Starlight Instruments motor focus kit - with a caveat!
Here is= an odd ball one. As part of my general clear out of stuff I no longer use I thought I would offer my old Starlight motor focus kit.
This needs some explanation though. Back in 2007 I think I bought the motor (for my 3.5" focuser), the focus hub, temp sensor unit and the hand controller - all the items you can see in the attached photo.
When I brought my telescope out to Australia from the UK I fully expected to carry on using it but found that I simply couldn't get it to work, even though nothing appeared to be wrong with it. The reason for not working, it transpired after multiple communications with Starlight was that there was simply no drivers for anything beyond Windows XP and the person who wrote the drivers would no longer allow them to use it. There is no API available so writing your own is not an option either.
I bought a complete brand new kit to use with Windows 8 (crazy hey?!). The complete unit cost me a fair amount, but useless to me because I really wanted to update to a more up-to-date 64 bit OS.
So, in summary, this is a fully working motor kit but only if you are using nothing later than Windows XP. Of course if you are a visual observer it is perfect as the hand controller is excellent.
If this worked with Windows 8 I expect its value would be a lot higher, but then I wouldn't be selling it either. Limitations not withstanding, there may be somebody who could make use of this equipment at a super reduced price.
