Jannerland

Steve - I don't have an Esprit 100 but I do use Esatto 3 with my 105mm refractor for the past 18 months. Full disclosure my only other autofocuser experience is with the ZWO EAF on a redcat. What I can say is that physically the Esatto appears to be very nicely engineered, no hint whatsoever of slippage or tillt induced into the light path. I've had the odd occasion with earlier drivers when the PC didn't find the focuser but I've not had to go plug unplug the USB for more than 6 months of "pseudo remote rig @ the bottom of the garden" imaging. I have always used it with both USB and 12v power connected and latterly with the Arco too. Once you have figured out the number of steps you want your autofocuser routine to use autofocus is honestly not something I ever think about any more which I guess is a good sign.

Thanks all. Given both my cameras are OSC I also was thinking of Ha rich targets where I'd perhaps use the bigger scope with dual narrowband ALP-T filter and then colour only for stars from the small one? Nothing to lose by giving it a go I guess..:-)

I'm curious what motivates folks who have dual rig setups and how they use them from imaging perspective? Background to the question is that I was toying with the idea of piggybacking my Redcat51 or Tak 60 on top of my 650mm FL refractor. I can see the benefit purely from the perspective that it would mean the secondary scope would get a bit more use with possible downsides on flex etc. Do folks have dual rigs to image concurrently and merge the data? If so how to cope with differing pixel scale? main scope is 1.16 while say the Redcat and an imx585 based camera would be ~2.4 (ie neatly nearly double) Or is it just a case no merge but here's a nice (hopefully) wide field image and here's one that's a bit tighter of the same target?

Yes "rain" is at default on mine but I dragged cloud (clear) a long way colder. I know behaviour can be tweaked via the sky temp correction factors on the setup page but I simply haven't had the conditions it suggests to do the tests the manual recommends.

@scotty38 How have you found the default threshold limit values match up with the reality? I'm thinking specifically of the cloud conditions thresholds - I've found I needed to drop the value for "Clear" status to -20 to get better match with genuinely clear skies

@AMcD Quick question on the physical dimensions of the Talon system - can you give me some idea how much space is taken up by the mounted motor as shown in the image you shared? Just trying to figure if it would even fit in the space i have. If not I can eliminate from my lingering thoughts 🙂

Thanks everyone for the insights and experience - much appreciated!

Having finished most of the construction of a micro observatory along the lines of New Sliding Roof Mini Garden Observatory Build - DIY Observatories - Stargazers Lounge which inspired mine I'm pondering automation of the roof. I'd like to ultimately be able to integrate the open close into an imaging session with weather (rain) checks and will need to be able to get the scope into is custom park position before closing. I've browsed through a few other threads using sliding gate motors but I'm struggling to find ones that other have used being available. I'm not sure if the above requirements put constraints on which one I go for? Appreciate any thoughts..

Thanks for the thought. In my set up its the bits of equipment close up to the back of the scope itself that are at risk of snagging rather than further back at the camera. I think short term I'll have to flip them so the cables are up top. I'll try work out how to remove / take apart the latitude bolt with a view to replacing it with something shorter but at the moment that's a puzzle I can't figure out!

Interesting thanks for sharing. I do have the dehumidifier option to play with. Think I'll try the insulation route and see how that goes as I have some left over from another project and it'll just be cluttering up the place in the mean time! What sensors / software are you running? (I need projects to keep my son occupied or he'll waste occupy the entire summer in front of his PC :-))

Saw some old threads about how the latitude bolt can interfere with full movement in some configurations (especially rotators which is my problem) - did anyone achieve a solution other than to shuffle the imaging train around? I'd kinda like the idea of a shorter bolt with hex socket in the top but I'm not sure how easy it is to remove the existing bolt. Did anyone do that?

I'm in the process of building a micro observatory along the lines of New Sliding Roof Mini Garden Observatory Build - DIY Observatories - Stargazers Lounge. So it's purely a permanent home for mount, scope, minipc, will have mains power and remote access (albeit its only 30m from the house). I'm pondering if insulation is a good / bad idea. Not so much from the perspective of when it's in use as when it's not. I'm thinking that by insulating it may help mitigate against long periods of high humidity? Appreciate ventilation will matter too. Anyone put insulation in and regretted it? Ta Rob

Curious to know how you're getting on with motorizing the roof and which bits you used? I'm just about to start building the roof structure on mine 🙂

No - I do want to hear the counterpoint!! That's a very fair point - the additional point(s) of failure & complexity not to mention the expenditure. 🙂 I feel like will have to do "something" because at the moment I have no means to control the camera orientation at all. Equally the alignment issues I've been working through are definitely in the back of my mind ....

Thanks all, that makes a lot of sense. I am definitely interested in automation so just from a framing perspective I like the idea of an electronic rotator. Once set up and soon to be permanently there my rig is sat out some distance from the house and I'd like to be able to as much as feasible from inside. The current setup with Esatto focuser (which I like very much) actually makes manually rotating the image train downstream unrealistic for the reason both Padraic and Andrew mention 1) as its all screwed into the focuser drawtube 2) the focuser design means blocks on the losmandy plate for a fair proportion of rotation A manual rotator like the Baader in the downstream elements would work for sure but then with an electronic one would keep me in the warm (yes I'm trying to decide if the spend is worthwhile / can be justified to director of accounts). The other thing that makes me consider the very spendy PL Arco is that I can put that upstream of the reducer / flattener and not upset the tilt adjustments when I rotate - that's assumption of course and I know it will add some complication wrt OTA length. Cheers Rob