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New Nexstar 6SE

Demonperformer

By Demonperformer
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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

Posted
Posted

Yes, the cloudy nights recently have been my fault!:)

Well, I have been interested in astronomy since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. For many years I practised this with nothing more than a pair of 7x50 binos. Then I got a pair of 20x80's and could not get on with them at all. So a few years ago I purchased an ETX80 and it has been a wonderful instrument. Even from my light-polluted front garden I can get down to mag 11.06 [GSC 2133-0308, on a mag check in the field around Albireo].

Then last month I could resist aperture-fever no longer and splashed out on a Nexstar 6SE. It is great except for a couple of problems. Firstly, I cannot get the same level of faintness as I can with the ETX. I suspect this is all to do with collimation - something I have yet to work up the courage to attempt. I suspect I am more likely to make it worse than better!

The other problem is the power connector. I cannot seem to find the right sized 'power tip' to fit the telescope. A couple of the ones that came with the power supply sort of do the job, but as the telescope slews, it jiggles the connection and causes the power to go off, requiring me to initialise the telescope all over again.:D

If anyone else has had this problem and, equally importantly, has found a solution, I would love to hear about it. I can't help feeling that supergluing the tip into the telescope would be a little radical.:)

Thanks for reading this ... you will no doubt hear a lot more from me in coming weeks.

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red dwalf

red dwalf

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Hi Demonperformer,

i have the nexstar 6"se but on a celestron cg5-gt mount and i to found that the power socket was a little "LOOSE" on the fit, in my power socket on the mount there is a pin in the center and an arm on the outside, i very carefully bent the arm just a few mm towards the pin and now it holds the jack plug firmly and everything o.k.

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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Thanks for the thought.

I have just done a search on '6SE power' and found a post that talks about this very problem [i will soon learn to look before I write!]. Seems Celestron use a 'rare' tip size of 2.1mm. Have no idea if this was one of those supplied with the power supply or not - only colour coded. Think I will see if I can get one I know is the right size from Maplins and see if that works. Knowing my ability at breaking bits off things when trying to adapt them I think it may be the cheaper option for me in the long run.

[Can't find a 'smiley' button on the quick reply box, or would have added one - lots for me still to find and learn on this site]

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MeerkatinBKK

MeerkatinBKK

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Hi and a warm welcome to the forum!

The plug problem is well known to us SE users, but is a breeze to fix. The pin in the middle of the socket on the mount is of the split type, so just gently insert a knife or screwdriver in the split and widen it out a smidge. Works a treat.

A piccy is worth a thousand words - sorry for the focus, but you get the drift.

Nick

post-15182-133877403873_thumb.jpg

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Astro_Baby

Astro_Baby

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Part of the problem is that manufacturers of the plugs themselves are often a bit vague on the centre pin width. A lot fo componentry just just specicy it - they say 2.1mm jack and leave it at that.

Even some Celestron kit is supplied with a Celestron flakey power lead I hear.

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George Jones

George Jones

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Thanks for the thread, and for the solutions. I bought a Nexstar 8 SE a few weeks ago, and my wife nearly had a heart attack when she found out how much I spent on this an other kit. Just when she (also a science geek) had warmed up to idea and was bragging to her family about what I had seen, I told her about this problem. "All that money and you have this type of a problem!" Domestic harmony (at least with respect to my astro kit :D) has been restored.

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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Thanks to you all for your greetings and input on the problem.

Nick, thanks for your solution. Looks relatively simple, but being really kak-handed with things like this, I can still see me snapping something off. I think I will try a new power tip first - they're only £1.20 so won't break the bank, and I can always come back to your solution.

To which end ...

johninderby, maplin sell two 2.1mm tips: one is 5x2.1mm and the other is 5.5x2.1mm. Do you remember which one it was you bought that fitted? Not a major problem if I need to try both, but worth asking.

Thanks.

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johninderby

johninderby

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I just measured the plug and it is 5.48mm dia. The thick wires of the lead are a tight fit into the plug housing but it does fit. Just keep the polarity correct (centre of the plug positive). The centre of the cigarette plug is also positive. Just check with a meter that the centres of both plugs are connected before plugging it into the mount.

One advantage of the thicker leads is that there is less voltage drop.

John

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Demonperformer

Demonperformer

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Mmmm ... well the right-sized tip did improve things ... somewhat. At least now I can rove around the same quadrant of the sky without it switching off every 20 degrees az. But when I tried moving from Arcturus to Alpheratz on the alignment - clunk. May have to attack the socket with a hatchet - I mean screwdriver - yet.

Or, thinking about it, the problem seems to occur because the cable from the power supply is causing the tip to move as the telescope slews. So maybe all I need to do is use a piece of masking tape to hold the last bit of the cable onto the mount, so that any pull on the cable only gets that far and doesn't reach the plug. Not sure if that will work, but I will give it a try ... next time I get anything resembling a clear sky!

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brianb

brianb

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maybe all I need to do is use a piece of masking tape to hold the last bit of the cable onto the mount, so that any pull on the cable only gets that far and doesn't reach the plug.
That's what I do (on my CPC) except that I used electrical tape & attached the top of the power cable more or less firmly to the fork arm. Half an inch of electrical tape also deals with the irritating power indicator light too (which idiot designer thinks that scopes need power indicator lights? :grrr: )
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johninderby

johninderby

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What I use is a stick-on cable tie base and cable tie fixed onto the mount next to where the power cable plugs in. You can also use a twist tie instead of a cable tie if you want to be able to easily remove the cable. The photo is of an ASGT mount, but I also use the same thing on my SE mount.

John

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