Anyone with a Celestron 130SLT or using an SLT mount? Gather here!

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Been the owner of a 130 SLT for 2 years now and have made many modifications to it which have been worth while.
- Got rid of the standard tripod and grabbed a tripod from a Skywatcher Refractor which seems to be more steady. Had to remove the original tripod head and buy custom screws and bolts to fit the SLT mount base.
- Added some tube rings which greatly reduce shaking. It use to take about 5-8 seconds to calm down now only about 2 seconds.
- Electronic focuser which allows me to fine tune the focus on any object which is great for astrophotography.

I didn't want to spend a lot of money improving the telescope so I bought the upgrades second hand.

However as owners of this telescope know or anyone else when spending under 1k for a Go-To telescope you will get a crappy tripod.

Problems that still exist:
- Tracking??? It seems to track alright when I use the telescope for observing the planets at high magnifications but when using it for astrophotography the tracking seems not to track properly. I brought this up in another thread and a member on here suggested I do a 2-3 star align since I have been doing a solar system align. I need to still try this out but thought I would mention this if anyone here has the same problem?
- When using the electronic focuser the entire focuser seems to move slightly before moving in and out. It's almost there is a bit of wiggle room and when moving the focuser in or out it moves a bit then does what it needs to do

Other than those minor problems I think it's a great telescope for the price and is portable.

Anyone that owns this telescope or an SLT please post any comments in here and if you can relate to any of the issues I have listed above.

[Kunama]

Hi Stefan,
I had a 130 SLT for my son a few years ago, I had some tracking issues with it and replaced both motors, that solved the problem.
The idea of tube rings is good as the stock mounting flexed quite a bit.

[l3gendluk3 (Luke)]

I own a 130 slt and have had no problems with the tracking. Can you specify what problems you are having? Also it sounds like the focuser hasn't been installed correctly (if you can specify the model name/number I could have a look). Personally I have had no problems with the 130 other than the light weight tripod which I sort of fixed by putting some bags of rice on the accessory tray.


Edit: Your tracking issues could be due to having too much weight on the telescope (cameras, electronic focusers etc,). Do you align the telescope with the camera or an eyepiece? The reason I ask this is because aligning the telescope with all the weight on it for normal tracking will increase the accuracy of said tracking.

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Originally Posted by l3gendluk3

I own a 130 slt and have had no problems with the tracking. Can you specify what problems you are having? Also it sounds like the focuser hasn't been installed correctly (if you can specify the model name/number I could have a look). Personally I have had no problems with the 130 other than the light weight tripod which I sort of fixed by putting some bags of rice on the accessory tray.


Edit: Your tracking issues could be due to having too much weight on the telescope (cameras, electronic focusers etc,). Do you align the telescope with the camera or an eyepiece? The reason I ask this is because aligning the telescope with all the weight on it for normal tracking will increase the accuracy of said tracking.

I think the weight of the items are alright. It has tube rings, electronic focuser and a camera. I always align it with the eyepiece but when doing astrophotography I am starting to align an object dead centre with the camera. Once its aligned with the camera the object starts to move then eventually off screen which is why I am thinking it's because of the basic solar system alignment.

[multiweb (Marc)]

I had one of these and imaged with it for years. The scopes are great but the tower of terror they come with is not so good. I got a G11 straight away and my life got much simpler all of a sudden.

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

I had one of these and imaged with it for years. The scopes are great but the tower of terror they come with is not so good. I got a G11 straight away and my life got much simpler all of a sudden.

Stefan - I now have Marc's old 130SLT, which I use exclusively for imaging. My scope has been fitted with a 2" focuser, and I have also installed a larger secondary for better field illumination. I'm using it on a HEQ5.

I've only had the scope for a short while, but click HERE to see the images I have taken with it so far.

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Woah, those shot's are amazing!! Can you take some photos of your setup and post them here?

Originally Posted by rmuhlack

Stefan - I now have Marc's old 130SLT, which I use exclusively for imaging. My scope has been fitted with a 2" focuser, and I have also installed a larger secondary for better field illumination. I'm using it on a HEQ5.

I've only had the scope for a short while, but click HERE to see the images I have taken with it so far.

[rmuhlack (Richard)]

The setup is shown in THIS thread

[04Stefan07 (Stefan)]

Originally Posted by rmuhlack

The setup is shown in THIS thread

Thanks mate! Fantastic setup.