What to leave in obsy when locking up at night?

[kirkster501]

Ok so I am going to install a permanent pier so that my mount - at the moment a NEQ6 but maybe something bigger to in the future - can be left permanently setup and polar aligned.  Do folks leave the telescope itself set up and balanced as well? Perhaps with the cables cable tied in and ready to go at a moments notice?  I live in quite a good area but the thought of leaving a FSQ just protected by a padlock fills me with some trepidation!

Can someone give an indication of a workflow to set up please?

Thanks, Steve

[wxsatuser]

All my stuff is left setup.

I cannot bear the thought of having to setup everytime I want to do some imaging.

Yes it is hard to leave stuff in basically a shed but I have a few security precautions,

which I won't say here.

[Bizibilder]

It's OK for the pier and cables to be left out but whether you leave the scope out depends very much on your own security needs.  If you decide to bring the scope in it's not to difficult to remove the rings and dovetail as well.  If you make a mark on (or better a small bracket clamped to) the dovetail then the scope can be accurately returned to the mount knowing everything will be in balance.  All you have to worry about then is the cool down time.

With my own set-up I can connect up in less then two minutes - all the cable ends being clearly labelled as well as the USB sockets etc so "everything has a place to go and nothing is out of place".  As I have cameras with different plugs and sockets etc I have installed a lead for each one, so there is no messing about having to add or remove unnecessary cables.

[Sp@ce_d]

All my stuff is left setup.

I cannot bear the thought of having to setup everytime I want to do some imaging.

Yes it is hard to leave stuff in basically a shed but I have a few security precautions,

which I won't say here.

Ditto ...

Make sure you cover several of the physical & electronic deferents/defence as well as surveillance monitoring

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[kirkster501]

I was also thinking of leaving a small, cheap PC with the requisite USB ports that I can just remote desktop into from indoors.  I will also run some Ethernet cable into the shed as well.  Very much in the pre-pilot stage at the moment, have not so much as lifted a spade as yet....

[Sp@ce_d]

I forgot about this thread.. might be useful to you too..

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/109548-fire-and-theft-how-can-we-avoid-it-and-stay-safe/

[paulastro]

Regarding security.  As other people say, take sensible precautions - if your security measures make your equipment difficult to use and impinge on your enjoyment - then you have probably gone too far in my view.  If you insure your equipment for it's full replacement value, you will then have prepared for the worst, and hopefully never have to cash in on the insurance. 

Of course, if you have a Paramount and a top end 6 inch or bigger refractor, you may not be able to obtain sufficient cover even if you could afford it.

[Alien 13]

It is always important to make sure access points are secured too carrying an EQ8 over a locked 7 foot gate is not for the feint hearted, its also worth contacting insurance companies etc to make sure they are happy with the precautions and lots of layres of security.

Alan

[nucleardwarf]

The Mother in Law.

[ianaiken]

I leave it all in, remote alarm, sensors, CCTV recording and most important of all good insurance.  Dehumidifier also to keep it right.

[Steve 1962]

All of my kit lives out there with a de-humidifier, linked into the house alarm..and a stand alone motion sensor type alarm for when we're at home and the house alarm is off...ready to image at a moment's notice.

Also I wrote to my home contents insurers informing them - and they've confirmed that it's all covered up to £4.5k per discrete item.

I'm going to add an IP camera too.

Steve

[Pete Presland]

I leave everything apart from cameras and laptop in there. I also have lots of silica gell bags in all my storage containers

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[Astrobug]

I leave it all in, remote alarm, sensors, CCTV recording and most important of all good insurance.  Dehumidifier also to keep it right.

What kind of insurance did you find?

The shed is added to my house insurance. They only could insurance it for 3k€.

[ianaiken]

It was AXA Extra Home I think. The 70K contents covers inside and out no limit on outside and up to 3k per item.  I'll dig out the paper work tomorrow as I want to check now :-)