Fellside

Hi I am thinking of getting a mini PC to fit on the pier or maybe on the Scope. I have no Idea how powerful a pc I need. So could anyone advise. I will want to run Win 10 Pro. 1 USB 3.0. 1 USB 2. I spotted this. Also has the option of a Com port which would be nice. ASUS PN40-BB013M BGA 1090 1.10GHz https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-PN40-BB013M-1-10GHz-N4000-0-69L/dp/B07KYWR678/ref=pd_sbs_147_img_0/257-6858872-3436807?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07KYWR678&pd_rd_r=c720a30d-b8c2-41cf-bf4b-1f8ac60d6834&pd_rd_w=byBS6&pd_rd_wg=kg1st&pf_rd_p=e44592b5-e56d-44c2-a4f9-dbdc09b29395&pf_rd_r=943KMX9PR4G5Y54CXMET&psc=1&refRID=943KMX9PR4G5Y54CXMET Any Good? Many thank Graham

Hi I would like to mention the excellent service I have received from Dave Trewren at SharpSky. I have owned a SharpSky controller and focuser Motor unit for a year. After my initial email inquiring about the SharpSky Pro. Dave requested some pictures and a few measurements of the Focucer that the unit was to be fitted to. He then manufacturers a custom bracket to fit the focuser. Communication was excellent with all emails answered the same day. Shipping was included in the price. The SharpSky Pro is great value for money. The unit is very robust, reliable and both the controller unit and motor look great in their aluminum enclosures. Also included in the unit is a temperature measurement sensor (focuser and remote) and 4 remotely operated Dew controllers. My unit has been operating reliably for a year. I have recently had no hesitation in ordering a second motor unit to pair up with my new refactor. I have received the same superb service from Dave with my resent order. The unit was received and fitted 5 days after my initial inquiry. That included making the custom bracket and it was over the weekend. The SharpSky Pro is defiantly worth a look if you are after a focuser unit and one that has some great additional features. https://www.sharpsky.net/ Graham

Hi SharpSky Focuser motor arrived and fitted straight on with no problems. I managed to get some frames using manual focus before the SharpSky arrived. To my eye the stars are round right out to the corners. Prism analysis shows stars pointing round the center, not pointing towards the center. This a very small elongation. Do I need to go longer on the FF spacing or shorter? Graham

Hi Having spent time and money on my RC10 I decided I needed to do something with a wider field of view. After reading reports from SGL members and looking at the few reviews available I ordered an Esprit 100 and FF about 5 weeks ago. It arrived last Saturday. What a superb instrument it is, I`m pleased with my choose so far. RC10 is consigned to hide under the desk until a duel mounting bar arrives. For now the Esprit is mounted on the Mesu on its own. Cables are all to long and it all looks a mess but I have it installed and all I am missing is an additional SharpSky Pro motor unit which is on order. Last night I managed to find focus on the scope and OAG then clouds appeared. Not first Light but hopefully this next week. Image train is ASI 1600, TS T2 9mm converter, Atik EFW2 filter wheel (baarder 36mm filters) ZWO OAG. Sensor to FF distance is 55.85mm at the moment. So not sure if that's ok. But I would rather be under size here then I can add thin spacers until the images look right. A new member of the Esprit 100 club🙂 From this To This

Hi There is an Custom Array version of Voyager, but it is not generally available. Maybe contact the developer Leo to discuss availability. It is mentioned in the Voyager Wiki https://voyager.tourstar.net/index.php?title=Array There is a discussion in this thread https://forum.starkeeper.it/t/support-for-second-imaging-camera/589 Regards Graham

Hi Dan Thank you for the screen shots. I will be rearranging my rig soon, I will try out your method and settings. Hopefully I to will get a more accurate model. Many thanks Graham

Hi Dan. Would it be possible to share some screen shots of your Sitech Config page where you Reduce the acceleration. Supervisory threshold page in Sitech. Regards Graham

Hi Dan, Very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Can I ask what load you have on your Mesu. I have about 35kg plus balance weights. I will soon be adding a second scope to this (9kg) I have never had to my knowledge any slip on the drive. I run all settings as supplied by Mesu. As you found balance can be done by feel along and I find it gives acceptable results. If you make any changes to you image train you will need to resemblance and in theory redo your mount model. I usually do a plate-solve sync and slew to the object. Great Mount😀 Regards Graham

Hi Rattler You could give Voyager a try. Its free to setup and and then when you think you a ready you can activate your trial period. Very fast focus routine and has never failed to find focus on my NB filters (Baader). Very impressive, very stable. Automates to whole Imaging process and from Roof open to Roof close. http://www.starkeeper.it/software.htm Just a satisfied user Graham

Adam Thanks for your reply. I thought surely somone uses filters with OSC cameras. The reason I mentioned A filter wheel is it is already fitted to the scope. All I need to do is screw on the OSC camera and no mucking about with getting the spacing correct. I have read about the Duel Narrow band filter and Quad band filters and the results users are getting. I just thought I would use the existing filter wheel. Then of course you are only imaging through a single filter at a time. Narrow band of course. Have you used a Dual band filter or are you strictly Mono? Regards Graham

Hi I have been thinking about using a OSC camera with a filter wheel. Narrowband imaging seems quite successful with OSC now. Tri-band dual narrowband filter are available for this use. Wheel has LRGB 36mm filters. I would like to move to a larger sensor but Mono is not available in ASP-C. So it OSC only. The QHY268c is not going to be available for some time so the camera I was going to use in the ASI071. What are the Advantages and disadvantages of this setup? Regards Graham

Hi Steve, Easy little project to do. I have been using it in Voyager. The software changes the light setting and the exposure length to get the ACU reading that has been set. You have to get it near in the ballpark or it takes a while. Anyway my question. I have been using paper sheets to dim the panel. What have you used? There were plastic films mentioned in your thread which may be better in a damp winter observatory. Regards Graham

Hi Anyone who has or is thinking about bulding this simple project. ArduinoLightboxhttps https://github.com/jwellman80/ArduinoLightbox/blob/master/LEDLightBoxAlnitak.ino https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/536533-diy-alnitak-flat-panel/ You may find it useful to read through the following thread. There is additional code for switching a relay and operating a Servo to move the Flap. Veiw in Chrome to get a translation. https://www.webastro.net/forums/topic/172634-un-flip-flat-pour-4-sous/ My Flap is using the method show in post 4. Relay operated by the Dragonfly and geared DC motor. (Flap is to big for a servo) For a smaller scope I will go for a servo operated flap incorporating the flat panel run by the ArduinoLightbox software in the above thread. The ArduinoLightbox can be operated directly from Voyager and SGP. Hope this useful. Graham

Ian See pictures of my limit switches. They have been working with no problems or maintenance for just over a year. Left-hand assembly is in the closed position. Blue magnetic switch is for indication only. The physically switch is wired in series with the close relay coil. That way it should stop the motor in the event of a software failure. If you use the magnetic switches to indicate to the software that the roof is closed then the software opens the relay. Thing could go wrong. I like a physically switch in the relay control circuit. The right-hand switch is for open. (middle picture is with the roof open)There is an actuating skid at the other end of the moving part of the roof attached to it is the open position magnet. (shown in right-hand picture) This way both sets of switches are at the open end of the scope room and no wiring has to go the other end. I use two relays on a DragonFly to control the roof via Ascom from within software or scripts direct from the DragonFly. What software are you going to be using to control the Observatory? Regards Graham

Hi Ian, I used FH Brundle V form track and 6 wheels to match. My roof is quite heavy and leaves dont get in the way🙂 The V wheels sit on the track. FH Brundle wheels are definatly the way to go just fit and forget. Are you going to use the Ebay soft start. If so all I did was replace the forward and reverse switch with two relays. Touch wood it works well. I have added a limit swich at either end and also a magnetic switches that tells ascom where the roof is. I used the Vauhall Wiper motor and it only takes about 4 Amps when running. The motor has two speeds. I have it set to the slowest. Also the soft stat is set to slowest speed. The problem with the Vauhall Wiper motor and most other types I have seem is that the output shaft is verry short, so fitting the pully can be a problem. The original design in this thread used two idler pullies and one fitted to the motor. I have only used one idler and one on the motor. I may have the originl three pully picture, I will have a look. Hope this helps Graham

Hi Robin. You have obviously put a lot of effort in this instruction guide. Well done? I may have missed it but do you mention the importance of the correct mirror spacing and how to achieve it. With all the adjustments to both mirrors the spacing may is sure to change, Many thanks and again well done. Graham

Nebula The Mesu is pretty accurate without a Sky model and a lot of users just do a plate solve, an offset init then get on with there imaging. Once you have run the PointXP script a few time and you know what to expect it pretty easy. You do need to generate a horizon file for you site. This only needs to be generated for use by Sitech.exe. You can generate a file for use by your Planitarum software so you can "see" where the scope is in relation to the local horizon. Only the Sitech horizon file is required to run PointXP. Hope this helps graham

Tom Yes the jumper is pushed onto one pin, not bridging the pins. For a remote/automatic setup I decided to sell my Pegasus and go for an industrial powered USB hub on the mount and run Switching, Weather etc with the Dragonfly which I already had. At the time it wasn't possible to control the features of the Pegasus using scripts (it may be possible now) so I didn't see the point. Maybe the Eagle is different. Keep it Simple St!!!! (as you Can) ? Hopefully SiTech may have an answer. Graham

Tom If you are looking at moving to a RS232 input to the SiTech 2 board SiTech can supply a cable. I had some issues early on with USB cables and soldered up a Serial cable myself but I could not get it to work. Taj at Sitech made one up to the length I required and it worked first time and there has not been a glitch since. There are different types of chip-set in the USB to Serial converters, some work and some don't. When using the RS232 input there is a jumper that needs to be made on the PCB board to activate 232 mode. It is to the left of the three LED`s at the top of the board. See diagram. It may be worth contacting Sitech direct as they may be able to give advice as to if they have come across your problem before. They are usually pretty quick to respond to queries. Graham

Yes from the picture it is the tilt plate version. That means the mirror is not connected the imaging train. That was a problem with the original design. Graham

John, The plain of my CCD is 247mm from the back plate. This maybe a little different on your scope as yours has a flat rear plate. TS quote 250mm for your scope. TS also state that removing 1 25mm spacer should bring the scope to focuse when using the focal reducer. I did not find this. So a little more experiment is required. Hope this helps Graham

John Telescope services list two versions of the 10" truss scope. One with and one without the tilt plate. I thought all the new Truss version had moved over to the Tilt plat version. So yours should have three sets of push-pull screws outside the diameter of the fans for Collimation and three sets of push-pull screws around where the imaging train enters the back of the scope for tilt adjustment. I fitted the Moonlite tilt plate to my scope (solid tube) and it works great but when I tried the Astro Physics 0.67 Focal Reducer I cannot quite reach focus with the adapter rings removed. As the reducer fits inside the focuser I am going to try adding a spacer to move the reducer further forward. I will have to remove a spacer from between the filter wheel and the focucer to keep the spacing correct. It was a very deep frost here last night. No sign of condensation on both mirrors, the Kendrick dew heater secondary woks well. This morning (I know its Christmas) I popped into the observatory to check and there was a bit of condensation on the primary. Running the fans for 10 minute clears it. I have never had the need to run the fans during imaging. A Great scope your will enjoy it a lot. Happy Christmas? Graham

John It looks like you have a very nice setup there. I have the RC10C (solid Tube). I needed an additional balance weight as well as moving the Sharpsky focuser controller to the front of the scope. There is a lot of overhang at the back of the scope. Does your scope have the tilt collimation plate fitted to the rear plate. Graham

In the unregistered trial it is possible to start two instances of Prism Pro. It did complain that there was on other instance already running but that was all. One on each screen. I only have two CCD`s. Started the Lodestar on one screen and then started Atik 383 on the other screen. This is just on the bench but I could independently control and take images on both ccd`s with no complaints from Prism. This may not be the case if you were using a registered version. I have stuck with testing the pro version as that is the one I would go for. You can always upgrade to Advanced later. RayD Would you not have one install of Prism on your Scope/Capture PC (Eagle2) Then transfer data to your House, remote desktop, processing PC with second install (you can only have two PC install`s of Prism) of Prism and PI, PS etc. Graham

Hamza A very nice image. Can I ask what software was used in the prossesing. Priism I see has some prossesing tools built in. Graham