#1  
Old 21-04-2022, 10:38 PM
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Drac0 (Mark)
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New mount incoming!

Well, my EQM35 Pro died the other day - for some reason my RA motor won't run properly, even after swapping it out with spare motor/cables. Looks like a controller board issue, the DEC motor works fine.

After having a think & discussing things with the finance minister who wasn't willing to fork over the money for a larger 'used' mount, I settled on a Sky-Watcher AZ-EQ5 GT. I did consider the AVX & HEQ5 but I think the AZ-EQ5 is a better option for me.

The lighter mount improves portability (I have nowhere I could set up even semi permanently) and save my back. And the money I saved over a larger mount can now go towards a cooled astro cam instead.

So apologies for the next month or two of rain & clouds...

Cheers,
Mark
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Old 22-04-2022, 06:44 AM
Startrek (Martin)
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Mark,
Good choice as I wasn’t aware of your situation with weight (back ) portability and not being able to set up permanently for periods of time ( the EQ6-R is more of a permanent mount, definitely not for someone with back issues )
You have the benefit of reduced backlash being belt driven and pec training if you want to go down that path
The stated 15kg payload is normally for visual, hence AP payload would be more like 10kg to 12kg max , still can carry a decent scope with camera and accessories
This mount will be whisper quiet when it slews, your going to love it
Enjoy your new toy
By the way , May is looking good for AP so you don’t have to worry
Cheers
Martin
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Old 22-04-2022, 08:06 AM
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AstroJunk (Jonathan)
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I could be biased, but I think it's an absolutely lovely mount and handles my Esprit 100 with ease. I've done a couple of automated all night imaging runs with it in conjunction with the ASI Air, and they have worked flawlessly with each other. Super happy.

They do tend to arrive with a little slack in the worm drive, but it's easy to tune out if you are chasing the very best on a blustery night.
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  #4  
Old 22-04-2022, 09:03 AM
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Drac0 (Mark)
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Quote:
Mark,
Good choice as I wasn’t aware of your situation with weight (back ) portability and not being able to set up permanently for periods of time ( the EQ6-R is more of a permanent mount, definitely not for someone with back issues )
You have the benefit of reduced backlash being belt driven and pec training if you want to go down that path
The stated 15kg payload is normally for visual, hence AP payload would be more like 10kg to 12kg max , still can carry a decent scope with camera and accessories
This mount will be whisper quiet when it slews, your going to love it
Enjoy your new toy
By the way , May is looking good for AP so you don’t have to worry
Cheers
Martin
Cheers Martin - got a swollen disc in my back which can cause some problems & this mount is even lighter than the HEQ5 so will be good for me. While they do say a 15kg payload for astrophotography my guess is they actually mean in EQ mode. Wouldn't really look at putting more than 10kg or 11kg on it anyway and what I have now only comes up to around 9kg max with the SCT. Hope you're right about May, we have had a very frustrating few months.


Quote:
I could be biased, but I think it's an absolutely lovely mount and handles my Esprit 100 with ease. I've done a couple of automated all night imaging runs with it in conjunction with the ASI Air, and they have worked flawlessly with each other. Super happy.

They do tend to arrive with a little slack in the worm drive, but it's easy to tune out if you are chasing the very best on a blustery night.
Glad to hear how well it goes for you Jonathan. Mine has the normal tripod, the pier tripods are harder to find, but I will be looking into getting the extension later. I had seen they do generally need a little tuning of the gears out of the box but it's not a major issue.

Cheers,
Mark
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  #5  
Old 26-04-2022, 11:24 AM
Todo43 (Lachlan)
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Hi Mark,

Great choice. It was my upgrade from a Star Adventurer. I can manage about 0.4 guiding at my lowest on the best nights (50mm guidescope FL200). My only downside is no polar scope. I have since got sharpcap but my young eyes are actually able to spot the pole stars from my location. The detachable polar scope is useless. Always slips out of alignment and is very difficult to align in the first place.

If I had unlimited money, I would have gone for an EQ6-R, because I never use the alt-az function. Quite handy for compact transport though!

Love the dual head and the counterweight extension bar. The actual scope mounting is just annoying compared to an EQ6-R as they are 2 bolts. Rather annoying when you get scratches all along your dovetail bar.

The final thing that I have found with the mount is the pier extension. It's really good when I'm using a big scope (Newt/long refractor) but I've found there's a lot of wobble with it. Very close to trying to remove the extension and use some sort of pipe or metal to replace it (Bunnings here I come)

Jonathan,

Did you ever find it was hard to get ASI Air guiding settings right? May I ask what are your settings? I get maybe 0.9 compared to 0.4 on PHD2 on the computer. Is there a weird setting that I'm missing? (Awesome setup by the way)

Mark, hope you enjoy the mount. Its a great in-between from a HEQ5 and a EQ6R.
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Old 26-04-2022, 12:32 PM
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Drac0 (Mark)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Todo43 View Post
Hi Mark,

Great choice. It was my upgrade from a Star Adventurer. I can manage about 0.4 guiding at my lowest on the best nights (50mm guidescope FL200). My only downside is no polar scope. I have since got sharpcap but my young eyes are actually able to spot the pole stars from my location. The detachable polar scope is useless. Always slips out of alignment and is very difficult to align in the first place.
Thanks Lachlan. Should be getting it TODAY! Not concerned about the polar scope - my eyes aren't as good as yours so I've been using drift align for some time & more recently a polemaster.

Quote:
If I had unlimited money, I would have gone for an EQ6-R, because I never use the alt-az function. Quite handy for compact transport though!
Weight & portability has become a bit of an issue for me, but I did come close to getting the EQ6-R

Quote:
Love the dual head and the counterweight extension bar. The actual scope mounting is just annoying compared to an EQ6-R as they are 2 bolts. Rather annoying when you get scratches all along your dovetail bar.
Probably end up replacing the saddle with a 3rd party dual head sometime in the future, I know ADM offer them.

Quote:
The final thing that I have found with the mount is the pier extension. It's really good when I'm using a big scope (Newt/long refractor) but I've found there's a lot of wobble with it. Very close to trying to remove the extension and use some sort of pipe or metal to replace it (Bunnings here I come)
I got the standard EQ tripod as I did read a few reports of people having issues with the extensions. I will be adding one later, don't know yet if it will be the 41cm SW one or a slightly shorter DIY model.

Quote:
Mark, hope you enjoy the mount. Its a great in-between from a HEQ5 and a EQ6R.
I'm sure I will, despite the forecast for the next week not being the best - it will give me time to play a little & get everything configured.

Cheers
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Old 26-04-2022, 12:42 PM
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AstroJunk (Jonathan)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Todo43 View Post
Did you ever find it was hard to get ASI Air guiding settings right? May I ask what are your settings? I get maybe 0.9 compared to 0.4 on PHD2 on the computer. Is there a weird setting that I'm missing? (Awesome setup by the way)
I just used the default settings IIRC and it seems fine to me. I have heard others say that PHD2 does better than the cut-down version in the Air, but the end results are excellent. My camera is 1.8 arc seconds per pixel with the Esprit 100, so the mount is certainly most capable of being guided well within my tolerances. Attached is an edge of field screen grab zoomed in.
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  #8  
Old 26-04-2022, 07:25 PM
Todo43 (Lachlan)
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Jonathan,

Wow. I have had to seriously tweak everything to get it to work and it still isn't great. Not 100% sure if I might have some sort of tilt as every sub I have has slight trails. Might take apart the filter wheel and see if there's something there otherwise I'm completely stumped. Might send an email to bintel about looking at the scope and seeing if anything is wrong with it.
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  #9  
Old 26-04-2022, 07:40 PM
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AstroJunk (Jonathan)
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I PA to within 2 mins and I put a bit of effort into getting as sharp a focus that can be achieved with the cheapo guide scope. I use eqmod to connect to the mount via a serial cable (the Skywatcher one works well) and the guiding is done through the ST4 port.

I initially had bad guiding results when using some Skywatcher driver to connect, then realised the error of my ways!
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