Replacement Quark

[astro_al]

Just heard today that my replacement Quark should be with me early next week 🥳. Glad I bought from FLO 👍.

I have been missing my Ha viewing. Really looking forward to getting back into it.

[George Gearless]

Just got mine last week. Weather permitting (the forecast looks promising) I'll be testing it for the first time tomorrow. 

May I ask why you needed to replace it?

[astro_al]

1 hour ago, George Gearless said:

May I ask why you needed to replace it?

It gave the best views from cold with no power applied so I had no way of controlling the temperature to bring it on band. My expectation when I test the replacement will be for the view to improve as power is applied. Ideally I will get to a setting where beyond this the view worsens again. That way I will know I have some level of repeatable control at similar ambient temperatures.

I really enjoyed the views of prominences and spicules through the Quark. If the view had been worse with no power than at -5 then I probably would have kept it, although it is my first Ha experience so I have nothing to compare it with to say if it is good or bad. For me the fact that part of the Quark's design is to require power, but applying power to my unit made the view worse, was the reason for the return.

I now have a point of reference at least so I am looking forward to testing next week.

Hope you enjoy yours when the weather clears.

Edited June 13, 2020 by astro_al

[George Gearless]

3 minutes ago, astro_al said:

It gave the best views from cold with no power applied so I had no way of controlling the temperature to bring it on band. My expectation when I test the replacement will be for the view to improve as power is applied. Ideally I will get to a setting where beyond this the view worsens again. That way I will know I have some level of repeatable control at similar ambient temperatures.

I really enjoyed the views of prominences and spicules through the Quark. If the view had been worse with no power than at -5 then I probably would have kept it, although it is my first Ha experience so I have nothing to compare it with to say if it is good or bad. For me the fact that part of the Quark's design is to require power, but applying power to my unit made the view worse, was the reason for the return.

I now have a point of reference at least so I am looking forward to testing next week.

Hope you enjoy yours when the weather clears.

Having a frame of reference is also going to be my problem. 

I remember the first time I looked through a proper astronomical telescope (many many years ago), how disappointed I was of the image of Saturn. I was expecting the full blown digitaly enhance pictures I was acustomed to see in the astronomy books. But I've learned my lesson. I'm very much aware that I should not expect to see the beautiful orange stacked pictures of prominences and sunspots that usualy pop up when you do a search for 'Quark/sun' on Astrobin or similar sites. But even so, it's going to be a problem for me to distinguish a good Quark from a bad one. So I've put my trust in my dealer to test it properly before sending it off to me. They have assured me that they've tested it by actualy plugging it in and viewed the sun through a telescope. It got the thumbs up and now the rest is up to me.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Steve Clay]

Fingers crossed for you. Keep us updated. 

Steve

[astro_al]

3 hours ago, George Gearless said:

So I've put my trust in my dealer to test it properly before sending it off to me. They have assured me that they've tested it by actualy plugging it in and viewed the sun through a telescope. It got the thumbs up and now the rest is up to me.

That's reassuring. Sounds like a good company to deal with.

Hopefully I will also get a keeper. If I get one with no obvious aberrations that has a setting under power that provides the best view for that unit, then I will be happy. If I then took a look through Steve's Quark and his gives better views than mine then I would be jealous but I would accept it. Daystar are clear that there is variation in bandwidths between units. My aim is not to get the best Quark ever (I don't have the experience to do that even if I wanted to), just one that works as designed.

Anyway, problems happen. It is how problems are dealt with that is important and I have no complaints so far. I am looking forward to having a Quark again - and that says a lot. Hopefully I will feel the same at the end of next week  

As a visual planetary observer I also understand how far apart an image of an object and the in-person experience can be. I will say though that Ha did surprise me, at least the proms and the spicules at the edge. To me they really do look like what you see in the images. Not the surface details though (of which I am yet to see a great deal).

[George Gearless]

On 13/06/2020 at 17:12, astro_al said:

That's reassuring. Sounds like a good company to deal with.

Hopefully I will also get a keeper. If I get one with no obvious aberrations that has a setting under power that provides the best view for that unit, then I will be happy. If I then took a look through Steve's Quark and his gives better views than mine then I would be jealous but I would accept it. Daystar are clear that there is variation in bandwidths between units. My aim is not to get the best Quark ever (I don't have the experience to do that even if I wanted to), just one that works as designed.

Anyway, problems happen. It is how problems are dealt with that is important and I have no complaints so far. I am looking forward to having a Quark again - and that says a lot. Hopefully I will feel the same at the end of next week  

As a visual planetary observer I also understand how far apart an image of an object and the in-person experience can be. I will say though that Ha did surprise me, at least the proms and the spicules at the edge. To me they really do look like what you see in the images. Not the surface details though (of which I am yet to see a great deal).

Disclaimer: I am typing this while doing a happy dance.

Oh.....my.......god!!

I set up my mount and Skywatcher APO 80mm and tested with my old front sunfilter to begin with. You know, just to make the image clear in my mind. Everything looked normal and the usual bland white disc of nothingness glared back at me dead in the center. Then I put in the Quark. It was AMAZING!!!

I had invited my dad for this virgin voyage. And after each of us had a quick peek at the dark-red on black image, we spent the rest of the afternoon equally observing and equally fighting over time at the telescope. I started out with the setting in the middle and found several clear proms and spiculae all around the disc on my/our first try. Absolutely fantastic. I did try and turn it down (from middle position), but seemingly without success. It was very hot and the sun (obviously) was baking the unit. So I never got a green light after turning the knob down. So I think I'll design a sun shield of sorts, so the unit doesn't get direct sunlight.

Anyway, I have a lot of playing and fooling around to do this summer to make a proper assesment. But so far my decision to buy the Quark instead of upgrading my EQM-35 Pro mount to an EQ6, seems to be the right one. I am so so so excited about this! *does another happy dance*

Hope you get yours soon.

[Steve Clay]

2 hours ago, George Gearless said:

Disclaimer: I am typing this while doing a happy dance.

Oh.....my.......god!!

I set up my mount and Skywatcher APO 80mm and tested with my old front sunfilter to begin with. You know, just to make the image clear in my mind. Everything looked normal and the usual bland white disc of nothingness glared back at me dead in the center. Then I put in the Quark. It was AMAZING!!!

I had invited my dad for this virgin voyage. And after each of us had a quick peek at the dark-red on black image, we spent the rest of the afternoon equally observing and equally fighting over time at the telescope. I started out with the setting in the middle and found several clear proms and spiculae all around the disc on my/our first try. Absolutely fantastic. I did try and turn it down (from middle position), but seemingly without success. It was very hot and the sun (obviously) was baking the unit. So I never got a green light after turning the knob down. So I think I'll design a sun shield of sorts, so the unit doesn't get direct sunlight.

Anyway, I have a lot of playing and fooling around to do this summer to make a proper assesment. But so far my decision to buy the Quark instead of upgrading my EQM-35 Pro mount to an EQ6, seems to be the right one. I am so so so excited about this! *does another happy dance*

Hope you get yours soon.

I too had issues with not getting the green light sometimes after tuning. I swapped out my battery battery pack for the mains lead and it was fine. I don't think the USB port on the power pack was delivering enough power.  I've no ordered a proper celestron LIFO power pack for portability. How well does your mount track. i'm using the solar quest mount with an ED 80 and it tracks for hours well all day in fact. Although not strictly necessary I have a Baader 35nm filter in front of the diagonal and nothing even gets slightly warm.

Steve

Edited June 16, 2020 by Steve Clay
typo

[xtreemchaos]

yes the power of the Quark is truly wonderfull, im into 4th year with mine and it never stops amazing me. well done. charl.

[Davey-T]

Worth getting a right angle USB plug / cable and strapping it to the Quark with Velcro ties to save strain on the flimsy socket.

Dave

[George Gearless]

28 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

I too had issues with not getting the green light sometimes after tuning. I swapped out my battery battery pack for the mains lead and it was fine. I don't think the USB port on the power pack was delivering enough power.  I've no ordered a proper celestron LIFO power pack for portability. How well does your mount track. i'm using the solar quest mount with an ED 80 and it tracks for hours well all day in fact. Although not strictly necessary I have a Baader 35nm filter in front of the diagonal and nothing even gets slightly warm.

Steve

I didn't use a powerpack. I used the mains.

As it happens, initialy I got no light at all. This was due to a fautly USB converter. Well, it wasn't precisely the converter, but the clip-on converter that corresponds my countrys outlet. It wasn't making proper contact. No biggie. I have tons of those lying around and soon found a replacement. 

I set up quick and dirty which means I oriented the mount at approximate north and simply set it running. Even with this clumsy setup, the tracking was remarkably on target. But I think I might just have been lucky.

I use a IR/UV cutoff filter before the diagonal (not required for my aperture but recommended by virtualy all suppliers as well as Daystar themselves). But I'd still advise caution. Because being the moron I am, I didn't remove the black protection cap from the Quark before inserting it. Took about 6 second for it to burn through it and clear smoke could be seen emanating from the diagonal. I tell you, it took a while before my heart was back to normal operation *phew*. The smoke particles from the burnt plastic was a worry. But after close inspection the Quark doesn't seem worse for ware. Besides, it works perfectly. Now without the protection cap  :).

If the noon sun is burning directly on it, I can't help but think that this influences heats ability to dissipate from the Quark. I acknowledge I may just have been too impatient for the light to go green since it takes longer to cool the unit down than it does to heat it up. I'm just thinking that the burning sun on the unit is not helping in this matter.

[George Gearless]

15 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Worth getting a right angle USB plug / cable and strapping it to the Quark with Velcro ties to save strain on the flimsy socket.

Dave

 

Brilliant tip. Thanks 👍.

[Steve Clay]

Dave 

Can you recommend which plug to get please.

Steve

[Davey-T]

24 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

Dave 

Can you recommend which plug to get please.

Steve

https://www.startech.com/uk/Cables/USB-2.0/Micro/2m-Micro-USB-Cable-A-to-Up-Angle-Micro-B~USBAUB2MU

Dave

[astro_al]

1 hour ago, George Gearless said:

Because being the moron I am, I didn't remove the black protection cap from the Quark before inserting it. Took about 6 second for it to burn through it and clear smoke could be seen emanating from the diagonal. I tell you, it took a while before my heart was back to normal operation *phew*. The smoke particles from the burnt plastic was a worry. But after close inspection the Quark doesn't seem worse for ware. Besides, it works perfectly. Now without the protection cap  :).

I know you are not the first to do this 😀 I swapped the end cap for a translucent one I had lying around because I found the original one was too tight a fit. One day I just couldn't get the sun in focus.... The penny eventually dropped. Surprisingly when I took the Quark out the end cap wasn't even hot, never mind melted. Maybe a combination of it being translucent and that there was a 35nm Ha filter in the nose of the diagonal. 

Anyway, glad to hear you are enjoying it 👍

I just got notified from FLO that my replacement Quark should be here tomorrow.

[astro_al]

My replacement Quark arrived today but no chance of any meaningful testing with the thunder, lightning and rain. I did power it up to check the light went green, which it did - so that's something. Also I decided to remove the 2" skirt and connect directly to my diagonal rather than using the 2" clicklock. Saves some weight.

I purchased a 2" Feathertouch focuser from another forum member and the adapter to connect it to the FC-76D should arrive tomorrow. Amazingly, having resigned myself to buying and waiting for a new adapter two came up for sale on UKABS. That never happens 😀

With the FT in place I will need to add a longer spacer before the diagonal used for the Quark, but on the plus side the additional back focus with the FT in place will help with the Herschel Wedge and binoviewer combination.

Hopefully the weather will improve by the weekend.

Edited June 17, 2020 by astro_al

[Steve Clay]

Which clicklock it that on the quark?

Cheers

Steve 

[Davey-T]

29 minutes ago, Steve Clay said:

Which clicklock it that on the quark?

Cheers

Steve 

Got this on mine.

Dave

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-adapter-for-daystar-quark-to-t2.html

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/baader-click-lock-125-inch-eyepiece-adapter-with-t-2-thread.html

[Steve Clay]

Thanks Dave, 

Will get those. Having the bit of micro focus will be a bonus too.

Steve

[astro_al]

2 hours ago, Steve Clay said:

Which clicklock it that on the quark?

There isn't one in that picture. Originally there was a 2" clicklock that I attached to the diagonal with a M48 to T2 adapter as below.

I decided to connect that adapter directly to the Quark instead of the 2" skirt and then attached a 40mm T2 extension tube to accommodate the length of the Quark. 

[astro_al]

Just grabbed 10 minutes with the new Quark. Windy and cloudy, but there was enough of a break to test even though it was through thin cloud at best.

Firstly, no sign of proms or any sort of detail with no power 👍. Secondly, as power was applied I could see the view improve. Wow! I could easily see surface detail even before the light went green 👍👍. Filaments popped out, the surface was a mass of texture - and the passing cloud seemed to boost the contrast. Totally different from the previous Quark where there was only ever a hint of surface detail.

Conditions weren't clear enough to properly view any proms. I could see them but they weren't bright, I would say due to the clouds. Anyway, so far so good. I haven't even experimented with the dial so it's still on -1 which was the setting out of the box. It looks like it may clear up a bit later so fingers crossed I will get a proper look - although it has just started to rain again.

[Steve Clay]

35 minutes ago, astro_al said:

Just grabbed 10 minutes with the new Quark. Windy and cloudy, but there was enough of a break to test even though it was through thin cloud at best.

Firstly, no sign of proms or any sort of detail with no power 👍. Secondly, as power was applied I could see the view improve. Wow! I could easily see surface detail even before the light went green 👍👍. Filaments popped out, the surface was a mass of texture - and the passing cloud seemed to boost the contrast. Totally different from the previous Quark where there was only ever a hint of surface detail.

Conditions weren't clear enough to properly view any proms. I could see them but they weren't bright, I would say due to the clouds. Anyway, so far so good. I haven't even experimented with the dial so it's still on -1 which was the setting out of the box. It looks like it may clear up a bit later so fingers crossed I will get a proper look - although it has just started to rain again.

Yippee, good news.

[Davey-T]

Great news.

I find it depressing that after all these years of production and adverse publicity Daystar still can't be bothered to test every Quark before despatching them, they sent me one that the LED never turned green so obviously it hadn't even been plugged in and turned on let alone tested properly.

Dave

Edited June 18, 2020 by Davey-T

[Highburymark]

47 minutes ago, Davey-T said:

Great news.

I find it depressing that after all these years of production and adverse publicity Daystar still can't be bothered to test every Quark before despatching them, they sent me one that the LED never turned green so obviously it hadn't even been plugged in and turned on let alone tested properly.

Dave

What’s your current Quark situation Dave?  I’m keeping mine because proms are excellent at high mags, not so surface detail unfortunately. 
Great to hear that other posters in this chain are happy with views

[Davey-T]

1 minute ago, Highburymark said:

What’s your current Quark situation Dave?  I’m keeping mine because proms are excellent at high mags, not so surface detail unfortunately. 
Great to hear that other posters in this chain are happy with views

Using second hand one that I purchased to keep me going, got to send the last replacement one back to Daystar when the current situation sorts itself out, the one they supplied before that one sounds like yours, nice proms no surface detail, it actually had no lettering on it to state which it was unlike previous ones that had Chromosphere printed on the end, I've an idea it may have been a prom' version as it did the best proms of the five I've tried.

Doesn't say much for Daystar QC that they could send it out like it but I get the impression that the Daystar QC department is the end user 😥

Dave