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Post by fondofchips on Nov 16, 2016 6:14:27 GMT
SW AZ EQ6 motherboard was £120. I'm doing a refresh in the warm room as well, getting the monitors off the desk and up on to the wall. There is still a gremlin in the 12v supply, I suspect it is the solar panel controller, have disconnected all items I don't need to run the scope, and will connect them back one at a time until I find the fault.
Clear sky tonight, might get a chance to test the mount and the Mallincam.
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 5, 2016 18:05:08 GMT
Well the mount is still playing up, new motherboard worked OK initially, parked it up, powered it up again and it refuses to move. Initialising is also slow. Will probably have to send the mount away for repair. Considering upgrading to the EQ8 mount.
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Post by davy on Dec 5, 2016 18:53:13 GMT
Bit of a bummer,, the eq8 looks a nice upgrade😃
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 8, 2016 9:14:30 GMT
I've noticed some flickering on the 12 volt supply box LED voltage meter (strange), so I've ordered a 30 amp power supply so I can separate the mount/telescope/dew heater/focuser power from all the other stuff that is connected to it. I picked this one: - www.pjbox.co.uk/amateur-radio/ham-power-supply/qjps30ii-30-amp-switch-mode-power-supply-unit-psu.html I paid a bit extra for the meters and front/rear connectors, (went up in price £4 overnight). One thing to note is that the Ham Radio dealers are running out of stock while they wait for the pound to recover its value, and prices of power supplies are rising or they are out of stock. I previously used a 7.5 amp battery conditioner/180ah battery combo to power up my obsy 12 volt equipment, which has worked OK up to now. So I'm going to test each part of my system to see where the problem is, helped by the 12v power socket on the new power supply. I could not find any photographs of the mount motherboard connections, so I asked for help on SGL and promptly got a reply and a picture, now I can check the mount motherboard connectors are in the right places. stargazerslounge.com/topic/282759-azeq6gt-help-needed-with-motherboard-connections/I need to rule out bad power supply for my mount issues.
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 8, 2016 14:31:27 GMT
WOW! Now that's a Power Supply!!!!
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Post by davy on Dec 8, 2016 18:59:52 GMT
That's a really good price harry,. And it has noise reduction,,, brilliant,,,I have the usual one from maplins,,think it was about £40,, a good power supply is essential in video astronomy,,the power supply i got with my Phil dyer had me rubbing my head,, I was getting Hz phase line's in my captures,, maplins power supply sorted it out,,, give us feedback on how you get on with it,, think it will be on my shopping list once I get my observatory done.
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 9, 2016 10:48:05 GMT
I use Four separate power supplies, one for each item. That way if one packs up it doesn't take everything else offline. 1 for main camera 1 for Finderscope camera 1 for heater controller 1 for mount and one empty socket for Hair Dryer
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 9, 2016 12:11:01 GMT
I have a socket for a hair dryer as well Ken, it is labelled up 'Dew Heater'!
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 9, 2016 12:32:18 GMT
I have a socket for a hair dryer as well Ken, it is labelled up 'Dew Heater'! clever
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 9, 2016 19:07:16 GMT
Good news at last, the power supply has sorted out my mount problems and I have wired it in to my distribution box on the pier. Even with the dew heaters, motor focuser and the mount running the power supply hardly breaks into a sweat. So I have reset the park and unpark positions with CDC & EQMOD and I'm waiting for the cloud to clear. The wind has become blustery so maybe even if the cloud clears it may be difficult to keep the camera steady.
Anyway I'm back in business, just need the pesky permacloud to go away.......................
It's typical isn't it, one forecast is saying clear the other cloudy, guess which one is right, DOH!
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Post by davy on Dec 9, 2016 22:15:32 GMT
Great news your all sorted harry,,,the weather god won't be happy your all set ,,clouds for next fortnight expected lol
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 10, 2016 10:56:07 GMT
Astronomers Curse But still good news Harry
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 15, 2016 9:08:21 GMT
Astronomers Curse But still good news Harry Ken is usually right, but I wish that didn't apply to this weekends forecast - wall to wall cloud. DOH!
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 18, 2016 13:08:59 GMT
Well I have ditched the erratic Startech Video grabber and replaced it with this one - Pinnacle Dazzle Video Creator Platinum, model DVC100 with Studio HD 15 Software. I've set it up today and quickly had the colour bars up on screen. I was hoping for a clear patch as the Moon is up during the day but the cloud persisted. More or less ready now, just need some clear sky. Software with the Dazzle grabber looks good too, and its compatible with Miloslick, so fingers crossed.
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 18, 2016 14:02:37 GMT
Yes, different video grabbers can be unpredictable and fussy.
I have 2 of the expensive (over-priced) mallincam video grabbers and they worked fine in Win7, but since I upgraded to Win10 they both make the laptop give of a horrible high-pitch ear-splitting whistle and the image is only average.
I switched back to my el-cheapo EZ-cap grabber which was only mediocre in Win7 and in Win10 it works better than the others ever did.
Strange huh!
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Post by davy on Dec 18, 2016 16:13:12 GMT
Think it's either John or it was Karl that has the pinnacle usb grabber and said it works a treat,,I had bought a few Chinese did get copies of the easy cap a single and a 4 channel and although workable,,they created too much noise on screen,,I have the genuine ezcap,,got it from a Scottish bloke who sells them,, best quality out.
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Post by davy on Dec 18, 2016 16:20:01 GMT
Just to remind folk, that if you are using an analogue CCTV camera like the good old sammy,, a CCTV DVR is a great piece of kit to add to your system.
I have a four channel 1.5tb hard drive in mine. How to set up multiple cameras. Fit cameras to CCTV DVR,fit a monitor to DVR,, you can capture all four cameras to CCTV DVR, you can also watch one channel or all four at same time,yiu can fit an av splitter from CCTV DVR to monitor and connect it to a USB grabber on your laptop, and have a digital feed straight to your laptop, Davy's multi camera array spec.
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Post by fondofchips on Dec 20, 2016 9:00:23 GMT
Thanks Davy for the information. The most frustrating part is when the sky is clear and your kit is playing up. Video grabbers seem to be a common problem. I will let you all know how I get on with the new one.
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Post by fondofchips on Jan 2, 2017 18:40:02 GMT
OK so I've been up in the obsy most of the afternoon and made some progress. Makes it easier to adjust stuff when the Moon is up during the day. Venus, Moon & Mars are in alignment tonight. Moon picture: - Mallincam Extreme, no focal reducer taken a few minutes ago. Problems sorted - all my astro software works on 1 PC now that I've switched to the Dazzle Video grabber. I've switched from the Mallincam control software to Miloslick, seems OK. I'm getting a heat haze effect which is maybe overkill on the dew controller/heaters. Now switched off. I'm kicking myself for not buying a Lyra refractor that came up on Ebay & local, I'm now thinking in terms of piggy backing another scope and set it up for solar. My current SW ST80 isn't up to the job as the focuser won't stand the weight of a camera. Mount has stopped working with the handset, works with EQMOD OK, but I'm ready to pack up now anyway. Will look at that problem tomorrow. Not a bad afternoon/evenings work though.
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Post by howie1 on Jan 2, 2017 19:11:52 GMT
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