Hi I have for sale a Sky Commander
complete with all cables and US digital
encoders.
This unit is currently mounted on a 10" GS Dob.
I made my own mounting hardware for my dob this is included in the price if you want it or if you can make it fit your brand of scope.
I am asking $350.00 shipped to your door or you are welcome to pick up in Brisbane.
its complete for a GSO but the hardware was home made on my lathe from aluminum and Stainless steel for the brackets. A slighty larger hole would need to be drilled through the base to fit the bottom encoder.
If somebody local buys it I can help fit it.
Iceman they are DSC's or Digital setting circle's
non tracking Goto for Dobs,
lots of info here
http://www.skyeng.com/
if you need any pics of how they fit on your scope then I can send you some.
It seems this is a newer model,which is PC upgradable which is about the only diference I think.I can.t find it on the Sky Commander website so I am just using the info that is on the link Vermin gave.
I just checked the Servocat page and it lists the Sky Commander as being compatible . It doesn't say which version , so my guess would be the older version as the newer one was only released in December
interestingly I can't find a webpage for the New SC I have only seen reference to it in a few forums and the link Vermin gave.
installing is easy,
the only mod you will have to do is drill the bottom hole larger to 20mm to accept the bushing that holds the encoder.
I tried to keep my instalation simple and not change my mounting but I found the bottom bushing required a larger hole to work properly.
the side bearing requires you remove the black plastic spring holder thingy and screw in the adapter I made, the encoder fits into this.
there is no need to use the springs on both sides.
Here is the bottom installation,
The only one that requires any work to be done.
The brackets you see that hold the encoders I made to fit my 10"
so they should fit yours , if not I can make you some if you send me the correct measurements.
The SC runs off a 9V battery and can be run off a 12V
I will also include an older 12V gell cell, this helps as it turns on a heater in the LCD which the 9V does not.
The 12V will run the SC for about 4 months without charging depending on the tempreture where you live, in winter I only get about 2mths between charges.
The Sky Commander has a 4 contact RJ11 connector so it can be connected to the serial port of a personal computer. This allows the Sky Commander to interface seamlessly with several commercially available astronomy programs such as The Sky, Megastar or Guide. Also, SkyView, a shareware DOS program, is available for download from this web site.
This will show where the scope is pointing with a set of cross hairs.
The accrucey is great, I find that doing a realign on a bright star when moving from E to W or N to S helps and only takes a second or two to do. Also you can realign on the objcect which helps keep things accruate.
Ice, the three holes you can see in this last shot where my first attempt at making the bushing without drilling out the hole , it didn't work , you would not have these holes with the new adapter, the new adapter just goes through the main hole and is held in place by three screws from underneth.The stainless arm holding the encoder is held inplace by the nut which holds the handle in front of the scope on.
Ice, theres every chance that it will work with Cartes du ciel
the program has provision for connecting to encoders, and the SC encoders are standard.
I will give it a try and let you know.
I don't know about Starry Night, but I think the software choice for me would be CDC (its free) or The Sky V5.
I find Starrynight hogs the comp too much.
