Make the most of the clear skies I've organised,

[Astro Imp]

Some of you will remember I took delivery of a new SW 200 GOTO Dob back in January.

Due to the poor weather it has only been used 5/6 times and last time out there was an awful noise when slewing in azimuth. I have just spent an hour or so with Ian and Adam at RVO trying to fix the problem. The upshot is the base is  returning to the supplier for adjustment/replacement and will likely be 5/7 before its return.

If buying new gear produces  cloud the above should mean clear skies so make the most of them.

 

 

[triton1]

Thanks mate but just checked clear outside and I'll be cloud watching for the next 7 days

[xtreemchaos]

thats a shame Alan, hope thay fix it qwickly for you.

 I had a few hours of clear lastnight spent it in leo and virgo galaxy hunting, seen quite a few, the triple in leo was very nice.

clear skys, charl.

[Astro Imp]

Thanks charl, if they keep to the time scale indicated it won't be too bad.

Sounds like you had a good night, it was raining last night but I wouldn't have been out anyway, the scope was far too noisy to be using and disturbing the neighbours.

[laudropb]

Thanks in advance for the good skies Alan, but it does not seem to be working here yet. Hopes your problems are solved soon.

[JOC]

Astro Imp - my mount (must be the same as yours?) also made a horrendous noise - I posted about it on SGL and was told it was caused by the huge polystyrene washer in the base of it and that there was nothing to do except to live with it as it was a known issue.  I'll be interested if you get a fix as currently I can imagine being sworn at during a star party purely for disturbing the peace!!!

[Astro Imp]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

Astro Imp - my mount (must be the same as yours?) also made a horrendous noise - I posted about it on SGL and was told it was caused by the huge polystyrene washer in the base of it and that there was nothing to do except to live with it as it was a known issue.  I'll be interested if you get a fix as currently I can imagine being sworn at during a star party purely for disturbing the peace!!!

Sorry to hear you have the same issue.

Whilst I was at my supplier they contacted the scope distributor and got him to listen over the phone and was told this is the first time they had come across this.

Was your scope noisy from the off? Mine was working fine to start with and only became noisy after a few uses.

I will be sure to post when the scope is returned.

[JOC]

9 minutes ago, Astro Imp said:

Was your scope noisy from the off? Mine was working fine to start with and only became noisy after a few uses

I don't recall being aware of it to begin with, but now I get the same horrendous squeak with every use.  Is yours also a very loud squeak reminiscent of polystyrene?

[JOC]

The thread where I was told what it probably was is here:

 

[BXRO]

Only about 10 miles away from you, I'm afraid your bad luck hasn't done any favours yet. Hope you get back observing soon

[Astro Imp]

6 minutes ago, BXRO said:

Only about 10 miles away from you, I'm afraid your bad luck hasn't done any favours yet. Hope you get back observing soon

Thanks for the good wishes. 

You're right the weather isn't doing us any favours at the moment.

[BXRO]

See there's one or two breaks in the cloud now, might take the binos out later but not bothering with the scope

[Pondus]

Take Your time, there is no rush

[JOC]

Astro Imp, how did you get on?  In desperation I've contacted FLO about my squeaky base, and they've organised that SkyWatcher are also going to take back my base to the factory for adjustment.  You watch the skies clear in the SE!!!

[Astro Imp]

1 hour ago, JOC said:

Astro Imp, how did you get on?  In desperation I've contacted FLO about my squeaky base, and they've organised that SkyWatcher are also going to take back my base to the factory for adjustment.  You watch the skies clear in the SE!!!

I was waiting to have more clear skies to write a full report of the kit.

As far as the noise problem goes all seems good now but I have only used it on one occasion since its return(damn weather!!).

A bit of background, when RVO contacted OpticalVision they agreed to take the mount back and look into the problem. After checking OpricalVision decided it couldn't be easily repaired as it had been mis-assembled at the factory and supplied a replacement mount. When I received the new mount I examined the base and from memory there was a difference between the two. Looking at the old base IIRC the top rested directly on the polystyrene washer but on the new mount there is a gap of about 2/3mm with what appear to be spacers bearing the load. As a matter of interest the new mount came with the original handset which can be powered independently without being connected to the mount, also it doesn't have the latest firmware version installed but I don't see that as a problem.

I hope you get sorted, let us all know how you get on.

[JOC]

Hi Astro Imp, many thanks for that update - I'll take a good look at the old mount before I package it up and see if I can see the same difference in the replacement kit when I get it that you did.  At the moment I'm like you - apparently they are either going to repair or replace - I reckon, as you found that replacement (possibly as an easier option) might be on the cards.  I will report back in due course.