Celestron Astromaster Motor Drive

[Langy]

I have the basic Astromaster 130EQ and now thinking about getting the Motor Drive from the link below.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

http://www.astronomycentre.co.uk/Celestron_Motor_Drive_AstroMaster_p/c93514.htm

I know I still will not be able to do long time exposures but should at least be able to do a bit longer exposures than without one.

[AstroTux]

I used one of these for a while. OK for visual but ( IMHO ) not much good for anything else. The drive contains a medium sized DC motor that is geared to drive the RA axis of your 'scope slowly and is controlled by a simple speed circuit powered by a PP3 battery. The speed is set using a knob and on cold nights the battery voltage will tend to fluctuate causing the motor speed to vary. Getting the speed right in the first place I found to be quite frustrating.

I got so frustrated that I decided to build my own controller with a stepper motor I had salvaged from an old ink-jet printer. If you fancy taking on a project and are handy with electronics you might like to look at this http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/162657-a-low-cost-ra-stepper-for-small-telescopes/ .

hope this helps,

Alan

[Langy]

A nice DIY job, but that may be a bit much for me at the moment.