Tempest Observatory - Page 4

allan gould · #61 15-12-2010, 09:32 PM

Well after seeing Hough'ies post about his Maxdome II i phoned up Sirius Observatories and laid down the money for automising my dome.
I'll let David have all the problems first and learn from his mistakes.
Hopefully his goes easily and he posts many photos - hint, hint.
Mine will arrive in the 3rd week of January - cant wait.

h0ughy (David) · #62 15-12-2010, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allan gould

Well after seeing Hough'ies post about his Maxdome II i phoned up Sirius Observatories and laid down the money for automising my dome.
I'll let David have all the problems first and learn from his mistakes.
Hopefully his goes easily and he posts many photos - hint, hint.
Mine will arrive in the 3rd week of January - cant wait.

lol crash test dummy

Tandum (Robin) · #63 15-12-2010, 10:03 PM

What did it cost allan/dave? I know the lions share will be that maxdome stuff. Did they break the costs down for you?

allan gould · #64 15-12-2010, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

What did it cost allan/dave? I know the lions share will be that maxdome stuff. Did they break the costs down for you?

I only purchased the dome rotation/Maxdome setup as I couldnt go the whole hog with automating the shutter. Its normally about the $3100 mark but I got a "pensioner" discount as Ive just retired and blow me down there they were in the list of companies that give "seniors" a discount. Couldnt believe my eyes and so it became my retirement/Xmas gift to me.
SWMBO thought it was a great idea!!!!!!!!!!!

allan gould · #65 15-12-2010, 11:19 PM

I will have to contact a few people in the BrisVegas area that have the automated domes (there are a few) and see how they go together so I have a good heads up prior to installation.

Tandum (Robin) · #66 16-12-2010, 12:48 AM

$3K eeek ... I'm pretty sure the dome has to come off to fit the toothed ring.

h0ughy (David) · #67 17-12-2010, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

$3K eeek ... I'm pretty sure the dome has to come off to fit the toothed ring.

hopefully the instructions will answer this for you

allan gould · #68 17-12-2010, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

hopefully the instructions will answer this for you

Thanks for that David. At least one of us will read the instructions before attempting the installation.
By the way I'm thinking of changing the name of my observatory to something like "calm, dry and serene with clear skies" observatory. Holy crap the weather we have had over the last few days sure made the observatory live up to it's present name. High powered winds, incredible rain fall and who knows what else has been thrown at it. Thank heavens I installs those storm cleats - no leakage or anything.

h0ughy (David) · #69 17-12-2010, 10:45 AM

thats good news Allan that everything is safe

allan gould · #70 17-12-2010, 02:49 PM

David
Had a quick read over the instruction sheets for the installation and it appears that you dont have to take the dome off etc. Was there any information in relation to slaving the dome and the scope?
Thanks again, Allan

h0ughy (David) · #71 17-12-2010, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allan gould

David
Had a quick read over the instruction sheets for the installation and it appears that you dont have to take the dome off etc. Was there any information in relation to slaving the dome and the scope?
Thanks again, Allan

Allan, i knew you didnt have to take the dome off, but i wasnt sure if i had to lift it slightly - i dont. I have yet to read the manual fully fo the install, but as to maxdome - have not looked at that yet - baby steps

Tandum (Robin) · #72 17-12-2010, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

hopefully the instructions will answer this for you

That looks pretty easy. So the motor runs off the battery and it is charged by the solar cell? Excellent.

h0ughy (David) · #73 17-12-2010, 03:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tandum

That looks pretty easy. So the motor runs off the battery and it is charged by the solar cell? Excellent.

your guessing right

allan gould · #74 17-12-2010, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by h0ughy

Allan, i knew you didnt have to take the dome off, but i wasnt sure if i had to lift it slightly - i dont. I have yet to read the manual fully fo the install, but as to maxdome - have not looked at that yet - baby steps

But you know im a bigg bbaby and i want to know NOW.
Want to know what software etc needed.......WAHHHHHH
Allan

Tandum (Robin) · #75 17-12-2010, 08:00 PM

Allan,
Brett posted this in the starshed thread.

Quote:

The way to sync the dome to your telescope via lesvedome dome driver is to select your ascom telescope as POTH (plain old telescope handset) when you configure POTH you select your normal ascom telescope driver and lesvedome as dome driver and they will sync up.

Brett

I'd guess you just swap lesvedome dome driver for maxdome driver.

allan gould · #76 17-12-2010, 09:58 PM

Robin thanks for the info and David the Maxdome II driver has just been updated. See http://www.cyanogen.com/maxdome_dl.php

allan gould · #77 31-12-2010, 03:26 PM

Well after all the rain here in SE Queensland over the last week or so I thought that I should go over the observatory with a fine tooth comb and do some minor maintenance. Little did I know that a colony oof very small ants had taken over and infested the floor beneath my plastic lining (put there in case some insects wanted to house inspect). Luckily they didn't come into the rest of the observatory so I took out the rubber matting and carpet flooring. Threw away the plastic but kept the insect screen and terminated all the ants. After that I siloconised all the gaps in the floor, replaced the insect screen, carpet and rubber matting. So hopefully no more ants. After doing some general tidying I noticed that there were small black smudges on some of the surfaces. MOULD. So o then wiped put the whole of the dome with exit mould and I hope this will keep that on check. I guess I will do a 6 monthly spring clean to make sure all works well. I greased and lubed it all. So that it will be ready for the Maxdome automisation qhich will arrive sometime in January. Can't wait.
Anyone else having troubles with mould and how to combat it?

h0ughy (David) · #78 31-12-2010, 06:11 PM

thats not good getting mould and you cant help the weather?

allan gould · #79 16-01-2011, 05:52 PM

Hooray..............
Finally recieved the Maxdome II kit from Sirius onservatories. After a lot of visual help from Dave Hough and practical from Peter Bester, I managed to install it and finally test it all out. Since I didnt do all the proper dome measurements etc the slaving of the dome to the scope was a bit out but I managed to trial it on M42 last night and some other objects and all appeared to work.
Anyway today I went back and measured everything and put that in the ascom dome control program - measured the home offset from true North plugged in all the data, and it works like a dream. Very sattisfying.
But I must admit that the instructions were poor or non existant in some critical places for the installation. Could have been a lot better in my opinion.
But checks on the internet and reading the bad and confusing manual a few times (the installation CD was a joke and all that was pertinent on it as the maxdome driver - the rest wouldnt install) it now works a dream.
Happy at last and all I need is some clear skies.

allan gould · #80 19-01-2011, 12:02 AM

After installing the Maxdone II control for the dome I twisted Peter Besters arm and he graciously helped me to install remote desktop on my observatory laptop and an indoor laptop. How great it is to have one going in the observatory and the other inside away from the mozzies. Peter also made a good suggestion and I installed a small webcam in the observatory so that o can also monitor the scope and it's environs remotely. Could comein handy. Thanks Peter for all your assistance. Much appreciated.