go to

[john guy]

any know if a vixen GP mount about twenty years old be upgrade with a go to, if so what kit ?
regards J G

[Tinderboxsky]

I think the Skywatcher EQ5 GoTo upgrade kit bolts straight onto all of the Vixen GP series mounts.

Here is my GPD with the upgrade kit. Works very well - accurate GoTo and tracking.

The kits are expensive. Don’t expect to get the price back when eventually selling the mount.

Cheers

Steve

[john guy]

thank you

[DavidTrap]

How handy are you with a soldering iron?

I'm mucking around with a OnStep open source goto system for an EQ3 at present - seems to do all the right things at this stage, although the weather in SEQld isn't conducive to testing outdoors at present.

Here is the link to the wiki - takes a bit of time to work it all out (well, it did for me) but so far, the system is working as described.

https://groups.io/g/onstep/wiki/home

DT

[ChrisV]

Do you like DIY? Plenty have done it to the eq5 (incl. me) and some to the vixen gp. Works beautifully

https://groups.io/g/onstep

Edit: David just beat me to it. To mount the stepper I started using aluminium and a nema17 bracket. I then 3d printed the bracket
https://groups.io/g/onstep/topic/14406044

[LewisM]

3 available options:
1. Skywatcher EQ5 goto upgrade kit (the EQ3 version is not compatible)
2. Vixen Skysensor 2000 if you can find one (likely will need a replacement battery soldered on)
3. iOptron GotoNOVA

First 2 work really well. iOptron... not sure they even make them anymore.

[rrussell1962]

I am oddly attached to Vixens SS2K GoTo kit, but having used the Skywatcher EQ5 add on would probably go for that. Apart from the Vixen battery issue the cabling is prone to fail over time - both of mine failed but I managed to source 3 new ones which should keep me going for a while.