Davy upgrade

[shirva]

As stash has said ,, I've been quiet,, but he knows what I'm like lol.

Don't think I'm any different from any va,eaa astronomers,, always chasing the holy grail for doing the hobby,, I keep trying ,by adding to my kit as funds come available.

So what have I been up to

Just trying to get an all rounder set up.

Can't lie,,I do a bit of astrophotography so by latest build in progress has aspects of AP built in.

Like most who don't have an observatory the setting up can get pretty drawn out then of course mother nature plays her hand and it's time to pack up and you start cursing the day you thought this was a good idea.

So I have bought the Intel PC stick to mount on the telescope and control the hardware via WiFi from a laptop,, I'm still fumbling my way round it and adding my slant to it, to suit my needs.

Intel PC stick, mounted inside a abs project box,, holes cut in the box to allow access to the usb 2 and usb 3 ports/ power input and pc stick switch.

I cut a hole and fitted an HD cable to the project box and hot glued it in place,, this holds the PC stick solid in the box,, but to make sure I hot glued strips of leather to make sure.

I hot glued a seven port switched usb3 hub to the side of the project box,,

I glued a cigarette lighter adapter with three power sockets and two usb power sockets to the lid of the project box.

Slits were cut in the box to store the excess usb 3 cable from pc stick to usb hub and the 12v power supply to the hub..

Lots of blue lights to blank out but,, it's neat,tidy and works.

I got a 12" HDMI monitor from eBay,, this was a decent monitor and very light and skinny,, comes with HDMI and a ports.12v  from cigarette adapter.

Plugged in and run for three hours on Friday from a cheap car jump pack,, 7 amp/hr from napkins. No problems.

Software added so far.

Sharpcap, ascom platform, eqmod,eq mosaic, eq tour,, CDC,, backyard eos ,dss,astrotoaster.phd.

Will be fitted to an aluminium bar to top of scope rings on my ed80, a laser module on order from China and will be powered from the switched usb hub.

Monitor will sit on heq5 accessories tray

The ed80 will have the skywatcher focus motor refitted and connected to the he hitecastro dc controller powered from the last port on cigarette adapter, usb to seven port usb hub.

Heq5, will be controlled via skywatcher wifi via smartphone or hitecastro eq cable

 

[stash_old]

Very clear description and in pictures for the more simple minded (like me - a pic says 1000 words etc). 

Now lets have some Astro pics and some more "how it went/performs" - but looking good.

One suggestion (sorry you know me) how about getting a G/pig or hamster and getting it(treadmill wheel) to produce the power you would be very "green" then .

Nice one .