Televue Equaliser

[scarp15]

I am considering purchasing a Televue 2" to 1.25" bronze Equaliser adapter. I would like to ask any one who uses this of their opinions.

This will be used in my Dobsonian. Whilst I find the tensioners on my flextube to be fairly effective at stabilising the scope, when changing to my light weight T6 1.25" eps, it can still be frustrating as the balance is distorted and I sometimes completely seem to loose the target and have to return to a 2" low power ep to relocate.

The Equailser was suggested in a previous thread. As this is bronze and therefore not blackened, I believe that the inner edge is bevelled so as not to reflect any stray light. I also believe that to address any concerns regarding reflection it can be flocked (although I have recently used up the last of my flocking material). So could reflection be an issue and any concerns of the hi hat type design? In terms of improving balance between changing eps, I expect that it works quite well, although at certain, perhaps low elevations, it removes all the benefits of just having a light weight ep in the focuser.

Thanks

[John]

Does your scope have the standard Skywatcher focuser and, if so, will it fit a normal 1.25" - 2" adapter or does it need the Skywatcher type ?

Thought I'd better ask just in case the Equaliser can't be used in the Skywatcher drawtube.

[scarp15]

Good point John, as the original Skywatcher focuser was a bit odd requiring adapters for both 2" and 1.25" so may not have been so standard a design.

I should therefore have added that the focuser is a Moonlite CR1, which ought to accept standard 1.25" adapters.

[John]

Quite right - the Moonlite will be fine with the Equaliser.

I doubt reflections will be a problem from the Equaliser. The eyepiece barrel that is inserted into it will be blackened and Tele Vue know what they are doing with equipment design

The only downside to the Equaliser is that it's a relatively expensive bit of kit for what it does.

I use eyepieces that range from a 6mm Baader Genuine Ortho to a 31mm Nagler with my 12" dob and I find a simple counterweight system (actually a magnetic knife rack plus a couple of kitchen weights) allows me to keep things balanced for just a few £'s.

[alan potts]

For me it looks a very useful piece of equipment where balance is an issue between different eyepieces but it is very expensive for what it is. I can only believe it is the Bronze that pushes the price up, it would sort of be the icing on the cake though.

I think I would go with Johns, Gordon Ramsay solution, you never know when you may need to do a bit of cooking at the scope.

Alan.

[Moonshane]

I also thought about this once but always found more important things to spend money , and that a counterweight did the trick well enough. if would be a good buy though I think. one thing to bear in mind is that I don't think it is threaded for filters.

[John]

...I think I would go with Johns, Gordon Ramsay solution, you never know when you may need to do a bit of cooking at the scope.....

[scarp15]

Thanks everyone, I think that this might well be the iceing on the cake so to speak, when you are settled for the time being with your eyepiece collection. It should go some way to conveniently resolve problems that incur when switching between a T5 20mm to the almost featherweight 13mm or 9mm T6. This item does get a resounding thumbs up on cloudy nights, certainly being a televue product will be engineered to a high standard. Not concerned about a filter thread, as I use only one 2" filter which I attach to the thread on my focuser extender.

[Wolfgangwand]

I use an Equalizer and find it performs very well , i can confirm that it is not threaded for filters as stated by Moonshane. I've found no sign of stray light reflecting into the optical path despite it being made of bright bronze ( tapered shaped base prevents this ) . Comes with a handy EP weight reference table for TV EPs to help with pre planing . Nice piece of kit really.

[scarp15]

I received the Equalizer today. As Wolfgangwand has mentioned, it comes with a useful weight table for Televue eyepieces (except Delos). Televue of course deal in 'old money' so where as my 20mm nagler is 1lb, my 16mm T5 and most of my T6's, complete with the Equalizer will also be 1lb, so neutralising the weight. Will be interesting to try in practice anyhow.

[Wolfgangwand]

Eyepieces - TeleVue Optics

Hi Iain , the full TV eyepiece specifications can be found with this link ( including Delos weights ) . Sorry i didn't mention this as i have only just realised this to be the case with your post . Enjoy your new kit . Rob.

[scarp15]

Thanks Rob, that is a useful and up to date document for reference on the full range of weights. The supplied Equailzer instructions is speciifc in relating weights to my own set of TV eyepieces, consisting of plossls, panoptics and naglers. Probably worth noting that in addition, it includes Radians and Nagler zoom to. Expect that is was printed some time ago, as I also forgot to mention that the big boys, Ethos are also omitted. Certainly looking forward to trying it out, cheers.