EQ3-2

[onmehedson]

Hi there, I`ve been spending the past couple of nights playing with my new Skywatcher 150PL, and i have to say I`ve been blown away by it.

However i have a question about the stability of the stand and EQ3-2 mount. There seems to be a lot of `wobble` at the eyepeice. What I mean is I was able to veiw Saturn at a massive x380 magnification ( I still have the scuff where my chin hit the floor). But when I tracked the planet with the slow-mo cable by the time the image stopped shaking Saturn had raced across the field of veiw and out of sight. This meant i had to track slightly in advance and wait for Saturn to appear in the eyepiece. It shakes at the low mags also.

All bolts and screws are tight and i was wondering if anyone else out there has this mount and stand and could tell me if this is normal for this set-up, it just seems a bit excessive to me.

thanx..

[Bizibilder]

A couple of things would help diagnosis - What is the EQ3-2 mounted on? If a tripod what sort? What sort of ground are you on? Grass, soil, concrete etc?

However X380 is stretching a 150mm scope - its theoretical max is x300 and the ACTUAL max you could use in our atmosphere and seeing is more like x200. Also at x380 the image WILL rapidly move across the FOV unless you have a driven mount. At x200 it moves pretty quickly! and that's the maximum mag I most often use for planets and the Moon.

Don't forget that the slo-mo cable will transmit vibrations from your hand to the mount.

[zhgutas]

yeah, it is normal, unfortunately. especially for the lighter mounts. I've owned EQ3-2 for quite a while and had had some vibration issues even with ST102. imho it is mostly to do with the tripod legs (the standard aluminum ones, they're really flimsy), as even eq3-2 could be made well sturdier by upgrading the tripod legs to tubular steel ones, as for the eq5 (or quality wooden!), or mounting the head on a peer. Another option is to add RA drive to the mound (or RA and DEC) so you wouldn't need to turn the knobs manually thus eliminating some of the vibration. For the start, you could try not extending the legs to full length if the height is enough.

However IIRC the EQ3-2 has a little play in the head itself, so there will still be vibrations from that. However the stability can certainly be increased/vibration diminished quite significantly with above options.

HTH

Marius

[RichieP]

Biggets improvements I made to my EQ3-2 were fitting a wooden tripod (a TAL tripod in this case - which also added some well needed height) and fitting a motor drive.

Regards

Richard

[John]

You can substitute a steel tube tripod for the aluminium one (the EQ5 / HEQ5 tripod fits the EQ3-2) will help make the mount more stable. 380x in a 150mm scope is rather overpowering the scope as the others have said - you will get better (more contrast & detailed) images at around 200x. To be honest I think the EQ3-2 is a little on the lightweight side for the 150PL tube. I have a 6" F/8 refractor and that needs a CG5 mount as a minimum for visual use.

[onmehedson]

Thank you all for your help, looks like a tripod upgrade is required in the future as well as the drive motor which I planned to buy..

I had only just bought a new 6.3mm eyepiece and whilst playing I coupled it with the 2x barlow and pointed it towards Saturn. Peeped in just expecting to see a fuzz-ball but astonished to see a cracking image. The 150PL is a fantastic scope, just a pity about the stand..

Cheers again..

[Bizibilder]

As a temporary measure you could stiffen the tripod by binding some timber to the legs and aid stability by adding weight to the tripod (hang a few bricks off it!). No I'm not being silly! this will actually help.

[onmehedson]

Not silly at all Bizi, I`ve actually brought 2 concrete blocks from work home with me tonight !! Thanx for the suggestion..