Roog

RS Components have a range of hygrostats and humidistats, just one thought, my Meco dehumidifier won’t start if you switch power to it, it still needs you to press the panel on/off button as well each time. yours may operate differently, more cooperatively perhaps? :0)

Many thanks for your responses, I did wonder if there might be a sweet spot keeping every thing in proportion, bigger motor more torque with matching load to balance it out. happy to hear that big is beautiful, even if it is a lump to lug about.

I am contemplating buying an EQ6-R Pro mount, but initially I am likely to be using it with a smaller telescope. I can see that cost and weight go up, but would my planning for a possible future bigger scope load be a disaster when using it with a lighter load when it comes to tracking accuracy etc?

Initially I applied more pressure through the tension knobs but I felt that it made more sense to improve the balance of the tube rather than use more tension, especially as it makes the smooth movement of the scope tube harder. I use tool 'rack' magnets with lead bonded to the back, these 'cling to the tube' and can be moved about to re-balance the scope depending on the angle of altitude. The counter argument (pun intended) is that it isn't great adding lots of weight to the scope pivots either. I noticed that things start to get a bit much when adding a new finder scope and a traditional DSLR to the nose of the tube.

Thank you @Andrew_B for your comprehensive explanation, I will look back through my orders to see what I have and see where I can go from here. cheers Paul

Hi, I seek your experience on a small matter of setting/fixing parfocal rings perpendicular on the eyepiece/extension tube sleeve? I have some 2" parfocal rings which I want to use on my 2" extension tube to set the length of extension achieved and from experimenting with them it has occurred to me that it is possible to set these rings slightly off square or not perpendicular to the wall of the tube/optical axis. Is there a neat way of avoiding this? I can see that I can visually follow the line were the tube meets the next by eye, I just wondered if there was a fool proof way of fixing these square?

I have obtained and tried some M54 extension rings, optical length adds up to 18mm and whilst they do fit in the female thread of the focuser draw tube, the Baader 2" clicklock 'M54' male thread does not thread into the M54 female thread on the rings, it seems like the Baader has a different pitch M54 thread, coarser perhaps? Can anyone cast any light on this please?

Cheers for your suggestions.

Thanks @Ricochet I take your point, but need to find 20mm M54 ring which seem to be ilusive. off to check what a parfocalling ring is now!

Do you think that these could work? https://www.harrisontelescopes.co.uk/acatalog/explore-scientific-m48-set.html#SID=1664 I assume that these could be screwed in to the base of the 2” - 11/4” reducer and the outside diameter of the extension ring being 2” would fit in the bigger of the two Baader clicklock fittings 2” ? what do you think? I understand that this won’t deal with 2” eyepieces, but I don’t have any of these, for the time being.

Wow this is really messy. :0( thankyou for your suggestions

Hi @Ricochet, thank you for your reply, I have taken the parts off and measured them as best I can and i am more confused than ever. I have a Baader 2" Clicklock part No. 2956254 and a Baader Clicklock 2"-11/4" Reducer, part # 2956214, the idea being that I can fit the 2" part into my focuser drawtube and the 2-11/4" reducer allows me to use my 11/4" eyepieces. The difference in optical length between the original Sky watcher part and the combined effect of the Baader parts is 20 to 20.5mm. Trying to find a tube to fit either part is a bit of a challenge. The male thread on the 2" Clicklock (part # 2956254), seems to be M54, if i could get a 20mm extension tube with a M54 female thread at one end and a M54 Male thread at the other? Alternately, I could extend the 2" - 11/4" Reducer, (part #2956214) which has a 2" OD sleeve with two female treads, one measures 47.5mm (2" filter thread, M48) and the other is a T-2 Photo-thread, M42 perhaps?) again a 20mm extension would do which needs to present a smooth 2" sleeve to fit in the 2" Baader Clicklock! Any help that you can give would be appreciated. Thanks

Dear people of SGL, I seek your help having mucked my telescope up. Having replaced my standard skywatcher 250p eyepiece holder with Baader clicklock adapters, a 2” and a 2” to 1.25” I find that I can no longer find focus with my eyepieces. If I lock them with half the eyepiece barrel hanging out I can just about do it, but this feels a bit of a bodge and is not very secure especially with longer eyepieces. It was difficult to say in my fight with it in the dark last night, but it seems like it needs a minimum of 12mm extra length plus a bit so that the focuser isn’t close to ‘full out’ I am guessing but 25 to 35mm perhaps? Maybe more? Can you please advise what I need to do to bring my telescope back to its previous focusable self, extension tube or some such thing? many thanks

Thank you @johninderby I hadn't spotted the drilling requirement for the Baader, the video makes it look manageable enough but, I am a little squeamish about getting swarf in my telescope! I would be interested to know if the Lacerta 1:10 micro-focuser is worthwhile? Again, assuming that you can get one.

Thank you @Zermelo that link is just what I needed, cheers

Thank you @Ricochet I can see that i need to read up on this. Thank you for your suggestions, as a glasses wearer I am finding viewing challenging at times.

As you may gather by my posting in the beginners section I am still trying to understand the relative importance of bits associated with astronomical telescopes. No.1 'clear skys' never before have I noticed that it is so often cloudy! No.2 the amount of shiny things that you can buy for your telescope! I have begun (couldn't resist) by trying a couple of eyepieces but I wondered about the attractive focusers that are available as an 'upgrade' to the standard one on my Skywatcher 250p dobsonian. The ones that seem compatible are, Moonlite CR2, Baader Steeltrak and the Skywatcher dual speed, please feel free to add others to my short list. I can see that some offer, fine control, but also motor control options, (not sure why you would need remote control focusing on a dob?) but can i ask, "do these devices really enhance the experience?" Many thanks, Paul

Thank you both for your helpful explanations and experience, it seems like it might be worth adding one to my growing list of astronomy bits!

Hi, I have a new Skywatcher 250p Dobsonian as my first telescope and in between the cloudier nights I have been having fun exploring the bright objects in the sky. I have been using a Baader 8 - 24mm zoom eyepiece which I find works well for a variety of viewing and apart from buying a 5mm eyepiece to see if I could pull the planets in a little, I have begun to wonder what there is to be achieved at the other end of the eyepiece spectrum, say a 30mm or 40mm eyepiece. Please forgive the dumb beginner question, but what do people use 30mm - 40mm EPs for and am I missing out by not having one? Many thanks Paul

Thanks for the idea @Pixies I agree its a good option, I have some tool storage magnets with lead strips glued to the back for extra weight and wrapped in tough polythene to minimise scratching the scope tube. I stick it/them on to the tube wall with the magnetic side and slide them up and down to improve the balance. I don't like the extra weight mind, with an SLR fitted and the counterbalance weights it all adds to the pressure on the plastic bearing points.

Good idea @Louis D I have a spare pair of glasses with close enough prescription, but I often forget to change over! and yes in the UK we get a copy of the prescription so we are free agents as it were. I have also thought about getting contact lenses, which i used to wear for sports, but these would be a faff to put in each time.

I have a head torch with main white LED and smaller red ones, I got fed up with accidentally switching the main white light on so this morning I swapped the main white LED for a red one of the same type and power, cost about £1.12. It was quite a task to de-solder the white LED but having done it, it works a treat. I have also tried the red cellophane sweet wrapper trick too, but somehow felt that I was loosing a lot of the intensity by that method. I expect the new red LED will now be too bright! Thankfully it does have a half intensity setting too.

Thank you, the Story of the finder scope was a painful lesson. The skywatcher finder fine though it was has an un protected plastic edge which has put some nasty dinks in my new and very expensive spectacles, thankfully the marks lie out side of my main view, but I also found that the straight thru finder view was doing my neck in. So in the search for a 90 deg finder with rubber eye cup the Altair seemed like a good choice. However, being a lot heavier than the stock finder scope It does affect the balance quite a bit. It does look nice though, visitors to our home tend to notice it once they get over the big white thing in my hallway, as in the road bike world, “the red ones go faster!”

I like a project, sometimes just for the sake of it and whilst the plan was to use it as a simple pull along trolley, once I had discovered that the motors and controls worked I couldn’t resist adding the li ion battery and charger, which of course doubled the cost of the trolley in one go! Yes, the baader seemed to get good feed back. Funny thing is I tend to swing it from full wide to full zoomed in but it is convenient. The BSTs were a recommended next step up from the standard EPs and I find them very acceptable. I have also tried just one Tele Vue long eye relief EP, but that’s going to be too expensive for a clutch of them.

He he, that would be quite funny. I have had a play with it, riding it without the telescope on board, going is great, stopping from full speed can be quite exciting as it has very good brakes built in.