Quote:
Originally Posted by gregbradley
I am interested in this camera. Did you get the enhanced cooling? Is that the 7 position filter wheel with 50mm round?
What guide camera are you using? I am using SBIG STi's and generally they are very good but occasionally the shutter fails to open when used in a hub (I presume its a voltage drop issue).
You have a very similar setup to mine that I intend to use it on. I have an AP RHA 305 with an Atlas focuser so your setup and mine are almost identical except I would want the 50mm square filters as I have those already.
Any hint of flexure problems with the OAG, filter wheel and camera? How much does it all weigh?
Greg.
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Greg, I used the QHY5L-ii on this. Any camera with CS adapter will work just fine in the OAG. (SX lodestar, SX superstar etc.) I think you might have to ask Moravian for a different adapter for the STi.
The QHY5L-ii driver is buggy. Mechanically it uses non stainless steel screws that rusted in our dewey weather. I had all kinds of connection problems last night. I cannot recommend it one bit.
I use an SX superstar on my other camera and have never had a problem with it. Lots of people in my club use the lodestar and it works great.
I did not get enhanced cooling. The camera should get to -20c very easily even in summer in my climate. At that temperature I measured the total system noise at around 11.5 e for a 15 min dark frame compared with 10.5e of read noise. -20c seems adequate from that data point. Perhaps you might need enhanced cooling, I dont know.
I use a 7 position 50mm round filter wheel. Moravian sells the square filter wheel with their 16803 cameras but not sure if that FW works with this camera. You can check with them.
With the camera+OAG, it weighs a total of 2.9 kgs. The Atlas shrugs it off like it is nothing. Yuri put in an extra thick backplate on my scope as part of his design change. There is no flexure anywhere. I attempted to measure tilt with CCD inspector. It looks flat everywhere.
Last night we had very good seeing at my dark location (by our standards). My stars ranged from 1.9 to 2.3" FWHM to the edge of the frame. I didnt have to do very much to get this. I suspect I will struggle a lot more with my FSQ as its mechanics are not as good as the TEC+Atlas. It is also a lot faster at F3.6.
I think you will be very happy with the 16200 chip on your RH305. The pixel size is ideal to get the best resolution out of that amazing scope. I chose the Moravian mainly because of the strong USD vs Euro. At that exchange rate I paid roughly 1/2 of what I would have paid for an FLI.
Cheers,
--Ram