Weightwatching

[Tim]

I'm a little overweight.

I think.

Does anybody have a definitive answer to this question;

What is the carrying/operating capacity of the HEQ5 PRO Mount?

I have seen answers ranging from 9kg - 18kgs, but cant seem to find an answer from Skywatcher or a proper authority. Anyone?

What is concerning me is that atm I have 14.8Kgs loaded onto the poor thing, and there is one more item I am waiting on which will increase that to circa 15kg.

Somewhere it suggested a 10kg load for astrophotgraphy. If that is the case, what is it that would 'suffer' due to the extra weight? Does the fact that an autoguider is used, make up for some of the errors?

I am currently considering swapping my heq5 for a heq6, to have room to play with, although there shouldn't be much more to load on to the mount now.

I value all of your opinions, naturally, but would be especially interested to hear from those of you that actually have experience of this type of thing.

Thanks

TJ

[radioactive]

TJ its Officially 16Kgs here a link for the full review the Sky@Night Group test done on it

http://www.opticalvision.co.uk/documents/71.pdf

[cygnusx1]

Remember, manufacturers will underestimate the load capacity for obvious reasons.

Generally, I would go with a figure of 1/2 -2/3 for imaging, although that said, i've got close to 15kg myself on my HEQ5 Pro and with it well balanced have not noticed any major adverse effects in my images.

The EQ6 Pro I believe is sturdier, though no sure how far you could push it past a HEQ5 Pro.

[Andrew*]

I have my HEQ5 loaded with probably over 16 kgs, though I've never tested it. It's obviously overmounted to some extent, but I still managed to get a sharp image out of it... except the focus :?

Andrew

[beamish]

Can someone explain -Does that INCLUDE counter-weights or merely the ota etc ??

Karlo

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Not includingcounterweights Karlo, they go for free.

Kaptain Klevtsov

[radioactive]

Yes the counterweights don't figure when you are talking load limits on these mounts and on my EQ6 Pro I have also used an extended counter balance bar for an easier balance due to changing the centre of gravity it all helps

[beamish]

Wow that's a fair bit then ! cheers chaps !!

[MartinB]

TJ the answer is, it depends! I've heard 16kg for the HEQ5 and 25Kg for the Eq6. These are visual ratings and not for a bulky reflector on a breezy night. Weight capacity is reduced by longer focal length, length of scope, windage of scope, mounting of peripherals such as guide scopes away from the pivot point and last but not least the quality of image you are aiming for. Tak reckon the EM200 is good for 16kg - this is a fair rating for high quality imaging with a long focal length scope. The Eq6 is an EM200 clone and is very unlikely to be capable of carrying a higher weight than the EM200.

That might not be what you want to hear!!

[Tim]

Well then, seems this is a can of worms.

I carefully weighed everything last night, including EP's and cables. At the moment, I have 14.8 Kg on there, but when the astrodevelopments Clamp comes I expect that to put up to 1Kg extra.

To balance all of this an extra counterweight is required.

I expect that the proof of the theory will be in the pictures. If everything else is equal and the tracking/guiding is always off, then I guess that's how to tell?

I shall be most interested to see the loadouts at the Kelling spring do.

Perhaps the one thing about my setup is that the items on it are relatively short, the C9.25 being the longest.

Cheers

TJ

[Whippy]

I made a fairly educated guess that my current imaging gear weighs about 14 kilos(ish). My EQ6 pro has an apparent rated payload of 25 kilos. My understanding that for imaging, you half the rated payload so set up should be about 12.5 kilos. Once the my Intes Mak-Newt is replaced by a rather lighter and more svelte WO66, that should take me well unter the 12.5 mark and I should be fine. I was out last night and the wind was 'gusting' shall we say and I just managed to get away with it. Obviously if I had the 66 instead of the Intes, I wouldn't have had any problems at all I reckon. IMO, you can spend all the money you like on cameras, scopes, etc etc but if your mount isn't up to the task, then your pics are not going to be great. After all, you don't build a house without foundations do you?

I did have a HEQ5 for a while and my impression was that it's good for visual to about 15 kilos.

Tony..