EQ Mounts and limits

[crowlord]

I am partaking in the good old pasttime of window shopping, I have aperture fever but want to keep some tracking ability.

This has led me to a consider a nice EQ mount and with this in mind the possibilty of tube swapping comes to a head.

So the question is...

Given the frankly baffling array of mounts listed EQ HEQ etc what is the general tubesize limits on the different mount classes and how easy is it to fit a not powered EQ mount with a RA tracking motor?

TIA (this really is an idle info request so dont worry too much about hunting down info unless...like me... you are very, very bored!)

ps what exactly do the classes mean?

[Cornelius Varley]

The numbers used by Skywatcher don't really mean anything special. The EQ1 is the smallest mount and takes the lightest load and the EQ6 is the biggest and takes the heaviest load {25kg). Adding dual axis motors to the EQ3-2 and EQ5 takes 10 minutes, adding the RA axis motor to the EQ1 and EQ2 mounts 5 minutes. All the motors are held in place by a single bolt and are easy to install.

Peter

[crowlord]

Excellent food for thought answer. My next buy will be planned to an epic scale!

[OzDave]

I did this research a while back, but can't remember where I got the payload data from in the end. However, EQ3-2 can take about 5kg, (H)EQ5 can take up to 15kg, and EQ6 can handle 25Kg.

However, I've heard that its best not to max out the mount if you want to get decent performance for imaging, or maybe even visual.

I found that 15Kg seems to be some kind of magic middle ground that most mounts in the "middle-weight" class seem to support (e.g. Losmandy, Vixen, Celestron etc). If you want a setup heavier than that (e.g. SW MN190 Mak-Newt), then you really need to go for an EQ6. Apparently that particular mount is well-sturdy. I think I remember reading some astro-magazine review which said that they practically had to thump it to get any kind of vibration.

Hope this helps,

David