Skywatcher Wave 150i

[JohnA (John)]

it would seem skywatcher have made a pier to suit the eq6 tripod though, maybe thats the one to get if you already have the eq6

https://www.highpointscientific.com/...pier-extension

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by JohnA

Does anyone bother balancing it as per the instructions?

Not me, but my kit is fairly light weight and on a pier. Might be prudent on a tripod.

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by Leo.G

Jonathan I love your hardwood mounting.

Thanks, I think it looks nice and it certainly works well. I could have had a metal plate fabricated, but if I don't make use of my stash of left over bits and bobs I may be forced to throw them all out!

[Leo.G (Leo)]

Originally Posted by AstroJunk

Thanks, I think it looks nice and it certainly works well. I could have had a metal plate fabricated, but if I don't make use of my stash of left over bits and bobs I may be forced to throw them all out!

I know the feeling but at 65 I'm starting to question exactly how much junk one man should have and throwing a lot of stuff out (or taking it to the local tip shop for someone else to collect).
But I am going to rebuild my old motorbike and 64 Austin Healey Sprite one day.

[JohnA (John)]

today i spent the day connecting it all up to the pc to test that it all works.
a little bit of mucking about with drivers etc, then constantly losing connection to the camera (which turned out to be the long 5mtr usb cable from the powered usb hub.. As soon as i removed that and put a 3mtr cable in its place it all worked perfectly.

The mount with the zwo carbon tripod and zwo pier weight next to nothing as a hole, and can handle that c925 with ease by the looks of things. At no point did it look like the tripod was unstable, but i agree, i wouldnt use it for very long imaging sessions in a windy environment.

I now need to just clean up the cables a bit and work out how to route everything neatly and looking forward to getting it out in the field

Here it is in the shed

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by Leo.G

I know the feeling but at 65 I'm starting to question exactly how much junk one man should have and throwing a lot of stuff out (or taking it to the local tip shop for someone else to collect).
But I am going to rebuild my old motorbike and 64 Austin Healey Sprite one day.

I've just downsized and had to sell my triumph and MGB. Toy's are important!

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Originally Posted by JohnA

today i spent the day connecting it all up to the pc to test that it all works.
a little bit of mucking about with drivers etc, then constantly losing connection to the camera (which turned out to be the long 5mtr usb cable from the powered usb hub.. As soon as i removed that and put a 3mtr cable in its place it all worked perfectly.

The mount with the zwo carbon tripod and zwo pier weight next to nothing as a hole, and can handle that c925 with ease by the looks of things. At no point did it look like the tripod was unstable, but i agree, i wouldnt use it for very long imaging sessions in a windy environment.

I now need to just clean up the cables a bit and work out how to route everything neatly and looking forward to getting it out in the field

Here it is in the shed

Looks very smart indeed, a few kg of weight in the sling should keep you out of trouble!

[Pasko (Pascal)]

Hi John,

I was wondering how the mount has been going since you've had it a few months. I'm tossing up between this and the AM5N since they are close in price. Thank you

[AstroJunk (Jonathan)]

Whilst I've not had nearly as much use as I would have liked due to the weather, I've certainly got no buyers remorse. I especially like the cable management solution although the oddly sized power plugs required me to get some adaptors initially before re-terminating some leads.

It is a little chunky compared to the AM5 but as a consequence has more capacity when counterweighted should that be a factor but either mount will chuck a scope around with ease.

The only extra features that the 150i has are the ability to balance the axes, not something I'm overly worried about, but if you plan to max out the capacity, may be useful, and a cable managed ST4 Port. These days the ST4 port is all but redundant, but there are some stand-alone guiders that need one.

[JohnA (John)]

Originally Posted by Pasko

Hi John,

I was wondering how the mount has been going since you've had it a few months. I'm tossing up between this and the AM5N since they are close in price. Thank you

Pascal, i have really been enjoying it. It is brilliant in use, super quiet and slews nice and fast.
With the c9 loaded on it using the ZWO carbon tripod and pier it tracks brilliantly even without the counterweight. What i did notice though, its doing more work without the counteweight and balanced, that it does with. Notice it on battery use.

I like you was tossing up between the 2 and decided on the wave150i due to its slightly higher payload capacity without counterweights, and a video i watched on the AM5N slipping with a very heavy load, think it was with a c11 or 14, ill have to find the video again. The 150i seemed to handle it with ease. Though this video was from skywatcher, so take that with a grain of salt i suppose

The other thing i wasnt a fan of was the limit of only a 5kg counterweight on the AM5N. It may be enough, but i know when i use the 5 kg counterweight with my c9, its almost at the bottom of the rod, so a heavier payload would need more which ZWO do not recommend

[Pasko (Pascal)]

Thanks John and Johnathan for your replies. Very helpful.

Indeed that is something very nice to have the flexibility to add more counterweight in the future if one day fortunate enough to own a monster scope (I can only dream). But it gives me more reassurance that the counterweight bar wont easily strip off from its attachment on the RA section. I haven't seen a teardown of this section of the mount to see how they have reenforced the attachment but presuming the SW engineers have done their due diligence. Made me think about this after I saw this video by James Lamb on his AM5N https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDbtMD-ihJI&t=1s

Originally Posted by JohnA

Pascal, i have really been enjoying it. It is brilliant in use, super quiet and slews nice and fast.
With the c9 loaded on it using the ZWO carbon tripod and pier it tracks brilliantly even without the counterweight. What i did notice though, its doing more work without the counteweight and balanced, that it does with. Notice it on battery use.

I like you was tossing up between the 2 and decided on the wave150i due to its slightly higher payload capacity without counterweights, and a video i watched on the AM5N slipping with a very heavy load, think it was with a c11 or 14, ill have to find the video again. The 150i seemed to handle it with ease. Though this video was from skywatcher, so take that with a grain of salt i suppose

The other thing i wasnt a fan of was the limit of only a 5kg counterweight on the AM5N. It may be enough, but i know when i use the 5 kg counterweight with my c9, its almost at the bottom of the rod, so a heavier payload would need more which ZWO do not recommend