Vixen GP with EQ5 Skyscan upgrade - lots of pics

[russ]

This is just a quick picture review of the EQ5 Skyscan (Synscan) upgrade being applied to a Vixen GP mount. Plenty of pics just for Gordon with more to follow

The upgrade started well and looked like it would be finished within 30mins. But in true 'Grand Designs' style things went belly up part way through the build. My attempt to merge the traditional (Vixen GP) with the contemporary (Skyscan) failed 50% of the way through the project. Forced to apply, to quote Han Solo, 'some special modifications of my own' to see the build through.

Basically the RA housing was a git and didn't fit. The GP must be slightly larger than the EQ5, about 7mm around the RA axis. So what looked like 30mins start to finish quickly became 2 hours

And then having got all the housing on the RA motor made a horrible grunching noise......wonderful. So the housing had to come off again.....oh joy! Re-adjusted the RA motor, applied more grease......tried again. Seems okay now :?

my only concern now (i haven't tried it under night skies yet, so possibly a lot more to be concerned about) is the purring cat noise from the RA motor at tracking speed. Something for Steve to hear at the Star Party.

Right here's the pics:

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Hope it works well Russ!

In true "grand designs" style, you ought to discover that you're due the patter of tiny feet before the job gets finished, I do hope you're ready for that. (for those who don't already, watch the prog. and you'll get the point)

Best of luck with it anyway, its a very interesting build that will benifit loads of people if it works.

Captain Chaos

[GordonCopestake]

Thanks for the photos Russ! Glad you got it sorted in the end. I look forward to your first light with the setup, it looks pretty good

[geppetto]

Yes, cheers Russ, helpfull info is that.

Tell you what, those motors are nice and beefy 8)

Meade should use that sort of engine a bit more in their scopes

[russ]

I can give some brief initial views on the system.

The motors are the same ones as used in the HEQ5/EQ6 Skyscan Pro. As such they have the same high quality feel. They are relatively quiet (purring noise aside) and make the same uber cool turbine noise at full pelt. These are a world apart from the units fitted to the Celestron Advanced Series GT and Meade LXD75 mounts.

The mount looks very smooth in operation. None of the jerky movements I used to get with my LXD75 as it GOTO'd to the object.

The Version 3 Synscan handset looks and feels no different to the previous V2 handset that I'm used too. But that's a good thing. Of all the budget GOTO systems Synscan has easily been the best. The handset is easy to use and follow. While the buttons are responsive.

The only downsides to this system so far are the slightly messy arrangement of having the control box strapped to a tripod leg and the complete lack of any instructions for fitting all the bits to the mount.

Can't wait to get it under a dark sky and try it out. Was hoping that would be SGL3 but the weather looks pretty awful.

Regards

Russ

[GordonCopestake]

Have you had a chance to use this kit much Russ despite all the rain? Hows it working out? I'm looking at the same sort of thing on a CG4

[russ]

Hi Gordon,

I've only had two very brief chances to use the system so far. The system is very much as I expected ie like a HEQ5/EQ6 Skyscan Pro.

The motors are smooth and quiet, even at max slew (800X) the noise is not intrusive. There's no lag in reversing direction and the V3 controller has ultra responsive buttons.

GOTO accuracy is spot on. I only ever do 1 star alignment, there's no need for anything more. Just choose a star in the area of the sky I'll be using.

Monday evening had a brief spell outside for an hour or so. I chose Arcturus as my alignment star and then chose a number of objects around that area.

It successfully put M3, M51 and M63 in the centre of the 8mm Hyperion. And finally put M13 in the centre of the 300D sensor. Impressive stuff, I can't ask for more than that.

You can continually update the alignment star as you move around the sky. I wanted to checkout the Leo region of the sky, so chose Regulus as the next alignment star. It then nailed Saturn and M65/M66.

I took a series of 1 min images of M13 using the Rev 80ED. The tracking was spot on. Although unguided with that focal length scope I would expect it to manage 1.5- 2min exposures. Something to test out later.

Regards

Russ

[daz]

Russ

Presumably you do a good polar alignment first, with the 1-star?

Not had a chance to play with mine yet, so this is all kinda new

[russ]

Do a reasonable polar alignment....ie polar scope. I will do a drift align when the clouds aren't pressurising me.

I find for imaging there's no need for a 2 or 3 star alignment. Just choose an alignment star close to the object you wish to image. Skyscan will pop it on the chip everytime. You can have Skyscan update itself on a another star before moving to the next object. It's deadly accurate.

Russ

[steveg]

Any updates on this, i.e. is it still successfull , any downsides found (thinking of doing exactly the same)... also the images seem to have gone... can they be found anywhere else ?

TIA