Andrew INT

4 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

If you already have an IR luminance filter, then that’s all you need, you can use that for focusing....no need for the extra clear filter... 👍😀

Won't the focusing be off on the narrow band filters though?

Hi All,

After a number of years as an observer, and a little bit of (mainly) DSLR imaging, I've decided to head down the autoguiding/dedicated camera route. I have a mono ASI290MM camera and a seven-filter wheel. At the moment, this is loaded with:

Clear focusing filter (same glass thickness as the narrow bands)

RGB filters

Ha, Oiii, Sii narrowband filters.

My question is this: the clear filter is not (I believe) IR blocking. I do have a L-IR CCD filter. What are peoples thoughts if I added this permanently onto the filter wheel nosepiece? Obviously this would add more glass for the light to pass through. The RGB's are also IR cut but I'm not too sure I could use the clear focusing filter to capture luminance's with the RGB filters. 

Any guidance always welcomed!

Many thanks,

Andrew

The mount is kept outside with a weather proof cover over it so it could be a moisture issue. The motor board is dry but Ive not checked the smaller daughter board that takes the power and hand control. I'll check that today- thanks.

Hello all. I have a rather old (almost 15 years) HEQ5 mount which was upgraded to the goto version some time ago.  I started getting the error "unable to detect both axis - standalone mode" or words to that effect. I understand that this is often an indicator that the motor board may have become damaged. I replaced two capacitors on the board which are known to often fail (420uF 25v).

Still getting the standalone error. However, with repeated tried to turn the mount on, from time to time is will actually start to function fine for a short while - slewing to targets etc. However it will then either just stop responding or give the error "Flash ROM error A6 Data = 0000".  I am able to re-flash the handset but the problems persist.

Do the more experienced members think this is most likely a motor board issue, hand controller or even a simple cable issue? I am rather short of cash this month - even a £20 cable is a push, let alone a £120 motor board! I've been without the mount now for two months and I'm as miserable as sin!!!

Thanks for any advice you may be able to offer.

Hello all,

I know that this is a rather old post!

My HEQ5 (with Pro kit upgrade) started giving the error "Both Axes No Response". It's pretty old now - 14 years or so. The hand controller still connects to a laptop ok, and I have re-flashed the memory just in case. The error still shows though. I took a look at the motor board. Nothing obviously wrong. I replaced the two 470uF capacitors but I', still getting the same error. 

I cant really afford a new board at £120 until the new year. Any suggestions of what else it may be?

I know that this is a REALLY old thread (have the skies been bad for ten years now?)

I was looking to buy a cheap 0.5x reducer. Not really for imaging with my 8" newt and ASI 290mm camera, but to use the Polar align tool on SharpCap. Using my 102mm, F4.9 refractor it should give a FOV a bit greater than 1 degree which is the software requirement.

Has anyone tried this? 

Thanks Pyrasanth; that's good to know! I think it looks like our two piers are the same. I'm pleased that it certainly feels pretty solid. I haven't filled mine with sand bags simply because I had originally intended to run all my cables through the centre. However, the pre-drilled holes are pretty small ( a USB lead wouldn't pass through). I think I would also be a bit nervous about having electrical power leads out of sight on the inside of a metal tube!

Did adding the sand make a noticeable difference to the dampening? I've only really just started work on my observatory (  http://andrewrichens.wix.com/astro-nerd#!observatory/c5dt ) but now the pier is in place I can at least start doing a little bit of observing and imaging...provided this rain stops...and the clouds go....and the council sorts out a street light....and I don't run out of money...

Thanks oncr again folks for your invaluable knowledge sharing; its always a learning curve!

My Skyshed pier is purhaps not the best design, but hhopefully it is sufficiently robust for the job. Time shall tell...

Hi Carastro,

I suppose that by altering the mount alt az when polar aligning, you are effectively leveling the mount. The axis will be correctly aligned even though the pier or tripod is not level.  However my heq5 has only limited parameters for adjustment to the pier head cant be TOO unlevel/ off north.

I thinks thats what is being said within the thread?

Thanks folks, thats reassuring; I didnt fancy telling my wife I had just £495 on a duff bit if kit...and £170 worth of cement to stick it in the ground!

Yes, there was a bit of sales spin, but nothing sounded too outlandish.  I just  wondered if some features,  such as the "rat cage" do produce any noticeable issues. Im pretty pleased with the build quality of my skyshed, but I havent tested it yet.

After dithering about for ten years, I have finally decided to start building my own observatory. The first step was to order a telescope pier (and twenty bags of ready mix cement)

Have put in a reasonable amount of research, I purchased an altair skyshed pier which is yet to be set in cement until the weather warms up a little more.

My question is this: do any owners have vibration issues with this pier? The reason I ask is that I came across this link today which has made me re think things a little more: https://youtu.be/AOeLnecOMeg The guy is talking about the "rat cage" part of the pier head. Is this REALLY an issue, or just (mainly) a sales pitch angle.

Hopefully someone will help put my mind at rest that my new purchase is actually ok!

(Edited for typos)

Im luck that in work (I write plans to mitigate mass fatalities), I have also been given a big project to manage which involves relocating a control room into police HQ. Im slowly picking up some skills which I can apply to my own future observatory project.

Isn't it a mesu200 mount you have? I though they went a couple of hours past the meridian before flipping.

My budget is for everything; dome, mount, telescope etc. Those three will account for the majority of the cost!

This is such a brilliantly helpful thread Steve et al.

A couple of years ago I had just started to plan my own automated observatory from scratch with a £25k budget. Unfortunately fate stepped in and made my job redundant, which was a bit poo. Anyway, Ive used my time off work to gain a degree in astronomy. Im now back in work and hope to rekindle my dream project in a couple of years time once I get my house back in order!

This thread is great since it adds detail to my somewhat vague project planning!

Thanks all for contributing! This is a great community wd have here!

Kind regards, Andrew

The rubber fell apart on my HEQ5 after a couple of years. I use three small bricks on my lawn as markes to aid alignment. Once the rubber feet fell apart, I super glued three 3/4" tap washers onto the bricks. Now, when I plonk the tripod onto them it is already very well aligned.

Hi Lynnm,

I did the conversion a couple pf months ago. It took a few attempts to get it right, but everying works a treat now )

Kind regards, Andrew

Thanks to all the info given in this thread... I too now have a flashed webcam )

I had obviously got into a muddle and saved the 880 bin file taken from the webcam as the 900bin file... so I was flashing the cam back it its original state again!!! It must have been a late night!

All works fine now - a big thank you to everyone on this thread )

Regards, Andrew

Hi "Sniff", yes I did. Later today I'm going to unistall everything and do it all again, this time with another video capture program rather than windows multimedia to stream the video (if that was the problem?)

Yep, I did a re-boot too. I'll try again tomorrow - after starting the flash, I just get the message "unable to download binary file". in the green box (or words to that effect).

Many thanks for your help. Regards, Andrew

Thanks to Russ' heads-up, I've been trying to get my SPC880 to flash as a 900. I will be imaging on a Vista laptop but can make us of my wifes XP for the flashing.

I dowloaded the driver onto XP and kept the cam filming. I then dowloaded the WCRMAC program and added the binary file.

However, when I followed Russ' guide and click on the DS interface, the SPC900 is not show (as on the image in the posting) rather a PCVC750K.

I don't want to proceed further and damage anything!

Also, having selected the binary tab, which showed the SPC900, when I selected "get current and save as", this just tried to save a copy of the binary file into the same folder.

I must be doing something wrong!

Any help would be...a great help!

Kind regards, Andrew