#261  
Old 20-06-2013, 09:01 AM
ntk.thava (Hamish Thava)
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EQ8 on EQMOD

Hi ALl, I have tested running my EQ8 with EQMOD and MaxIm DL. It all works. Only issue I am seeing is while autoguiding where there seem random spikes in the RA and DEC while doing long exposure. I am addressing this issue with the supplier now. WIll keep you all posted.
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  #262  
Old 20-06-2013, 10:10 AM
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pmrid (Peter)
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My EQ8 finally arrived here today. Thanks to Steve M for keeping the thumb on Tasco and their carriers.
1 day to get from Sydney to brisbane and 6 days to get from Brisbane to me - 80 km away. Gotta love it!!

Thanks for the heads-up on the EQMOD thing Robin. I have an EQ5 EQIR dongle here so I'll give it A whirl later today. Too much excitement for one day. I need to lie down.
Peter
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  #263  
Old 20-06-2013, 10:48 AM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Pete, apparently the hitech astro and shoestring adapters are known to work at 3.3v. At this stage all others are suspect.
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  #264  
Old 20-06-2013, 11:06 AM
TrevorW
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Always amazes me how people will spend $5000 on a mount then skimp on matching counter weights
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  #265  
Old 20-06-2013, 12:02 PM
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h0ughy (David)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrevorW View Post
Always amazes me how people will spend $5000 on a mount then skimp on matching counter weights
well i didnt - i bought an extra two
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  #266  
Old 20-06-2013, 12:30 PM
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pmrid (Peter)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tandum View Post
Pete, apparently the hitech astro and shoestring adapters are known to work at 3.3v. At this stage all others are suspect.
The adapter I have is the Shoestring RJ45 to USB version (i.e. it sets up a virtual COM port). What troubles me is that being a USB connection at the PC end, it will be feeding 5 volts (or thereabouts) into that connection. I don't know what sort of power there is in an RS232 connection. Is it the same? I don't think and MBs put out a 3 volt line do they?

Another thing - BALANCE. Has anyone else found this - the 2 motors sit well out on the east side of the mount and have a major impact on balance. Follow the balance instructions with the 2 axes horizontal is fine because the motors are balanced on either side of the RA axis. But as soon as you swing the weight bar off the horizontal position, gravity takes over in a big way. Perhaps this is Synta's way of loading the mount to be a bit east-heavy but the mis-distribution of weight is a lot more than just the usual "little bit east'.

Peter
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  #267  
Old 20-06-2013, 12:38 PM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid View Post
The adapter I have is the Shoestring RJ45 to USB version (i.e. it sets up a virtual COM port). What troubles me is that being a USB connection at the PC end, it will be feeding 5 volts (or thereabouts) into that connection. I don't know what sort of power there is in an RS232 connection. Is it the same? I don't think and MBs put out a 3 volt line do they?


Peter
Quote from skywatcher:
Quote:
The motor controller on the AZ-EQ6 and the EQ8 are using 3.3V logic, and in the future, all our new motor controller will use 3.3V logic, too. But we have made sure that the communication interface is +5V tolerant and the new motor controllers will be compatible with the old SynScan hand control. The EQMOD user should make sure that their adapter can receive 3.3V serial input signal reliably.
Also you confuse a 5v dc supply with signalling levels, although these devices just happen to communicate at a 5v ttl level.
Skywatcher claim the mount can handle 5v ttl signalling. The 5v dc powers the electronics in the signalling device.
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  #268  
Old 20-06-2013, 12:39 PM
TrevorW
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well i didnt - i bought an extra two
Nice
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  #269  
Old 20-06-2013, 03:47 PM
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2stroke (Jay)
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Any PE data to share? Thats what i'am more keen on then anything. No point in having a sweet payload capacity if the thing doesn't track for my use, provided there used nice bearings the specs look mighty nice.
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  #270  
Old 20-06-2013, 03:47 PM
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Sounds like this is the adaptor needed for EQMOD if it needs 3.3V rather than 5V?

http://www.dontronics-shop.com/ftdi-...ter-cable.html
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  #271  
Old 20-06-2013, 03:53 PM
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pmrid (Peter)
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The good news it the Shoestring RJ45-USB cable works fine with EQMOD in Maxim. So far so good. Got to that stage and for some reason the filter wheel decided to go into hibernation and won't talk to me. Just as well it's clouded over for the next week. I can see a fair bit of tinkering to come.

But: the mount talks to me and seems to behave appropriately.

EXCEPT for balancing. See post below about that. I'd be interested to hear others' experiences with that.

Peter
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  #272  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:02 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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I'm obviously like many others very interested in the capabilities of the EQ8 mount.
Can we start another thread for "EQmod running with the EQ8"????
There are many other features and capabilities I'd like to see discussed/ reviewed.
Not all of us need/ want EQMod (well at least not all the time!)
It may well be that some users will only use the handcontroller and no computer etc attached. (visual observers....)
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  #273  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:08 PM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2stroke View Post
Any PE data to share? Thats what i'am more keen on then anything. No point in having a sweet payload capacity if the thing doesn't track for my use, provided there used nice bearings the specs look mighty nice.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/a...e.php?a=141575
I see 4.4 peak to peak raw and 2.18 peak to peak corrected on this one.


Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid View Post
Another thing - BALANCE. Has anyone else found this - the 2 motors sit well out on the east side of the mount and have a major impact on balance. Follow the balance instructions with the 2 axes horizontal is fine because the motors are balanced on either side of the RA axis. But as soon as you swing the weight bar off the horizontal position, gravity takes over in a big way. Perhaps this is Synta's way of loading the mount to be a bit east-heavy but the mis-distribution of weight is a lot more than just the usual "little bit east'.

Peter
Yes mine is a little heavier on one side.
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  #274  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:14 PM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66 View Post
I'm obviously like many others very interested in the capabilities of the EQ8 mount.
Can we start another thread for "EQmod running with the EQ8"????
There are many other features and capabilities I'd like to see discussed/ reviewed.
Not all of us need/ want EQMod (well at least not all the time!)
It may well be that some users will only use the handcontroller and no computer etc attached. (visual observers....)
Are you talking about yours Ken?
Anyone with a camera connected is going to use ascom on the mount
Anyone with it in a dome requires ascom on the mount.
I haven't seen an eq6 with a handset connected to it in years.
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  #275  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:18 PM
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rustigsmed (Russell)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid View Post
The adapter I have is the Shoestring RJ45 to USB version (i.e. it sets up a virtual COM port). What troubles me is that being a USB connection at the PC end, it will be feeding 5 volts (or thereabouts) into that connection. I don't know what sort of power there is in an RS232 connection. Is it the same? I don't think and MBs put out a 3 volt line do they?

Another thing - BALANCE. Has anyone else found this - the 2 motors sit well out on the east side of the mount and have a major impact on balance. Follow the balance instructions with the 2 axes horizontal is fine because the motors are balanced on either side of the RA axis. But as soon as you swing the weight bar off the horizontal position, gravity takes over in a big way. Perhaps this is Synta's way of loading the mount to be a bit east-heavy but the mis-distribution of weight is a lot more than just the usual "little bit east'.

Peter
Yes noticed this too.
Getting another counter weight this w'end.
hanging for the full moon to pass ...
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  #276  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:37 PM
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DavidTrap (David)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pmrid View Post
Another thing - BALANCE. Has anyone else found this - the 2 motors sit well out on the east side of the mount and have a major impact on balance. Follow the balance instructions with the 2 axes horizontal is fine because the motors are balanced on either side of the RA axis. But as soon as you swing the weight bar off the horizontal position, gravity takes over in a big way. Perhaps this is Synta's way of loading the mount to be a bit east-heavy but the mis-distribution of weight is a lot more than just the usual "little bit east'.

Peter
Wouldn't they be "west" for those north of the equator?

DT
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  #277  
Old 20-06-2013, 04:42 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Robin,
I use both a HEQ5pro (solar imaging) and the NEQ6pro (spectroscopy) without EQmod and without ASCOM....just the handcontroller/ CdC/ PHD/ Al's reticule/ AstroArt5
What more do you need????
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  #278  
Old 20-06-2013, 06:13 PM
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Tandum (Robin)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Merlin66 View Post
Robin,
I use both a HEQ5pro (solar imaging) and the NEQ6pro (spectroscopy) without EQmod and without ASCOM....just the handcontroller/ CdC/ PHD/ Al's reticule/ AstroArt5
What more do you need????
So only the eq6 see's night skies and you wouldn't need an eq8 for spectroscopy.
If you want to know what the handset does, check out your eq6, it's exactly the same.
I'm wondering how many of these aren't going into an obs?
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  #279  
Old 20-06-2013, 06:18 PM
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pmrid (Peter)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AstroJunk View Post
It needs 4amp power supply at full load. Its a hungry beast. A computer supply isn't designed to deliver that sort of peak current through a single outlet. Jaycar is your freind...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tandum View Post
So only the eq6 see's night skies and you wouldn't need an eq8 for spectroscopy.
If you want to know what the handset does, check out your eq6, it's exactly the same.
I'm wondering how many of these aren't going into an obs?
Apparently they are being offered for sale in the UK as mount only - no tripod.
Peter
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  #280  
Old 20-06-2013, 06:42 PM
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AstroJunk (Jonathan)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tandum View Post
Are you talking about yours Ken?
Anyone with a camera connected is going to use ascom on the mount
Anyone with it in a dome requires ascom on the mount.
I haven't seen an eq6 with a handset connected to it in years.
Just a small point Robin, ASCOM is perfectly OK without EQMOD if you plan to be at the scope, ie enter the date and time by hand. Nothing particularly wrong with Synscan - ask any Celestron owner!

(Having said that, I'll be using EQMOD to operate the scope remotely!)
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