I bought my AN about 3 years ago and put it on my 12"LB. Being an old fuddy duddy (even older than Baby Boomers) and brought up as a child when even a slide rule was high tech, I have an innate "fear" of all things electronic - I cant even change channels on the tele
Anyway, the AN hasn't had much use.... until last Saturday, I decided this is ridiculous.... READ THE INSTRUCTIONS JIMMY. So I did, and there it all was - absolutely magic. The AN even pointed me to a blue planetry nebula, which I had never seen.
What I like best, is when after 30 mins, I have to go in and make the supper, and then emerge an hour later, all I have to do is turn the scope the number of clicks that AN says, and there sure enough is the last thing I was looking at - AN has remembered that the sky turns.
Great stuff, Gary. Hey, I am going to learn how to turn on the tele now!!
Hi Jimmy,
Fabulous! These are the types of stories we love to hear!!!
Best regards
Gary Kopff
Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd.
P.S.
My advice would be to not worry about the television and keep observing!
Here are a few photos of the mount I've adapted for an Argo Navis on a Lightbridge 16.
While looking around for something to hold the unit I remembered that I had a spare articulated reading/work light that might do the job. The light was on a ball joint that can be tightened to hold it at a particular angle, and moved up or down and in and out as needed. I had to drill out the rivets holding the light to the ball joint, and then flatten the plate at the end of the joint so that it would sit flat on the piece of ply that I mounted the AN cradle on.
A piece of aluminium tubing was screwed onto the lightbridge mount. This is where the swivel at the bottom end of the articulated arm sits. I was able to bend a piece of the arm down so that it would stop the whole arm moving into the path of the telescope tube.
The arm is tensioned with springs, and this, combined with tightening up the bolts holding it all together has resulted in a flexible mount that stays where you put it. I can adjust the angle of the AN to suit, pull the unit closer to me, or push it away as needed.
You can pick these sorts of lights up in Bunnings, or in my case an industrial sewing machine shop about 20 years ago
Here are a few photos of the mount I've adapted for an Argo Navis on a Lightbridge 16.
While looking around for something to hold the unit I remembered that I had a spare articulated reading/work light that might do the job.
Hi Peter,
Great stuff! I like it it.
Thanks for posting the pictures as I am sure it will inspire other users
as to another approach for mounting the unit.
I bought Houghy's 16" lightbridge a couple of weeks ago, complete with AN. He told me he'd never used the AN but he'd bought it second hand. I set the scope up as soon as I got home and had a look around but didn't the get the AN going as I didn't have the manual downloaded at that stage.
Last night was clear and I invited a mate around for a look with the aim of getting the AN going. Well we didn't have much success... We couldn't get sensible results, so today I sat down with the manual and read it again in more detail and made some abridged notes of what I'd have to check... it turns out I made the mistake of assuming that someone had set the AN up correctly before... not so.
I went through the initial set up routine and found the azimuth encoder direction was wrong (as was the guide arrow direction). Once I fixed that, it was away... just brilliant!
What a great bit of gear! It impressed me the first time I saw it on Hector at the first IISAC, but it impresses me even more now that I've got it sorted and realise how easy it is to set up.
What a great bit of gear! It impressed me the first time I saw it on Hector at the first IISAC, but it impresses me even more now that I've got it sorted and realise how easy it is to set up.
Al.
Hi Al,
Thanks for the post and great o hear you are up and going!
Welcome to the extended family of Argo Navis owners.
Last week I made the order of the Argo Navis for my Lightbridge 12'' Deluxe and I'm very excited after having seen the good
impressions generated by the product. Here in Spain do not know anyone who has.
I wonder if I can use Argo Navis with the equatorial platform builted, or tracking is good enough without it.
Last week I made the order of the Argo Navis for my Lightbridge 12'' Deluxe and I'm very excited after having seen the good
impressions generated by the product. Here in Spain do not know anyone who has.
I wonder if I can use Argo Navis with the equatorial platform builted, or tracking is good enough without it.
thanks
Hi G,
Thanks for recently ordering an Argo Navis.
Greetings to you there in Spain and we have quite a few customers there.
Argo Navis can operate with a telescope whilst it is on an equatorial platform.
The table needs to be equatorial aligned. Argo Navis does no control the
table but works independently of it.
Argo Navis has a menu called SETUP MOUNT and you will set this to
EQ TABLE EXACT. There is then a setup menu called SETUP EQ TABLE and
another called MODE EQ TABLE. These menus are documented in the Argo Navis
User's Manual on pp 54-56 and pp 101-102.
Argo Navis has a dedicated equatorial table timer. You align you Argo Navis
as normal and then when you start the table you start the equatorial table timer.
When the table reaches the end of its travel, at your leisure, stop and reset the timer.
When you start the table again, start the timer. There is no need to re-align.
Argo Navis even has an audible alarm you can set to warn you that the table
has reached the end of its travel.
This morning I printed the manual and I was surprised how well written and the number of functions provided by Argo Navis. The equatorial platform control is amazing. I know many people with dobson telescopes, and I'm sure more than one purchase Argo Navis when I show it. It is a major expense, but I'm sure it will be one of the best purchases I've ever done.
Thank you very much for your kindness. I will put a picture of my Dobson with the Argo Navis mounted!
I've just bought John Glossops (JohnG) unit and G-11 encoder kit from him, as he hasn't used it since moving to his Tak NJP. Better than sitting in a box, he offered to me whilst we were imaging off the tennis courts down at BSG, so I didn't hesitate to say yes!
I've just installed the encoders - what a pleasure. Very nicely made by Losmandy - encoder, case, gearing (& delrin cover) and bearings. A breeze to install on both axes.
I've fired it up and have set the encoder steps. Now I guess I wait until a clear night to drag it all outside and do the do!
Great to have Gary here as a reference. From what I've heard he's bees knees in terms of support. Makes me feel good about going down the ArgoNavis push-to path rather than Gemini.
I've just bought John Glossops (JohnG) unit and G-11 encoder kit from him, as he hasn't used it since moving to his Tak NJP. Better than sitting in a box, he offered to me whilst we were imaging off the tennis courts down at BSG, so I didn't hesitate to say yes!
I've just installed the encoders - what a pleasure. Very nicely made by Losmandy - encoder, case, gearing (& delrin cover) and bearings. A breeze to install on both axes.
I've fired it up and have set the encoder steps. Now I guess I wait until a clear night to drag it all outside and do the do!
Great to have Gary here as a reference. From what I've heard he's bees knees in terms of support. Makes me feel good about going down the ArgoNavis push-to path rather than Gemini.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the post and welcome to the extended family of Argo Navis owners
and it is great to hear you picked up a free-loved unit and encoder kit from John.
It is always a pity how quickly time seems to go at a star party. On the Friday
night I observed from the main observing field and though the tennis courts
were close to my hut, I didn't get time to drop by and say hello to
everyone there. There were certainly quite a few folk I wish I had had
time to meet and catch up with.
One thing that works nicely on the Losmandy mounts is an advanced feature
called the Telescope Pointing Analysis System (TPAS) which is in-built in the
Argo Navis and is controlled via the SETUP MNT ERROR menus. Over time,
once you have a few more observing sessions of experience with the unit,
a TPAS run is worth considering. It can significantly improve the whole-sky
pointing performance of the mount which is something some users who demand
higher pointing performance can benefit from.
Thanks Gary - and thank you again for the TPAS advice. I can't wait to give the whole thing a good run and learn the full feature set. Something tells me that that is going to be quite a task! LOL! The ArgoNavis is very logically laid out, and coming from an industrial/human interface design background I can fully appreciate the way you've let this unit evolve.
I've hard-mounted the handset holder on my G-11's utility rack, along with the laptop (which runs PHD guiding, Voyager planetarium and now Argonaut) and my home-made field clock and timing system. Anyone mention the bridge of the Enterprise?
My main mission is to start imaging in earnest - and time taken in finding objects is a waste of that time in this endeavour. Another greaat thing about the ArgoNavis is that it's going to be able to point me to objects I can't visually see near a full moon in a light-polluted sky for H-a imaging. Brill!
Sean, Gary Kopff is the supplier. He has some posts in this thread. His company's website address is given. Have a look there for new - all the required bits. Sometimes one comes up secondhand in the classifieds and is pounced on! Eric