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Skywatcher AZ GTI mount owners thread


AstroNebulee

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Not strictly related to the AZ Gti I know, however a lot of you use the ASI Air so thought I’d ask here rather than start a fresh thread somewhere.

I have 2 dew heaters - one for the main scope the other for the guide scope - which have USB connections for power.  At present I plug them directly into handy USB ports on my electric extension cable.  What I’d like to do is connect them to the ASI Air Pro via 2 of the 2.1mm power output ports to help my cable management.  I’m also trying to get rid of that extension cable as it’s exposed to the elements.  I found these adapters online in the Raspberry PI shop (there are similar things on Amazon too) which are female usb to 2.1mm jack adapters, and wondered if they might be any good or if anyone could suggest alternatives (short of buying new dew heater straps with sensible connections).  

They’re only a couple of quid each so might try them out anyway but figured I’d ask here first.

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27 minutes ago, herne said:

Not strictly related to the AZ Gti I know, however a lot of you use the ASI Air so thought I’d ask here rather than start a fresh thread somewhere.

I have 2 dew heaters - one for the main scope the other for the guide scope - which have USB connections for power.  At present I plug them directly into handy USB ports on my electric extension cable.  What I’d like to do is connect them to the ASI Air Pro via 2 of the 2.1mm power output ports to help my cable management.  I’m also trying to get rid of that extension cable as it’s exposed to the elements.  I found these adapters online in the Raspberry PI shop (there are similar things on Amazon too) which are female usb to 2.1mm jack adapters, and wondered if they might be any good or if anyone could suggest alternatives (short of buying new dew heater straps with sensible connections).  

They’re only a couple of quid each so might try them out anyway but figured I’d ask here first.

@LaurenceTmaybe able to help you here as he posted a similar type of thread here

I just use a USB Hub strapped to the leg of my tripod and stick a black recycling box over the mains socket. It depends how much the dew heaters, will draw from the AAP. I'm sure I've heard some users report cameras disconnecting due to lack of power.

Cheers 

Lee 

 

 

16517692078296674901250222491972.jpg

Edited by AstroNebulee
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55 minutes ago, herne said:

Not strictly related to the AZ Gti I know, however a lot of you use the ASI Air so thought I’d ask here rather than start a fresh thread somewhere.

I have 2 dew heaters - one for the main scope the other for the guide scope - which have USB connections for power.  At present I plug them directly into handy USB ports on my electric extension cable.  What I’d like to do is connect them to the ASI Air Pro via 2 of the 2.1mm power output ports to help my cable management.  I’m also trying to get rid of that extension cable as it’s exposed to the elements.  I found these adapters online in the Raspberry PI shop (there are similar things on Amazon too) which are female usb to 2.1mm jack adapters, and wondered if they might be any good or if anyone could suggest alternatives (short of buying new dew heater straps with sensible connections).  

They’re only a couple of quid each so might try them out anyway but figured I’d ask here first.

I bought 12v Lynx Astro Dew heaters which come fitted with 2.1 plugs and plug straight into the ASIAIR. The leads were much too long for me as my ASIAIR is mounted on the scope so i shortened the leads and re-soldered the plugs on.

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There are some interesting points raised here and I'd like to develop them but I've got a baby granddaughter here who discovered walking yesterday and is intent on self destruction right now.

The stand out points for me are the power draw on the Asiair from the dew heaters and the regulation of that power. I did see some stuff yesterday that concerned problems experienced with using the Asiair to regulate power.

I'll put my mind to this when I get home and have a drink inside me 😆

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I have a query regarding the need for dew heater. My Evoguide has a built in dew shield of around 40cm. I have a dew shield, previously used on a 50mm spotting scope but I have now decided to use as a dew shield fopr the evoguide.

It is made of 4mm foam and adds a further 4 inchs to the dew shield. It also makes a very useful light shroud too. My version is similar to these: Astrozap Flexible Dew Shield | First Light Optics

Now my sessions are normally up to around 3 hours.

Does anybody else do without a dew tape and instead just use a shield?

 

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A lot of refractors have the shield built into the front of the scope, it won't stop cold humid air from attaching itself to the lens. I prefer not to use them but if the dew point is high it's necessary.

Regarding power draw, my two dew straps drain half the life out of the 20k mAh usb bank I use during a 4-5 hour stint. I think that's a lot of power considering how many times I can charge my mobile off that bank. The bank is a few years old but its hardly been through a lot so I think it's still got good batteries inside.

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Power draw’s an interesting point.  At present I can happily run the AZ GTi and camera from the AAP.  Trying to plug dew heaters in as well feels too much, so would need their own supply.  Alternatively I could power the mount direct to power supply and plug camera + heaters into the AAP.  I‘ve seen that done.

So it’s either try out those those little adapters I linked above to power the dew heaters via the AAP, powering the mount separately; or get a USB hub to power the heaters direct with the mount running off the AAP.  Bearing in mind ZWO themselves don’t recommend powering mounts via the AAP then option 1 is probably the one to try out.

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5 minutes ago, herne said:

So it’s either try out those those little adapters I linked above to power the dew heaters via the AAP, powering the mount separately; or get a USB hub to power the heaters direct with the mount running off the AAP.  Bearing in mind ZWO themselves don’t recommend powering mounts via the AAP then option 1 is probably the one to try out.

I power my az gti, 294mc pro from the AAP with no issues. As I said my 2 dew heaters are powered by a seperate mains USB Hub. 

If I were to have a bigger mount I wouldn't power it via the AAP but with its own supply. But no issues powering the az gti 👍

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2 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

I power my az gti, 294mc pro from the AAP with no issues. As I said my 2 dew heaters are powered by a seperate mains USB Hub. 

If I were to have a bigger mount I wouldn't power it via the AAP but with its own supply. But no issues powering the az gti 👍

Oh yeh me neither, just looking at options 👍.

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9 minutes ago, herne said:

The postman delivered my new toy this morning.  A lovely clear night last night with rain forecast for tonight.  Typical 😅.

IMG_3455.JPG

Niceeee. 😊 Your going to have fun with that when the skies clear again. Will look forward to your reports on your experiences 👍

At least with the cloudy skies you can start building your darks library. 

 

Edited by AstroNebulee
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22 minutes ago, AstroNebulee said:

At least with the cloudy skies you can start building your darks library. 

Yup 👍.

And trying to figure out my back focus to the field flattener.  Oh and how to actually use it of course 😂.  All part of the fun.

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12 minutes ago, herne said:

Yup 👍.

And trying to figure out my back focus to the field flattener.  Oh and how to actually use it of course 😂.  All part of the fun.

Excellent choice, I have one of those. What FF are you using?

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18 hours ago, herne said:

Power draw’s an interesting point.  At present I can happily run the AZ GTi and camera from the AAP.  Trying to plug dew heaters in as well feels too much, so would need their own supply.  Alternatively I could power the mount direct to power supply and plug camera + heaters into the AAP.  I‘ve seen that done.

So it’s either try out those those little adapters I linked above to power the dew heaters via the AAP, powering the mount separately; or get a USB hub to power the heaters direct with the mount running off the AAP.  Bearing in mind ZWO themselves don’t recommend powering mounts via the AAP then option 1 is probably the one to try out.

I'm going to wait until I get my dew heaters from dewcontrol.com before I make an assessment. People seem to talk about the need to control the power supply to the dew heaters but I'm not sure I understand why, if there's not enough power they won't work to keep off dew and they can't draw too much power AFAIK. If I control the power to the heaters from the AAP how do I know how much power to give them, will it make any difference?

I must admit I've still got the hots for a Pegasus Powerbox Micro if only because it has an environmental control that will actually cut off power to the heaters if not required which could be an advantage. Will making the AAP power (too) many devices impact on it's performance in terms of guiding or dithering. It does get pretty hot and in my many years of PC building it was always stressed that excessive heat affected performance and longevity of components.

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All connected up and working.  At least it did once I realised (30 mins of scratching my head later) I plugged the OSC into one of the AAP power output ports I’d previously turned off…🤣

I also had to slightly rejig the position of the AAP down the dovetail (so nearer the AZ GTi) in order to use the shorter cables supplied, otherwise I’d be dealing with long trailing cables again.  The AAP will now touch the mount if rotated far enough, but it’s way past 90 degrees before that happens so should be fine with meridian flips.

Lovely sunny day here, rain forecast for tonight.  Hey ho.

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32 minutes ago, herne said:

All connected up and working.  At least it did once I realised (30 mins of scratching my head later) I plugged the OSC into one of the AAP power output ports I’d previously turned off…🤣

I also had to slightly rejig the position of the AAP down the dovetail (so nearer the AZ GTi) in order to use the shorter cables supplied, otherwise I’d be dealing with long trailing cables again.  The AAP will now touch the mount if rotated far enough, but it’s way past 90 degrees before that happens so should be fine with meridian flips.

Lovely sunny day here, rain forecast for tonight.  Hey ho.

Pics please......

Edit: In my ignorance about meridian flips I thought that the movement of the declination axis had to be 360 degrees😳 but your comment about the 90 degrees of rotation has made me revisit that. I shall now have to buy another ZWO asiair clamp to mount the AAP under the dovetail, it's unbalanced where it is now.

Edited by LaurenceT
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Here you go.  Feels a little long at the back with the spacers used so may have to fiddle with back focus (or it might be it’s ok and I’m just used to a DSLR).  We’ll see.

9BC5497B-BCA1-4E44-A424-FCCE714681D6.jpeg

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3 minutes ago, herne said:

Here you go.  Feels a little long at the back with the spacers used so may have to fiddle with back focus (or it might be it’s ok and I’m just used to a DSLR).  We’ll see.

9BC5497B-BCA1-4E44-A424-FCCE714681D6.jpeg

Looking really nice! When you fit an osc going from a dslr they seem incredibly long hanging out the back. I'm sure you got the spacing right just may need a tweak with some shims. It's taking me a while to get my back spacing sorted, need more tests when the weather allows. 

Look forward to your first light 👍

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46 minutes ago, herne said:

Here you go.  Feels a little long at the back with the spacers used so may have to fiddle with back focus (or it might be it’s ok and I’m just used to a DSLR).  We’ll see.

9BC5497B-BCA1-4E44-A424-FCCE714681D6.jpeg

If it's anything like mine once you rack the focus out it becomes back heavy you'll have to mount the scope to the front of the dovetail and then the clamp point is somewhere in the middle of the dovetail though the position of the asiair may balance it as you've done it.

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