Laptop Free Zone. ? Possible ?

[Coriorda]

Hi Everyone

I am falling down the rabbit hole quite rapidly and I am starting to think about automating my polar alignment and also perhaps guiding. My knees are getting beyond the point where they can cope with kneeling on hard concrete for what seems like an age while staring up at a ridiculous angle to find Polaris. I guess the simple answer is computer control but id rather not drag a laptop out to to my observing site and stare at a screen all night and handle yet more cables. Are there any credible mobile / wireless solutions that I could consider to help with PA and perhaps in the future guiding / controlling the mount. If anyone has experience of this sort of control level,  without a laptop I’d be more than happy to learn from you. 
Thank you in advance 

 

Edited February 13, 2021 by Coriorda

[Goldenmole]

https://www.widescreen-centre.co.uk/skyfi-iii-wireless-telescope-control-system.html

This looks cool, but damn is it overpriced. There may be remote controls, but i am not aware of any for your particular scopes. However, i am new, so take what i say with a pinch of salt.

Edited February 13, 2021 by Goldenmole

[Spikey]

Have a look at polemaster, no more neck craning.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/qhy-polemaster/qhy-polemaster-with-adapter-for-heq5-sirius-eq-g-eqm-35-mounts.html

[Alien 13]

For polar alignment you could go this route...

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/adapters/astro-essentials-right-angled-eyepiece-for-polar-scopes.html

Alan

[Coriorda]

8 minutes ago, Spikey said:

Have a look at polemaster, no more neck craning.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/qhy-polemaster/qhy-polemaster-with-adapter-for-heq5-sirius-eq-g-eqm-35-mounts.html

Thanks, I’ve wondered about this, but don’t they need to be plugged into a laptop also ?

[Coriorda]

Would Asiair or eagle core be worth the investment, expensive for PA but some future proof features? 

[dobblob]

I am a laptop free and neck strain free imager. As follows my setup:

1) AVX mount.  Alignment using the 4 star method followed by the mount align ( Set ALT and AZ) routines.  Works every time. No straining to look through a polar scope. Just perform a decent initial mount align using an inclinometer and knowing true north. Powered from a 12v battery.

2) DSLR with intervalometer. Images retrieved from camera indoors at end of session or from SD card. Also fitted with a dummy battery with 12 vdc battery supply for all night hassle free shooting. My scope is 600 mm and I have never seen any focus shift so no worries about auto focusers.

3) Stand alone guider. I use a Celestron NexGuide that connects directly to the mount ST 4 port. 6 vdc supply via a golf cart battery (or was it a motorbike?)The NexGuide is now obsolete and has been replaced by the SynGuider http://skywatcher.com/product/synguider/. It looks the same and is probably a clone.

I love my NexGuide. Easy to use and has never failed me. If it ever does die I will certainly jump for the SynGuider.

 

Easy peasy alignment. All batteries contained in a handy totable box. No cables running outside to scope. It's the sort of setup I leave to do it's own thing for hours unattended and acheive +- 1 arc sec guiding. Not a laptop in sight!!!! No cricked neck!!!

One slight function that I do miss is dithering which is not possible (automatically) but I do manage it, crudely, manually. I believe that other stand alone guiders do offer dithering e.g. Lacerta Mgen 2 but that much more expensive.

Happy imaging 🙂

 

[Coriorda]

Thank you so much for your considered and thoughtful response, there is so much in there I’m not even aware of. So lots of research for me to do now. 
this was a great help thank you  😀

[Spikey]

15 hours ago, Coriorda said:

Thanks, I’ve wondered about this, but don’t they need to be plugged into a laptop also ?

Unfortunately yes for this particular solution you do need some local computing power.

[MKHACHFE]

I don’t have a solution with regards to polar aligning, but as for not using a laptop, I use an app called camera connect and control that uses the cameras WiFi. I stupidly bought a dslr without an inbuilt intervalometer and this app works a treat. 
If I have my setup at the far end of the garden, then I just keep the phone near it. 
 

cheers