Re 2nd hand 6se

[Greg48(newbe)]

Hello all,,

just like to thank you for the advice on the 2nd hand scope,,

i went to buy the scope and i am truly delighted with it,,it was well looked after and just minor little marks on it and i say its from just setting it up

you'd have to look close to see them,,very nice guy who sold it,, i met him a few times before at public watches so i know he's a genuine guy,,

he gave me 3 brand new EP's 6mm/15mm/32mm with it and also a celestron drew sheild,,celestron solar filter none of them home made,,and also(wait for it) a

power tank 12v the bigger 1,,now thats what i call a decent chap all for 600 euro about (£520),,

so all i'm waiting on now is some clear sky's to have a good night out with it,,i just have it set up but i haven't input anything yet he said the long/lat is already done just change the time/date when i use it,,he told how to align it with stars or planets but to tell you the truth i forget because i was so happy to see all that for the price and power tank included so maybe someone could give me some simple steps on how to get it running,,,

Greg

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Sounds like a very good deal. Looking forward to a first-light report. There are many SE-users on SGL so somebody is bound to have useful info for you. Have you checked whether Celestron has the manuals online (they often do)

[andrew63]

That's a very nice telescope - and as said, plenty of help and advice to get you up and observing. Enjoy the views !

andrew

[matsey]

Congrats Greg, it is a fab scope and an excellent deal you've got there too, you must be really pleased.

As for setup, here's a few simple tips from a fellow 6SE owner, hope they help:

- set up the scope in advance (daylight helps!), and get the mount as level as possible

- make sure the power pack is fully charged (and remember to re-charge at the end of a session too)

- make sure the red dot finder / finder scope is lined up with the main scope, again easier to do in daylight with a distant terrestial object

- leave for at least an hour to allow the scope to cool down before starting an observing session

- remember to enter the date in the US format !! (mm/dd/yyyy). Daylight saving should be set to No at the moment, until the clocks go forward at the end of March.

- alignment - I've always found the 2-star alignment the quickest and most accurate, but you do need to have some familiarity with named stars to use that. Otherwise, use the default 3-star skyalign - for that you just need to point the scope at three bright stars, you don't need to know what they are.

- alignment - make sure you centre each alignment star as accurately as possible in the eyepiece. A good tip is to start with a low power piece (your 32mm), centre in that, then switch to your high power (6mm) and centre again. It also helps to de-focus the star so it appears as a large round circle, it's much easier to see whether the star is centred that way.

There are lots of other little tips and tricks to help with fine-tuning alignment/accuracy, but hopefully that will be enough to get you going and not overwhelm you with too much info to begin with !!

Also, Celestron indeed do have a downloadable manual... here: http://www.celestron...nloaditemid=284

Good luck, hope you get some clear skies and we hear about your first light report soon

Matsey

[Astro Imp]

Sounds like a sweet deal, good luck when you get out under the stars.

[Greg48(newbe)]

Thank's for the quick reply's,,

For now i'll go along with what Matsey said and follow your advice,, i'll download the manual and print it of as soon as i get to work my printer is out of action at the moment...

Carl, the guy i bought it of said its already in line with the ep but i'll just do it in case it moved a bit,,don't know when it was used last,,

Could i be doing all this alignment while it's cooling down or wait till it's cooled down and then start from scratch,,would it be better for alinging

I've got stellarium so that will help me with the stars i pick so i know which 1 it's pointing to,,

Do i put the drew sheild on while it's cooling,,

Do i have to keep doing this each time i take it out,,alignment,,date,,time,,

How long to leave the power tank on charge for,,when it's fully charged do they switch off themself's or plug in at night then unplug in morning when i get up,,

When i center each star at alignment do i hit enter,,

So sorry for these silly questions

Greg

[Simes]

Hi - and hello from an 8se owner...

Alignment of the red dot finder, you should only need to do it once, unless you start knocking it about! And I usually line it up on something like a distant TV aerial or a church spire.

The set up of the handset, once you've entered your coordinates once, it will remember them. Only change them if you are more than about 50 miles away from where you set them last time. The date and time you have to enter each time you power up. Try to get the time as near as you can. Certainly to the nearest minute.

Levelling the scope - I've found as long as it looks ok to the eye, then it's fine. Messing around with a spirit level didn't make the slightest difference to the tracking or goto accuracy.

Aligning - I've found 3 star align the easiest to use, and the most accurate. Use your highest eyepiece to ensure the star is centred (defocussing helps a lot).

The more you use it, the easier it gets!

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD

[Simes]

Meant to add - alignment, get the star near to centred, press enter, then fine tune it and then press align. Just follow the instructions on the screen.

Charging the power tank - my charger gas an led on it that's red when charging and then goes green when charged. If you're not using it for a while, top up the charge once a month. Then charge it back up after using it so it's ready for next time.

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD

[Greg48(newbe)]

So i really need to charge it once a week if i'm not using it would that be ok,just to keep it topped up and when i go to use it i could charge it while i'm letting the scope cool down and set up the hand set,with time date etc,,

MATSEY,,,i got a text from the guy i bought it of and he was so sorry he forgot to put the manual in the box ,so thanks for the quick set up info,,he's going to post it out to me,,

I'm just nervous when i go to use it first time i'll mess up the hand set,,

The 6mm ep that came with it,,it has E-lux on it what does that mean because the other 6mm i have it has omni plossl is there a differance between the 2

Greg

[naxos10]

Well done Greg, I've just received the 4SE I ordered on Saturday.

If you have the manual there appears to be decent instructions for setting/alignment in it. There is also a thread on these forums titled something like 'Nexstar SE what the manual does not tell you'.

Heres to clear skies.

BR

Alan

[matsey]

No need to apologise for asking "silly" questions, they're not silly at all. And if you were to look back at my posting history, you'll see I was having to ask similar questions when I started We all have to start somewhere, and as I'm sure you're realising in the same way I did that people on here are only too happy to help out where they can. In fact, pretty much all of the advice I've given so far is really just passing on advice given to me by other SGLers, so give it a few months I'm sure you'll be doing likewise !!

Powertank - yes, definitely advise keeping the it charged up when not in use, maybe not as often as every week, but definitely don't leave it longer than a month, I have had one stop holding it's charge because I left it a couple of months without a charge.

The 6mm - I have heard of the E-Lux, but I don't have any. I *think* it is a better quality plossl than the standard high power that normally comes with a new scope, so will probably be fine. Although I will say that I've got a 7mm which I find is only really useful on nights of good seeing, so you may find it on an average night that it doesn't give great views. It will though be excellent to use as an alignment piece, so worth hanging on to.

And as Simes says, the setup really does get easier the more you do it. I can be up and running in around 5 minutes now - it was taking me about 30-45mins when I first started, just because I was faffing around so much and wasn't quite sure what I was doing. So the initial effort to learn everything and ask all those questions did pay off in the end

Matsey

[Dunkster]

Congrats on your new scope, Greg, I hope it serves you well!

The E-Lux were a Celestron plossl, a 25mm one came with my SE and I quite like it. If the 6mm is as good, it'll make a decent high power, but you may find the weather means you'll only use it occasionally. It might be worth considering a 9 or 10mm once you get the hang of things

Regarding the dew shield... I tend to keep the hard cover on the end of the scope while it is cooling to keep any moisture off the corrector, and then when I'm ready, whip it off and stick the dew shield on. I noticed the 8" is a bit more of a dew magnet than the 6", so you may not notice a difference either way, but you can always try it and see what gives you the best results over a few sessions. One thing though... don't leave your scope unprotected pointing straight up while cooling as that practically guarantees it being covered in dew before you get started

[LukeSkywatcher]

Very nice deal indeed. I assume the power tank is the Celestron 7Ah? (supposed to last for 7 hours of use before recharging............which they DO). Nice to see you got a ready made solar filter also. Celestron have discontinued those. Before you even attempt to use it on the scope, hold it up to sunlight or another bright source of light and see if there are any small rips or holes in it which are letting the full light in. If there are...............you dont need to be told what to do with it.

6,15 and 32mm EP's really is a great selection of EP's to be starting off with (high,medium and low). You really DONT need any other EP at this point in time and may never need another one, but you will end up buying more (we ALL do).

The SE range of scopes really are brilliant. I bought an 8SE just over a year ago and it is my pride and joy.

The ONLY problem i had setting it up was that i entered the date format in the European (DD/MM/YY)........you need to enter the American format (MM/DD/YY).

A one star align on the scope will keep it tracking perfectly well. I suppose the "more the merrier", so a 3 star align is the best way to go. I usually do a solar system alignment (using a planet or even the Moon).

[Simes]

So i really need to charge it once a week if i'm not using it would that be ok,just to keep it topped up and when i go to use it i could charge it while i'm letting the scope cool down and set up the hand set,with time date etc,,

MATSEY,,,i got a text from the guy i bought it of and he was so sorry he forgot to put the manual in the box ,so thanks for the quick set up info,,he's going to post it out to me,,

I'm just nervous when i go to use it first time i'll mess up the hand set,,

The 6mm ep that came with it,,it has E-lux on it what does that mean because the other 6mm i have it has omni plossl is there a differance between the 2

Greg

I wouldn't bother with charging it once a week when you aren't using it. Once a month should be plenty.

A couple of hours star gazing doesn't really draw a lot of power.

Sent from my GT-N8010 using Tapatalk HD

[LukeSkywatcher]

If not using the power pack...........once a month is fine. If you are using it 2-3 times a week then charge it overnight each night you use it

[Greg48(newbe)]

Thanks again for the help,,

Once a month seems fine then so i'll do that instead of doing it once a week,,i don't know if they can get over charged something i'm not familiar with,,

Paul,,i checked the filter and held it to the light and couldn't see any other light coming tru but i'll check it again before use,,it was the first thing i done when i took it out of it's box,,

The power tank is a Celeston 12V couldn't believe it when he said he's giving me that aswell

Greg