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AstroEQ for EQ mounts

Oily

By Oily
in DIY Astronomer

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
Posted

Make sure to use plenty of heatshrink tubing if you are soldering the wires together directly to reduce any strain on the solder joints.

To clarify my last post:

The colours I gave refer to the colours of your cable, the letters refer to the letters on the diagram of the stepper motor.

By either way around, I mean, for example that B can be connected to either Red or Green.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

Posted
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why quatermass

I would be out of my depth trying to mod this motor I am rubbish at doing stuff like this but I have to say it looks pretty cool with that belt drive on it for sure. Mybe one day Tom will make up the motors and sell them ready to go. I would have thought Tom can set him self up making astrophotography gear when he finishes uni as he has a knack for it thats for sure. :grin:

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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I was thinking of it but the 130pds has the right FOV that I need and my 200p covers all the rest,my pal Starfox showed me the one he bought and it was really nice the photos he got from it where stunning as well plus its a good price for the kits and its has a very nice focuser as well.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Your setting in the config file are not the same as mine but not sure what your set up is? My config files looked like this..

post-8732-0-59139600-1388963744_thumb.jp

With this setting put in..

Motor Step Angle: 7.5 degrees (I found that out by experimentation)

Motor Gear Ratio: 120:1 (I took apart the gearboxes of the dual axis motors and counted teeth!)

Worm Gear Ratio: 144:1 (this is the worm gear ratio inside the mount. 144:1 is valid for an EQ5)

As they are dual axis motors, microstepping has to be disabled, so you should see:

"1/16th Microstepping =" with a button next to it which says "Disabled"

At the moment AstroEQ is using DRV8825 driver chips, so you should see:

"Driver Type = " followed by a button which says "DRV8825"

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

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That's not what they mean.

Worm Ratio = Ratio of the worm gear inside the mount - that is 144:1 for anEQ5

Gear Ratio = Ratio between your pulleys, in your case: 40:15 = 2.66666667:1

So the numbers you should be using are:

Motor Step Angle: 7.5

Motor Gear Ratio: 2.666666667

Worm Gear Ratio: 144

1/16th Microstepping = Enabled

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

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Posted

<Woops, typo, try again:>

That's not what they mean.

Worm Ratio = Ratio of the worm gear inside the mount - that is 144:1 for anEQ5

Gear Ratio = Ratio between your pulleys, in your case: 40:15 = 2.66666667:1

So the numbers you should be using are:

Motor Step Angle: 1.8

Motor Gear Ratio: 2.666666667

Worm Gear Ratio: 144

1/16th Microstepping = Enabled

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Astropedro

Astropedro

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Hi Guys,

I have recently purchased an AstroEQ from Tom and I'm waiting on delivery which should be in the next week or so.  i live in Spain so postage will be a tad slow.  From what I've read on this mammoth thread, it sounds like an awesome piece of kit and I am really looking forward to getting it set up and to resume some imaging again . 

Like most of you, I too have a SW200P on an EQ5.  I already have 2 Dual Axis controller kits (Fried my first hand controller) and I have ordered 2 RJ11 cables to connect the AsroEQ to the motors.  I already have a suitable power source in the shape of my wifes Lava Lamp power supply(good job she loves me).  I also have a couple of mini usb cables lying around somewhere.  i purchased an unmodded Vesta Pro for €14 off Tbay a few months back.  This, I assume, will be fine for a guide cam coupled with my finder scope once I have DIY'd the mating of the 2 items.  Im also hoping to do some planetary work with this cam as so far I have only targetted DSO's whilst tracking with the dual axis controller for exposures of 90 seconds or so.  I have achieved some good images of Andromeda, Pleides, M42 and some clusters through the 200p with an unmodded 300d.  I have a 1000d on order from Tbay UK so I can benefit from the liveview mode for easier focussing.  I have also ordered a digital remote shutter release so I can pre programme for some different exposure lengths.  No more standing out in the cold pushing a button!

Anyway, we have recently moved house so Im setting up a room on the top floor of our house (currently a sloarium)with a PC and a 28inch LCD to control everything and a monitor to connect to the canon.  There is a medium size terrace off this room where I intend to set up the Scope.  Unfortunately I will be bringing it in after every session.  The neighbours would have a fit if a shed appeared up there! I'll post some pics when I get organised.

To sum up,  Im really looking forward to getting this kit working as my wife and I used to spend ages looking for our target and then very little time imaging.  We are also looking forward to entering the world of guided astro imaging.  Exposures of 5 minutes plus would be awesome.  We have clear skies here in Spain at the moment so I hope we can help you guys with some further trial and error and testing etc when the AstroEQ arrives.  Ive waffled on enough for now.

Clear Skies

Pete

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