On Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 03:48 AM, David C. Partridge wrote:

As would some other folks, but you have to convince Scott Losmandy to do that.? Ideally this would require a new generation of Gemini (Gemini-3?) with the necessary additional hardware and firmware to talk to the absolute encoders.?? I think it would also be possible to create a smallish additional box that would allow them to be used with the Gemini-2.??? He’d also need to supply the hardware to me as it is likely that I’d end up developing the firmware to support the encoders.

?

Adding absolute encoders to an existing mount would be a major exercise involving disassembly of the mount and quite a bit of precision machining.

?

So, if it were ever offered, I suspect it would have to be with a new version of the mount, as for most people the cost of shipping the mount back to Losmandy, paying for the work and dealing with the complication of international customs such that you only pay tax/duty on the upgrade charges when it is shipped back to you.?? In the current “trade war” those charges could be huge.

?

Please don’t discuss the politics here.

?

David?

?

The problem is not actually building a Losmandy mount with absolute encoders, I have no doubt that Losmandy could design and produce such a mount.? The problem is getting enough people to buy the resulting mount as the cost would be quite high.? Even if you simply added an RA axis encoder ring and the double read heads needed to get the required resolution your talking about doubling the cost of a G11G just for the all new mount hardware design BEFORE you get to the all new controller hardware and new version firmware you will need to run the G11G+Absolute Encoder mount.?

?

So would you pay nearly $8,000 for a 65 pound payload mount with absolute encoder RA?? Would you pay $10,000 for a dual axis absolute encoder mount that did not need guiding for the commonly used short subframe imaging we use today?? I don't think so because in reasonably skilled hands, modern autoguiding on current model G11G mounts is already good enough to produce excellent images for most sub 2,000mm focal length optics.? Not to mention that with all the money you saved you could buy an entire second imaging rig.? ? ??

?

--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?

?

?

?