Do you flip?

[wuthton]

Been looking at total automation for a while now. I think I'll probably go down the ACP route

http://www.dc3.com

I just hollered the Yorkshire war cry...

How much!

[MartinB]

Unfortunately an automated flip is no good for me because afterwards my scope in no longer pointing out of the dome but at it's inside! I do all sorts of things to minimise lost imaging time including imaging way over to the wrong side of the meridian.  I got a bit excited about the Avalon M-uno fork mount which doesn't need a flip.  fine for my LX200 and FSQ but wont work with a larger scope like my MN190.

Never mind the dome has it's benefits, I can image in a gale!

[Ibbo!]

At Home I do not flip.

With my mount I can guide through the meridian, but my main problem is the street light messes up my east.

In winter i plan 2 or 3 targets for the night and hopefully over a reasonable period of time get the data I want.

I do use plate solving and find it great to recentre the target the  following day or even a month later.

[Sp@ce_d]

Unfortunately an automated flip is no good for me because afterwards my scope in no longer pointing out of the dome but at it's inside! I do all sorts of things to minimise lost imaging time including imaging way over to the wrong side of the meridian.  I got a bit excited about the Avalon M-uno fork mount which doesn't need a flip.  fine for my LX200 and FSQ but wont work with a larger scope like my MN190.

Never mind the dome has it's benefits, I can image in a gale!

We're quite exposed so I left the sides of the Obsy fairly high, not really wanting to image through the low muck anyway. Plus I can vary the pier height to a degree. It's also a pretty heavy duty design, the roof cant be pushed by hand its that heavy. I've imaged in some pretty strong winds with no issues so far. Now I've got the anemometer on the cloudwatcher it'll be interesting to see how the subs compare to the recorded gusts.

I just hollered the Yorkshire war cry...

How much!

Exactly.. why I said "for a while now" ie. years! but I'm coming to the conclusion if I want to take advantage of every small break in the clouds & have some sleep.. keep a job..have a life... please 'er indoors   then I cant see another way to go.

[ollypenrice]

The market is twitching for a big single arm fork variant like the M Uno or the mount Lucas Mesu no longer makes...

Lots to be said for these. I can't use the M Uno either because my TEC is far too long, like Martin's 190.

Olly

[Christopher Davenport]

Sequence Generator Pro will do that, including focus.

I had a go with it the other night but the user interface is a mind melter. I'll have another go when the nights are longer.

Thanks for this, interesting piece of software.

I love solving complex software.

Geuss its the techie in me.

[Martin-Devon]

I flip in automated mode using CCD Commander - works well. It knows when a flip is due, stops the guider and imaging CCDs, executes the flip, then does a double plate solve to ensure the target is spot-on again, then restarts the guider, does another automated refocus on the main imaging CCD, then restarts the imaging run. At the end of the sequence around 3am in the morning it turns the CCD cooler off and parks the mount. 

CCD Commander costs just $99 so is a fraction the price of ACP. Sequence Generator Pro will probably do the same as CCD Commander, and at similar cost (you cannot use Focusmax in SGP though). I'm surprised that more folks don't use automated packages like these. Admittedly you have to get to know the ins & outs of the package and their little foibles, but once you have some experience with a few runs under your belt, they work extremely well and are great time savers.

Martin

[Steve 1962]

Yup I auto flip using SGP and EQMOD

SGP stops PHD guiding, flips the scope, waits for my dome to catch up, selects the Lum filter, plate solves down to 50 pixels, reselects the planned filter, autofocuses, flips the PHD calibration, and restarts guiding - just like that.

I love watching it - which completely destroys the whole point of the auto flip which I see as getting some sleep!

Steve

[Sp@ce_d]

I just hollered the Yorkshire war cry...

How much!

Just taken another look at the prices .. no wonder you "hollered"  They've just put the prices up!

You can get both SGP & CCDCommander for the cost of the increase in the ACP PE version alone!

I flip in automated mode using CCD Commander - works well. It knows when a flip is due, stops the guider and imaging CCDs, executes the flip, then does a double plate solve to ensure the target is spot-on again, then restarts the guider, does another automated refocus on the main imaging CCD, then restarts the imaging run. At the end of the sequence around 3am in the morning it turns the CCD cooler off and parks the mount. 

CCD Commander costs just $99 so is a fraction the price of ACP. Sequence Generator Pro will probably do the same as CCD Commander, and at similar cost (you cannot use Focusmax in SGP though). I'm surprised that more folks don't use automated packages like these. Admittedly you have to get to know the ins & outs of the package and their little foibles, but once you have some experience with a few runs under your belt, they work extremely well and are great time savers.

Martin

Had another look at CCD Commander. Might be worth a shot as it supports the AAG Cloudwatcher & seems to suggest it can shutdown, close the roof then reopen & resume. The attraction of ACP for me is the Scheduler, if CCD Com. can handle multiple startup & shutowns (as well as meridian flips ..  it might just do... ah well.. only another week & astro darkness returns

[Davey-T]

Usually turn of flipping on my iEQ45 as if it flips when I've got my back turned it makes a  mess of the cables. LX200 just goes round and round 

Dave