CEM 60 and mount

[alan potts]

Well I have taken delivery of a CEM 60 and the mid priced mount which I am very impressed with. Of course I have not used any of it yet but the tripod is a good as any I have ever seen, really stable and solid. The mount too is a cut above the quality of my AZ EQ 6, very smooth and so light. Difficult to believe it will take 27kg plus counterweights, which could easily be another 19kg. Mine is sitting here in the basement with a Borg 77EDll on which weighs all of 2kg I guess.

Lets hope when I move it out into the observatory it performs as well as the claims.

FLO only shipped this Monday night and I had it at 12 today here in Bulgaria, sadly being out here I did over look the Lynx computer control cable which I would very like, one big downside of living abroad with no dealers here, still keeps the couriers in business. Talking od which the cost of FLO shipping 55kg in 5 packages was 55 quid I think, the cost of shipping a Televue zoom from here to Finland 37.50, weighing in at 300g I would love to hear an explanation of that costing.

Lunchtime, clouds were on the mountains to the south, looking friendly, they have come to see me.

Alan

[WanderingEye]

34 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Well I have taken delivery of a CEM 60 and the mid priced mount which I am very impressed with. Of course I have not used any of it yet but the tripod is a good as any I have ever seen, really stable and solid. The mount too is a cut above the quality of my AZ EQ 6, very smooth and so light. Difficult to believe it will take 27kg plus counterweights, which could easily be another 19kg. Mine is sitting here in the basement with a Borg 77EDll on which weighs all of 2kg I guess.

Lets hope when I move it out into the observatory it performs as well as the claims.

FLO only shipped this Monday night and I had it at 12 today here in Bulgaria, sadly being out here I did over look the Lynx computer control cable which I would very like, one big downside of living abroad with no dealers here, still keeps the couriers in business. Talking od which the cost of FLO shipping 55kg in 5 packages was 55 quid I think, the cost of shipping a Televue zoom from here to Finland 37.50, weighing in at 300g I would love to hear an explanation of that costing.

Lunchtime, clouds were on the mountains to the south, looking friendly, they have come to see me.

Alan

I was looking at getting one of these, until I read on the mount listing at FLO that although the payload is 27kg, it says for Astrophotography that should be reduced by a 1/3 so that means only 18kg which is less than the EQ6... so I was confused by this..any ideas why this is..?.

[Adreneline]

45 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Lets hope when I move it out into the observatory it performs as well as the claims.

Pleased to hear you have your iOptron mount. I really hope it works out well for you. I have been delighted with my CEM25-EC so far. Tracking is amazing and with my modest weight equipment experience so far seems to indicate that for up to 300s exposures with my ASI1600 I do not need to guide.

The hand controller is very nice to use as well - very intuitive - and in the absence (short-term) of the Lynx cable you could probably get straight into imaging just using the controller alone.

Good luck!

Adrian

P.S. Don't wish to dampen anything but I found my Lynx cable wouldn't work ( I sent it back to FLO in the end) so I bought one of these and used it with the iOptron supplied RS232 lead; it worked straight away and has been faultless so far when used with CdC and iOptron Commander.

[FLO]

10 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

P.S. Don't wish to dampen anything but I found my Lynx cable wouldn't work ( I sent it back to FLO in the end) so I bought one of these and used it with the iOptron supplied RS232 lead; it worked straight away and has been faultless so far when used with CdC and iOptron Commander.

We found the fault on this one, it was an isolated incident which we are confident has been resolved. As you had already found a replacement we refunded you but the rest of the batch of these works great.

[Adreneline]

3 minutes ago, FLO said:

We found the fault on this one, it was an isolated incident which we are confident has been resolved. As you had already found a replacement we refunded you but the rest of the batch of these works great.

Apologies - I should have added the fact that FLO provided excellent service as usual in accepting the return and providing a full refund. Sorry I omitted to do that. Nevertheless it is interesting to note there is a viable alternative which utilises the included cable.

Adrian

[alan potts]

46 minutes ago, Adreneline said:

Pleased to hear you have your iOptron mount. I really hope it works out well for you. I have been delighted with my CEM25-EC so far. Tracking is amazing and with my modest weight equipment experience so far seems to indicate that for up to 300s exposures with my ASI1600 I do not need to guide.

The hand controller is very nice to use as well - very intuitive - and in the absence (short-term) of the Lynx cable you could probably get straight into imaging just using the controller alone.

Good luck!

Adrian

P.S. Don't wish to dampen anything but I found my Lynx cable wouldn't work ( I sent it back to FLO in the end) so I bought one of these and used it with the iOptron supplied RS232 lead; it worked straight away and has been faultless so far when used with CdC and iOptron Commander.

I have the lynx cable for the AZ EQ 6 and that stopped working, everyone on site chipped in with ideas to no avail, Grant scratched his hear and also came up with nothing. Turned out it's common fault here caused by the electric system. The daft thing was it wouldn't guide or operate manually through the PHD controls but worked perfectly using the exact same wires in the cable with Eqmod, nothing wrong with the EQdir but FLO sent me another, Cable failure King am I.

Alan

[alan potts]

1 hour ago, WanderingEye said:

I was looking at getting one of these, until I read on the mount listing at FLO that although the payload is 27kg, it says for Astrophotography that should be reduced by a 1/3 so that means only 18kg which is less than the EQ6... so I was confused by this..any ideas why this is..?.

I have a AZ EQ 6 and that is rated at the same as the CEM60, I don't believe the SW would perform so well with 18 kg on board for Astro Photgraphy, I think so much of it is the type of scope, if it's a long scope the max weight may well be 13-14kgs or leas.

Alan

[Rainer]

3 hours ago, alan potts said:

the cost of shipping a Televue zoom from here to Finland 37.50, weighing in at 300g I would love to hear an explanation of that costing.

Hi Alan,

Thc ourier have a way to calculate wither by weght or volume. There is a Volume/Weight factor . If the weight is bigger then the volume then they charge by weight and if the volume is bigger then the weight they charge by volume.

[alan potts]

9 hours ago, Rainer said:

Hi Alan,

Thc ourier have a way to calculate wither by weght or volume. There is a Volume/Weight factor . If the weight is bigger then the volume then they charge by weight and if the volume is bigger then the weight they charge by volume.

They need to be charged with electricity for tricks like that Rainer.

Alan

[stash_old]

Is it the "high precision ec " or the "normal" model Alan.  I do like the inbuilt power outlets!

[alan potts]

2 hours ago, stash_old said:

Is it the "high precision ec " or the "normal" model Alan.  I do like the inbuilt power outlets!

Just the basic one which I also think can achieve high percision, I am sure it is good enough for me. One thing I do seem to have covered is guiding, only took a year, the AZ EQ 6 is performing very well, seems a shame to move it really. I have been hacing a play at removing the backlash and generally tightening things up on it, could maybe use some grease on the worms, but I have no idea where to get it.

Alan

[Rainer]

12 hours ago, alan potts said:

They need to be charged with electricity for tricks like that Rainer.

Alan

Hi Alan,

Just hink about it as the Payload of a carrier is fixed. So would you carry Polystyrene for the same price as Steel ? Volume against weight ...

Does it no bother you when you transport a tree in your car or your mount that space is missing or left ?

🤣

 

No, I do not have a transportation company 🤔

Edited September 28, 2019 by Rainer

[stash_old]

Be interested to see how you get on with.  I presume you are going to Ascom it and run from PC not the HSet. May be looking to upgrade my AZEQ6 late next year if things go well - ouch thats a another Radley Handbag for you know who LOL.  Dont know how the "Z" drive of the CEM will perform but you will of course give us all plenty on updates. Good Luck with your new "toy" 🙂

[alan potts]

1 hour ago, stash_old said:

Be interested to see how you get on with.  I presume you are going to Ascom it and run from PC not the HSet. May be looking to upgrade my AZEQ6 late next year if things go well - ouch thats a another Radley Handbag for you know who LOL.  Dont know how the "Z" drive of the CEM will perform but you will of course give us all plenty on updates. Good Luck with your new "toy" 🙂

Ha ha I bought my wife one of though in London last year, she frightened to use it. Yes I will run it from a laptop I have a few of those, forgot the cable though and I don't have a usb to RS232, though I do have anold Dell model from 7 years ago with RS 232 port but it is running on Win XP, maybe get my nate to perform some magic. Errr Stash old, I dodn't give updates I just have problems that people like you help me out of, pointing now on the AZEQ6 is absolutely spot on, I don't need pointcraft.

Alan

[stash_old]

16 hours ago, alan potts said:

usb to RS232

Use a "real" FDTI (about £15) USB - RS232 - work every time on Windows/Linux/Mac - and its the one Cem makers recommend in the manual.

 

[alan potts]

1 minute ago, stash_old said:

Use a "real" FDTI (about £15) USB - RS232 - work every time on Windows/Linux/Mac - and its the one Cem makers recommend in the manual.

 

I forgot to order it and sadly the corner shop out here has sold out, one on the way soon Sir.

Alan