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Need a new Mount!

Imahumanbeing

By Imahumanbeing
in Discussions - Mounts

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Imahumanbeing

Imahumanbeing

Posted
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I need your help people! Please!

I have a C80ED Refractor and a Canon 1000D which I have been using on my Nexstar SLT Go To mount. For some reason when I was out the other night the mount stopped tracking properly, making all the stars trail in the majority of the pictures I took. I have tried a million times to adjust the OTA and tighten and loosen the bolt which holds it to the mount but nothing is working, I have done this so much that I feel ill just thinking about trying again. I need a new mount!

I haven't got a huge budget, around £300-£350, would like an EQ mount with drives and would be very happy with being able to get 1.5 to 2 minutes exposure times.

I have been on the phone asking for peoples advice on which mount I could get and a bloke called Bernard at Modern Astronomy says he has a second hand Vixen GP Mount with drives which he would sell me for £350. Telescope plus also recommended the Omni XLT 150 which I could get for £350.

Please can you lot give me some advice!

Thanks very much for all the help.:):)

All the best

Jamie

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jgs001

jgs001

Posted
Posted

Jamie, The HEQ5 will work really well with that scope, and I'd go for something like that. I did discuss with Steve and others about using a lighter mount, trying to save a few pounds, but the thought was it wasn't worth it. The CG5 seems to have a very similar load limit to the HEQ5, from what I've heard, so your frac will sit easily on either.

In respect of the NexStar, what's happened ? What are you using to power it ? Run through the setup procedure... Might be worth posting a new thread detailing everything, as much as you can and maybe, between us all, we can work it out.

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johninderby

johninderby

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The CG5-GT mount is the same one that Celestron used to sell with the C80-ED OTA. Here's a link to the manual.

http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/C80_C100ED_Master.pdf

The HEQ5 is a good mount, but If you're going to go for a heavier mount you might as well go for the HEQ6 Synscan. The CG5-GT mount is a great buy at that price and a year from now you could probably sell it for what you paid for it if you wanted a heavier mount.

The CG5 GTs biggest advantage is that it can do the "All Star Polar Alignment" that was developed for the new CGEM mount. This feature alone puts it miles ahead of the Synscan as you can do a two star align and then select any other star to complete a polar alignment. No more need to use a polar alignment scope to set up the mount as you don't need to align with Polaris.

The "Quick Align" feature is also great when all you really want is tracking as all you have to do is set up the mount pointing approximately north, select Quick Align and that's it, no need to do an actual alignment. Takes about 20 seconds total from turning on the mount until you're observing. Ideal for lunar or planetary observing as it tracks well enough to keep whatever you are looking at in the FOV for quite a while. GOTO's aren't that accurate, but that's not what the Quick Align is really for.

I've fond that with the latest updates the mount is as easy and quick as an Alt Az mount set up.

John

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philsail1

philsail1

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Hello Jamie,

Yes, I have the Celestron CG5 "GoTo" mount, and it is a good one. It easily holds my Celestron C8 SCT and tracks extremely well. It's a lighter mount than the Skywatcher HEQ5 mount, so it is a little easier to set up and put away. The motors are very noisy when fast slewing from one side of sky to another, but very, very quiet when tracking. I have owned a HEQ5 mount (though not the "GoTo" version) and can say that the Celestron CG5 "GoTo" version I have, seems to have quieter motors when tracking.

Best wishes,

philsail1

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gary1968

gary1968

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I have used my CG5GT now for 2 winters. It has proved faultless and very accurate in that time. I have only just updated the firmware to include the All Star Polar Align mentioned above so will have to wait and see how it does.

I would recomend this mount to anyone with that budget in mind, and as suggested get the C6NGT and punt the OTA, although that OTA is pretty good as well so you might end up keeping it.

Gary

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Imahumanbeing

Imahumanbeing

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Thanks very much everyone for the help and advice, I really appreciate it!

Thanks for the link Johninderby and the All Star Polar Alignment sounds excellent, one thing about getting an EQ mount that I haven't been looking forward to is Polar aligning accurately!

Phil my Nexstar is quite loud when fast slewing so I'm used to that!

John my Nexstar is working electronically, but for some reason I started getting trails in my images the other night so I tried adjusting the bolt which holds the OTA to the mount arm, too tight and it won't track properly and too loose and it won't move at all. I just can't get it right this time and I have tried and tried again, I was very happy with getting 15 secs exposures and stacking as many as possible so now I can't do anything at all I really do realize how happy I was! I need a new mount!

I will keep trying with the Nexstar and hopefully get it sorted, either way in the near future I want to get a new mount and the CG5GT is looking like the one. It looks like a beast!

If anyone knows any other mounts that I could afford or has any suggestions about my Nexstar please post them!

Thanks a lot everyone.

All the best

Jamie

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johninderby

johninderby

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Hi Jamie

Here's a photo of my CG5-GT mount with an Orion half pillar extension and my 4" APO. With the half pillar extension it makes the mount more stable as the tripod legs don't have to be extended. By the way the liitle 3AH gell battery sitting on the tripod spreader will run the scope for a few hours, which is fne for "quick" looks.

John

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Imahumanbeing

Imahumanbeing

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Johninderby thanks very much for that picture, your setup looks fantastic and very solid! Nice one!

John I can still hear the motors grinding away but get no movement when moving down. If I remove the OTA it will move fine which makes me think the tightness of the bolt or how loose it is is the problem but no matter what I do I can't get it right this time and I have tried a lot! I will keep trying!

Thanks very much for the help.

All the best

Jamie

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StarMan1701

StarMan1701

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Posted

John,

I notice in your picture that you seem to have found a way to mount your hand controller onto the half-pillar.

I have a similar setup, based on a Meade LXD75 rather than a CG5, and would be interested to know how you did it. Any info would be appreciated, as I'm fed up with hanging my Autostar controller over the azimuth adjustment knobs...

Cheers,

Lee.

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johninderby

johninderby

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Hi Lee

I posted details and photos of it in the thread

http://stargazerslounge.com/equipment-discussion/79009-celestron-asgt-mount-orion-usa-half-pillar.html#post1210944

Basicly it was a mixture of modified Skywatcher and Celestron parts to make up the HC holder but the same type of thing should be possible with the Meade parts.

John

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