Rant. Should just leave things well alone? 😀

[TerraC]

Not sure where to put this so the lounge might suffice. Its more of a rant and therapy than anything else and wondered if anyone else felt the same? 😀

 

Does anyone else find themselves wishing theyd just left things alone? I had a perfectly functioning azgti system. Easy grab and go unit that i could manually PA and set off for unguided subs of upto upto 60sec, ready within 20mins. Not winning any apod but im happy with the basic data id got and seeing things millions of light years away. 

 

I had dabbled with computerising the system with a guide scope and astroberry but its beyond me. I find myself faffing with one thing or another more than I do imaging. Happy with my lot? Oooh noooo.

 

The upgrade bug starts to itch. 

I get the opportunity to sell my gear and buy an eq5 pro goto. So in a fit of upgrade fever off i go. Built in polarscope, better tracking. What could go wrong? Well it’s heavy for a start, not good for chucking in the car and heading out, especially with a back problem. Then I get what I think is walking noise. Oh bother!. The azgti dithered itself because the tracking wasnt that good, it kinda drifted to eliminate it itself. To get rid of walking noise its easy you just have to dither you say. That means im back to trying to guide and astroberry the system again. First night, couldnt find focus with my asi120mc and 50ed guidescope. Focus great in the daytime on distant street lamps or tv aerials but at night, i think i can see a blob. 2hrs of faffing im getting nothing done and feeling frustrated again. 

 

If it aint broke, fix it until it is. Why cant some of us just leave things alone when they are working? 😀

So do I throw in the towel and try get another azgti system that im comfortable with? Try muddle along blind learning a new complex system? Or possibly find a friendly local in the Yorkshire area who can maybe help me set it all up so its simple when I switch it on? 

 

Light nights mean im probably mothballing the system for a few months anyway to mull it over. 

Ray

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rl]

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Light nights mean im probably mothballing the system for a few months anyway to mull it over. 

Feel free to rant! Actually light nights are the chance to debug the system one step at a time so that when darkness returns mid-august you will be ready....

You are not alone here! In the early days I often felt like chucking the whole lot in the skip. Eventually I actually did chuck an old EQ5 mount in the skip because my particular example was so unreliable, having had a hard life in the hands of it previous several owners. . Getting a working system generally takes time, patience and a lot of frustration along the way. And when you've worked out how to do it right, the weather intervenes for a month and you go and forget something vital..forgetting stuff is even more annoying than not knowing it in the first place, after you've just ruined an evening's subs over some stupid cockup!

The problem is of course that you probably want longer subs with longer focal lengths on fainter targets so the level of perfection required from the kit goes up exponentially, so there is no going back!

Might I suggest going out with very low expectations and simply fixing one thing at a time, not spending too long on it.. Getting the guidescope to focus seems like a good start. Can you use one of the plate solving programs to get easier / better polar alignment compared to crouching down peering through the polarscope?

Do PHD2 default parameters work ok with your mount? Is the mount balanced correctly (i.e not exactly balanced to as to take out the backlash)?

 

[Elp]

It happens. Was imaging fine for two years and earlier this year my usual azgti rig started doing strange things, totally random issue each time, it even transferred onto my gem, wasted around 6 sessions on it. The asiair was the culprit, but I sorted it. I've had guidescope and OAG focus issues on the night, sometimes wasting at least an hour racking the guidescope from one extreme to another. As mentioned, tackle one thing at a time. If you have problems try troubleshooting during the day to avoid wasting imaging time. Try to standardise your procedure, I can literally setup my stuff without thinking as I've done it so many times, setup and breakdown every time that I know where everything is, where it should be setup, balancing distances etc. Even keep a log of my backspacing as I use different setups so constantly have to adjust to suit. Setting up two rigs at the same time also has its joys, even did three at one point (never again).the more you do it the better you get at it.

[TerraC]

Thanks guys. 

Good points from both of you.  I think you are right, i'll spend the summer getting used to the system and fine tuning.  The mount controls well through astroberry, it's the polar alignment utility and plate solving i'm having the trouble with which needs the darkness and practice. 

I think I may have a little cone error between the polar scope and telescope too which could be an issue. Should be ok if I use a polar util rather than the scope but I might start from scratch and re-align the built in polar scope too in daylight whilst i'm at it. 

I'm not too fussed with extra long exposures at the moment. My bortle level and light pollution means i'm limited to about 60sec before the histogram goes too far to the right anyway.

If I really cant hack it I might sell it and go back to the portable AZGTI option. 😁

Ray

 

 

[Elp]

I never did like using a polar scope, using your eyes only looking at polaris you can get the azimuth quite near, altitude takes practice (you could use an inclinometer to help), I've setup my gem so many times I know that it takes approx 12 turns of the altitude knob to get it near (it needs to be set back down in order to fit back into its case). Do it roughly then use a PA alignment routine. I didn't really like the PHD2 one though (still got the astroberry), once I changed to an Asiair it's literally a 5 minute or less job, really is a very useful hassle free device when it wants to work.