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Old 30-08-2021, 10:46 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
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HEQ5 Belt Mod 2nd Test

Put the newly converted HEQ5 belt modded mount to the test again on Sunday night. First decent night for a while and a quick test on a couple of favourites that weren't hiding behind the trees. Both shots taken with the ZWO ASI 120mms on a 6 inch Newtonian with Meade LRGB filters. Saturn was first, used a 5x Powermate. Took 4 min video grabs with LRGB filters under reasonable seeing conditions. I then got rid of the Powermate and did a prime focus on M16 it was freezing outside and all I wanted to do was pack up and head inside so I didn't get more than 30mins of data on this target. 6 X 50 seconds with each coloured filter and 10 x 90 seconds of Luminance, all unguided.
As you can see my PA was a bit off but at 750mm focal length on the tiny ASI 120's sensor, it showed up all the errors. Happy to say (not that I shot many) about 80% of my subs were successful, opposed to about 60% before the Belt Mod. I'm pleased with the modification and think it is worth the money and effort in doing it.
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Last edited by Mickoid; 31-08-2021 at 06:19 AM. Reason: Text correction
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Old 31-08-2021, 06:54 AM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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Looking good. Definitely worth the effort.
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Old 31-08-2021, 10:44 AM
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xa-coupe (Jeff)
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I'm assuming you used a guide, whose did you follow? I have all the stuff for the NEQ6 but am a bit nervous I'll stuff it up!
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Old 31-08-2021, 12:22 PM
Mickoid (Michael)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunfish View Post
Looking good. Definitely worth the effort.
Thanks Ray, it's also a lot quieter, which the neighbours may appreciate.

Quote:
Originally Posted by xa-coupe View Post
I'm assuming you used a guide, whose did you follow? I have all the stuff for the NEQ6 but am a bit nervous I'll stuff it up!
Jeff, as long as you have some mechanical ability you should not stuff it up. I've heard the NEQ6 is a little bit harder to do but the HEQ5 was quite easy so it won't be too hard. I just used the instructions that came with the kit and used my common sense when some of the steps jumped around a bit. I think you'll find plenty of info on the Net that will guide you through the process. Just be careful unplugging the electrical connections, most of the rest is pretty damage proof.
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Old 31-08-2021, 01:59 PM
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Anth10 (Anthony M)
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Mick,
Glad to see your reward for effort. Lets just say you've eliminated another pesky factor when it comes to tracking whilst deep sky imaging and can confidently yield a decent percentage of subs moving forward. The pillars look very impressive -I guess you would be keen to hit this target with longer subs to get a true gauge on the belt mods performance.

Well done mate.
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