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Ioptron Minitower (Std.) arrives...

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Thanks Folks.

As they say, Olly... soyons optimiste - Or something like that? :p

If it works reasonably well, it would fulfill most of my happy, limited, and even future, aspirations: Visual mostly, image dalliance, maybe? I'm sure many are familiar with the general [ioptron] "story", but I might just add a few random thoughts (pitfalls) ... :D

ASSEMBLY: No problem. Hey - Who reads instructions? LOL. For a while, I didn't quite figure the Azimuth locking washer mechanism, but a diagram to this precise effect, was enclosed prominently. Doh! :)

HARDWARE: Overall, good impression. Mount Head weighs in at about 11lb - Idem tripod. When assembled, the whole entity is surprisingly rigid - At least better than a Synscan or EQ3-2... :(

LOADING: To represent a reasonable challenge, I am currently trying a 2" adapted MAK150 + Hyperions - 12lb, with the 8lb counterweight (provided) on t'other side. The (CD) documentation suggests loads of 25lb + 8lb are possible. Hmmm - We will see... :p

OUTSIDE: Placed on my "Starpad" (Talitha, pat pending!) the internal GPS (eventually?) found a data source and (accurately!) filled in my site location (deg, min, sec) and several other defaults... :(

REVVING THE ENGINE: With resolutely cloudy skies, I tried to do a few simulations! With the MAK150, plus counterweight, there was no lack or available torque. Within limits, I tried to stall both axes, but the mount fought admirably against such iniquities! You can clearly change a 400g Hyperion with no slippage in Azimuth. ;)

TV DINNERS: In indoor mode, I then fiddled with the mount controller. For a while I was perplexed - The mount coordinates didn't agree with Stellarium! But somewhere / something(?) had set my "GMT offset" to +60 min. So, finally, panic over! B)

*IF* the sun emerges today, I might even try a few ad-hoc tracking experiments... :p

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AAAARGH! I suppose inevitably(?) there would be problems. Being limited by total cloud cover yesterday, I continued to fiddle with the mount indoors, slewing it to various (imaginary!) targets. But yesterday was rapidly to became "one of those days"... :p

Gradually had the feeling that something was rather radically wrong with the workings of this mount. Of course, it must be a quite a complex process, this alt-azimuth tracking? Servo motors, position comparitors, feedback loops etc. etc. E.G. Tracking Polaris requires very few motor moves. But in tracking objects far from the pole the drives began to SOUND horrible! A pleasing low-level coffee-percolator background, but with occasional "Tardis like" straining / gratings. Whereas both motors were seen to increment and / or decrement position, there seemed to be little regularity and, at times, one / both would STOP dead, then seem to be trying desperately to play "catch up"! After a few extended stops, eventually the handset would BEEP, and complain of "motor overcurrents" and the whole thing would just abort completely. :(

None of the manual hints seemed overly helpful. I know that the scope is well balanced and both axes free to spin. Moreover the power supply (mains!) was not a likely problem. Finally, in desperation I checked the two YAHOO groups on the Ioptron mounts. Eventually, I found a reference to "firmware versions": It SEEMS my handset was flashed to firmware appropriate to the new (bigger) Minitower PRO. This, one state-side guy claimed: "gives all sorts of problems" with the (my!) Minitower standard. So, late last night, I reloaded the firmware to the "correct" version. Tracking the began to sound a *lot* smoother and the position increments and decrements were far more regular... And no sudden ABORTS! ;)

So, here we are today. At the moment the mount sits outside bearing my trusty MAK127, tracking the (white light filtered!) Sun. Four hours, plus a few random "GoTos", and the Sun is still DEAD CENTRE of a one degree field! Readout suggests tracking is now good to arc seconds! I sense the mount is working???

:)

BUT, we shall see! These are basically "one star" alignments. With a bit of luck (and clear skies) I can begin to do some real tests tonight... A few crossed-fingers might help though? :D

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Well, thankfully, a rather HAPPY conclusion to this thread... for now, anyway. :hello2:

Last Night, I put the Ioptron (fairly comprehensively) through it's paces with my 12lb (counter-balanced) MAK150 for about 3-4 hours of, fairly intensive, Messier "GoTo-ing". In summary, ALL of about 20 brighter DSOs were found WELL within the typical (maximum!) field achievable with a MAK150 - A full charge of my 7Ah Celestron Power Tank proved more than adequate too. :hello2:

In detail, I used a 31mm 70 deg Aspheric which, with 35mm (sic) diagonal, gives about 1.2 deg True field as a "finder" eyepiece. After the recommended preliminaries re. leveling the scope (I used a digital level, so p/m 0.2 deg?): I did a simple "Synch to target" - Effectively one star alignment on Altair. I then "Went-To" Vega and Deneb... and they were, as near as damnit, central in the field above. A pointing accuracy of 0.2 deg at VERY worst? Better could doubtless be achieved with patience, cross hair eyepieces etc.

Encouraged, I did a proper 2-star alignment. The mount powers up with the default assumption of pointing South with scope trained on the Zenith. So I followed the setup suggestion by (roughly and visually) aligning South (digital levelling as above). After zero-ing in on Altair, the mount suggested I chose a second star "in the West" - Arcturus seemed fine by me...

The mount then slewed almost EXACTLY to Arcturus and no real correction was needed. From there on, I was able to "GoTo" all the DSOs I tried and [very] WELL within the 1.2 deg field. These latter covered from (roughly) North East to North West, Horizon to Zenith. Basically, I felt a single start-of-evening two-star alignment was MORE than adequate for most purposes...

To be slightly critical, the mount is still quite noisy on (default GoTo) "fast slewing" and emits a quite LOUD (permanent?) beep on successful targeting of objects! It still "burbles away" while tracking, but in a (now) reasonably quiet / constant fashion... perhaps more "relaxing" than distracting?

Minor point is (as often noted): The MENU scheme of the Handset (unlike Celestron / Skywatcher) doesn't include dedicated Messier, NGC buttons, etc., so you need a few more keystrokes for (often repeated) actions. The keys also require quite a FIRM push to get them to engage consistently...

Assuming it's future LONGEVITY, and after a (IMO avoidable!) FIRMWARE problem, I am now well satisfied with my Ioptron Std. Mount. Tests with a MAK 150 proved well within it's loading capabilities. I plan ultimately (perhaps) to get a roll of shed and even a "posh" 7" MAK? But that depends on real life... :p

Not sure about a review. "By popular request", maybe? Heheh. Despite my REAL enthusiasm for this mount, there remain the usual questions re. quality control and support? It WILL though work (almost!) out of the box, and notably without HARDWARE mods. It is [iMO] still a VERY fine (unique?) concept! I am happy to answer questions from anyone still interested / awake... :)

P.S. I will try and check out (even raise!) the "Firmware Issue". This is likely the most obvious potential cause of chagrin for those unfamiliar with the customary "hassles of science" etc. :)

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Just a postscript:

MOST of all I think it clear that MiniTower std. users should ensure they have the correct working firmware. :)

Some useful links:

http://ioptron.com (See support page for firmware)

Altair Astro (UK Distributor)

Mini_Tower : Mini Tower (Yahoo group)

ioptron : iOptron Telescopes and Mounts (Yahoo group)

Steve Forbes’ Astro Blog — It’s full of stars! (Ioptron mods / discussion)

Now, if the darned thing would but talk to Stellarium... :)

(Seems to work with CdC though)

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