ZWO Seestar 50

[happy-kat]

perhaps look at what version is the firmware and version of mobile app using

[M40]

13 hours ago, Ande said:

Oh, lastly, when I carefully pick the Seestar up, by gripping the tripod, I can feel a slight wobble in the ‘scope. I just assumed that this was a little play in the bearings, or gearing. Just wondering if this is par for the course, or if it should be totally free of any play?  I do screw it fairly firmly to the tripod, so it cannot be attributed to the way it is mounted

Mine wobbles too, but when I put it on the tripod, I just spin it so that it gets to the end of travel but I don't tighten it. Is there any chance it can be overtightened?

[Cosmic Geoff]

2 hours ago, Ande said:

Thanks @Giles_B  I’m pretty sure it’s faulty too. After all, the first couple of sessions it performed as it should. Something has definitely gone awry since. Fortunately, I purchased it from FLO, so hopefully they’ll do me proud when I bring it to their attention. 

You do seem to be having a lot of trouble with your Seestar. Mine performs without fuss.  I have not used the autofocus often but it worked okay.   When it failed to plate-solve or find an object, it was generally because it was pointing at a building, tree etc.  (it is not necessarily obvious where a small black square thing is pointing in the dark 🙂) Dropped frames seemed mostly down to drifting cloud.  There is a 3 degree tolerance on levelling, and mostly when I put it down it just works.

I have noticed some star trailing, mostly on its first night (caused by backlash?) and ovalled stars, but one can re-start the run or leave it to see if it is sorting itself out.

Edited November 28, 2023 by Cosmic Geoff

[Cosmic Geoff]

15 minutes ago, M40 said:

Mine wobbles too, but when I put it on the tripod, I just spin it so that it gets to the end of travel but I don't tighten it. Is there any chance it can be overtightened?

There is a small amount of play in the mechanism.  I actually screw the retracted tripod onto the Seestar 🙂 as that way there seems less risk of cross-threading, or straining the bushing.  I only screw it up to the end of the travel, lightly hand-tight. Clearly a manly heave could cause damage if there is any plastic around the brass bushing.

[DaveL59]

1 hour ago, M40 said:

Mine wobbles too, but when I put it on the tripod, I just spin it so that it gets to the end of travel but I don't tighten it. Is there any chance it can be overtightened?

I wondered about that but seems a tiny bit of play is normal. As to gearing I do wonder if its plastic/nylon so I don't do more than gently nip it up so as not to distort/strip them. That said I use mine on an EQ5 tripod so I screw the puck into the base of the seestar indoors and then pop the puck into the tripod and bolt that into place. Never yet used the OEM tripod, just too low for what I want and the EQ5 ally tripod is nice and stable.

I added some day-glo tape to the S50 so I get some idea where it's aiming given there's an oak that blots out the SE-W aspect.

[Giles_B]

Yes, I also found the height of the supplied tripod a bit of a liability, and I had a few near misses culminating in tripping over the whole set-up. Much happier with it attached to EQ6 tripod, even if the cost of the adaptor took a bit of getting used to.

[DaveL59]

3 hours ago, Giles_B said:

Yes, I also found the height of the supplied tripod a bit of a liability, and I had a few near misses culminating in tripping over the whole set-up. Much happier with it attached to EQ6 tripod, even if the cost of the adaptor took a bit of getting used to.

I was probably more concerned with my kitties being nosey and leaving little nose-prints on the objective 😉 

That and the taller EQ5 tripod also means further for the slugs to go to reach the scope 😄 

Edited November 28, 2023 by DaveL59

[Giles_B]

4 hours ago, DaveL59 said:

I was probably more concerned with my kitties being nosey and leaving little nose-prints on the objective 😉 

That and the taller EQ5 tripod also means further for the slugs to go to reach the scope 😄 

I'd forgotten the slug episode - that was another near miss 😬

[cimh]

On 27/11/2023 at 22:54, Ande said:

Firstly, I usually get it to point at one of the brighter stars, Vega or similar, in order to get a decent focus. It will struggle to locate it and will try to plate solve. Then it will moan about not seeing enough stars. It’ll keep taking pictures, then take the full 30 seconds to try to get it’s bearings.  It will invariably fail, and keep repeating the process several times before reporting it’s inability to complete the task. Eventually, I’ll get the star centred, then it will fail to focus, so I have to do it manually with the aid of a Bhatinov mask.  Once it’s finally in focus, and pointing where it should be, I’ll choose a target. It’ll eventually find it, and then start imaging. However, it is discarding more frames than it is keeping. Far more…. It can take an hour to give me 5-6 minutes of data.  Every 6 or 7 passes it will inform me of star trails, but most of the interim pictures are ignored anyway, so it’s a moot point.  And every now and then it’ll moan that it can’t see any stars during imaging. It’s done this when looking at the Pleiades so I’m not at all sympathetic. Especially when I can see it clearly with my 61 year old eyes.

When I got mine - it was doing something similar - in that it struggled to find anything, I was getting quite frustrated. I realised that the default focus setting was way out and the seestar could not find focus from there. The solution was to manually focus then once in focus take the focus reading and make that the default. Since then it has worked superbly. I do calibrate the compass each session just in case. it only takes a minute.  May be completely unrelated to your issue.

[cimh]

On 28/11/2023 at 13:25, DaveL59 said:

the EQ5 ally tripod is nice and stable. I added some day-glo tape to the S50 so I get some idea where it's aiming given there's an oak that blots out the SE-W aspect.

I have been using the small tripod but it is too low, easy to knock and vulnerable. I have tried my manfrotto camera tripod but the small adaptor that attaches to the camera or scope and then clicks into the tripod is fiddly and I worry about dropping the seestar. I like the day glo tape idea. The scope being black does not help. Any suggestions about good (reasonably priced) tripods that work well with it appreciated  

[DaveL59]

3 minutes ago, cimh said:

I have been using the small tripod but it is too low, easy to knock and vulnerable. I have tried my manfrotto camera tripod but the small adaptor that attaches to the camera or scope and then clicks into the tripod is fiddly and I worry about dropping the seestar. I like the day glo tape idea. The scope being black does not help. Any suggestions about good (reasonably priced) tripods that work well with it appreciated  

Ah yeah, I had thought about popping a PL201 QR plate on the S50 but then while I expect it'd latch OK I didn't want to chance it. I had a spare EQ5 tripod so getting the puck and using that was an easy decision. Not tried any of my photo tripods so far, old metal Velbon and a NatGeo carbon but I doubt they'd be more stable than the Eq5 one anyway.

You just need one that has a 3/8 thread and probably many do if you remove the tripod head itself. Alternatively find an old surveyors tripod and adapt it to suit, perhaps.

[cimh]

21 minutes ago, DaveL59 said:

Ah yeah, I had thought about popping a PL201 QR plate on the S50 but then while I expect it'd latch OK I didn't want to chance it. I had a spare EQ5 tripod so getting the puck and using that was an easy decision. Not tried any of my photo tripods so far, old metal Velbon and a NatGeo carbon but I doubt they'd be more stable than the Eq5 one anyway.

You just need one that has a 3/8 thread and probably many do if you remove the tripod head itself. Alternatively find an old surveyors tripod and adapt it to suit, perhaps.

Thank you. You are right a good suggestion  - I can detach the top section - leaving a 3/8 thread for the seestar - ideally i should add a rubber washer . The only risk I guess is that the seestar is quite heavy - if you kick over on its small tripod probably no harm done - but if you do the same with it on a larger pod ?????  however the wider base should mitigate along with something reflective on the tripod or scope. I see some recommend the CAVIX LP64 for levelling - any thoughts?  

[Giles_B]

Not only is avoiding collision with a full height tripod a bit easier, I would think the wide base would be enough to keep it upright so long as it was the typical low speed blundering into something in the dark scenario. 

My preference is for a fairly heavy tripod though - I use an EQ6 tripod with an extension, so the whole thing weights a ton and is rock solid. Partly this is because I think its less likely someone with light fingers would get into the garden, pick up the SeeStar and carry it away when it is unattended if it's attached to something heavy!

[DaveL59]

I added some of the dayglo tape to the lower tripod legs too so they're a bit visible. After all when using the s50 we aren't as concerned about night vision and the low level light comong from the conservatory does enough to make it show and easier to avoid.

[LDW1]

Very simple, when I am out at nite with my SS I have my red light turned on just like I do with my scopes, the dim red doesn't affect my enhancing one little bit !  You have to make a big effort, try real hard to stumble over it, lol !

[Giles_B]

In case you missed it, the new update and firmware adds a planetary mode (I've yet to try it out):

"New Features

1. Added the Planetary Mode.

2. Added French voice prompts.

3. Added Brazilian Portuguese.

4. 4. Support manual focus in Solar, Lunar, Scenery, and Planetary modes. 5.

5. Added Solar in Objects and added objects to the Named Star list.

6. Reduce the speed of the Joystick in the slow speed mode.

7. JPG saved from Fits supports watermark.

8. Support overseas map services.

Optimized

1. Optimized text and UI.

2. Fixed known bugs."

Edited December 1, 2023 by Giles_B

[DaveL59]

Had to reset my S50 to get the firmware to load for some reason. Not like that was much effort tho, press the wee button and reconnect direct, do the update and then rejoin it to my dedicated SSID in station mode, all done.

I do like that they changed the slewing control, was way too sensitive on my phone/fingers but seems much better now on a quick indoor test 🙂 

Wonder if it can find the planets or we'll have to do that manually?

Still doesn't seem quite right on the tablet in landscape/desktop mode but that's not a major issue, I can switch it to regular tablet mode and use it that way when needed.

[Giles_B]

Just tried it out - found Jupiter and Saturn okay. Wouldn't autofocus on Jupiter - maybe too bright for the algorithm? Anyway, the results are below. I thought a stop frame of Jupiter's moons would be good fun. But the feature is strictly in the "novelty" bracket for me.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Giles_B

[DaveL59]

actually those aren't that bad, certainly for the grandkids they'd be chuffed to see. Saturn you can see has rings when you zoom in tho would be nice to be able to tease a bit more detail on Jupiter. Heck as a freebie update is handy if not something for serious observing 🙂

Did it self-find or did you have to manually aim it?

[Giles_B]

Self find - go to solar system in the menu, pick a planet (or a dwarf planet - Pluto is in there) and SeeStar did the rest.

The solar menu also turns the gain down considerably, Jupiter is far less exposed than the astro mode - almost looks Ike you *could* get some details from Jupiter if the seeing was very good.

Edited December 2, 2023 by Giles_B

[DaveGarland]

I've just ordered one of these from First Light Optics. Out of stock at the mo so I'm just going to have to play the waiting game. Can I ask all of you who have one a couple of questions? 

1. Does it really need to be under 60 humidity? 

2. The talking thing. Does it just talk through the setting up or does it yabber on every time you ask it to find an object? I'm not too keen on that. Is it possible to turn the talking off? Or is there a volume you can turn all the way down? 

Thanks chaps/chapesses. 

[Giles_B]

 

21 minutes ago, DaveGarland said:

I've just ordered one of these from First Light Optics. Out of stock at the mo so I'm just going to have to play the waiting game. Can I ask all of you who have one a couple of questions? 

1. Does it really need to be under 60 humidity? 

2. The talking thing. Does it just talk through the setting up or does it yabber on every time you ask it to find an object? I'm not too keen on that. Is it possible to turn the talking off? Or is there a volume you can turn all the way down? 

Thanks chaps/chapesses. 

I worried about the humidity, but it seems to work fine in the great British outdoors at all hours if the day and night. I'd guess the humidity is usually way above 60%.

You can mute it. You don't need the speech to set it up, it's really intuitive and easy.

[LDW1]

4 hours ago, DaveGarland said:

I've just ordered one of these from First Light Optics. Out of stock at the mo so I'm just going to have to play the waiting game. Can I ask all of you who have one a couple of questions? 

1. Does it really need to be under 60 humidity? 

2. The talking thing. Does it just talk through the setting up or does it yabber on every time you ask it to find an object? I'm not too keen on that. Is it possible to turn the talking off? Or is there a volume you can turn all the way down? 

Thanks chaps/chapesses. 

Their concern is storing it closed up in excessively high humidity not operating it in humidity above 60%. This reasoning applies to most anything ie causes of mold, mildew etc.,etc.

[Dave scutt]

My seestar should be arriving in a few days.

What extras do I need , dew shield/ light shield, batinov mask , I know it has built in filters but anyone using other filters.

A link to purchase any 3d printed accessories.

Thanks dave

[Giles_B]

29 minutes ago, Dave scutt said:

My seestar should be arriving in a few days.

What extras do I need , dew shield/ light shield, batinov mask , I know it has built in filters but anyone using other filters.

A link to purchase any 3d printed accessories.

Thanks dave

My experience is that everything works fine without any additional gubbins. @powerlord was selling some 3D printed filter holders and bahtinov masks  -you could try PMing him?

That said, I can't say I've found the need to use either the mask or external filters them yet. Someone else posted something on the thread comparing an L-Extreme with the inbuilt filter, and there didn't seem much difference there either.

Various sellers on ebay selling dew shields - but I find the inbuilt dew controller works great. The one thing you might want is an external battery as the dew control eats the power a bit.

Whether you need a lens cap is debateable - I'm going without but plenty of others have bought aftermarket caps - again, ebay seems like the simplest source.