Time to say goodbye :(

[JimT]

7 minutes ago, Jkulin said:

Jim, Sorry to hear your woes, can I make a couple of suggestions?

Thanks Jkulin, am not too worried about the PC, all secondhand and just used for one program so no worries there. n Taking my time with the astro gear, took the mount handsets apart today and have them a good dry and clean.  Afraid the mount will be the main problem, will be taking that apart over the next few days.

Jim

[Jkulin]

Thanks Jim, I wasn't just meaning the PC but electronics in general, Circuit boards are generally lacquered and if not providing they are not wet then should be OK, pull the cover off your mount and put it in the airing cupboard for a week, should dry out nicely.

[Piero]

Just came across this thread. Really shocking!

I don't have experience with this sort of issues, but many people suggested to give time to the equipment to dry completely. It seems the most reasonable thing to do at the moment. Finger crossed for the best outcome! 

[JimT]

I have to say I am overwhelmed by the amount of information I have been given as to how to sort this mess out and it has lifted me somewhat.  I have been hit with a heavy cold at the moment and confined to the house for the moment, of the equipment I have in the house there is just the one PC that I will continue to work on.  The observatory roof is stable, I have a delivery of material coming so as soon as the cold is over and weather allows I will redo the roof to a better standard.

Now the 11" RASA, one may wonder why I had not got the cap on the top, simple reason is I would have had to take the camera and filter equipment off each time I used it, to allay this I purchased a shower cap and cut a hole in the centre so that I just remove the cables and slide the cap over the camera and keep the glass dust free, simple effective but also a disaster if there is no roof, the rain got on it and the cap became a well thus allowing the water to enter the RASA.  I am sure the RASA will come out of this okay, just need to take my time and be careful.

The CGE Pro, this is a beast and is going to be a problem, I don't have the ability to take the RASA off it nor dismantle it, putting it all together last January resulted in both my wife and myself getting badly hurt so it will be a case of taking it easy, I am not sure if any water entered the bottom electrical base.  I have looked on the net for a lesson in taking the mount casings apart but nothing as yet, will be grateful if anyone know a link to do a strip maintenance. Cables will obviously be first off, a clean and  blow dry, then freeing the clutches so rotating the mount to get at all the casing.  I have decided not to put a humidifier in for the moment as there are so many holes in the observatory it would be a waste, I intend to buy a cover for the mount and place a heater close by to get some hot air up and around the mount.  That is it for now, I apologise if I have not replied to some people who gave me some valuable information, I felt I would be just repeating myself all the time but thank you all again, it  has been heartening, I will leave this for now and come back when I have done the RASA and then the mount, it going to be a long haul  :), take care all and clear skies.

Jim

[steppenwolf]

2 hours ago, JimT said:

it going to be a long haul  :), take care all and clear skies.

A long haul indeed but you will get there

[RobertI]

8 hours ago, JimT said:

don't have the ability to take the RASA off it

I don’t know if this is of help - a clever way of mounting and unmounting heavy scopes:

 

[JimT]

Thanks for that Robert 

[geoflewis]

20 minutes ago, RobertI said:

I don’t know if this is of help - a clever way of mounting and unmounting heavy scopes

....and I have a C14 on AP1200 mount, plus an observing chair and NEVER considered doing this. It's always beena 2 person operation for me and my wife now refuses to help, so I have to call in a neighbour...!!

Thanks Robert, a great post and video, I will definitely give this one a try

[laser_jock99]

2 hours ago, geoflewis said:

....and I have a C14 on AP1200 mount, plus an observing chair and NEVER considered doing this. It's always beena 2 person operation for me and my wife now refuses to help, so I have to call in a neighbour...!!

Thanks Robert, a great post and video, I will definitely give this one a try

Wouldn't dream of lifting my 30kg 12" Newt manually onto it's pier (over my head height). Yet I can easily mount it on my own- I simply put a pulley system into the obsy rafters.

You can see the pulley ropes on the wall behind me and the lifting sling around 'The Beast' scope in this image

[Stargazer33]

Hi Jim, I hope you are feeling better soon and can get on with sorting out your kit.

When I forgot to take my mobile out of my pocket and put my jeans through the washing machine I used the old trick of burying it in a bowl of dried rice. It worked a treat. It might help dry out some of your kit?

Good luck & I wish you all the best.

[JimT]

Ha ha, thanks Stargazer, for this lot I will need shipment of at least 20 sacks   lol, thanks.  Cold is still hanging in there, persistent [removed word].

Jim 

[newbie alert]

Great to hear you're going in some sort of direction Jim...im sure friends and family are around to help and donate airing cupboard space but if not I'm sure there's a few on here that would kindly offer..just ask..sure someone's fairly local to you..

[JOC]

I can understand you being gutted, but I do wonder what might dry out.  I assume your 11"RSA is the telescope OTA itself?  If it is built anything like my one I bet it could survive that.  I've seen mine covered in frost which has then melted and there are plenty of threads where folks have a bash at washing mirrors.  Its only metal and glass.  You might possibly have some flocking to replace, but I bet the OTA is salvagable at the very least.  Things seem bad now, but if you get a sunny day why not pop out and see if things look any different ? ☺

NB.  Oops didn't spot there were 4 pages to read (am on phone only tonight).  Still I'll let it stand the right sentiment is there if not a timely response!!

[Skipper Billy]

@JimT I am so sorry to hear of the damage to your equipment and possibly more so for the profound effect it has clearly had on you.

The only useful advice I can offer (you are too far away for me to physically help you) is to suggest that if there is the remotest chance of claiming off your insurance then photograph everything - EVERYTHING! Good, bad and ugly. Without some sort of evidence they will not entertain a claim. Also get a print out of the weather forecast for the day it happened.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[MarsG76]

How's the salvage process getting along?

 

[JimT]

20 minutes ago, MarsG76 said:

How's the salvage process getting along?

 

Dead stop at the moment, I have been flat out on either on a bed or sofa, got hit with a heavy cold which knocked the stuffing out of me and to be honest the observatory is the last thing on my mind as I cannot get out to it.  Have a deliver of material on Wed to mend the roof, no way that will be done for a week at least, on the plus side there has been no rain, wind whistling through the vent will have a beneficial effect on the interior.

Jim

[MarsG76]

33 minutes ago, JimT said:

Dead stop at the moment, I have been flat out on either on a bed or sofa, got hit with a heavy cold which knocked the stuffing out of me and to be honest the observatory is the last thing on my mind as I cannot get out to it.  Have a deliver of material on Wed to mend the roof, no way that will be done for a week at least, on the plus side there has been no rain, wind whistling through the vent will have a beneficial effect on the interior.

Jim

At least the rain is staying away....

All the best for a speedy recovery, health and astro wise... 

 

[tich]

36 minutes ago, JimT said:

Dead stop at the moment, I have been flat out on either on a bed or sofa, got hit with a heavy cold which knocked the stuffing out of me and to be honest the observatory is the last thing on my mind as I cannot get out to it.  Have a deliver of material on Wed to mend the roof, no way that will be done for a week at least, on the plus side there has been no rain, wind whistling through the vent will have a beneficial effect on the interior.

Jim

Here ya go mate, bet you're feeling better already!! ;-)

[iapa]

On 03/01/2018 at 21:51, JimT said:

I have a feeling not to be honest, I think I will have problems with the mount, will know soon enough 

Jim

Sorry to hear of your incident.

That sort of thing is very demoralising, and (unfortunately) it is easy to do 'sod it, too much damage'  at first view.

I am very pleased to see that you are positive around recovery.

FYI, my CGEM-DX mount was outside exposed to the weather over the past fortnight, including the storm we had end Jan - all is absolutely fine.

[JimT]

Just an update to all you good people, still have a chest infection but decided with the sun out and dressed well I ventured out to the observatory, a bit of WD40 helped on the locks and got in.  I plugged the normal handset in and powered up the CGE Pro, all went well, just a case of inputting the time/date to get to the nuts and bolts of moving the mount.  A bit sluggish at first but then it moved but only in one axis so was able to turn the telescope upside down and this is now draining, looking in there is not a blemish on the main mirror, I may have lost the fan at the bottom, a wait and see.  Shutting down I changed over to the StarSense handset and powered again and although it did not want to go past Align I can see it's working okay so all in all a good sign, powered down and left the telescope in a position to drain out.  The next job is to clean up the mess and put everything back in position and get the roof back to it original state with a new modification which should see it withstand winds not just rain.

I would like to thank everyone for their moral boosting posts and say it's wonderful being part of such a great group of people, thank you again and will tel you know the end results on the CGE Pro and the RASA electronics, thank you 

Jim

[MarsG76]

Excellent news Jim, soon youll be up and imaging..

[Stub Mandrel]

Hi Jim,

Only just noticed this thread. A nasty shock for you.

If it's any help, my experience is that a disaster like this can leave you flat; but if you assume all is lost the exercise of salvage and restoration can be rewarding of itself- it also lets you get things in perspective . You might find you end up with a simpler but more enjoyable to use setup.

Rain (rather than flood water) usually does little real damage as long as electricity isn't flowing through it.

[RobertI]

Excellent news, sounds very promising. 

[JimT]

Update on the CGE Pro, took the clutches off the axis NOT working and found nothing wrong when I took the cover off, dry, so booted up and ran and it, a click and slowly it started to turn the cogs and eventually ran smoothly, placed the cover back on and all is well.  So it appears that my mount is in one piece, just the 11" RASA to look at, I did have the power going into it before I realised it was waterlogged so may have burnt out the fan and cooling system, am sure that can be replaced so not too much expense there.  Whilst the sun is out I best get on with the roof and sort that out before I do anything else 

[tich]

Great stuff Jim it's sounding like you've pretty much got away with it with only some small losses in the end, still an annoyance though I'd imagine. Just don't go overdoing it with that chest infection though.