. Oh well. 😢 The main reason for posting though was to describe that eq6 behaviour as I'd not seen it mentioned before. Its a good indicator that voltage is low. What value caps have u used?

voltage drop across a length of cable is current dependent. more current - more drop. not constant. V = IxR at the end of the day. R is yer cable resistance here, I is the current, and V is the drop across it. more current, more drop. All my connections are soldered or solid plugs, BUT I did use single core 1.5mm house 3 core for the 5m run to the far mount as I needed something flat to fit under the laminate - I suspected this would not be ideal, though it is pure copper. this calculator can show you roughly: https://www.calculator.net/voltage-drop-calculator.html?necmaterial=copper&necwiresize=0&necconduit=steel&necpf=0.85&material=copper&wiresize=0.4066&resistance=1.2&resistanceunit=okm&voltage=12&phase=dc&noofconductor=1&distance=5&distanceunit=meters&amperes=6&x=53&y=27&ctype=nec with 6a across 5m of 14awg it's showing 0.5v drop (vs .04v drop at 1a. At 10a, it can be a full 1v, or more if some of the wire is aluminium (don't think it is). However what I'm seeing is worse than that - I suspect either my wiring e2e IS higher resistance than I thought, or the PSU just isn't handling load well (but it used to do it fine), or it's drawing more current at least in a spike - that's what I suspect as I could see the drop in voltage as the mount starteed to move, and then it recovered a bit. At 10a, it would have gone down to 11v. So my 2 options are: 1. replace pc psu with a 12v and 5v psu, with the voltage pushed up a bit.. BUT the voltage reaching the mounts will vary with load due to the long cable run. 2. add voltage stabilizers close to each mount (in base where cables comes in). It's interesting that you say @Stuart1971 that you are using 13.8v though - thats into mounts, cameras, etc ? That suggests I can push voltage on option 1 up quite a bit. For your setup, if you only have a small run between your PSU and hub, and it's good quality thick cabling the drop can be minimal though. I've got two aircraft type 3 pin sockets between the psu and the mount, and if there's any extra resistance, it's probably there - though the ones I'm using are rated for 20a, I noticed they looked like they were made of quite thin mystery metal. possibly replacing these with XT50s or something would be useful. Before I do 1 or 2 though, I'll measure the resistance of the wire in case there's a quick win as you point out, and it is just a rubbish connector somewhere. 👍 Certainly, I tried replacing the supply to the mount with a regular 12v power supply I had lying about, and that does a good job of staying at 12.10v or so, dropping to 12v under lots of current initially (camera running 60% cooling, and then move mount), then recovering a bit to 12.05 or so). The main issue comes down to me using a PC PSU I think - I've got away with it for now, but the output of those is 12v on the nose - monitoring and controlled to be exactly 12v by the onboard controller. Whereas really, for our uses, as you have pointed out, it's better to have something a bit higher - 13v or so. stu

Posting in case it's of use for anyone else. I use a decent quality PC PSU to control both my mounts. I have this setup with a few power resistors to load the PSU, and run 12v/5v to both of my EQ6s which have asiair, cooled camera, eaf, 5v heated dew shields, etc. It's all been working flawlessly for over a year. I've now moved it all into the new observatory, and part of the move meant extending the 12v/5v run from the PSU to the mounts by a few meters. I knew I might have to contend with a voltage drop, but as things all powered up I thought it was ok. However, in the seconds between clouds and rain over the last week or so I've been trying it out and was getting weird behaviour on the furthest away mount - disconnects from it (its on ethernet), and non guided images showing star trails even with 10 sec exposures.. then last night I noticed when doing a goto the EQ6 was acting weird - it moved just the DEC, then the RA rather than both at the same time. So today I did some testing - and sure enough - I was getting maybe .1- .2 of a volt drop over the 2m run, but still just above 12v at the mount (12.15v)... BUT.. put some load on it - crank the temp down on the camera, etc.. and that drops to 11.8v .. crank cooler up more, and then try a goto - and it starts the same behavioour - only moving one axis at a time - and the voltage at the mount (i.e. into asiair) has dropped to just above 11v! So there's yer problem - I mean.. I've got a degree in electronic engineering, so this is hardly a surprise, except sometimes you forget the simply things... sigh. Anyhoo, clearly my PC PSU is totally unsuitable now to drive my mounts at a distance and will need to be replaced. I've got 12v 5v metal enclosure PSUs with pots on them, so can wire up these and adjust the voltage to allow for the drop fine, but I do worry that the varying current load is still going to play havok with the voltage over the cable. e.g. if I set the voltage at the PSU to 13v, this might get me a nice 12v still at 5a.. but when that load goes down to 1a that voltage is going to be up to 12.8v or so... And from what I've seen, these bits of kit are not exactly well designed - no stabilizing or boosting voltage.. so I'm unsure just how high I can push that no load voltage safely... The alternative, is that I fit voltage stabilizers (aka voltage boosters) at the mounts. this sort of thing: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203591993751 This should be able to keep the voltage a steady 12v in dependent of the drop in incoming voltage, and independent of current draw - really making it the same as a 12v psu more closely connected to the mount. that's the theory. I'll let you know if it works.

Well tried windows one. Running on quad core cheapy 25 quid thin client style windows 10 box. I found it a bit flakey.. Often not updating image or timestamp, lots of features pro, etc.. Sometimes impossible to admin as remote desktop hung with cpu at 100%. So..tried my old pi zero.. Initially setup with USB ethernet, then flipped over to USB WiFi. Using with asi120mc.. And well..far superior. Not setup outside yet, but running away, updating images, etc.. And yeh the wee zero is maxed out, but it's doing it fine, I can ssh or vnc on fine, and anyway don't really need to as website all up. So yeh.. Great software. Once I get the dome I'll do like you prob - just knock out a 3d printed enclosure. Just needs 5v in. I'll add some desiccant rather than heater. Should do the job.

ah ok - it looks the same as the one on my zero, so didn't know. in which case, I'll try windows first I think - since I've got all the kit I need to give that a go.

A cheapy hydraulic stool for the new obsy. Low is ideal for laptop on drawers desk, high good for twiddling with mounts. And though the small ring of wheels isn't the most stable, it stops it fouling the pier bases. Ideal. Stu

The pizero camera or an hq one? The software says the pizero camera isn't up to it which is why I ask. I have a zero and camera, but didn't fancy then 100 quid an hq and lens cost.

Hi chaps, I'm going to knock an allsky camera together using a spare asi120mc usb3.0. Seems there's a few options - use an old windows thin client I've got and use AllSkEye, or use a rasp pi and... not sure here - found one allsky github project (https://github.com/thomasjacquin/allsky) ? Is there others ? I thought I'd reach out a bit first before researching around and finding all the same things someone else could probably tell me in 5 mins. My thoughts were to mount it on the roof on my tv antenna (which hasn't been used in 15 years).. that way it'd escape a bunch of the low level light pollution from neighbouring house lights. If ti was a pi buiild, just make it self contained, with power going to it, and it can connect to my network with wifi. If it was the windows thin client, it'd need a longish usb3.0 cable up to the camera, and server in loft. either way, I've ordered a 10 quid dome from ebay, and planned to stick camera in there in a project box all sealed with some dessicant. I'd ideally want to be able to see a live view on a browser anytime, and at dawn each day, have a new movie to watch of the previous night. So - what are folks thoughts on software, positioning and features ? stu

ALso, in meteoblue, make sure you check out the multimodel. this is very useful to see how the different prediciton models (inc lots of 3rd party ones) are doing - if there is a lot of disparity, then you'll find your sources are likely to disagree, and it's less reliable. If they are all predicting the same, you can have more confidence in it. https://www.meteoblue.com/en/weather/forecast/multimodel/london_united-kingdom_2643743

Finally, first light in Oiii (my new obsy). Abysmally cloudy, but enough gaps to PA Both mounts for first time, and take 8 mins of first light images with my new stellamira 90ed. Clouded up again for rest of night, but at least it's all setup now for next time. Some decidedly weird spikes on the images.. I was catching edge of roof which has caused thrm. I need to adjust to allow to roll back more. Shooting a cloudy beetlejuice confirmed it, as that's fine.

Hello my beauty.. Flo sale delivery for the new observatory. Ff and 0.8 ff/r too. Looks like I got lucky with the strehl too.

Hi chaps. Now I've got the observatory, my 'storage' position for the mounts is with them pointing low to the nw. Which I do manually when I'm done, then close roof. It struck me that IF I get around to automating the roof, I'd also need to automate this move before turning things off. I use asiairs, and have mounts set up to support sky safari. Which basically means the asiairs expose a port which sky safari can directly control the mount from. So.. To automate.. All I need to do is have my esp32 on 'shutdown observatory' to send the relevant udp packets (I think it uses udp?) to the asi air to goto the particular point in nw I think. Does anyone know a good source for the protocol to do this? Stu

failing all else, I have some left over aluminium insulation from building my observatory Certainly enough to make a head to toe metal suit for you. Simply place this on, while also fashioning yourself a tinfoil hat, gloves and shoes, and u should be good to go. 👍

SW mount circuit boards at least on the EQ6 screws directly to mental. whether it has a ground track that connects to that I dunno - but it sounds like they probably do.

Wow - if you are just beginning and have started with a RASA11, you really are in at the deep end! Hope you sort your problems out, and looking forward to seeing your first images. 👍 stu

Sounds like your measuring wrong. Remember it's ac so meter should be ac. The buzz is caused by the 12v plug negative contacting the metal of a mount. If it doesn't do that internally (like with bresser), no buzz. To stop buzz, it's just about providing a path to ground from the metal that's more favourable than your fingers basically. This does not (and should not) be a connection to a mains plug. If you knew more, a ground on mains wiring could maybe be used, but I'd worry you might connect to live so please don't do this. Just get a bit of wire, and connect one end to bare metal somewhere close to where u get a tingle. Temporarily first if u like to test.% What are you standing on? Take the other end and connect it to the ground. If earth, stuff it down a bit. Experiment with sticking it to different objects (metal ones bolted into ground ideal). The idea to provide a lower resistance path for that current that through you. @Carbon Brushosorry Sorry if I didn't make it clear. By lazy I mean, because some Chinese stuff it bad, always blame it. Yes, some Chinese stuff is abysmal. But some is fine. I agree it's a bit of a lottery, but the fact some IS fine and still cheap shows how much astro companies take The biscuit IMHO. Stu

haha. ipswich. it's been weird weather - raining, blowing a gale, then sunny all on the same day.

updated pic.

Hmm. If u don't mind me saying so, a bit of misinformation here (speaking as an electronics engineering grad). Just ensure the metal is grounded through a link to ground (I. E. The ground) rather than through you. Of course it may be you do indeed have some killer psu.. So just my 2c..but imho the excuse of 'cheap Chinese psus' is a lazy one. It doesn't justify the silly pricing of astro ones. A decent 12v psu costs peanuts these days. And there are few application these days that need inefficient linear regulars, and our kit is not one of them. Just add an earth path from the negative. If it still does it.. Summit is up. Stu

I know I know.. Its not dark yet.. And u was hoping this would be first light, but the forecast is changing every time I look at it.. So.. After 8 weeks I've finally finished my Observatory - The Oiii. 😁 First light tonight is now looking unlikely but its ready to go! It's certainly been the most challenging DIY project I've done. But I'm pleased with the final result.

I'm Scotland, I'd suggest throwing a dice! 😂

It's complete at last!!!

damn, i protected the highlights till the last stage - my affinity clarity has pushed them over, I'll need to just tweak the blend curve on the clarity mask layer. Will do, and update. 👍

The same night I shot M51 a few weeks ago I shot M33. Again, not the best data but with the weather and the obsy build, thought I might as well process it. About 2 hours of rgb data and an hour of Ha/Oiii, 10 min subs with my asi2600 and 200pds. Not the best M33 I've done, but it's not terrible. Lost count of satellite tracks all over the place, and with so little data, it got integrated.. so no prizes for spotting track lines everywhere. I've attempted to blend in the Oiii in affinity using and overlay blend layer, and the Ha with a Lighten blend layer. stu <updated to sort out highlight clipping>