Max Dome II on a Sirius dome

[strongmanmike]

Sick of being a mule that has to rotate the dome all night while imaging...I am considering upgrading my Sirius 2.3m dome

I have a question, what do people use to control the slaving of their dome opening via Max Dome II so it follows their scope?

Is anyone using the Astro Electronic FSQ (http://www.astro-electronic.de/fs2.htm) mount controller in their mix?

Cheers

Mike

[lazjen]

I just use the ASCOM Dome controller - it hooks up with the dome plus scope and keeps them in sync. You can configure it for your setup and turn off sync if you want as well - that can be useful when doing a meridian flip as it can chase the scope during that time. :)

[h0ughy]

You will be needing to purchase the hardware kit for the dome as well as the maxdome card and software. I used the ascom driver after unsuccessfully trying other proprietary software. Marcus was about help for me looking at the setup. Siruis has a new owner now so not sure how the kit availability is but I say you already have enquired?

[strongmanmike]

Dave, I am thinking of completely upgrading to a new Sirius 2.3m observatory or a dome only option, with automated dome tracking.

Ok, so the hardware (board) supplied by Sirius, that interfaces with the dome motorisation, comes with a stand alone bit of software that can communicate with what ever Planetarium program (I use STAR Atlas pro) you are using to control your mount, is this correct?

Mike

[h0ughy]

Mike it's just a question of retrofitted to your existing dome. Hammer drill screwdriver and some colourful language and you too can enjoy the experience of a lifetime. No biggie ��

Installing the kit was OK, getting it to work should be as well but I must have been holding the door for all the others who successfully got it to work. I bought automadome from software biscuit and bought a licensed version of the sky 6 and couldn't get the thing to work. So just gave it up and used ascom driver and the Gemini software for the Mount. Should work on with staratlaspro

[DavidTrap]

Talk to Brett Soames - he builds a very nice ROR.

DT

[strongmanmike]

ROR??? :eyepop: NEVER!!!!!!!! I'm a dome only man :D

Mike

[strongmanmike]

So I am still not too clear (ex strongman :P), what exactly comes with the dome to enable automated rotation and how would I actually interface everything, if say, I was using STAR Atlas Pro to control my mount, any idea?

Mike

[lazjen]

That's what I sort of saying in my original post - so long as you get the kit to add to the dome (the hardware and control box), connect it to your PC, and have ASCOM drivers for your mount, the ASCOM dome control will do all the rest for you. Download it and fire it up to see what I mean. It's connection to the mount via ASCOM is "read only" and doesn't interefere with other applications.

Note that rotation is one part, you can get more stuff to open/close the shutters as well (I don't have the hardware bits for that).

[AstroJunk]

ASCOM has a utility called POTH (Plain Old Telescope Hub). It connects to your telescope, dome and optionally, focuser. When you use your favourite program to control the telescope, you select POTH rather than the telescope itself and POTH will transfer those commands to the scope as well as automagically slewing the dome and keeping it in sync without you ever having to worry about it.

POTH has loads of other great features too, but that's for a later date :)

Takes a bit of setting up and getting used to, but once it's up and running, you will never look back!

[DavidTrap]

More room, less mechanical points of failure. 😉

DT

[strongmanmike]

I was just kidding Dave :)..roll offs are good too, particularly if you want to look at the sky with wider field shots. Having gone from fully exposed outside to fully protected inside a dome, with no noticeable detrimental effects except squishiness :P (I need to lose weight), I am completely sold on the full protection of a dome.

Mike

[strongmanmike]

Thanks for the feedback guys, visited a few websites and I think I have a better understanding now. When the time comes I may need to pick some more brains though :question: :thumbsup:

Mike

[allan gould]

I use the Sirius dome kit with Max dome 2 to control my roof. Used to use ascom driver but there was a fault some where in the system which made tracking off so that you had to fiddle the parameters to get it to track well with the scope. In the end I found the SGPro would do it better and that's what I now use.

[DavidTrap]

But you can't put two piers in a dome ;)

DT

[lazjen]

Actually, you could, depending on the dome size. It would not be ideal though. :)

[strongmanmike]

:lol: true...but you can put two scopes on a mighty Tak NJP! :D

[stefang]

Or 4 with SOPHIA, a 10Micron HPS 3000 baby!
sG

[strongmanmike]

True...I must concede defeat....:sadeyes:..I did feel like humping the NJP though, when it performed with a 100kg total load :evil2: