I have done it. Plus ? on Dew shields

[KathGarvey]

Hi Stargazers

Well I finally clicked the BUY button on the FLO website for the CPC800.

Boy did that take some doing.

I have yet to order a dew shield, Do I have to buy a Dew Heater Controller? Also which would be better, the AstroZap Dew Heater Tapes or the Astrozap Flexi-Heat Dew Shields, If I buy the latter I would not have to buy a seperate Dew Shield. Thank you for any advice given

Regards

Kath

[philsail1]

Wow an 8" f10 Schmitt Cassegrain Scope!

You should have some great viewing with that one Kath!

I'm sure we will all look forward to your review on the scope in the near future.

I won't wish you "clear night's" because it usually does the opposite!

(secretly, I think everyone will wish you clear nights!).

Regards,

philsail1

[Jeff RV]

Congratulations Kath, I'm sure your just love the views.

Jeff.

[JohnC]

I prefer to use the dew shield and seperate tapes.

I actually made a long shield from camping mats and it works a treat.

Hope that helps a little.

Enjoy your new scope.

[John]

Congratulations on ordering your new scope Kath

I used to use a heated dew strap with my Celestron C8 - I used to have it on from the start of each observing session rather than to wait until the dew made an appearance. I occasionally needed the dew cap as well, but only occasionally. I've owned 3 SCT's and dew prevention gear is essential for using them in our climate IMHO.

The other essential will be a set of "Bobs Knobs" to replace the standard collimation screws.

Hope you get some clear skies to use it under soon

John

[jcm]

Well done on your purchase - it should give you excellent views.

Dew shields are pretty much essential for SCT's , they also stop extraneous light from entering the optics.

I bought the dew shield with the inbuilt heater from FLO but you could cut costs and make your own dew shield and just buy the heater tapes. Most run of 12V so you would need some form of power supply. I also bought the control unit so I could control a number of heating tapes.

All you need now is ......... a clear night !!!

John

[jcm]

I may be completely wrong here ( and probably am ) BUT does the CPC 800 already come with a heated dew shield ???? Just thought I read this somewhere.

John

PS Done a check on the Celestron UK site - It seems the above is NOT the case.

Don't no why I thought it did

[Tiny]

Having a 8" CPC we prefer the astrozap dew shield and seperate heaters. The CPC - like other Celestron SCTs (?) needs to have the dew shield off to get at the front scope cover so the easier the shield is to remove and put back the better.

Enjoy your scope - they are rock solid and superb if a bit heavy to move around.

Are you getting Bobs knobs?

[KathGarvey]

Thanks everyone for your advice,

Tiny I went with your idea of astrozap dew shield and seperate heater.

My Scope arrived this morning, I was in shock, as I only ordered it yesterday. Great service from FLO, Thank you :cheers:

Have the Powertank charging ,but oh those awful clouds dont want to go away

Boy it is heavy, think I wll need a trolly

Regards

Kath

[scotastro]

Hope you get a clear sky soon. You are going to love using the scope. So much to see.

Mike

[Tiny]

JMI do some nice scope trollies

[BobH]

I've also just received my CPC 800 from David Hinds and also delivered the day after I ordered it.

You may not believe this but the skies were clear for me on the very first night!

It was -4 degrees though and ice was forming on the objective within an hour so I wasn't out there for very long.

Let us know how you get on with that heater & dew shield. I'm running my scope on a 7AH PowerTank - do you think it will be able to handle the scope plus the heaters?

[SteveL]

I would imagine the dew heaters plus the mount will empty the power tank in a 2-3 hours on a really cold night

[BobH]

Maybe I should have gone with the 17AH version after all

On the other hand - if it's really cold I'll probably only be outside for a couple of hours anyhow...

[SteveL]

One thing to watch out for (at least my older NS8GPS unit) was that when the powertank started getting a bit low, the GOTO on the mount decided the fastest way from one side of the sky to the other wasnt to turn around but to FLIP the OTA over backwards... thats scary to watch!!