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CEM60-EC

psjshep

By psjshep
in Member Equipment Reviews

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psjshep

psjshep

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oh, btw... I also used the polar align routine for the 1st time....  and after that, when aligning after a power recycle, the 1st alignment star was VERY close.... nice

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Grimmec

Grimmec

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Sounds like you had a good night too. I just done a visual polar align of data from the handset and still managed 120s exposure with round stars, but beyond that I got trailing. Initial align was a fair way out, but think my park position was off, but maxim soon centred it all up.

I have the issue of having to setup fresh each time so have to align on each session. But do get beautiful dark skies from where I setup so not complaining :-)

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Grimmec

Grimmec

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Well I live in the centre of the city, so can't even see andromeda with my 9.25sct from home. Very handy having an observatory 30 mins from home, deep in rural Norfolk, also helps being on the committee and having my own keys :-)

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Grimmec

Grimmec

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Had a proper imaging session with the CEM last night and as expected behaved brilliantly, maybe slightly in love with this mount, no more battles with trying to get everything to connect, no dangling wires to get tangled and a guide graph that is smooth as anything :-) shame I wasn't as good, spent an hour imaging m101 with a IR pass filter rather than my Luminance filter, because I forgot to switch back after my last planetary session, oops, lesson learnt.

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psjshep

psjshep

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Well.. here we go... when I get more time, I'll drizzle stack it in PixInsight.

Roughly 2 hrs each channel. Colour is via PixelMath with weights for Ha, SII & OII were R=SII+0.8*Ha, G=0.2*Ha+OIII, B=OIII

post-264-0-19168400-1404503077_thumb.jpg

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PNJ

PNJ

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Hi Phil,

can i ask what power the mount receives, i assume 12V, just curious as it has 2 x 12volt outputs on the saddle, if these were used then the current increases,  so asking if you have a regulated power supply to the mount

Did you receive all cables required to plug and play the mount if you know what i mean

cheers

Paul J

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Grimmec

Grimmec

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The mount does run via 12v 2.1mm plug. It ships with a 12v cigarette style plug. The power for the hub is from a separate power source 12v 2.5mm plug via the polar scope, what they do not supply cables for as standard, but are fairly cheap to pick up. Power outputs on hub are standard 2.1mm 12v sockets and 4 unpowered USB ports.

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CCD Imager

CCD Imager

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I purchased my Ioptron CEM60 non-EC version in the middle of June 2014 and have so far mostly tinkered and tested the mount, with some imaging, although this was difficult in June because of the perpetual twilight. To give you an idea of my background on mounts, I have owned a fair few and mostly over the last 20 years. My list includes an alt-Az mount (unknown brand), Fullerscopes MkIII mount, C11 ultima, Meade LX200, Losmandy G11, Mountain Instruments MI500, Paramount ME, Astrophysics AP1200GTO, Astrophysics AP400GTO, Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro, Skywatcher EQ8 Pro and an Ioptron CEM60. I have tinkered with all of these to obtain optimum performance where possible.
My findings on the CEM60:
It is an attractive mount, relatively lightweight and comes with its own foam padded case. There are many features that I like and these include the intuitive handset, one of the best I have owned (and heated!), magnetic engagement of the gear worm mesh which should reduce backlash to a minimum, very quiet slewing with proper locking of the worm gear mesh (no clutches). The polar scope is also one of the easiest to use and doesn't rely on the second star being visible to polar align. The app or handset gives the polaris angle and it is then easy to center on the illuminated reticle pattern. The control panel on the DEC plate is great for cable management, I can now hook my camera, dew heater, electric focuser directly to the control panel and have no concern about tangled cables whilst slewing. However, Ioptron forgot to include an ST4 guiding port. Apparently there is a work around by connecting one cable to the guiding port and then another to the 6C6P port, but I have not got this to work thus far! The only, but a major drawback of this mount is its load capacity. I have a 4 inch and 6 inch refractor and a 12 inch ODK, so the two larger scopes previously went on the EQ8 and the 4 inch refractor on an HEQ5 Pro. The CEM60 surely then could take my 6 inch refractor and I could use it as a portable setup at Kelling Heath for example. My 6 inch refractor is relatively lightweight at 13Kg and well within the quoted payload capacity of 27Kg, in fact it is less than 1/2 its capacity even if the refractor has a long moment arm compared to SCT's for example. Mounting my 6 inch refractor on the CEM60 was a bit of a disaster, it really just couldn't handle it, there was so much wobble. I have searched various astroforums and found a couple of other users noting the same problem. I was concerned that I might have an issue with the mount, but after liaison with Ioptron and visiting Altair Astro to assess my scope on their demo mount, there is no doubt that the CEM cannot handle it. Perhaps I am being naive thinking that a 13Kg refractor can be mounted on a 12Kg mount, but I was taken in by Ioptron's specs and also some others showing how well the mount can handle larger scopes. Why is this you ask? Well, put simply, the Ioptron mounts are made from dye casts which are inherently less rigid than a properly machined mount, like a Losmandy mount for example. This is a big issue for me and have been left disappointed. From what I have seen of users around here and other forums, a lot swear by their mount, but they are using scopes much shorter and lighter than mine and under these circumstances, I am sure they are right.
So in summary, the CEM60 is a good mount with many new innovative features that users will love the mount (and attracted me to the mount in the first place) and when I use my Tak FSQ106, the combination works very nicely. But do be careful putting large scopes on the mount as the rigidity starts to suffer and please ignore Ioptron's wild claims of 27Kg capacity.
Adrian
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psjshep

psjshep

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I have to disagree with Adrian's post relating to the mount not being able to handle any weight. I would agree with the fact that the mount is less rigid than say something like an EQ8 or an AP mount but the price reflects that. Maybe, Adrian, you are using it visually and is thus more susceptible knocks? That I can understand.

For me, I have run it with AA's 102mm triplet refractor (~740mm f/l), an 8" Truss Tube RC (1600mm f/l), and a large format 10" Newt (1200 f/l - it is a custom built carbon fibre and is over 10" longer from the spider to the end so it doesn't need a dew shield, so a fairly cumbersome piece) BUT I only use the mount for imaging.... key point.  I have the usual imbalance in RA & DEC which keeps the guiding going very well... The supplied counterweight is sufficient for the 102mm, but the others do need an extra small  counterweight adding. All setups additionaly have a Lakeside stepper focuser, an SXVR-H16 camera, a 7 position 2" Bright star filterwheel and a 50mm finder scope + Lodestar.

I have guided via the ASCOM driver so it doesn't use the ST4 cable, but I have successfully tested with lodestar -> ST4 cable and into the saddle plate's connector, and then from the connector at the polar scope -> ST4 port at the side of the mount so I am not sure why it did not work for you.

As I have participated on their beta program, I do know of a few others who have large 10" or 12" scopes successfully attached but they too are imagers... one chao even ran with his large SCT, a medium refractor and a small guide scope! Bit excessive. The one issue at the moment is the firmware cannot handle a side-by-side arrangement which puts the saddle plate at 90 degrees from it's usual position.... That should change as the firmware evolves.

The last thing I will add is, the firmware continues to evolve for both the CEM60 & CEM60-EC versions..... and is getting better & more "accurate" and with more features (I believe cone error correction is yet to be integrated, and atmos extinction is now integrated when aligning on stars) . The ASCOM driver now acts as a hub and supports multiple connections to it (planetarium, camera software, focusing software, etc) and works very well.

I am debating whether to bring it to Kelling as there has been quite a bit of interest in these mounts and it is more portable than my EQ6! (with pillar extension).... but I don't want to be seen as an advertiser for any company selling these mounts.

Phil

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x6gas

x6gas

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I have to agree with Phil (and thus I am afraid disagree with Adrian).

I've used my mount with a Celestron Edge 1100 with a 0.7 reducer and my imaging rig (weight ~17kg) and my TS130 apo with flattener and imaging rig (similar weight, different moment of inertia, of course) and my mount is rock solid; absolutely no issues at all.

As Phil notes the ST-4 guide port is on the side of the mount.  The 6p6c socket on the saddle accessory panel is just wired through to the input socket next to the polar scope and it's easy to connect up the ST-4 port to that.

I have to say I've been nothing short of delighted with my mount.  First light was imaging M63 at 2800mm focal length using my Edge and Astronomy Now thought the results were good enough to be published in the August issue of the magazine.  Second light was M101 and that made it on to the cover disk of September's Sky at Night Magazine - both of these were the mount out of the box and I hadn't optimised guide settings etc. so I've been very pleased...

I am frankly very sceptical that the mount could really handle a 60lb load for imaging, but 40lbs it handles perfectly.

The latest firmware updates and new ASCOM driver and control console have improved things still further.

Adrian - can you say something more about the problem with your mount not handling the weight?

Ian

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