First Light Celestron 8" gps

[Martin 2]

After arriving home on Saturday night with the scope I set it up in the front room just so I could look at it.

I didnt do much else that evening then went to bed with the manual for a read.

On Sunday I thought I would check the alignment of the finder scope, from our front room you can see for about 3 miles across a valley to some hills on the other side, on top of these on the horizon is a radio mast so I set the scope up with the top of this in the eyepiece and aligned the finder to that. then thought I would have a play with the eps. Couln't believe that I could see twigs sticking out of the hedge by the radio mast.

Took the scope outside to have a play with the Gps, set it all up and switched on, the scope levelled itself and found north then took about 5mins to get its position, probably because it was 250 miles from where it was before. When it had its position it slewed to the 1st alignment star, as it was daylight I just pressed the buttons to confirm I had aligned the star, it then slewed to the next star and promptly locked up. I gave it 10 mins but nothing, so I turned it of and then back on still nothing , the handset was lit but nothing displayed on the screen so I turned it off again disconnected from the power pack and plugged into the car cigar lighter but still the same. I switched off and went for a cuppa, phoned the chap I bought it from but he was mistyfied as well. After 15 mins I tried again and bingo it fired up. Moved the scope indoors to await night time.

Sunday night came with patchy cloud, moved the scope out side and left it to cool down then went out to have a go with it. Funny how much more difficult it is when its dark, fumbling around trying to find the clutch levers, where the on off switch is, put my glasses on , take them off then where did I put them.HEHEHEHE. By the time I had sorted myself out and got the scope to get to the 1st star alignment position GUEES WHAT ......Yes, you got it in one the clouds had rolled in, kept pressing the undo button to get the scope to pick another alignment star that just might be where there was a hole in the cloud but it was to no avail, wait up in the hope it would clear but gave up in the end and went to bed.

Woke up for some reason about 3.30 in the morning and I could see through the window that it was as clear as a bell,

(s**s law I guess.

Monday. Chap who I bought the scope from phones to see if all well and says that he phoned D Hinds to see if they could identify the problem I had with the scope, they could'nt but suggested that it might be the power pack not having enough charge (have since heard from Rog who said that the power rate is critical).

Monday night comes as clear as a bell, put the scope out and let it cool down swithed on and it leveled, pointed north and slewed to the 1st star, I aligned it in the finder then had to align it in the eyepice, as I had set the finder up on sunday I expected to see the star in the er but it wasnt so I had to slew around a bit to find it, then went on to the next star, set this up in the finder but couldnt find it in the eyepiece at all, so decided to re-set the finder on a bright star and it was miles out, reset it and started the alighnment again, finished the alignment proceedure this time and picked Saturn to be the 1st object to view and GUESS WHAT... the scope locked up again, to keep it short I did the same as I mentioned above only this time after leaving the scope off for a while when I switcged back on although the handset was lit there was still no data, I just left it on (plugged ito the car) and after about 5 more mins it started working ok so I guess that if the power fades it takes a while for it to reset itself. Anyway went through all the proceedures for setting up and picked Saturn and the scope slewed around and stopped, I looked in the finder and Saturn was just in the field of view so I slewed the scope to centre it and looked in the ep and WOW o WOW there she was rings and all.

So myself and my son spent the next few hours experimenting with different eps and although the seeing was very wobbly it was simlpy outstanding.

Tonight I'm going to try to be organised ( a bit of a learning curve here) Use the car supply so I dont get anymore problems.

Have a sodium street light outside the house, havnt deciced yet whether to a get in side it and flip the breaker or have a long pole with a canvass bag atteched and just slip this over the lamp, one way or other as its a pain in the ****

Hope I havn't bored you to much

Martin2

[CELESCOPE]

Hi MARTIN nice first light review , sound like you had some fun there , but its always the same when we start with something new i find , , ok you have prob done this , but make sure the scope is lovely and level , and battery charged full , the reason i say level is , when it slews to the first alignment star ,as you say they are not always in the view finder , but not far away , so if the scope is level it means you only have to find the star by using the right alignment arrow ,it will soon come into view, if you pop it in the same location each night u will get used to where the alignment stars are, as they always then remain the same ,so yes when u have done that centre it in the main eyepiece, i trust you have figured out now about the rate key ,by the way i always use a 40 mm eyepiece to align , find that easier, then for taking the planets imaging i gradually put in a higher eyepiece and centre each time , this helps for when the barlow goes in ,

Cheers

keep at it you will soon get use to it

Rog

[Martin 2]

Thanks rog, just read your messages and have sent one to you

Martin 2

[lunator]

Martin

glad you got the scope to work.

Good review. I look forward to hearing about your next obsevation session

Cheers

Ian

[Naz]

Martin

Glad you are impressed with the new scope, if not the electrics, all will be well in the end. I always find new ( or new to you) gear misbehaves. Then find out its something simple.

LOOk forward to some observing reports.

nabban

[GordonCopestake]

Thanks for the excellent review. I've just purchased a C8 OTA so this gives me something to bounce my own thoughts off when it arives on friday (hopefully in one piece!)

[The Warthog]

I have found that I can put out a streetlamp with a keychain laser pointer, by hitting th sensor on top of the lamp with the beam from the laser. The lamp stays out for about ten minutes. Unfortunately, you have to wait until it comes back full strength before you can put it out again. Also, you have to look at the lamp while you are putting it out. I may have to come up with some kind of mount for the laser so I can just push the button without looking at the lamp, but give it a try.

Oh, if you can kill the lamp permanently, it may be a year or more before the council gets around to replacing it... Who, me?

[GordonCopestake]

If you up your megawatts you can put the lamp out for longer than 10 mins

maybe a few gigawatts are needed for what i have in mind though

[OXO]

Yeah well done Martin2 you will have more sucess next night out

[daz]

Nice report Martin, and glad things seem to be settling.

[mark RD]

I have found that I can put out a streetlamp with a keychain laser pointer, by hitting th sensor on top of the lamp with the beam from the laser. The lamp stays out for about ten minutes. Unfortunately, you have to wait until it comes back full strength before you can put it out again. Also, you have to look at the lamp while you are putting it out. I may have to come up with some kind of mount for the laser so I can just push the button without looking at the lamp, but give it a try.

Oh, if you can kill the lamp permanently, it may be a year or more before the council gets around to replacing it... Who, me?

Oh so thats what the puter outer dumbledore used in the first harry potter was really, wish I had one of those anyway :laugh:

Mark

[mark RD]

Oh sorry great reveiw Martin,

Mark

[MartinB]

Reading your review was painful Martin. All that excitement with the new scope and the electronics start going all wobbly Aggghhhh!!! Mine has had a few hiccups but have it sussed now. Have you visited the Cloudy Nights Forum. They have a forum dedicated to the NS GPS and CPC. Well worth a look. There are some good links to NS GPS dedicated websites. Answers to all the problems it's possible to have I should think.

Hope you are continuing to enjoy the scope.

Martin

[Martin 2]

Thanks for the tip Martin.

I seem to have it sussed now, the scope does not like a drop in power and plays up if it does drop, ie if the power pack supply starts falling. Running from the car it performs fine and had some good nights with it.

I find the finder very fragile, just taking off the dust caps can knock it out of alignment.

Martin 2

[MartinB]

Martin, the finder shouldn't be that unstable. Make sure all the screws are reasonably firm and then make the adjustment. If the screws are too loose you will have problems. How are you finding the goto accuracy?

Martin

[Martin 2]

Martin, Goto not to bad, puts it in the field of view rather than dead centre, but I do have difficulty judging whether the alignment stars are dead centre in the eyepiece, should get an eyepiece with a crosshair I suppose.

Martin 2

[radioactive]

great first light story martin was on the edge of my seat with it half the time the suspence was getting to me with the guess whats and wheres the finder view gone bits glad you have it a lot more sussed now I am sure you won't be able to put it down as things get more easy to task with

[tom.yates]

Nice report Martin.

[MartinB]

I got an illuminated reticle from Scope n skies 10mm but not that cheap. It is a fantastic bit of kit though and I wouldn't be without it. Fantastic with alignment and also when you come to using a Toucam.

[martin_h]

Re: the lamp post question......if its on a metal pole....kick it!! ours go out for about 15 mins before re-starting!!!!!