Not a happy bunny

[Demonperformer]

After the conditions we have had over recent weeks, I was really excited about last night ... clear skies and an opportunity to try out my new ccd camera.

Well, I got the SLT set up, did my usual one-star align, set it off chasing another star, and half way through the slew, it reinitialized. It did this several times, with both the mains adaptor and the powertank:(. Was not prepared to waste too much time on it, so packed up the slt and got out the 6se, which worked fine, although it is not the best instrument for photography, being f10.

What really surprised me was the enormous difference in focus between my canon and the h9. I'm glad I decided to use Sirius, as I would never have found the focus with a fainter object. When I first changed cameras, the image of the star was a massive donut, practically filling the screen:eek: However, having got it focussed, slewed to M41 and got a total of three (faintish) stars on the screen - even with a 30s exposure. I knew I wasn't going to be able to fit the whole cluster on the chip, but I did expect a bit more than that. After playing around for a while (back at Sirius, using an X-mask to try to capture the Pup - failed:() went back to an eyepiece which I have adapted with a semi-circular cardboard shield to try to see it as the primary drifts out of view - failed:(. Not my most productive evening. I am obviously at the bottom of an even bigger learning curve than I expected. [Yes, I know, it was naive of me to think it would be just swap one camera for the other and everything would be hunky dory].

In the mean time, I have to do some investigation on the slt. Hopefully it is just the 'connector problem' that has always cursed my 6SE has infected the SLT. Really don't want the electronics of the mount to have died.

[jgs001]

DP, sounds like a bit of a pain of a night... My SLT did just that, and tweaking the pin in the mount made quite a difference. I don't know the SE, but I'd expect it would use a dovetail bar, in the same way as the SLT... why not just swap the scopes over, and put the scope from the SLT on the SE...

[Demonperformer]

John, I actually used to do that when I got the 102 OTA, before getting the mount. The really weird thing I found was that I had to mount the OTA upside down - with the focussing wheels on top. If I did it the right way round, it would always slew in the wrong alt direction. Never understood it, because I thought once you had it aligned it should know where the sky was anyway, but always happened. Can always go back to that if the mount has fried, but the only problem then is, because the SE mount is not 'slanted' like the slt mount, I am restricted to about 60 degrees alt before the OTA hits the platform.

Of course, if it has fried, I could always use that as the excuse I need to buy an HEQ5 ...

[Demonperformer]

Well, I have just done a dry run on the mount, and it has run through almost the entire az circle without a problem. Can only think that I was not fully plugged-in (on both occasions?) last night when operating in the dark/cold. Suppose I was just in too much of a hurry to start on my new camera.

So, slightly happier bunny now:)

[jgs001]

Does the SE not have a built in wedge ? so you can operate it in EQ mode ? That would defo be better. I get you on the arm mounts though...

With the odd slew, the mount operates with the assumption the scope is fitted in one direction, but if you mount it the other way, everything is back to front ...

It might be a number of things, but I'd suspect the pin on the mount power socket... I had to carefully widen mine to stop it doing just that.

[Psychobilly]

Spread the pin and put a collar of blutack around the plug after its been fitted...

You can get "pro" plugs that have a threaded collar that you use to hold the plug in place...

Billy...

[Demonperformer]

Mystery solved re power outage:

It all worked fine yesterday evening, but when I set up again this morning zilch. This time I noticed the red light on the adapter was not on. Replaced with power tank and everything was fine. When packing it all away I noticed the cable had frayed where it was coming out of the adapter - obviously been heading that way for a while as one of the copper cables had broken - no wonder I was getting no power through!!

Looks like a trip to Maplins tomorrow morning.