Best Drive motors for a CG5 mount

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Celestron C8N with CG5 equatorial mount.

http://www.astronomica.co.uk/Motordrives.php

Ok nice moon tonight but it kept moving/pain.

What are the best drive motors for a Celestron CG5 Equatorial mount.

1. do i need 2 0f them.

2.Not into imaging at the moment so if i can track stars and planets i will be happy.

3. Do not want motors that i have to change batteries every 2 nights so a power supply would be nice.

4. Do not want noisy or jerky motors

5. Think Astronimica were mentioned on here instead of Skywatcher/Celestron Motors.

6. Where is the best/cheapest place to buy them from.

7. Think that from previous posts Astronmica are the best ones recomended in here, so any further advice will be greatly appreciated.

Davey.

:moon:

[GazOC]

You can get away with just one set of motors rather than two, the sky only moves in RA so you only really need a RA drive for your purposes. The Dec would be a convience but not essential.

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Thanks Gaz.

Just wondering does the RA only work, or do they both work on their own.

Does the declinaion ony work when you are slewing.

Davey.

:moon:

[WebSentinel]

Hi Davey,

I recently bought the DK-3 motors from Astronomica (http://www.astronomica.co.uk/Motordrives.php?product=24&action=moreinfo&offset=0) for my CG-5 mount. They are exact clones of the Vixen MT-1 motors (the CG-5 is an clone of the Vixen GPE mount). Very well made, silent and no jerk (I'm using a C11 with lots of counter weights and this mount and drives do not have a problem at all). The guys at Astronomica were very helpful and provided a prompt service, I was very pleased.

The only disappointment was the drives didn't come with any instructions. However, because they are MT-1 clones, you can use the Vixen manual (http://www.company7.com/library/vixen/VixenNA_GP_GPDX_MT+Clutch.pdf) on how to install them. Took me five minutes and if I can install them anyone can.

You need 8 D-Cell batteries but they last a long time but if you prefer can always purchase a DC adapter from the usual retailers (Maplins, Argos, etc). Just make sure it supplies a minimum of 2amps.

Note: the GPE Vixen manual provides better info on how the RA and DEC markings work. http://www.company7.com/library/vixen/notes.html.

I hope this helps?

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Thank you very much Steve.

Great information on the Drive motors and the mount details.

In fact the details you gave me, i did not know anything about them and it is new knowledge to me , thank you very much.

Heard of Vixen vaguely, but know nothing about them.

Thanks for the Links as they will be very helpfull indeed and thanks for the time spent digging them out for me.

Davey.

:moon:

[WebSentinel]

No problem.

Vixen are a very well respected Japanese manufacturer (as opposed to the Chinese manufactured scopes, e.g. Celestron, etc). Their stuff is sort of high end budget (more expensive/better made than Celestron, Meade, Skywatcher, etc). The Vixen mounts (esp. the GPE) are very well respected amongst amateur astronomers and usually cloned by the manufacturers mentioned above.

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Did not phone Astromoica as i had things to do but tonight i had a look at telescope drive motors on E-Bay and found this.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GOTONova-Telescope-Equatorial-Mount-GOTO-Motor-Drive_W0QQitemZ250215951349QQihZ015QQcategoryZ74926QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p1638.m122

Are they any good, what is the price of them and what duty would i have to pay on them.

Or should i stick with the Astromica drive motors.

Davey.

:moon:

[russ]

The GOTO drive kit you found was recently reviewed in Astronomy Now and received the thumbs up. Although I would investigate how much the Skywatcher Skyscan kit would cost. Excellent upgrade kit.

Russ

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Thank you for the prompt reply rus.

Davey.

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