LaurenceT

On 03/02/2024 at 14:46, Varavall said:

 

 

Hi

GIMP has a native FITS reader and I have no problems opening and stretching such files. Maybe you could post the stacked FITS file in questio

n here so we can see if I have the same problem or not. Then at least will will knw if its the file or your system that has a problem.

Thanks for the offer but I can't upload an image no matter what I do so I'm abandoning this project for the sake of my sanity.

I'll try again next clear night with just an LP filter and unity gain.

Slightly left field approach, some of your choice of scope depends to a degree on the performance of your AZ GTi.

I have an Asiair FMA180 and my AZ GTi coped wonderfully with that. 2 minutes unguided was no problem and I even experimented with 3 minutes successfully.

However the mount didn't behave so well with my ZS61 II. Unguided I had poor stars at 30 seconds and guiding was better but still not acceptable.

These little mounts are brilliant but immensely variable in engineering quality and as I have the engineering capabilities of a gnat I decided not to open up mount and fiddle with it and changed to a different small mount so fingers crossed.

Other people are able to put quite heavy scopes on their mounts so you could be lucky with yours.

It would be nice if you could test the AZ GTi on a heavier scope first but I understand that may be difficult.

I had a session the other night imaging the Pleiades and have appeared to make a big error in reducing my 533MC Pro to zero gain. When I stack the resultant images in ASIdeepstack I get an image that I can possibly work with but when I open it in gimp or similar for stretching I get a different image that cannot be stretched.

I realise that I'm most likely not be able to do anything with my image but I'd be grateful if anyone can offer an expalnation.

Having sold my EQ5 Goto a few days ago I retired my Az GTi from EQ mode last night with a few hours on the Pleiades, it's going back to AZ mode because today I welcomed the replacement. After much painful research I decided on this mount to fulfill my modest needs using my small imaging refractors. I decided to buy new because of the QC problems associated with the earlier versions and this morning it passed it's first test, I shook it and nothing rattled! It's marginally lighter than my Az GTi and WO wedge but considerably lighter than my EQ5 which is important to me now. 

A big thankyou to FLO, 22 hours from placing the order to it arriving at my doorstep. It's also a great day for other reasons. After being stuck on the drive for 6 weeks due to MOT failure my elderly but lovely Mercedes is going in to be repaired, a victim of the worldwide Mercedes subframe corrosion fiasco, Mercedes Germany are forking out over £2,500 to replace the subframe. I didn't have to argue the case, they agreed immediately, good for them. It's also our youngest daughters birthday 🥰.

I've joined the club today, placed my order with FLO and it's been completed 🤩. I've never really liked using my Az GTi in EQ mode, wasn't too bad on shortish subs but guiding was hit and miss so I'm going to revert to AZ only and continue to use it for lunar and planetary and EAA with Stellarmate. The point and track feature is brilliant. I've also sold my EQ5 and decided to reign in ambitions for a bigger scope than my WO ZS61, my other imaging scope is even smaller! 

I had thought about trying for a used SWSA GTi but it seems that the earlier versions were more problematic and after watching some YT videos decided I might regret buying used. At least I can return it if buying new. It will now be cloudy for weeks........

I use my Evoguide 50ED for lunar with an asi224mc. The focal length is almost the same as the Redcat 51 and the whole moon fits very nicely particularly when adjusting the ROI in Sharpcap.

43 minutes ago, wookie1965 said:

Is it for updating a handset 

Could be, I did think about doing that some time ago. I'll check out the cables on FLO for doing that.

Thanks.

I have this cable but for the life of me I don't know what it's for or why I bought it!

1 hour ago, Nicola Fletcher said:

I agree with the above - I use a Giro Ercole Mini alt-az mount with my small refractor and have never missed slow motion controls. The simplicity of nudging it along makes the whole setup very straightforward. A good solid tripod is very important thought and I find I can use the setup with my 4” refractors if my tripod is stable enough and I use a counterweight (I don’t need any counterweight for my 3” which keeps it very light for travel).

I use a similar small mount, one sold by Altair Astro

https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-mini-az-mount-409-p.asp

I bought it used on here last year and it's been absolutely perfect in operation with my Startravel 102 and Orion ED80, so much so that I haven't used my AZ5 since and I'm going to sell it.

Thanks for that, it didn't get past stage 1. The board seems very similar but not identical to the board in this post:

SkyWatcher EQ5 motor controller - Getting Started Equipment Help and Advice - Stargazers Lounge

Here are my images, is it fixable or should I buy a new one? I can't find 16F886 written anywhere.

Right, please understand that my knowledge of electronics ended with A level physics in 1965😄 but here goes.

I plugged the eqdir cable into the controller handset port and opened the Skywatcher motor controller firmware loader but it cannot find the mount.

The handset lights up so I assume that current is flowing through the motor controller. I think the controller is of the "old" type but I'm not sure. I have ASCOM installed on the PC. What do I need to do now to confirm the type of controller I have?

Thanks in advance.

23 minutes ago, Kon said:

It has been pushed a bit too much, and the good thing is that you have noticed. You have an edge rind artifact around the edge of the moon and throughout the craters. The white balance seems to be a bit aggressive as the whites are washed off. Try a lot less wavelets. Less is more as it is usually mentioned.

You may want to put the stacked tiff here if you want others to have a go.

Thanks for that. I found wavelets in Registax too aggressive but I was equally aggressive without realising it in my usual photo imaging software. This time I used Lightroom very carefully and then converted to mono with Nik Silver Efex.

I'm having some difficulty in deciding on the sharpness etc. of my final moon after processing and I may be overcooking the final image, opinions appreciated.

On 18/01/2024 at 21:49, malc-c said:

I've cut and pasted most of the following from a reply  I made to a similar thread a couple of days ago

The "No Response XXX Axis" where XXX is RA / DEC or Both is because when the handset sent out the command e:1 to interrogate the control board it never received and reply.  If it reported a single axis isn't responding then this would suggest that the handset, cable, and the control board is powered up correctly, and the issue is with the PIC that controls said axis, or its associated blocking diode in the serial traces.  When it reports that both axis are not responding then it could be at any point in the communication path.  The curly cable, the connection on the mount, both blocking diodes or both ports on the PICs.

The handset tends to be fairly robust, so it is very rare for that to have a fault.  The simple way to rule out external connections is to use an EQDIR cable with EQMOD or GSS running on a windows PC.  If either of these two applications can't detect the mount then its pointing towards the control board in the mount, which could be anything from the RJ port where the handset plugs into or (and has been the case for the majority of the boards I've repaired) the serial ports of the two PICs being blown.  One other possible cause is condensation.  If the mount has been removed form a warm house to -3c outside the resulting change could cause moisture inside the mount or synscan box which again leads to the reported message if it shorts the serial connections.  It's therefore worth trying again once the mount / synscan has been inside  and thus at room temperature and completely dry.   Unless you have been messing about with USB to serial convertors and some how shoved the wrong voltage into the board then the issue may well be juts a connection one.   If the EQDIR cable works, but the handset doesn't, then try replacing the curly cable with a 2m Cat5 / Cat6 network patch cable to rule out the cable as being the issue.

If the board does seem to be the cause, and if it's one that is based on the older PIC microcontrollers then all is not lost.  The process of repairing the board by replacing the damaged PICs with new freshly programmed ones is covered in this thread  - I can repair these boards, but if the board is one of the newer ARM based boards then regretfully I lack the tools to program and replace these processors.

@LaurenceT I would suggest locating that EQDIR cable and see if the mount responds to commands from EQMOD / GSS.  If this reports comms issues then it would be more likely a fault on the board, and if this is the case then drop me a PM and well look at attempting a repair.

Thank you so much for a very comprehensive reply, I will endeavor to locate that elusive cable tomorrow and if it can't be located then I'll buy a new one.

Your offer to repair if subsequent tests indicate a possibility is much appreciated.

7 minutes ago, MikeAa said:

Can you pop the case and check if you have power to the switching regulator? Pin 5 on U5. I have no experience fixing these.... yet!

That sounds beyond my capabilities with electrical things but thanks for the suggestion.

5 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

The message basically means that the mount is not responding. That could be for various reasons.  A similar message from a Celestron Nexstar typically means that the mount firmware needs a refresh, or water has got into the mount electronics.  Solution: reload the firmware, or open the mount and dry it out.

That did cross my mind, I would need an EQDIR usb cable for that, I know I've bought one but where it's hiding is a different matter!

I'm suddenly getting this message from my EQ5 goto when I connect the handset also when connecting the Asiair to the mount it is not seen by the Asiair. I've tried multiple power sources, it was working last week as if that makes a difference😢.

I suspect it may be a fried motor control box and I need to buy one of these:

Skywatcher Replacement Motor Control Box For EQ5 Pro - Rother Valley Optics Ltd

any other ideas gratefully received.

14 hours ago, Adam J said:

good start, try using the Light pollution removal tool in APP it's very good and will balance your background. There is also a cropping tool in APP that you can use, I would crop the image first. 

Thanks Adam, I have used Graxpert stand alone application but it removes almost all of the nebulosity! This is what I finished up with:

While last night was a good night for me on two occasions there were weird anomalies happening, which for some unknown reason went away in the subsequent videos. Evoguide 50ED, ASI224mc, Az GTi, Sharpcap. Be grateful for any ideas.

Thanks for the kind comments, very encouraging. I can frame the moon nicely with my little Evoguide 50ED and the 224mc, all very light with the Az. GTi and the little mini pc I picked up on here a few days ago.

I can't sit outside in sub zero temperatures at my age so I've put together a little rig that I can set up in minutes and "only" involves 2 computers and an Ipad. Apart from focussing at the telescope I can now sit in the warm and make videos. Couldn't resist the crescent moon tonight, luckily I started early as a bit of cloud came in.

Very clear here in North Surrey but as previously described it's a bit parky at -2. I decided to give first light to a remote lunar imaging rig I set up today which meant I stayed warm.

That's a great image to sign off with........I look forward to the next one 🤩

1 hour ago, tants said:

Thanks, but seems that both cameras are setup on the same side of the mount.

I am thinking of mounting the 2 cameras on opposite sides of the mount. So that they balance to each other.

In EQ mode there are no sides to the mount, this only applies when the mount is in alt az mode.

Your cameras and lenses will be mounted on top of the mount so you will have to balance in both declination and right ascension but it is quite easy.

15 minutes ago, tants said:

I believed to be around 6kg.

 

Well that's too much for the Az GTi in my opinion but I know some people get away with loading that much. What equatorial wedge are you using?

What would be the total weight of the equipment you are loading onto the Az GTi?