Rowan AZ75 Mount

[Alan White]

52 minutes ago, Concordia000 said:

All jokes aside, a red or grey version will be very welcome.

Another question for AZ100 owners actually: does anyone have experience using their mount with encoders but not with the Nexus DSC? I am thinking whether it would be possible to use another “hand controller” or make my own actually…

Not experience on this one, but in a conversation with Serge who makes the Nexus kit, I asked about using other units with differing encoders.
He said it depended upon the number of ticks each encoder makes and how the various hand units work.
The higher the ticks the more accurate, such as the Rowan units, which are a high tick rate.

I know others have changed from Nexus to Argo Navis as they liked the wheel selector.

I hope someone has tried options and can report from hands on experience soon.

Edited October 20, 2021 by Alan White
typos of course

[johninderby]

10 minutes ago, Alan White said:

So truly Rowan Red then ...

And you know it really is poor weather when the convesation turns to bird droppings (being polite here) 🤣

This puts me in mind of this for some strange reason. 😁

[UKDiver]

1 hour ago, Tiny Clanger said:

Isn't that what they are getting right here ?

Yes. However I read your previous post as meaning that comments from the people who had received the two prototypes were the only feedback required by the manufacturer.

[Concordia000]

43 minutes ago, Stu said:

The only thing I’ve done differently is to use a Nexus unit rather than a DSC. This just gives connectivity to a phone or tablet for SkySafari without the additional ‘standalone’ functionality of the DSC. Works very well and is significantly cheaper.

That might be the way I am going for when/if I buy an AZ75. I prefer the phone screen to the red LEDs…

[Tiny Clanger]

10 minutes ago, UKDiver said:

Yes. However I read your previous post as meaning that comments from the people who had received the two prototypes were the only feedback required by the manufacturer.

If the manufacturer had not wanted comments beyond those of the actual ,  hands on testers, I suspect they would have asked them to not post public discussions such as this .

[Dek Rowan Astro]

1 hour ago, Concordia000 said:

Another question for AZ100 owners actually: does anyone have experience using their mount with encoders but not with the Nexus DSC? I am thinking whether it would be possible to use another “hand controller” or make my own actually…

C'000

There's no reason why you can't use another handset or a home brew to give a readout of position assuming a correctly wired cable set and it can handle the pulse rate from the encoders.

ATB

Derek.

[Deadlake]

2 minutes ago, Dek Rowan Astro said:

C'000

There's no reason why you can't use another handset or a home brew to give a readout of position assuming a correctly wired cable set and it can handle the pulse rate from the encoders.

ATB

Derek.

What about instead of the serial cable, support sending the encoder position via INDI protocol over wifi or preferable bluetooth.
I suspect the cost of using some PI board to do this would be cheap and then user can just connect their phone/tablet. 

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, Concordia000 said:

That might be the way I am going for when/if I buy an AZ75. I prefer the phone screen to the red LEDs…

I find using the phone much easier and more intuitive just because it is graphical and you can see which objects are nearby/visible. The DSC does work very well and has a huge catalogue, but you need to know what you are looking for a bit more.

There’s a view that the display on the DSC can be turned down (I think) so that it does not affect your vision as much as a phone, but to be honest, you can turn phones down very low these days, or shield them with film so they are no brighter than a red light torch.

[Alan White]

The DSC can be made very dim on dsiplay and keyboard, twi seperate settings,
In fact so dim it is barely readable.

I do see the appeal of the nearby targets on a tablet or phone though, I really must give it a whirl.

[johninderby]

The brightness of  a phone or tablet is really more of a problem at a dark site I think. In most back gardens there's enough light pollution all ready. 😕

Edited October 20, 2021 by johninderby

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The brightness of  a phone or tablet is really more of a problem at a dark site I think. In most back gardens there's enough light pollution all ready. 😕

That’s my view John. Even at my new darker site, I can turn my phone down enough for it not to have any impact. Likely at a really dark site it may be more of an issue, but I used my phone at SGL10 with my push to dob and was viewing faint galaxies with no problem. Skies were Mag 21 or better as I recall.

[Deadlake]

I have a nexus DSC and a starbook 10. The star book is the best because no need for the touch screen, you can use the joystick or keys to tell the mount where to go and it has a LCD screen so you can zoom around the sky. Now Avalon have a PI based handheld device as well, which is why I think it's possible. As far as app's on phone, they are great until you have to take your gloves off for cold nights, then keys and joysticks take over.

[johninderby]

With my iPad simply using touchscreen gloves would work. 🤔

Or a trackball mouse. 🙂

Edited October 20, 2021 by johninderby

[Deadlake]

Just now, johninderby said:

With my iPad simply using touchscreen gloves would work. 🤔

I have them too, but not very reliable...

[Stu]

I use these, work fine.

https://www.astrogloves.net
 

You can actually be quite hands off with the phone, just set it up correctly then pan around with the scope using it as a digital finder. No need to touch anything really.

[UKDiver]

24 minutes ago, Tiny Clanger said:

If the manufacturer had not wanted comments beyond those of the actual ,  hands on testers, I suspect they would have asked them to not post public discussions such as this .

I can only read what I read. I am very literal, I don't read between the lines well and don't generally get inferred intentions or questions. It's the way I'm wired, but it can make for some hard conversations with those who write or speak with a meaning I do not perceive.  I'm sorry if you think I'm being argumentative. The written word and numbers are quite a problem for me. The numbers do concern me, there seems to be quite a lot of them in astronomy!

[Stu]

8 minutes ago, UKDiver said:

I can only read what I read. I am very literal, I don't read between the lines well and don't generally get inferred intentions or questions. It's the way I'm wired, but it can make for some hard conversations with those who write or speak with a meaning I do not perceive.  I'm sorry if you think I'm being argumentative. The written word and numbers are quite a problem for me. The numbers do concern me, there seems to be quite a lot of them in astronomy!

I don’t think anyone thought you were being argumentative so don’t worry.

The trouble with all this is that there are a number of back stories to what has been going on in these threads which are driving a lot of the posts. I wish I could explain them so it was clear but that’s not a good idea! 😱😱

[Dek Rowan Astro]

1 hour ago, Deadlake said:

What about instead of the serial cable, support sending the encoder position via INDI protocol over wifi or preferable bluetooth.
I suspect the cost of using some PI board to do this would be cheap and then user can just connect their phone/tablet. 

The 'standard' AZ100 doesn't have any serial or WiFi. The encoder output is TTL quadrature. The handset would need to process that using well established methods.

ATB

Derek.

[Stu]

2 hours ago, Alan White said:

I know others have changed from Nexus to Argo Navis as they liked the wheel selector.

I had an Argo Navis for a while. Somewhere on the forum is quite possibly the dullest post in SGL history with my account of using an Argo Navis. I’m sure some of our lost members may, in fact, just still be asleep on that thread.

It’s a good system but I still prefer the graphical interface of Skysafari.

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, Stu said:

I had an Argo Navis for a while. Somewhere on the forum is quite possibly the dullest post in SGL history with my account of using an Argo Navis. I’m sure some of our lost members may, in fact, just still be asleep on that thread.

It’s a good system but I still prefer the graphical interface of Skysafari.

Here you go. Read it and…. sleep 😴 

 

[RobertI]

How have @Alan White and @Stu found the mount to use when near the zenith? This can be a real pain with Alt-Az mounts as there is not much leverage in the azimuth direction (as the scope is pointing up). Would it be of benefit to have a two or three attachment points for the panning handle to overcome this? Apologies if this has already been discussed in the thread(s).

[Stu]

Just now, RobertI said:

How have @Alan White and @Stu found the mount to use when near the zenith? This can be a real pain with Alt-Az mounts as there is not much leverage in the azimuth direction (as the scope is pointing up). Would it be of benefit to have a two or three attachment points for the panning handle to overcome this? Apologies if this has already been discussed in the thread(s).

There are two threaded holes for the handle upper and lower, so there is some flexibility. I’ve not managed any observing up there because I needed a pillar to avoid clashes with the tripod. I’ve got a pillar fitted now so can give it a go next time.

[IB20]

I think it looks like an exquisitely crafted and precisely machined instrument that moves like silk. Having watched @Stu’s video of high magnification realignment I don’t think slo-mo controls (I use slo-mo controls 95% of the time!) are needed at all and if the price is as suggested I think it looks great value.

From my own personal scope usage, I don’t ever think I’d need a mount with such capacity or dual scope mounting capabilities. But if an even lighter, single scope mount with such fluid and precise motion was on the cards from Rowan, I’d be biting arms off.

[Alan White]

26 minutes ago, RobertI said:

How have @Alan White and @Stu found the mount to use when near the zenith? This can be a real pain with Alt-Az mounts as there is not much leverage in the azimuth direction (as the scope is pointing up). Would it be of benefit to have a two or three attachment points for the panning handle to overcome this? Apologies if this has already been discussed in the thread(s).

Robert, I just got on with no pan handle, but the Vixen Clamp looks like its got fixing for one, yet to come, remember this is a Prototype.
At Zenith its fine, but cannot perform magic in Dobsons Hole, a Pan Handle may be the Magic required....watch this space

[Stephenstargazer]

1 hour ago, RobertI said:

How have @Alan White and @Stu found the mount to use when near the zenith? This can be a real pain with Alt-Az mounts as there is not much leverage in the azimuth direction (as the scope is pointing up). Would it be of benefit to have a two or three attachment points for the panning handle to overcome this? Apologies if this has already been discussed in the thread(s).

I agree that near the zenith panning handles can become almost useless. When I ordered my AZ100 Derek kindly added some holes so that I  have my panning handle pointing up at 45 deg when scope is horizontal. The result is that in all sky positions I have good leverage/control in both azimuth and elevation. I also mount my handle on the side of the mount opposite the scope, which keeps it out the way except when I want it. So there is potential for flexibility with the panning handle.

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by Stephenstargazer
Better photo !