Well I finally stepped well away from trusty CG5 mount that has served me so capably, well above its weight class. It has carried scopes requiring 17kgs of counter balance, and tracked for 10 minute guided shot and done so remote controlled from another PC about 50 metres away.
So what am I on now - well I bought Looking Up second-hand Atlux and there is a significant difference - and not just weight.
So this weekend I re-drilled two of my Skywatcher 5 kgs weights (a 25mm drill bit costs $57 - two Vixen 7.3 Kgs would be 1-2 month waiting and $300 - $400 easy) and sandwiched a normal 5 Kg gym weight between them - perfect balance.
Mounting this beast to my pier needed a simply plug and re-drilling a 12mm diameter hole about 55 mm into soft Aluminum. That was the task from hell! Aluminum is so soft it grabs the drill bit out of the drill the moment it bites. It took about an hour to do this - involving much swearing.
Now I bought the power and signal cables I needed from Jaycar electronics - and left them at work - d'oh!
And a Vixen SkySensor2000-PC interface cable from Astro Optical (but I still need a 3-5 metre serial extender cable).
Domo arrigato gazhi mushati - is close to the full extent of my Japanese, so I had to search for a 140 page instruction manual in English. This took two days and I'm up to page 12 due to other jobs.
It functions - but the interface is very different to the Celestron and far more capable and complex (at least for me the display on the SkySensor is in English). I did get it to talk to Cartes Du Ceil too - so that was a plus!
On set up you have to start with the OTA horizontal facing East. I used to hibernate the CG5 pointing at the SCP. I haven't read yet whether the SS2000 has a hibernate function but I hope so!
The SS2K has several very impressive features. After a 3 star align I read it works out SCP alignment pointing error and either helps you fix it (by slewing to a star then showing the alignment error and getting you to manually move the mount Up/down or left and right to re-centre the star), or it simply compensates by running both motors at the correcting rate depending where in the sky you are looking, and compensates for the refractive index of the air at this position and compensates for the type of object you have targeted - star, comet or satellite.
I have to thank Steve for the great gear he's passed on to me. The more I learn its capabilities the more I'll be impressed I feel.
Some piccys follow. I will note now I really want to find a dovetail bracket that can handle the 75 mm wide CGE dovetail, rather than the 40 mm CG5 dovetail. Push the top of the SCT and it moves slightly - not because of the mount or pier - but because the CG5 is simply too narrow at the base to hold the OTA firmly. You see the bolts connecting the Dovetail to the OTA are only 20 mm separated - whereas the CGE bolts are 40 mm separated and the dovetails extends to about 120 mm wide - so it really holds the OTA stably. I'm thinking of machining my own dovetail bracket holder out of a 90 mm - 100 mm rod of aluminum or iron - about 20 mm - 25 mm thick! (two groves and a lock bolt or two, and the bolt holes to attach it to the mount and I'm done!).
Anyone know how wide the Losmandy dovetail bars and brackets that hold Celestron C9.25 OTA's are? I'd rather buy than build!
On set up you have to start with the OTA horizontal facing East. I used to hibernate the CG5 pointing at the SCP. I haven't read yet whether the SS2000 has a hibernate function but I hope so!
It doesn't have a "hibernation" mode as such. You can just turn it of pointing anywhere. When you turn it back on it will ask you to aim it east. If you press escape it will just take up from when you turned it off with the same alignment still in memory. This is very handy if you accidentally pull the power out (in my case by tripping on the battery I used). You just turn it back on and continue where you left off.
The Atlux is rated to 22Kgs - for astrophotographic use, so its carrying capacity is similar to a EQ6, but its pointing ability should be 3 to 4 times better. Its software is a bit dated, but extremely powerful.
The dome roof I made from 5 or 7 ply ribs - like a sailing boat - and simply streched thick black plastic over it stapling it on with a gun using copper staples. I made a slide out viewing portal that pivots back on a aluminium guide rail. It's not a hemisphere, rather its a hyperbolic design to keep the whole structure under the 3 metre rule (i.e the dome roof is about 2.3 metres in diameter but only 1 metre above its rim). It turns easily by hand rolling on 12 shopping trolley type wheels. All up the dome roof probably cost around $200 - $250 to make, plus about 4 days effort. It's alot less beautiful than a Sirius dome, but at a fraction of the cost and its fully waterproof. I intend to put a stronger surface on the roof (poly carb or galvinised iron) bent into shape in my next holidays.
Terry,
Taa - just read that. Its a clever function. I'll probably create a home position (say the SCP) and label it as user defined point number one in my Land menu and simply go there at the end of each viewing session.
Yes the way it stores date and time is beautiful, and the resume from last powerdown where ESC equates to scope hasn't moved is clever.
I can't wait till the Astronomer is half as capable as his new equipment!
Looks alone its a killer. I'm half way through the manual and I keep discovering new things it can do. I just hope they are available under the primitive ASCOM driver that exists for the Atlux.
I've noticed on slews it doesn't over correct and reverse like the CG5 - it just goes there and stops dead. But on Cartes Du Ciel the CG5 ASCOM drivers had a check box to display left, right, up, down nudges - the more advanced Vixen (runs the LX200 emulator) and doesn't seem to reveal this really useful feature when remote viewing.
Any ideas?
PS
Found out yesterday an excellent machinist lives about 100 metres from me! I will see if he can machine me a dovetail bracket that can hold my C9.25 by its wider CGE dovetail bar!
Matthew,
nope, sorry, not up to speed with either the Atlux, or the CG5.
If you are semi-permenant in the observatory, maybe give though to bolting the rail directly to the mount, if this is possible.
Could be, but the easiest solution may be buy an aluminium 120 mm wide rod 20 mm deep, cut two groves in it to hold the CGE, drill two holes to bolt it to the base plate and tap two more holes as the lock nuts.
Yep, but depends if you need a "saddle" or not. In my case I use a selection of scopes on and off the one mount, and therefore need and use a saddle, plus each scope has it's own rail.
If you have just the one scope, and no need to remove it for transportation, then the simplest is to make it as solid as you can, and as close to the pivot as you can.
1. Finished the manual
2. Got a serial extender cable working to control the Skysensor - no tripping over wires now
3. Wired a permanent power supply adapter to the mount
4. Created a special auto-guider cable - quite hard actually given the Atlux doesn't use the S-BIG Stv-4 convention and requires a design with no 5 volt line but with two grounds - and you have to crimp these to a 6PC6 type plug - very fiddly. The piccys were lousy so attempt one was backwards, had to cut the head of reverse it then it all worked!
5. Did a 3 star align in non aligned equatorial mode - was about a degree off SCP - picked a star, shifted to aligned equatorial mode, executed goto the same star again - manually rotated the head to adjust for drift, now gotos seem quite good.
* * *
Still learning PHD's quirks with this mount, and CDC doesn't seem quite as accurate unless you really zoom in, but goto's seem on chip very well.
Really just wished I had those remote nudging commands operating now given its 7 degrees outside!
* * *
One other strange behaviour - sometimes PHD works a treat, sometimes there are double stars - not so much trails but an oscillation - got to fiddle some more to get this going up to its capability - but its fun - the achievements and the setbacks.
Really just wished I had those remote nudging commands operating now given its 7 degrees outside!
* * *
One other strange behaviour - sometimes PHD works a treat, sometimes there are double stars - not so much trails but an oscillation - got to fiddle some more to get this going up to its capability - but its fun - the achievements and the setbacks.
I don't know about CDC as I use skymap pro. It didn't have a hand controller emulator either. All I would do to nudge it was to zoom in on the cross demonstrating where to scope is pointed, right click a few arcmins to the side I wanted to nudge it and tell the scope to goto that point.
The other alternative is to not use PHD but use guidemaster. It has a nudge controller on the screen.
One thing I have found to nudge - with possible irritating side effects - is set the CDC control to Meade rather than ASCOM and connect to the LX200 emulator in the SkySensor2000 as a real LX200. In fact I disconnected from CDC - started AutoStar suite - and connected as if it where a real LX200.
This on the surface appears to work fine and reveals focuser (I use a Meade focuser via a JMI USB controller port) and fine nudge controls - but I think it screws with the pointing - I shifted about a bit - then all gotos were a few degrees off. I tried doing alignments again but I couldn't get past 2 stars - often only one.
Hmmm, perhaps it's the motor settings under the LX200 - it defaults to 60 HZ I think - maybe the SS2K uses a different setting - many variables to consider here - and plenty of ways to stuff up!
So I packed it in and will try again tomorrow when I'm a bit sharper!
One thing I have found to nudge - with possible irritating side effects - is set the CDC control to Meade rather than ASCOM and connect to the LX200 emulator in the SkySensor2000 as a real LX200. In fact I disconnected from CDC - started AutoStar suite - and connected as if it where a real LX200.
This on the surface appears to work fine and reveals focuser (I use a Meade focuser via a JMI USB controller port) and fine nudge controls - but I think it screws with the pointing - I shifted about a bit - then all gotos were a few degrees off. I tried doing alignments again but I couldn't get past 2 stars - often only one.
Hmmm, perhaps it's the motor settings under the LX200 - it defaults to 60 HZ I think - maybe the SS2K uses a different setting - many variables to consider here - and plenty of ways to stuff up!
So I packed it in and will try again tomorrow when I'm a bit sharper!
Thanks all - stay tuned!
PS
Isn't GuideMaster Webcam only?
I am using a Qguide with guidemaster. Not sure what other cameras it will use.
Another option is to try POTH for nudging via ASCOM.
Nice one mate. I have a New Atlux as well and love it. The ss2k controller is very powerfull and accurate and so is the mount.
would be interested to see how you go with using PHD as I have the same but have not tried it yet.
Cheers
Mike
Ps be careful with the cable exiting the ss2k as it tends to sag under its own weight and will eventually cause contact problems. I put the ss2k on a small piece of board that extends past the top of the ss2k and have the cable resting on the board as well so the tension is not on the connector.
Yep - the machining is certainly excellent. I hang the SSK2 from a cord so the cable doesn't take much of the strain - but thanks for the heads up I'll make a more rugged unit to do what you suggest.
I've yet to properly drift align the Atlux - that may be tonight. My focus was first on getting all the gear mated, then getting PC control happening, then enabling auto-guiding (bugger of a cable to wire there compared to say an S-BIG).
I'm about to order Losmandy saddles and connectors to let the mount more firmly hold the OTA's, then it's into more precise Goto performance analysis.
I'm thinking of trialling MaxPoint as a ASCOM low-level POTH hub to see just how precise the pointing can be. After that my target is all on the tracking - sometimes stars have oscillated in shots - showing me my polar alignment is off and PHD may be over-correcting. So I have to fix polar alignment and determine the optimal settings for PHD, my cameras and the OTAs.
All part of the fun bringing various pieces of kit together and getting them to play well!
Another option that I have used and still use as my image capture programme is Audela available at http://audela.ccdaude.com/
It uses ascom as well as other direct connections and has an option similar to Maxpoint to map the errors in your drive. You can link it to CDC but I am yet to work out how. It has the nudge controlls etc.
Well in my software post I've yet to try this, but I see POTH confuses the heck out of CDC once you execute a goto. The goto works, nudges work, but the scope position on the CDC screen doesn't seem to update! Grrrh!
I see PHD isn't helping things at present - its corrections cause stars to jiggle - I can see it real time on the PHD over a 10 second time slice!
Now after a 3 star alignment gotos are fine, but a 4 minute shot of NGC 5662 - was impressive (even with alignment being likely 1/2 a degree off) stars are beautifully round. The SS2K seems to adjust for mis-alignment very impressively!
My new toy
