Noisy Telescope ! What to do?

[russ]

And hearing Russ's story, I think I'd much rather take my chances with a neighbour who (incredibly lucky for me it seems) is being very understanding

Good neighbours make all the difference. We have moved now and have some great neighbours who are not only understanding but also take some interest. I still creep around trying to not make any sounds. Want to keep them on side.

[Highflight]

My Meade LX90 has noisy motors, but I can make it quieter by slowing the motors down using the slew speeds on the hand set. Takes a bit longer, but nice and quiet.

Chris.

[Shibby]

- manually slewing to approximately the right area on a slower speed before using the goto. This is a really good suggestion, I may not be able to reduce the goto speed, but this way I can at least reduce the amount of time the scope is moving at that speed.

This is exactly what I do. When imaging, I always sync on a bright star as near as possible to my intended target, then use this star to focus before using goto to put me on the target. Either that, or slowly move it while monitoring the position on Stellarium.

I have a Vixen GP with Synscan motors / EQMOD and it is noisy as hell! It sounds like a transformer having a seizure. Unfortunately it means I do much less observing during the summer months when the neighbours' windows are open, as I am always conscious of the noise.

[Macavity]

I just build up this (ever enlarging!) dossier on their LOUD "nuptials", their police-controlled, domestic disputes, not to mention MY long-standing tolerance for their shuffling / parking of extraneous vehicles, view-blocking Caravans etc. And that's just the (Acorn-defined) "affluent greys".

Mostly, it seems sad (ironic?) that neighbours are intolerant of the "different" though? Their (genuine) disturbances are viewed as "entirely reasonable". Less so, the activities of the "odd" astronomer? A national problem though - We're crammed into these "estates" like lab rats. Unsurprising, there is friction?

P.S. My neighbours ain't BAD - But (dare I suggest) not overly "deep thinking" or very considerate?

[Skiddins]

I think part of the problem with the Alt movement being noisy is that the gearbox is closer to the outside of the scope, the Az motors etc are buried further inside.

The Celestrons also have that aluminium arm that I believe resonates slightly with the vibrations from the mechanics.

It might be worth looking into self adhesive sound proofing material to stick to the inside of the plastic casing on the side of the arm.

I might also look at using very stiff rubber bushes on the motor mounts etc to reduce the noise.

All this talk has now made me a bit self conscious of the Alt function of my 130SLT.

I have a sound level meter so I might try some experiments with sound proofing to see what difference it makes.

Skiddins

[matsey]

Skiddins... I'd certainly be interested to hear how your experiments go. I'll hopefully have a bit of free time at the weekend myself so will have a go too. I did make a brief attempt at getting the scope Stellarium-controlled, but couldn't get it to work. Confess I didn't spend long on it though, so I'll have another go at the weekend.

It does though seem to a bit of a problem for a lot of people, and personally I would like to see the manufacturers doing something positive on this too... not massively bashing Celestron here, but the fact is the majority of us don't have the luxury of being far from neighbours or have easy access to a remote dark site. And by its nature a telescope is something that is going to be used at night when loud noise is considered anti-social, regardless of its source. It could perhaps be argued that a telescope that can't be used at night due to the excessive noise it makes is "not fit for purpose". Not suggesting I'll be sending it back under some sale of goods act point or anything like that (lol, couldn't really bear to be parted from it now!), but it does make me realise how difficult things could have been for me if my neighbours hadn't been so understanding.

In fact... my neighbour actually knocked on my door yesterday evening to say that as the sky was clear, would I please use my telescope as she didn't want to be responsible for me not enjoying my hobby, and she would just open the window on the other side of the house ! I know we have a Picture of the Week competition, but I'd like to nominate my neighbour for Neighbour of the Week !!

[malc-c]

In fact... my neighbour actually knocked on my door yesterday evening to say that as the sky was clear, would I please use my telescope as she didn't want to be responsible for me not enjoying my hobby, and she would just open the window on the other side of the house

It actually sounds like your noisy telescope has actually brought you two together in a very neighborly fashion. You'll be having coffee mornings or afternoon teat together soon

We've just celebrated our 24th wedding anniversary on Sunday and threw an impromptu BBQ and invited all the immediate neighbors round in our part of the street. There was a lot of interest in my observatory and most were keen to pop round on a clear night, and most offered to turn off any security lighting on clear nights, especially as they wanted to see the process of me taking pictures with the scope

The only thing that concerns me is that whilst our neighbors to the left will probably going to be here for decades to come, our neighbors to the right are elderly and council tenants. I would suspect that given their ages the house will become vacant in the next 10 - 15 years and hope that my retirement is spoilt by horrid new neighbors

[faulksy]

Skiddins... I'd certainly be interested to hear how your experiments go. I'll hopefully have a bit of free time at the weekend myself so will have a go too. I did make a brief attempt at getting the scope Stellarium-controlled, but couldn't get it to work. Confess I didn't spend long on it though, so I'll have another go at the weekend.

It does though seem to a bit of a problem for a lot of people, and personally I would like to see the manufacturers doing something positive on this too... not massively bashing Celestron here, but the fact is the majority of us don't have the luxury of being far from neighbours or have easy access to a remote dark site. And by its nature a telescope is something that is going to be used at night when loud noise is considered anti-social, regardless of its source. It could perhaps be argued that a telescope that can't be used at night due to the excessive noise it makes is "not fit for purpose". Not suggesting I'll be sending it back under some sale of goods act point or anything like that (lol, couldn't really bear to be parted from it now!), but it does make me realise how difficult things could have been for me if my neighbours hadn't been so understanding.

In fact... my neighbour actually knocked on my door yesterday evening to say that as the sky was clear, would I please use my telescope as she didn't want to be responsible for me not enjoying my hobby, and she would just open the window on the other side of the house ! I know we have a Picture of the Week competition, but I'd like to nominate my neighbour for Neighbour of the Week !!

what nice neighbours you have lucky i guess

[soggybongo]

I had this problem not so long ago and found a very simple solution to my problem. Use (stellarium) if unfamiliar with your viewable sky.

point your scope using a slow slew this will be alot quieter than goto in the rough vacinity. TRhen goto the object. 1-5 seconds of noisy goto max.

[JimStan]

I would respectfully say that gear train might have something to do with the noise one experiences with "GoTo" telescopes, but a much more likely source is the fact that the motors are usually "stepped" with a series of pulses from the electronic driver. These motors are subject to vibration due to the stepping action, and that is what causes the noise.

The fact that the neighbors might not understand WHAT is causing the whine might be why they are unable to sleep when you are observing! If they are understanding, just a friendly talk with them might be all you need to calm their fears. That depends a lot on what kind of neighbors they actually are. I have some very understanding and friendly neighbors, and OTOH, some that I wouldn't want to give the time of day to!

My little ETX90 whines like a banshee when I slew it, and when I use a high power eyepiece to view planets, the vibration actually degrades the image noticibly! And I have taken apart and re-assembled the gear train to achieve the smoothest and quietest operation possible. It is just those #$%@ plastic gears and that stepper motor!

Good luck! Jim S.

[JamesM]

Your PC will help you select your object but the problem isn't there - it's in the mount head unfortunately. However, using you PC might have one advantage in that if you are going to 'make coffee' while you GOTO the next object, why don't you plan your observing session in such a way that involves as little slewing as possible as you move from one object to the next. I know this can be tricky because not everything is up in the sky when you start your session but if you viewing mainly in the southern sky, why not start from the west moving towards the east, hopefully that will mean the noise from the mount's motors are kept to a minimum? I agree with you though that I wish there was more control over all slewing speeds at any given time.

Hope it works out and also with your neighbours who might be present at every observing session - a bit of astral stalking!

Clear (quiet) skies.

James

[matsey]

Hi, thanks for the comments, really useful suggestions.

I have actually found since this issue arose that the best solution has been what soggybongo suggested (excellent username there by the way!!) ... ie, using a slower slew rate to get roughly to the right area, and then using the goto for the very last bit. I'm now familiar enough with the area of the sky visible from my garden that I know what constellations are where, so while I may not be able to manually slew directly to the fainter DSOs, etc, I can get myself in pretty close proximity, so I have dramatically shortened the amount of time I'm using the GOTO at the fastest/loudest speed.

And it seems that approach is working pretty well. Last time I spoke with my neighbour (after she excitedly asked me if I'd seen the supernova - makes SUCH a difference that they seem fascinated by the subject!), she did say that she hadn't heard my scope at all since we last spoke. I think you're right, it was a massive nuisance to her when she thought I was up doing DIY until silly o'clock, but once she found out what it really was, she has been able to zone it out much more easily.

And actually what James suggested as well about planning the observing to start in one area and move logically to closer areas as the night progresses is something I'm going to start doing as well... I've been using AstroPlanner software for the last few weeks.. at the moment just to log my historical data from my observing notes, but I'm going to start using it to plan my sessions as well, so I can use that to order my plans so I'm not zooming from one end of the sky to the other each time.

So yes, certainly at the moment it does seem to be working out OK after all... phew !!!

[JimStan]

Your batteries will last longer, too ! ! !

[sirmetin]

Try something like this if you have a laptop out there although you will probably need one of those nifty pod speakers (about £20) or a pc speaker with amp of some sort.

Active Noise Control Demo | Vibration & Acoustics Laboratories

[JimStan]

It occurs to me that finding a bright star nearby, and then using the "goto" for the final tweak, is almost like pure "star hopping"!

The main difference is that when star hopping, you use dimmer stars ( generally ) and progress from one field of view to the next, until your desired object is in the view!

I only own one "goto" scope ( the ETX-90 ) and generally set it up strictly as a clock driven manually pointed scope. Used in that manner, it is very quiet, and you can hardly hear the motor running. But ask it to slew to anywhere, and it almost "screeches" at you ! The difference is startling !

Jim S