powerlord

This is my first project for the asi1600 pro. Only 3 sessions so far, and short nights. Doing in SHO. Last night screwed up positioning though, hence just doing a cropped in edit for now to see how its getting on. Oii is a struggle as there's so little I'm going to need a lot more integration. Ha is nice though and the Sii is coming on too. I want to get the the point I can actually SEE the elephant head.. so quite a bit to go yet. Anyway, always learning - today marks the 6 month spot I think since I got a telescope. If someone told me I'd be capturing stuff like this 6 months later I'd have said they were having a laugh.

the sticks don't seem great value to me. They are small, but then you have to add a usb hub, power for the usb hub, etc. and of course, no upgrade path at all. I got a lenova laptop reconditioned from ebay for 149 quid (Lenovo X230 12.5" Laptop Core i5 3rd Gen @2.50GHz 4GB RAM 120GB SSD WIN10) so that is of course much faster, more vesatile, etc. And there's not really much size difference between it and the wee USFF thing. So I think cost would be the only reason I'd go with the wee USFF. If you want an actual usable, portable laptop that can also do your controlling, a laptop is the way to go if you don't want to use asiair. Personally, I'm happy to restrict myself to zwo stuff. I'm glad I tried the alternatives. It's made be sure I made the right decision getting another asiair pro. The only area I'd say it is rubbish at is planetary stuff. For that, I'll be still plugging my mac into my zwo camera and using firecapture - but still using asiair for everything else. stu

Is this about what to expect from 48 mins of exposure ? (4x 3min subs L,R,G,B with asi1600 at 139 unity gain) I dunno, I thought I should be getting better than this. I had to drop the L data too, as it was just screwing up the image. Am I exposing too long per sub ? I'm shooting on my 72ED. Any help appreciated. processed in Affinity, since startools was screwing it up with L data , and then kept crashing trying to load composition again so gave up.

well, I think this experiment is over. it all works fine if windows is your thing. Personally I can't stand windows, and I still find nina as much as a PITA as astroberry with nothing working as you'd expect. At first it looked promising, hence this experiment. case in point - plate solving an image (which worked fine - only 50% cpu usage), but doesn't then apparently sync mount at all - after spending time hunting around for this I decided if something that basic is hidden away and non-obvious this is not for me, I'm constantly going to be battling unintuitive software - little windows everywhere, no set views, etc. Anyway, it was more than capable of guiding with psd2 when controlling mount, imaging and plate solving with no isues on resources - pic attached. Anyway, moan over. Bottom line is, it all works fine. IF you want a cheap as chips windows based controller, these seem to do the trick. key search words would be 'USFF' or 'fanless', 2gb, 64gb ssd and windows 10 (assuming you don't want to install yourself) at 25-40 quid on ebay reconditioned since these are common in offices, they do appear to be a bit of a bargain. This particular type is even 12v/regular DC connector so easily usable if you have a battery based system. I'll probably keep it running 24/7 somewhere to be honest now as a windows machine for the odd bit of software I need that only runs on windows - since my macs are mostly M1 silicon now, and parallels is expensive and per mac so only got one licence for one of my macs. But, I won't be using nina or for that matter astroberry any more - just not for me. When my 2nd asiair arrives that will become sole controller for the second mount. I know some folk get emotive about certain software over others - to me it's all just tools - you pick one that works for you and is best for you. Previously I loved my asiair pro, but when folk commented astroberry was just as good, or mini pc/nina just as good I didn't feel I could comment. Now I feel I can - if you try those and find them as much of a PITA as I do, consider getting an ASIAIR PRO (assuming you are ok to be DSLR/ZWO only) - yes it's expensive, but frankly the only thing truly limited in your life is your time - I've probaby spent 5-6 hours just trying to get those things working, probably more. Whereas ASIAIR 'just works'. to be that's money well spent. stu

yes, that was the original plan, but they are quite expensive - and of course then need usb hub, etc. these seems plentiful and cheap. Anyhoo - azgti mount now working fine with EQMOD and direct cable. phd2 setup with asi224, and 6d as main camera. All seem to play nice together with NINA. So tonight I shall give it all a try. stu

well rooky mistake was not actually getting everything working in daylight.. cameras were fine, but couldn't get connection to az gti. it works fine in asiair with eqmod so assumed it would be the same.. but looks like it's not with ascom ? as far as I can tell I need to run synscan app, and then use synscan ascom driver to connect via localport. I'm ASSUMING synscan app can use cable, or else that isn't helpful.. I'll try and get that working during daylight today. with mount not working there wasn't much else I could do last night. Having the SSD means it can page in/out of memory pretty fast, so the lack of physical memory isn't so much of a problem. And I've not seen CPU spike much at all so far to be honest - there doesn't seem to be much needed that needs a lot of CPU. Saying that, I did take advantage of the ZWO sale, and took a punt at going direct to get an asiair pro for 180 quid..if don't get stung for vat/duty. I didn't want to spend another 300 quid on a second one, but 180 seemed ok... course I might end up paying that with duty anyway - but it persuaded the (very small) bit of my brain that asks 'do i need this'. So, frankly the PC ain't gonna every be used in anger once that comes. However I will try and get it all working. If I do, it's useful info for others, and a backup for me - plus useful if I ever want to do something the asiair doesn't do. here's a few pics of the 'setup' if you can call it that. I found the usb stick with the antenna was fine to connect it direct to my home network btw, so can recommend that. Though for increased speed, I connected to the wifi repeater on the main mount as that has a bit stronger signal to it. RDP is a joy vs VNC of course - pretty much like local use.

So - first update. Got pc today. As described. opened it up - one 2gb dimm , one sata 64gb ssd. Windows 10 Pro licenced on there. I just installed NINA, ASTAP and DB and chucked a light from my IC1396 session a few nights ago. Solved in a few seconds. It all seems to run fine. And being windows you get RDP so remote access is very smooth and quick with low network use, vs hellish VNC using 1-3MB/s with astroberry. I will set it up and give it a try tonight if I can. I have never used NINA before though, so don't really know what I'm doing. However, the plan will be to get it to control this lot: canon 6d az gti in eq mode 120mm guidescope with asi224 guiding And I'll set it on something or other and see how easy it is to configure, and if I see any performance issues. But so far I see nothing to suggest it won't work fine. Oh, also it's a standard 12v power input for the PC - so will plug straight into the regular DC jacks most of us have if you want to run on batteries. It has 3 xusb2, 2 x usb3 so plenty for most. I had a generic usb wifi stick with an antenna for range in my spare drawer, plugged that in and just worked. I'll post some pics later of the setup, but so far it seems far better than astroberry on a pi4 for speed, remote working. stu

Thanks should have checked. But I don't feel bad about trying direct once, I've spent 4k with FLO this year 🙂

In case yer not on the mailing / spam list. Got email from zwo today about some pretty good discounts they are doing direct. With dollar the way it is, I just bought a second asiair Pro for 180 quid... Assuming I don't get Stung on customs, but being China don't usually tend to. Anyway, do factor in that risk of customs charges. https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/product-category/on-sale Stu

very nice. its HEVC aka h265 so will only work on certain modern browsers. love the clouds

thanks! just looked it up and booked in for tomorrow and friday night! I see they have a week of astronomy/imaging in November too - I'll probably sign up for that when I'm there !

the 2gb is easily upgraded for a tenner or so. it is quad core, and that's much the same as a pi3 - and that does plate solving fine. I think stacking might be pushing it though. It's an SSD though, so even if it does start swapping it's not gonna affect speed much. But yeh, we'll see. stu

duh. you are quite right - that would solve it. I'll make sure to always to that in the future. thanks.

don't see why not. it's big, and bright enough. And @alacant saying RGB better anyway. And it's usually pretty high in the sky just now. get some in this week before the moon ruins the party ?

Can't remember the last time I saw a nearly blank meteoblue meteogram!! The nights may be short but I'll take what I can get!

Nearly 2 weeks after I got it, I finally had a chance to try out my ASI1600 last night. It is the first time Ive been able to try filter wheel, EAF, ASI1600, mono, narrowband, etc... so lots of stuff to get my head around. After getting PAed and sorting out all of above to work (2 hours as all new, and had loads of difficulties with EQ5STAR PRO not behaving - will need to update review there as I am liking it less and less...).. I finally was ready, just in time for clouds to sweep in and cover the sky. arggggg. However I went to bed, and kept and eye on it via the asiair app. About 1am it cleared up, so I had time for a grand total of 4 360 second Ha and 3 360 second Sii. I had set Oiii too, but it appears that the autofocus routine screwed up there as all I've got is a mess of out of focus stars - i imagine clouds came back in then. So.. something to build on, by hell, it's first light - I'm gonna integrate it and see what I've got... I was using my 72ED, and had centred on the 'trunk'. Frankly I'm amazed with the result after 42 mins of integration time. Obviously not very much Sii at all, but loving the detail. Really glad I took the plunge into asi1600/mono, etc. I did then plan to set the other mount up (azgti, canon 6d, 300mm L F4, 2" L-extreme, az224 guide cam, pi400 running astroberry), but the mount wasn't playing ball - possibly something I should have tested before...I therefore was stuffed there. This morning I have it working (mount: skywatcher AZ wedge worked - azgti doesn't as it only does ethernet and I'm using eqmod cable). So.. will try that again tonight. I also had the gopro 8 setup all night doing nightscape video to try for milkyway.. will see if got anything there later. In the morning the asi1600 was pushed right up against my mount - so I'll have to watch that -as it's the mount, not tripod, an extender isn't going to help either. Anyway here's last nights setup (gopro one out the picture): And my 42 minute HaSii trunk:

Oh, good to know. My experiment failed last night due to tons of cloud delaying me setting up my main rig, and then as my rig that had the DSLR on was all new astroberry attempt, I ran into issues controlling the mount (azgti). I'll be trying again tonight.

weird. my kit is setup to do that exact thing tonight and over next few nights. canon 6d modified, 300mm L F4 canon lens. I'm bortle 6. My plan is to use my 2" L-extreme on the end of my canon lens. It's 77mm. I've used down step rings to take me down to the 48mm of the l-extreme which is popped on the end. So basically that's shutting the aperture down to 48mm too. I've never tried that before, so all a bit of an experiment. I have shot others like north america with my UHC FF clip in filter and they have come out nicely, but I'd have thought you'd get better results with your L-enhance. But I'm pretty new so only my guess. Be good to compare our results later ? stu

For side roof, It's basically a garage door horizontal. I think automating would be trickier without filling space with levers, but for manual, it'd be very similar to yours, but imagine your runners pivot at the edge of roof. That design would leave 2 runners sticking up when out, but an alternative would be bearings at roof midpoint in a guide rail.

Feels like we could do with a forum for 'controllers'? Asiair, pis, laptops, mini pcs? Anyhoo, I am asiair Pro user. But its expensive and I want a setup for my second mount. I've been trying astroberry on my pi400, bug so far I'm underwhelmed. I bought a 2nd hand lenova laptop precicely to play with the Windows options (I'm a mac only house), but it now seems a bit good to strap to a mount and leave out all night. Anyway, purchased this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fanless-Silent-USFF-PC-Quad-Core-2GB-RAM-64GB-SSD-Windows-10-Pro-PSU-/254986243991 At 40 quid in Windows 10, I'm going to see if it can run NINA. I will update this thread. Watch this space.. At about same price as a pi4, but offering the ability to run nina as windows, I though it might do the job if its quick enough. And it might be a cheap option for others on a budget. I chose that one as it has usb3, 64gb ssd and windows preinstalled saving me faffing about. I have plenty spare wee WiFi usb dongles so one will add WiFi. I expect psu will be 12-24v which I can provide easily from my battery pack or for at home, just plug in to outside plug. I think 2gb memory should be fine. 4gb would be better. The amd processor is the weak part - will just have to see how it copes with stuff like plate solving, guiding, etc. Stu

very nice. Only suggestion I'd make is to add 240v. I did similar a month back - fitting outside sockets to the far end of my garden where I setup my kit. As you've got the fence there, you can probably run cable along the bottom of fence as I did and avoid having to bury cable in garden? Stick an RCD in where you spur it off from the house. Then you don't need to faff around with batteries, etc - and stuff like fans, lights, security cameras or whatever become much easier to do ? I setup in a circular patio at end of garden, and it's now super easy to just plug my kit in at night. If/when I build and observatory it'll def have mains. You've certainly persauded me that if I go for one, I'll do it myself. I think I'd make mine a bit bigger so I could be in it when needed (PAing, faffing, things that need manual focus, general screwing around that has me out there for 30min-2 hours just now). I do fancy trying a sort of slide down roof which sort of slides out, then rotates vertically and slips to side of shed - saving space as the place I have in mind wouldn't have room to slide the roof horizontally. are you planning to motorise the roof ? I suppose another benefit of your design is that it would be easy to do with a motor/belt or even a threaded rod as it's only opening 1400mm or so. keep posting the pictures ! stu

Thanks for the extra info. One other question - I didn't quite follow when you were saying about filling with concrete and worried about pipe splitting or something? Do you plan to just leave mount out in all weather then, but bring the rest in, using cover and your roof to protect from rain?

very nice job. thinking of a pier myself and love the idea of brake disks! I'd not heard that before. Anyone know what's a perfect fit for an EQ6-R pro ? And I wasn't keen on the plastic tube idea when I'd seen builds, but it looks brilliant to me. Definately considering it now. For the mount build it'd be great if you could add some more details: - what mix you used for concrete - ebay links for tube, bolts, nuts, rebar - any tips for ensuring your main tube set vertically - any other tips, gotchas ? (p.s. also an IT architect)

Not just the brighter ones. I took M51 with mine and was pleased how it came out. It also comes with a fish eye lens for all sky - so you have that to play with too. stu

Consider trying Affinity. it's cheap (vastly so compared to PS), works natively in 32 bit colour, and has some specific astro tools - stacking (not great), and background neutralisation (very good). It's also a very powerful and easy to use image editor. Coming from PS it took me a few weeks to cross over, but now I'd never go back. And I tried Gimp - and imho it really is abysmal. personal opinion - many folk love it - but I found it to be a clunky dog. PI is a mess imho. One look at the website, their blog nonsense, attitude to hotmail email addresses, etc - it all reads like a David Ike website. Yes, lots of folk love it - but frankly it costs a fortune and has a UI and UX which is utterly abysmal - if it was 20 quid I'd put up with it all and use it a bit. It's not, and I won't. You don't need to spend much for a full pro kit you can grow into. My suite is now: DSS (free) Startools (35 quid) Affinity Photo (50 quid) Sirl for bits and bobs. Firecapture for planetary. stu