Rain and Scope and sharpcap

[Craig123]

Hi all

A quick beginner question.I was trying to polar align with sharp cap last night and it wasnt picking up any stars.I nipped in to read bedtime story and my heq5 and ed80 plus rest of gear got a little rain on.Is this gear designed to take a little rain on odd occasion or do i need to do something to safegaurd against water last night.I know i need a cover sheet asap but i dried eveything off with a soft towel as best i could.Any advice appreciated and poniters as to sharp cap problems.

thanks

[MarsG76]

The equipment will handle some moisture, it is outside great that will be at time covered in dew, but if it get totally drenched than you will have electrical issues and if you get water inside the optics you will need to dry it out thoroughly.. worst case is you get marks or fungus/mould growing on the inside of the scope... that would be a problem... 

I say dry it/allow to dry in a warm dry area and if you have a nice sunny warm day, than leave it outside, UV kills fungus.

Fungus/mould and/or electrical issues are the worst case scenario tho...

 

[Craney]

Cygnus astro do some good covers. I sure if you give them dimensions they will suggest the best fit.  I have several for my scope zoo !!!!

 

Sean.

[Craig123]

9 hours ago, MarsG76 said:

The equipment will handle some moisture, it is outside great that will be at time covered in dew, but if it get totally drenched than you will have electrical issues and if you get water inside the optics you will need to dry it out thoroughly.. worst case is you get marks or fungus/mould growing on the inside of the scope... that would be a problem... 

I say dry it/allow to dry in a warm dry area and if you have a nice sunny warm day, than leave it outside, UV kills fungus.

Fungus/mould and/or electrical issues are the worst case scenario tho...

 

Thanks..hopefully all ok.Just got to work out Sharp cap not picking up stars next!

[MarsG76]

12 minutes ago, Craig123 said:

Thanks..hopefully all ok.Just got to work out Sharp cap not picking up stars next!

Sounds like a exposure and gain issue.

[Waldemar]

Probably you are too far out of focus to pick up stars.

Lesson learned: don't walk away or leave your equipment unprotected if you are not 100% sure it won't rain.
As has been said above: dew, no so much of a problem. Rain is a killer...
These: http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_t365.htm  are top quality covers. Put a little heater underneath to prevent dew and do not totally close them at the bottom, so they can ventilate a bit.

To prevent electrical problems, you can spray all electronics, boards and connectors with NanoProtech Electric spray. You will have to take things apart a bit, to be able to spray the boards on both sides, but it really makes a difference.

[newbie alert]

Like the rest are saying thoroughly dry it out in a airing cup..

With sharpcap it's fairly simple but very easy to fall into mistakes..ive done it a good few times but it's a fantastic program and well worth persevering with..First thing is to check that the camera is picking up on stars and not the noise from the camera also get the scope ,camera and finder pointing in the same direction..setup and look at Polaris so the imaging camera has it in the centre of the frame,the finder is bang on and load up the sharpcap software.. select the guide camera you have in tools etc...you will need to up the exposure and gain settings to enable you to see stars on the screen..make sure the guidescope is looking at Polaris.. it's quite distinct in that area of the sky..if it all looks like the stars are all the same size then it's most probably noise and focussing the guidescope is needed..dont go any further until your 100% sure that it's Polaris that you're looking at

Then I'd adjust the az and alt knobs until Polaris is about 1 cm from the edge in a 9x50 finder..where Polaris is on the particular night depends on where you adjust the bolts,see pic below..i use a app called synscaninit 2,it gives me the polaris finder..and the time/date format that needs to be entered into the handset once switched on..but don't switch on yet...then click on the polar alignment tab and follow the instructions...brilliant software..

[newbie alert]

[Craig123]

22 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Like the rest are saying thoroughly dry it out in a airing cup..

With sharpcap it's fairly simple but very easy to fall into mistakes..ive done it a good few times but it's a fantastic program and well worth persevering with..First thing is to check that the camera is picking up on stars and not the noise from the camera also get the scope ,camera and finder pointing in the same direction..setup and look at Polaris so the imaging camera has it in the centre of the frame,the finder is bang on and load up the sharpcap software.. select the guide camera you have in tools etc...you will need to up the exposure and gain settings to enable you to see stars on the screen..make sure the guidescope is looking at Polaris.. it's quite distinct in that area of the sky..if it all looks like the stars are all the same size then it's most probably noise and focussing the guidescope is needed..dont go any further until your 100% sure that it's Polaris that you're looking at

Then I'd adjust the az and alt knobs until Polaris is about 1 cm from the edge in a 9x50 finder..where Polaris is on the particular night depends on where you adjust the bolts,see pic below..i use a app called synscaninit 2,it gives me the polaris finder..and the time/date format that needs to be entered into the handset once switched on..but don't switch on yet...then click on the polar alignment tab and follow the instructions...brilliant software..

22 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Like the rest are saying thoroughly dry it out in a airing cup..

With sharpcap it's fairly simple but very easy to fall into mistakes..ive done it a good few times but it's a fantastic program and well worth persevering with..First thing is to check that the camera is picking up on stars and not the noise from the camera also get the scope ,camera and finder pointing in the same direction..setup and look at Polaris so the imaging camera has it in the centre of the frame,the finder is bang on and load up the sharpcap software.. select the guide camera you have in tools etc...you will need to up the exposure and gain settings to enable you to see stars on the screen..make sure the guidescope is looking at Polaris.. it's quite distinct in that area of the sky..if it all looks like the stars are all the same size then it's most probably noise and focussing the guidescope is needed..dont go any further until your 100% sure that it's Polaris that you're looking at

Then I'd adjust the az and alt knobs until Polaris is about 1 cm from the edge in a 9x50 finder..where Polaris is on the particular night depends on where you adjust the bolts,see pic below..i use a app called synscaninit 2,it gives me the polaris finder..and the time/date format that needs to be entered into the handset once switched on..but don't switch on yet...then click on the polar alignment tab and follow the instructions...brilliant software..

  Great..really appreciate the detailed response.I used synscaninit to get a polar alignment using polarscope and then thought i would have a go at more accuracy with sharpcap.Must have had the gain too low so i will try again..hopefully tonight.What a great forum.Thanks

 

 

[Craig123]

On 12/10/2017 at 19:23, Waldemar said:

Probably you are too far out of focus to pick up stars.

Lesson learned: don't walk away or leave your equipment unprotected if you are not 100% sure it won't rain.
As has been said above: dew, no so much of a problem. Rain is a killer...
These: http://www.scopestuff.com/ss_t365.htm  are top quality covers. Put a little heater underneath to prevent dew and do not totally close them at the bottom, so they can ventilate a bit.

To prevent electrical problems, you can spray all electronics, boards and connectors with NanoProtech Electric spray. You will have to take things apart a bit, to be able to spray the boards on both sides, but it really makes a difference.

Thanks.They look like a good solution