dave_tucker

Thanks @Alien 13 I'd have thought that I'd have seen DC voltage, not AC... but ho-hum.
Rather than earthing everything I think I'll have better luck with a battery, or a linear PSU.

I've been rebuilding my EQ6... and when I put everything back together I was surprised when I felt a little electric vibration on the Dec Scale... and again on the counterweight shaft.

Being curious as I am, my multimeter has a NCV function... If I point it at any part of the mount or tripod when it's plugged in, it detects voltage 🤯
Now, it's only supposed to alarm when there is > 90VAC...

I was expecting it to be a grounding issue, but if I take a measurement from the mount or tripod to ground, I get a reading between 25VAC at basically 0.01mA🤔

I'm at a bit of a loss as to where the issue could be coming from.... any advice or suggestions appreciated.
 

This is not my work, but I saw this in the news today:

https://astroanarchy.blogspot.com/2021/03/gigapixel-mosaic-of-milky-way-1250.html?m=1

It took 12 years, but the result is gorgeous

The postman brought me this rather tasty 102mm f7 ED Refractor. Hot off  the SGL classifieds.

First light will have to wait until FLO ship my rowan bearing removal tool so I can get my EQ6 ready for action... and a cloud free night of course.

I'm I'm the same boat as I've just bought a case. My local foam shop appears to offer CNC cutting so I might have a go at that. I don't trust myself to produce a decent result with a bread knife.

5 minutes ago, malc-c said:

It would be a shame to lose the stripdown guides on he HEQ5, plus the other technical articles.

I echo that sentiment. Her EQ6 guide has been an invaluable reference for me.
I've saved some PDFs from web.archive.org but there are some images missing unfortunately.
 

9 minutes ago, malc-c said:

Hopefully you can put our minds at rest soon, and confirm she's fine 

I hope so too.
 

There is a download link to the exe on this page that seems to work. 

http://www.hitecastro.co.uk/index.php/support/item/hitecdcfocus2-software-download-version-1-3-copy.html

Oh also worth checking what the PowerBox is rated for. Once you've added up to see what your draw is you might still need to power the mount separately.

23 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

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 ?

One of these:

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/batteries-powerpacks/nevada-psw-30-25-30a-switch-mode-power-supply.html

29 minutes ago, Newforestgimp said:

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 ?

It depends what you are hoping to connect to it. Take a look at all your equipment and see what the current draw is. If it's more than 5A you'll need a bigger power brick. Above 10A you'll be looking at the ham radio type of power supplies linked above.

15 minutes ago, DaddyG said:

Not sure if there's a go-to single answer  answer here?

You can get great widefiields shots with just a tripod, DSLR and 50mm lens! Even the 105mm will work.

Likewise you can see a lot of the night sky with the naked eye... and more with a pair of binoculars.

I' wish I'd learned that before I bought my first scope.

Both those books have a lot of good info on that! My advice would be to see where you passion lies (AP or observing)and invest accordingly as an good beginner setup for each is quite different.

As my EQ6 lies in bits while I rebuild it, I've been considering what other "upgrades" I can do...
I noticed that the counterweight shaft has an M6 thread won't accept the extension bar from FLO
https://www.firstlightoptics.com/sky-watcher-mount-accessories/counterweight-bar-extension-for-skywatcher-neq6.html

The battery on my calipers has died, but eyeballing it the OD appears to be close to 18mm, which is identical to the extension bar.
I know that a thread adapter might work, but a more elegant solution would be for someone with a lathe to bore out a larger hole and tap it with M12 thread.

I'm curious if anyone has had this done?
Or if there is anyone with a lathe that might be willing to do it - ideally within driving distance so I don't have to pay postage
 

My first successful image! (Thanks everyone for the pointers).

Mars and M45, from my back garden - best not mention the 150 subs I dropped because the roof of the house was in them.

Canon 70D on an EQ3-2, 50mm f1.8 (stopped down to f2), 142 x 6" subs. Processed in The GIMP.

 

All good advice thanks. I think I'll look for a target with the 50mm lens,  ISO 1600 and subs of however long I can get without trails. I'll also leave the Pi indoors.

I was thinking about using the Tokina but I find I get a lot of the houses, neighbors tree etc... at the edge of frame 😆

Gear:
- Canon 70d (unmodified)
- Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8 lens
- Cannon 50mm f1.8 lens
- Asahi Pentax SMC 135mm/f2.5 lens
- Asahi Pentax SMC 200mm/f4 lens
- EQ3-2 mount
- Intervalometer
- Raspberry Pi with Astroberry.

I'm photographing unguided and untracked for now.
I do have an EQ6 that I'm rebuilding and will use that for tracking and will add a guider later as my results improve.

Attempt 1:
I struggled to find a decent target to image with my setup - my garden faces East/South-East.
I tried imaging Ursa Major, using my intervalometer.

- 11mm f/2.8, 50 x 1 sec lights at ISO 128000. No darks (because I only took one set - doh!)
- 50mm f/1.8 50 x 1/15 sec lights at ISO 1600. 20 darks,

What I learned:
- ISO 12800 is very noisy
- 1 sec was too short of an exposure, I could have got away with longer without trailing
- ISO1600 with 1/15 sec exposures captured practically nothing
- I need to take darks after each set of lights

Attempt 2:
I tried M81 - not a great choice I know.
This time, I used Ekos with the Cannon DSLR driver.

50 lights at 200mm/f4, ISO 1600, 0.25 sec exposure. 20 darks.

What I learned:
- 0.25 sec was too short
- Using Ekos was a learning curve and cost me a lot of imaging time messing with formats, transfer settings etc...
- The delay between subs was long. I think this delay is caused by sending image from camera -> pi, writing to disk etc.. but it feels like 10-20 seconds (i haven't timed it).

Attempt 3:
M42. Better target.
Still using Ekos... but I didn't get out until later than planned and was thwarted as Orion went behind my house!
This was compounded by the delay between subs mentioned earlier so I got only 1 or two useable frames.

50 lights at 200mm/f4, ISO 6400, 0.5 sec exposure, 20 darks.

What I learned:
- 0.5 sec is still too short
- I need to plan better

Overall

I'm probably doing a lot wrong, but learning as I go, so please feel free to point me in the right direction.
Before I head out again (tonight?) to try M42 I could do with some help:

1. To try and get Ekos to take quicker subs OR find another capture program OR revert back to intervalometer.
2. Reviewing the last set of Subs in DSS and they look almost black, barely any stars are visible. This makes me wonder whether I'm using the right setting on the camera? My plan is to keep everything the same but take 1 sec subs which at 200mm is apparently a fraction too long. When I ran the numbers it suggested 0.92s. Should I consider bumping the ISO higher at the expense of more noise?
 

These ones? 
EQDir Adapter - HitecAstro

9 hours ago, cdvideo said:

I know they is a project going right now to get a Aux signal to USB dongle to work with CPWI on cloudy nights

That looks awesome, but it looks more electronics and not software.

4 hours ago, alexwolf said:

What about Stellarium?

3 hours ago, AngryDonkey said:

There is also NINA

Both good options. I do use Stellarium so maybe I'll look and see what needs doing there. I've not used NINA yet but will give it a look.

47 minutes ago, Xilman said:

I and a number of other people would very much like an INDI driver for the K8055N Velleman USB board. In my case it is used to control the dome. The LesveDome product works well under Windows/ASCOM but it would be nice to be able to use it under Linux/INDI.

 

This sounds interesting. I'll do some digging and see if it's something that's within my ability to do.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

My day job is as a Software Engineer and I was wondering how I might put those skills to use on the Uk's famous cloudy nights.
I've been playing with KStars/Ekos and INDI and it's awesome, but it's unclear to me (from the website at least) how to contribute my time (Ikarus will gladly take my money though lol).
So I'm wondering if any of the maintainers hang out here and might be kind enough to point me in the right direction... or if there are other popular projects that might need a helping hand.

Beautiful. I love it. As someone just starting out this gives me hope that I can achieve something similar with my unmodded Cannon 70d. Well, after a lot of practice!

8 minutes ago, discardedastro said:

I've been doing RDC protected 4-gang onto a 12V PSU (a Nevada linear one) for years without issue, so that works. With a reasonably large box the PSU can sit in the box - just think cooling, esp with the linear PSUs.

Excellent. I'm on the fence between a Nevada linear 8a supply and lynx astro cable vs. a 12v/5a lynx astro power supply.

I'm leaning towards the 12v/5a option becasue it's smaller, cheaper, and I'll probably head towards a battery based solution in the long run.

I'm not really at the place in my AP journey that I'd notice any difference with 13.8v 😅 I've not used the EQ6 yet as I'm rebuilding it, and I don't have a guide camera...

Welcome aboard!

Thanks Graeme, they look like they might do the trick.

Having thought on it further I think I'll just use an RCD protected 4 gang mains extension in a waterproof box - we have one for the Xmas lights that isn't used for 11 months of the year.

If I research it too much I'll end up having to drop a few hundred quid or more before I get the scope out again.

Once I fill up the extension I'll worrying more about power distribution.

I'm quite tempted to knock up a DIY fuse box with dew controller and power it from one (or two) 22aH Golf Trolley LifePo4 batteries. Then I could justify getting an electric golf trolley too lol.

I started off with a simple task - get a power supply for my recently acquired (pre Sep '09) EQ6 Pro.
I have a 12v/2A wall wart with a short cable.. Not ideal.

I'm usually in my garden, where there is mains power available, but the option to run from a battery would be nice to have.
I was originally going to pick up a cheap 12V/10A power supply but then I internetted too hard and confused myself.

1. Voltage

It seems that 13.8V is best for a mains setup (because of battery 12v being between 10V-15V etc...)
I've seen a decent looking bench power supply on FLO, but I'm not too sure how much I'll enjoy connecting it up to an extension lead on the patio.
I *may* be able to put it in the garage and run the cables in there, assuming I can get long enough power cables

While I understand that most astro gear will be fine at 13.8V, what about a powered USB hub that wants 12V/3A?

2. Cables

It would seem that the best option would be:

EQ6 DC Jack -> Cigarette Lighter cable.

This way, I can connect the mount to a PowerTank (which I don't have, but might do one day) or the cigarette lighter socket on the PSU. 

The question is, what about the USB Hub? If I get another DC Barrel Jack -> Cigarette lighter socket, where would I plug it in?
Any advice would be appreciated...

Answering my own question in case anyone else encounters a similar problem.

1. Remove the grub screws

2. Remove the bolts that hold the saddles in the saddle holder

3. Release the Dec clutch

4. GENTLY tap the underside of the saddle holder (hitting away from the mount) with a small rubber/nylon hammer. You can spin the axis around as you tap.

5. Profit

I'm now the owner of an old EQ6 Pro. I'm starting to strip it down so I can regrease but I'm stuck on step 1.

I've loosed the 3 allen head grub screws but the saddle holder is stuck fast. I removed the bolts completely and put some WD40 in there to see if that would loosen it to no avail.

The best option I can think of is to put a piece of dovetail bar in and try tap it with a mallet.

Any better ideas?

Thanks everyone for the very warm welcome. It's great to see so many of you are local.

On 18/02/2021 at 13:00, spillage said:

Hi Dave and welcome.

I too am local to you. Just outside Langport. My advice is to not get involved with astrophotography....🙃

It's a bit late for that now. I was out last night with the DSLR.

On 18/02/2021 at 15:06, Frank the Troll said:

 

Hopefully as lockdown is eased,you can pop over to me

Would love to