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Solarmax II 60mm

aramitsharma

By aramitsharma
in Imaging - Solar

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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Does anyone have an idea where i can send a secondhand solarmax 60 (so out of warranty) to be looked at and possibly repaired? It just shows a mostly flat featureless disc, like seeing the sun in white light with prominences added. Turning the knob just gets rid of prominences without adding detail. i thought previously this might have been due to the sun not having much features when i bought it, but i think now the eatlon may be having issues.  having owned a lunt 35 and a quark earlier, i know there must be more which is missing. My lunt 35 showed more features in the solar minimum :)

 

An image is attached below. surely there must be more detail which my 174m should be able to pull out 

FLAT FRAMES FED.jpg

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Rusted

Rusted

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I'd suggest you are off-band for H-alpha. [Tuning.]

Or, the optics might be dewed from the cold. [Warm up]

Or, the blocking filter is cloudy.

Perhaps all, or some of the above.

I have no experience with commercial H-alpha scopes. Only my own PST mods.

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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2 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

The image looks a bit over exposed to me, have you tried shorter exposure times, or is this edited from a much darker/short exposure?

edited from a short exposure.. though i tried other exposures as well. There are hardly any details in visual as well

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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1 hour ago, Rusted said:

I'd suggest you are off-band for H-alpha. [Tuning.]

Or, the optics might be dewed from the cold. [Warm up]

Or, the blocking filter is cloudy.

Perhaps all, or some of the above.

I have no experience with commercial H-alpha scopes. Only my own PST mods.

Thank you for the suggestions. don't know about 1.. have tried all the 3 holes in which the tuner can be inserted. This is the best i get

2 and 3 were not the case...

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Ibbo!

Ibbo!

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Well I can see a bit of detail in the video.

Tuning looks a bit off though.

 

I am confused on the 3 slots coment

to tune rotate the front of the etalon and tweak the tilt to even the illumination across the disc.

 

the metal pins act as a stop

 

 

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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Coronado-ST-60-400-SolarMax-II-BF10-%3C0-7A-OTA.jpg

It is as the above. that knob in the holes, that is the tuning bit i think. the front of the tube does not rotate as its a single stack only.

 

14 minutes ago, Ibbo! said:

Well I can see a bit of detail in the video.

Tuning looks a bit off though.

 

I am confused on the 3 slots coment

to tune rotate the front of the etalon and tweak the tilt to even the illumination across the disc.

 

the metal pins act as a stop

 

 

 

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StevieDvd

StevieDvd

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I have the same scope. The tuning is done by moving the protruding screw/pin, usually needs to be adjusted for surface detail images and then re-tuned slightly for proms.

If you have a read of this CN post you'll see others have had the same setup problem.  You have 3 of the screwthreads visible at anyone time which limits the range of the tuner, but you can relocate the screw/pin to adjust the range.

You can unscrew the pin and move it along one hole at a time allowing you to find the best setting see Solarmax II review

As in the review I turned it to a stop point and then rotated it back until the best setting hole was centred so I had adjustment both sides. Just screw the pin in enough to turn until you get the best image. Proms and surface detail need a small move - the average for both misses the best detail.

 

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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1 minute ago, StevieDvd said:

I have the same scope. The tuning is done by moving the protruding screw/pin, usually needs to be adjusted for surface detail images and then re-tuned slightly for proms.

If you have a read of this CN post you'll see others have had the same setup problem.  You have 3 of the screwthreads visible at anyone time which limits the range of the tuner, but you can relocate the screw/pin to adjust the range.

You can unscrew the pin and move it along one hole at a time allowing you to find the best setting see Solarmax II review

As in the review I turned it to a stop point and then rotated it back until the best setting hole was centred so I had adjustment both sides. Just screw the pin in enough to turn until you get the best image. Proms and surface detail need a small move - the average for both misses the best detail.

 

Thank you.. done that as well, without any affect.  I also have nightmares thinking if i damaged the scope somehow while changing the focuser as well. It has a moonlite one now.

PXL_20220109_121401545.jpg

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StevieDvd

StevieDvd

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I have a moonlite focuser too.

The sweet spot range is very narrow and is easily overshot, the non-sweetspot range is all poor as the review mentions so worth docuble checking if weather allows. I did mine using the supplied eyepiece.

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Pete Presland

Pete Presland

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Hi Aramit, sorry to hear you are having problems. As @Rusted said it does look "off band" if it was my Lunt i would just increae the Pressure tuning knob, obviously this does not apply to your scope. I don't have any experience with the scope you are using, but the focus also looks a bit off to in the 1st image. It could be the seeing conditions also were very poor at the time you imaged.

How does look visually when you are using an eyepiece?

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aramitsharma

aramitsharma

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6 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

Hi Aramit, sorry to hear you are having problems. As @Rusted said it does look "off band" if it was my Lunt i would just increae the Pressure tuning knob, obviously this does not apply to your scope. I don't have any experience with the scope you are using, but the focus also looks a bit off to in the 1st image. It could be the seeing conditions also were very poor at the time you imaged.

How does look visually when you are using an eyepiece?

Thanks Pete, yes the conditions were not ideal, but not poor and i've seen better detail from lunt 35 in poorer conditions. it also looks just a red circle with some prominences in the eyepiece.. i have used all eyepieces from 16mm to 25mm. I will try again on a better day, but I had gone through the process of tuning through different holes before and it never made a difference. In fact what camera is showing is better than what i get in the eyepiece

Edited by aramitsharma
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StevieDvd

StevieDvd

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Okay, you mentioned that you changed the focuser to a moonlite (as did I) so you can do a simple visual check of the etalon. I've attached the Word document I was given with the Moonlite focuser as an aid, in case  you did not use/see it when you fitted yours.

If you mark which hole the tuner screw is currently in,  with nail varnish, tippex or a small sticker etc. You would only need to remove the screw itself and unscrew the focuser to do a visual check of the etalon for a damaged centre.

It's possible you did not tighten the lens enough first (before replacing the etalon) so when tuning you are moving the lens instead of the etalon (or both together). Note the instructions mention the possibility of the lens part being glued to prevent unwanted loosening.

If nothing looks damaged and the lens is tight enough then it would appear just to be a bad etalon tuning position.

Coronado60 Solar Max II install.docx

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