Part 3 Celestron CPC 1100 - Unboxing, Assembly and First Light

[AlistairHowie]

Okay, as promised, here’s Part 3. I’ll cover my Baader Red Dot Finder (RDF) and Hyperion click zoom eye piece, and my Tracer 10Ah lithium ion battery pack. Still not got around to trying out the handset yet and certainly no prospect of seeing stars anytime soon with the cloudy weather here in Hertfordshire. So all those of you who made comments like "Great - my kids are going to love seeing me in the evenings for the next few weeks" are currently being proved correct!

Anyway, onto the RDF. First impressions are that this is a quality piece of kit. It should be at £74! As I think I mentioned before, it comes with no mounting instructions (but some basic unnecessary words about how to switch it on, etc) , however a few searches on Google Images showed what it was meant to look like on the OTA. The RDF itself came in 6 parts – the scope, two clear lens caps linked together by elastic, two screw on lens ... not sure what to call them ... covers or shades, I guess (basically they look like dew shields for each end of the RDF – not sure if that’s their purpose, but they will act like that, and I guess also keep stray light at bay), a mounting bracket that affixes to the OTA and another bracket that affixes to the RDF (per my photos). Everything is made of metal and feels very solid and good quality. Gotta love the Germans!

This photo shows the finder with the clear lens caps, but without the shades (or whatever they’re called) ...

And here it is with the shades screwed on – obviously longer and looks pretty much like a rifle scope, which may well be its heritage, I don’t know.

Fixing the bracket to the RDF was straightforward. Fixing the bracket to the scope was also mechanically straightforward, but it did give rise to a problem. The instructions say to mount the stock finder on the left hand side of the OTA, using the available holes.

As you can see, my scope had no holes. As I mentioned earlier, all were filled by screws. A search of the Celestron Q&As reveals that the manual is out of date and has been for a number of years now – crappy that they haven’t bothered to make the simple update – there are no holes, they are indeed meant to be filled with screws.

So, I unscrewed the set of two left-hand screws to mount my RDF bracket and noticed that they looked quite long ... as long, in fact, as the two separately provided mounting screws for the stock finder scope. This confused me as the manual clearly states that if you decide to remove the mounting plate for the finder scope, do not thread the screws all the way into the OTA because their length means that they might come into contact with the primary mirror during focusing. I decided to remove the other four screws on the top to check their length, and they are all short – see the comparison below and the associated warning in the manual...

So it seems like an error that my OTA came with long screws fully threaded into the tube where it might damage the mirror. Lucky I spotted that as I had intended to have my RDF mounted in the centre of the tube. If I had done that, I wouldn’t have bothered to check the length of the other screws as I wasn’t intending to mount the stock finder.

Also, and more confusingly, in removing all three pairs of mounting screws and getting them mixed up, I’ve discovered that e.g. the screws from the two centre holes do not fit the holes on the right side of the OTA. So it seems that the holes are threaded differently. That has confused me and I’m still confused! Also, on other forums I'm seeing advice like "don't remove the flat headed, flush fitted screws because they hold the primary mirror", but as you can see my OTA has no such types of screw. Any help or advice, gratefully received. I’m presuming that this isn’t an error, and that perhaps different threads are used for mounting different accessories, dovetails, etc, but I don’t know. What I (think I) do know, though, is that supplying the OTA with long screws fully threaded where the finder scope goes is a mistake .... and as this review shows, it’s not the first time excellent telescope but design and peripheral flaws - Celestron CPC 1100 GPS(XLT) Telescope - Epinions.com. Careless if this proves to be the case.

Anyway, once mounted, operation of the finder is simplicity itself. Powered by a button battery with 11 brightness levels, there’s not really much else to say. I haven’t aligned it yet, and that will need to be done with a screw driver, but online reviews say once it’s aligned it won’t need to be realigned anytime soon. I’m also pleased to see that there are absolutely no issues with leaving the mounting bracket affixed to the OTA when it’s in my Stanley case, although unsurprisingly the scope and associated quick release bracket do have to come off.

OK, next up the Baader zoom EP. I’ve only tested this looking at moss on my neighbour’s roof (!!), so not much of a challenge, but it seems like a fine piece of kit that feels smooth to the touch. I’ll report more on it when I do my first light review. I do have a couple of questions though. As you can see, if comes with a few accessories – some sort of rubber surround (on the left below), and something which I think might be called a 2” nose? I have no idea what either are for, but perhaps they’re adaptors for photographic use or people using a 2” diagonal ... neither of which apply to me. I’m also not sure about the part of the zoom that I look through – it has a rubber surround but it doesn’t seem to pull out or fold outwards to act as a cup or whatever they’re called, to rest your eye on. It’s completely flush with the lens. I’m sure I’m missing something here, I can’t believe I’m meant to have my eye basically nearly touching the glass of the EP without something acting as a bit of lens protection. I’ve tried affixing the said bit of rubber in the photo below, but it doesn’t appear to fit, so that’s not the answer. Again, any advice if I’m missing something would be helpful.

Lastly, onto my Tracer 10Ah lithium ion battery pack which I’m intending to use to power my scope, and perhaps my Astrozap Dewbuster if it proves to have enough juice. Initial charging took about 10 hours, but being Lithium Ion it will hold its charge near perfectly, it has no memory effect and subsequent charging shouldn’t take so long, unless I run the thing down. And of course, if I do run it down to zero, it won’t harm the pack, unlike lead acid batteries. It comes with a “fuel guage” that shows battery status, and also a nylon Velcro sealed pouch that I’m going to affix to one of the fork arms of the OTA. It only weighs 735g, so not at all heavy, and at 17x10x5cm, it’s really quite small and portable. As pictured, it also comes with a cigarette lighter adapter, so connecting should be straightforward. Here’s hoping it will meet my power needs ... we will see.

OK, next up if/when the weather improves will be Newbie comments on the handset, and of course first light ... whenever that may be.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of the festive season!

Merry Christmas!

[John]

Thanks for the further report. I hope the skies clear soon and you can start to put it all through it's paces under the stars.

I owned one of the Baader zoom eyepieces and I seem to recall that the eye cup can be rotated and it twists up from the eye lens. Once you find a comfortable position, where you can see the full field of view of the eyepiece, you leave the eyecup in that position so that you correct eye placement each time you use it.

[austen4]

Nice report hope you get some clear skies soon. Wednesday is the next day for if I sort my telescope.

[faulksy]

nice report fella. interested in the stanley box, will have a look. keep it coming

[Duns]

Great report - excitement is mounting

[AlistairHowie]

nice report fella. interested in the stanley box, will have a look. keep it coming

My new Post #4 in my Part 1 Review has a little more information on the Stanley box which you might find helpful.

Cheers

[kirkster501]

Brilliant stuff Alistair

You say the Baader finder has to come off to go into the Stanley box (although the mounting plate can be left on you say). But does this not mean that you have to align the finder and scope every time as well (because taking the finder off ruins the alignment?) ??? I would like to buy that finder myself so greatly appreciate your input.

Steve

[AlistairHowie]

Thanks John, the Baader EP does indeed unscrew to create a sort of protective cup. I knew it must have been something simple!

Steve, I'm not at all expecting to have to realign my RDF having removed it from the scope. Other reviews I've seen suggest that it holds its alignment very well. Should (better be!) just be a case of slotting back into the quick release plate and off I go, but I'll confirm once I know for sure.