Connection plan

[TiffsAndAstro]

Just now, Elp said:

Ali's the best place for these sorts of things. In fact I bet lots of people buy from there and resell, you see the same items everywhere else at ridiculous markups.

Yeah but I get too p#£&&3d off at "this item cannot be shipped to your location"  or £22 shipping for a £5 clamp

[TiffsAndAstro]

Also 6 weeks delivery times. Probably before I see clear sky again so no probs

[Elp]

Just now, TiffsAndAstro said:

Yeah but I get too p#£&&3d off at "this item cannot be shipped to your location"  or £22 shipping for a £5 clamp

The former you tend to get if you do a Google search them click through to Ali, if you do the search on Ali they all usually ship to UK, and most of the time shipping is either free or maybe 5-10 extra. The search bar is rubbish though, better to do a + Boolean search (IE +vixen+dovetail+clamp) or click on a few relevant items and additional recommended ones pop up under the item you're looking at. Deliveries fine, I've had stuff after a week and never more than three weeks. Just keep your spend below 135 (this includes shipping costs) so you don't pay any additional duties, vat is collected at checkout.

[TiffsAndAstro]

Just now, Elp said:

The former you tend to get if you do a Google search them click through to Ali, if you do the search on Ali they all usually ship to UK, and most of the time shipping is either free or maybe 5-10 extra. The search bar is rubbish though, better to do a + Boolean search (IE +vixen+dovetail+clamp) or click on a few relevant items and additional recommended ones pop up under the item you're looking at. Deliveries fine, I've had stuff after a week and never more than three weeks. Just keep your spend below 135 (this includes shipping costs) so you don't pay any additional duties, vat is collected at checkout.

Lol yeah I just used Google. I'll have one more look on there.

Also those cable tidies Stuart1971 showed look a good idea 

[PhilB61]

I wouldn't worry about about the offset range, different vendors use different scales for gain offset etc. Just select an appropriate value as you have that doesn't result in any zero value pixels. When you say noisier than you expected, what are you viewing with? many fits viewers apply a pretty severe auto stretch. I had the same thought the first time I viewed stretched calibration frames on my Hypercam 26C IMX571 camera, similar sensor technology, lots of red and green "hot" pixels. From my research this is normal and they definitely calibrate out to produce nice clean images. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

7 minutes ago, PhilB61 said:

I wouldn't worry about about the offset range, different vendors use different scales for gain offset etc. Just select an appropriate value as you have that doesn't result in any zero value pixels. When you say noisier than you expected, what are you viewing with? many fits viewers apply a pretty severe auto stretch. I had the same thought the first time I viewed stretched calibration frames on my Hypercam 26C IMX571 camera, similar sensor technology, lots of red and green "hot" pixels. From my research this is normal and they definitely calibrate out to produce nice clean images. 

Lol sorry I meant audible noise the fan is not silent.

Yeah I've seen some comments elsewhere about how they can look when stretched but the few of mine I  looked at in Nina seemed like normal. I forget to start cooling though so was just going to delete and redo

Edited Thursday at 22:23 by TiffsAndAstro

[Tony Acorn]

On a related topic regarding tidying cables, for years there has been a spiral wrapping product available in the electrical panel assembly business. You can find one version of it called Pliopspire on a supplier's website "SES(hyphen)STERLING dot com" and here is the data sheet for their four variants. Once applied, you can create a tree trunk with branches to suit the location of each terminal.
It is reasonably flexible but I've never tried using it outdoors on winter nights. It is relatively easy to apply but you need to take care not to strain the original connectors when bundling the cables together. I would suggest using a few disposable cable tyes initially to determine where the branches join and exit then wrap your bundle without any cable being plugged into a socket. Do this in a warm environment to make the process easier.
I've just bought some to tidy up my (so-called) portable rig that includes two ZWO cameras, a StarAdventurer 2i Pro mount, two dew heaters, a ZWO EAF and a ZWO ASi-Mini. Unfortunately it isn't available in short lengths of say 2-3M so a fellow local astro-nut and I have something of a surfeit!

Pliospire.pdf

[TiffsAndAstro]

45 minutes ago, Tony Acorn said:

On a related topic regarding tidying cables, for years there has been a spiral wrapping product available in the electrical panel assembly business. You can find one version of it called Pliopspire on a supplier's website "SES(hyphen)STERLING dot com" and here is the data sheet for their four variants. Once applied, you can create a tree trunk with branches to suit the location of each terminal.
It is reasonably flexible but I've never tried using it outdoors on winter nights. It is relatively easy to apply but you need to take care not to strain the original connectors when bundling the cables together. I would suggest using a few disposable cable tyes initially to determine where the branches join and exit then wrap your bundle without any cable being plugged into a socket. Do this in a warm environment to make the process easier.
I've just bought some to tidy up my (so-called) portable rig that includes two ZWO cameras, a StarAdventurer 2i Pro mount, two dew heaters, a ZWO EAF and a ZWO ASi-Mini. Unfortunately it isn't available in short lengths of say 2-3M so a fellow local astro-nut and I have something of a surfeit!

Pliospire.pdf 1.6 MB · 0 downloads

I've looked these and they seem fiddly, will only try it once I've got a mini pc and guide scope moved, I think.

Stuart1971 showed some cable tidies that stick on and look handy too

[TiffsAndAstro]

i did sharpcap free sensor analysis. using a spare old cable. told me sensor was 8bit. plugged in the svbony cable back in and everything seems good and as expected. 14bit 100 unity gain.

so i got all set up, quick focus quick polar alignment took a 30sec test on stars at random, bit hard to see many stars in corners, might need a little more backfocus. then clouds. 

if i see stars again ill try and take a few to stack. but so far seems good.

Edited Friday at 23:08 by TiffsAndAstro

[TiffsAndAstro]

Svbony replied. Filter is 1.85mm so I might need a second 0.3mm for back focus. Offset setting is scaled. Didn't say what scale

I'll look for 1.85mm thickness dual narrowband filters, but I'm guessing buying a matching thickness UV/ir cut filter will be easier and cheaper.

I can't tell much from the one 30sec sub I took before clouds. I'd say it looks dark compared to what I expected, only 10 stars picked up by siril psf so it wouldn't do it's tilt calculation.

It did polar alignment very nice and smooth and fast

My guess is my offset might be too low but I'll do more and longer test subs next clear skies.

If they look ok for offset and back focus not too bad, I'll do a test image, probably something I've already done for a before/after comparison maybe iris nebula.

But I have a feeling I'll try a mosaic of m31 and hope for the best.

[Vroobel]

I wouldn't think about the Iris Nebula as a kind of test in your place. It is the most difficult object I ever processed, it may be because of LP.

 

[Elp]

34 minutes ago, Vroobel said:

I wouldn't think about the Iris Nebula as a kind of test in your place. It is the most difficult object I ever processed, it may be because of LP.

 

I have a hate hate relationship with this target.

[TiffsAndAstro]

3 hours ago, Vroobel said:

I wouldn't think about the Iris Nebula as a kind of test in your place. It is the most difficult object I ever processed, it may be because of LP.

 

I got an ok result a couple months ago with about 45mins. Was thinking an hour hopefully two would be enough to compare.

Veil nebula or Cygnus wall it is then I guess.

Maybe a non mosaic of m31.

[Vroobel]

Try the Cygnus Wall or Eastern Veil, they are very bright and easy in the post-processing.

 

[TiffsAndAstro]

45 minutes ago, Vroobel said:

Try the Cygnus Wall or Eastern Veil, they are very bright and easy in the post-processing.

 

yeah but m31 mosaic

out of m31 cygnus wall or eastern veil - which target would highlight the most potential issues i might have? back focus, crap uv/ir cut filter light leaks from drawer, offset being too low  and likely more?

[Vroobel]

Eastern Veil. A lot of both strong and faint details surrounded by nearly dark background. And plenty of stars. 

Edited Saturday at 17:54 by Vroobel

[TiffsAndAstro]

6 minutes ago, Vroobel said:

Eastern Veil. A lot of both strong and faint details surrounded by nearly dark background. And plenty of stars. 

Yeah that's probably the sensible option. I was quite amazed how much I got from my 90 minute test month or two ago. Will make a interesting test

[Vroobel]

I would suggest a higher number of shorter subs. You don't have the dual-narrowband nor the anti-LP filters yet, so your subs would be affected by the LP if you start with longer exposures. But it's only my thought, I never tried the Eastern Veil without my L-eXtreme filter. 

[TiffsAndAstro]

1 minute ago, Vroobel said:

I would suggest a higher number of shorter subs. You don't have the dual-narrowband nor the anti-LP filters yet, so your subs would be affected by the LP if you start with longer exposures. But it's only my thought, I never tried the Eastern Veil without my L-eXtreme filter. 

My veil test wasn't amazing so should be a good test:) 84x60 seconds.

I'll stick with 60sec for now?

[Elp]

You choose your sub duration based on LP levels, the amount of signal coming through, your camera noise and your guiding. Only you can really determine that.

I generally stick to 60s, for narrowband up to 3 minutes usually but can probably do longer. There's a ridiculous amount of satellites about nowadays, kappa sigma rejection is supposed to remove it but if you've got bright ones or airplane trails and not enough subs you can still sometimes see the trails in your stack.

[TiffsAndAstro]

4 minutes ago, Elp said:

You choose your sub duration based on LP levels, the amount of signal coming through, your camera noise and your guiding. Only you can really determine that.

I generally stick to 60s, for narrowband up to 3 minutes usually but can probably do longer. There's a ridiculous amount of satellites about nowadays, kappa sigma rejection is supposed to remove it but if you've got bright ones or airplane trails and not enough subs you can still sometimes see the trails in your stack.

I'll keep an eye on histogram, might even try Nina's exp calc with free version of sharpcap see if I can just type in sharpcap numbers.

This is all assuming no obvious issues i spot in few test 60 sec images.

[Elp]

Backspacing is usually the main thing to worry about, I still haven't fixed it for my Z61 three years later with a particular reducer, I just use the number which seemed the best at the time (I crop anyway, you can drive yourself nuts trying to get it perfect, especially if you setup and breakdown like I do).

[Vroobel]

I'm at the same point with my Askar FMA230: at this moment the back focus is 52.5mm instead of the 55mm, while it's still not the end. 

God bless Russell Croman with his 'X' series... 👍 😁

 

[Elp]

I bought the Askar BF adjuster just for this purpose. Still haven't used it...

[TiffsAndAstro]

33 minutes ago, Elp said:

Backspacing is usually the main thing to worry about, I still haven't fixed it for my Z61 three years later with a particular reducer, I just use the number which seemed the best at the time (I crop anyway, you can drive yourself nuts trying to get it perfect, especially if you setup and breakdown like I do).

well i know mine is at least 0.3mm out as i guessed my filter was 1mm thick and its almost 2mm. but i need to take a few longer shots with plenty of stars. who knows?  

ill worry about it if its 'really' bad. but i won't know that until i see it