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Skywatcher Auto Focuser

TopHouse

By TopHouse
in Member Equipment Reviews

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TopHouse

TopHouse

Posted
Posted

I bought one of these last week, the main reason is I was getting fed up of the 'focusser shake' when manual focussing, and the fact with a single speed crayford as comes standard on the Explorer 200p, at high mag I had trouble making 'fine' adjustments.

Fitting is an absolute doddle, all you need to provide is a small philips driver, the rest of the stuff is provided. The focuser comes with different brackets/attachments to allow fitting to a variety of focussers so, just like an MFI wardrobe, you do have a couple of bits left.

Basically you just remove the 4 fixing screws from the plate on the crayford (the 4 that surround the tensioning bolt) Place the bracket over the top of the plate and replace the 4 screws with the 4 longer ones provided. Next, remove one of the knobs from your crayford using the supplied allen key, (you can choose which side the motor goes on) (read on to see one of my 'cons' with this)

The controller is attached using a coiled wire, much like the reciever wire on a telephone handset, there is a rotary for speed adjustment, allowing you to slow it right down for precision, accompanied by two buttons, one for each direction.

In testing, it works brilliantly, even at very high mag there is no sign of wobble during fucus and you can do very quick 'stabs' on the buttons to allow minute focus adjustments.

On the down side, because the crayford is a dual knob type focuser, I would have like to have still been able to go into manual mode and use the opposite knob to the motor, once this is fitted, without modding, it's only auto from then on.

I would really have liked to see slightly bigger buttons for the up down, and what would REALLY have made this focusser for me is such a simple thing, i don't know why they didn't do it as standard, that would be to swap the speed adjustment rotary for a slider, that would have made control a totally one handed operation, as it is, you have to turn the rotary with the other hand whilst holding the controller.

In the box they even supplied a decent quality 9v PP3 battery, not one of those cheapo 'flying bomb' type brands you've never heard of, AND some velcro for conveniently fixing the controller to your choice of spot, obviously you could fix it somewhere and use it whilst attached meaning you'd be able to turn the speed control, personally I liked to hold it in my hand so that a) I'm not feeling about for it whilst my eye is at the scope, and :eek: doing this would surely defeat the object and re-introduce scope shake.

Overall I do like it and it does solve a problem, the slider speed control though would have been the icing on the cake, but i would certainly recommend this piece of kit.

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simon84

simon84

Posted
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Nice review mate, been considering getting one of these for my 300P for some time now. Bit concerned that you cant use the other knob for manual use. Hope that 9v dosnt go flat during the night......

When using it did you find that you could achieve good focus with one press of the button until it was achieved or did you find you were stabbing at the button a few times until it was at the sweet spot?

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russ

russ

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I've had 4 of these fitted to various scopes over the past 5 years. It's a good little unit but my one gripe, already touched upon in the post above, is a lack of clutch or easy way to disconnect the motor. To be able to still use the manual focus knob would be awesome. Surprised Synta haven't improved upon this since it's release in 2005.

And i agree a slider would be better for the speed control.

All said and done it's a great little device that's well worth the money. It improves the feel of the standard R&P no end. And if you combine it with one of the crayfords (it fits the new dual speed DS crayfords with an optional adapter plate) you have a zero image shift electric focuser for £50. Bargain!

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Merlin66

Merlin66

Posted
Posted

I have these fitted to both my ED80's ( used with Ha filters and White light filters for solar observing) and by igonring the connections I can still use the manual knob for rough focussing. SO you're not locked into the electronic focuser at all times....

Ken

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TopHouse

TopHouse

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@Sly Well, last night was first use with it and I had my hyperion at 4.3 mm so quite high mag (saturn) so at the moment, until i get used to it I'm too'ing a fro'ing just a little bit, I reckon with more use you'd sweet spot it straight away, what is a godsend though is at high mag, say a planet, where it's not quite in focus and you're almost doing that touch focuser, wait for it to steady, is it in, no, touch again, wait for it to steady routine. With this there is absolutely none of it, image stays rock solid during focus with no shake whatsoever, you do find yourself doing little stabs back and forth in the hope that the image will come in that bit better lol

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simon84

simon84

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Sounds really good, I do hate that wobble at high power, it just takes the enjoyment out of it but with the auto focuser involved it sounds like it could be a thing of the past. Now just need to decide if I'm keeping my 300P or not.....lol. It never ends.

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russ

russ

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Yes you can force the motor for manual focus but i didn't feel comfortable doing it and it warns against doing so in the instructions. Plus the force needed means you can't lightly touch the focuser. But it's possible if you want to.

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  • 2 weeks later...
TopHouse

TopHouse

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Had a thought about this focusser and possible mod, in the original review I pointed out that speed changing was a two handed job and suggested the rotary be replaced for a slider. Thing is, do we really need such variations in speed? How about a 2 way switch with a resistor on one of the sides, giving a choice of either full speed or slow, it certainly makes one handed operation easy.

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tooth_dr

tooth_dr

Posted
Posted

I'm definitely gonna get myself one of these. The 250px shakes too much with the 5x barlow and toucam, and the pc screen is the opposite side to the focuser so I have to lean over to look whilst taking care not to move the ota. This seems ideal and at a good price too.

Any links to the FCUSB as I am unfamiliar with that term!?

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Cornelius Varley

Cornelius Varley

Posted
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The FCUSB replaces the controller. One side of the FCUSB plugs into your laptop and the other side into the focus motor. Software on the laptop then controls the focus motor. The control of the focus motor is very fine and is more accurate than the original handcontrol. The output port on the FCUSB is a standard 3.5mm jack and an extension cable is requires 3.5mm jack to RJ22.

Peter

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  • 1 year later...
Ggeo

Ggeo

Posted
Posted

Hi all,

Just bought my second one from flo, now have to fix it to my 10 inch Revelation. Absolutely no wobbles once it is on and great while the battery holds up. Can't manually override but an allen key will disconnect the drive if you want to go to manual.

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Viv

Viv

Posted
Posted
Always wondered how they get away with calling these an Auto-focuser... because it isnt... it does not focus automaticaly... :D:icon_scratch::p

Now - wouldn't that be a seller (if you could do it) !!

:(

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Psychobilly

Psychobilly

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Posted

Accu(ish)... I made the adaptors and brackets to connect mine to the 1x knob on the Megrez 72... I am toying with moving it to the 10 x reduced drive... will take forever to to manually get it into the ball park but should give nice fine control... although its a lot better on the Hitec Astro controller... and simulated stepper mode seems to work quite well...

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