Azimuth Adjustment Adjustment
Hello
My G11’s azimuth knobs have about 1/2 turn of free wheeling slack—- knobs turn with no resistence and no resulting AZ change.
Can the mechanism be adjusted to remove this slack or is this normal?
Thank you
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Re: Usability Question--Update
Mark do you have any non SCT scopes to test with at a similar 0.5 degree? FOV? I ask this so we can eliminate mirror shift or focuser shift which is common even in the EdgeHD scopes which is why I dumped them after trying a couple. Went to a later LX200 with the collet style mirror locks and Moonlite? focuser, problem solved.?
You are expecting? the mount to nail a GOTO to better than 0.5 degree which IMO it can do if your mount mechanicals are good. Even as it sits you are within 1 degree which seems close.?
Based on your refusal to look into the mount mechanicals there is little else anyone can do to help you resolve your GOTOs other than to suggest using? a longer eyepiece for centering after an initial GOTO command. The centering speed is there for a reason, nobody can respond fast enough to center an object at the same speed as the slew rate. Even the Gemini ramps speeds up and down during GOTOs. You can also change the centering speed if you feel it is to fast or too slow.
If you are seeing any lag while using the default centering speed when changing direction on a single axis you may be seeing the problem and not realize it. There should be minimal delay when reversing direction. This is something that can largely be adjusted out, it is a mechanicals issue.?
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Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Usability Question--Update
I went through all of the suggestions made, and collected those that seemed might possibly be connected to my problem.? Then I implemented them. ? Last night was a test. ? I carefully determined the CWD position. ?Although, to be honest, there is absolutely no way I know of to know when the counterweight bar really is pointing as down as it can, since a bubble level depends on catching exactly the right part of the curve, and not moving it at all.? But I also understand that that matters only for the first slew. ? I slowed the speed at which the mount slews, to lessen the probability that anything skips with the sudden torque. ? I did a careful polar alignment with PoleMaster. ? I made sure that time, date, and place were all very accurate. ? I deleted any existing model. ? I sent the mount to Altair.? It missed by a fair amount.? I decided that maybe I should only “center” using “center” or “guide,” not “move” or “slew,” so it took a while to center Altair.? After carefully centering Altair on my illuminated-crosshair eyepiece, I selected “Menu,” then “Align,” then “synchronize.” ? I told it to go to Vega.? It was almost perfectly centered.? I centered, synced, then told it to go to Deneb. ? It was perfectly centered. ? The west side of my sky is pretty much destroyed with Seattle sky glow and trees.? So I decided to play on the east side, to see how it worked,?
It worked very well!? Everything I told it to go to was reasonably well centered. ? Then I told it to go to Mizar, very much on the west side, but easy to see. ? It missed by a lot.? I centered it, and synced. ? I told it to go back to Deneb.? It was on the eyepiece (17mm Nagler Type 4, on a Celestron 11” EdgeHD), but quite far off center.? I centered and synced.? Told it to go to M27.? It was centered pretty well,? I told it to go back to Mizar, and it barely was on the eyepiece. ? And so the night went.? I found no way to get it to converge on a model that got everything reasonably close to the center of the eyepiece (I wouldn’t care so much, except that it’s a royal PITA to center anything, to me, on a GEM, since I have no idea which of the four buttons to hit at any time to get it to move in any particular direction). ? It was somewhat promising, in that it always got the target on the (very, very wide) eyepiece, but it is far, far from perfect. ? Mark
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Re: LW Tripod and spreader
On Tue, Aug 16, 2022 at 07:36 AM, George Cushing wrote:
I paid $700 for a GM8 that was late enough to have the precision worms.?
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Don't forget the MA Losmandy to Meade HD field tripod adapter. Combo should cost about half the price of the GM8's tripod.
That's a solidly good deal, I purchased similarly priced mint example of GM8 in that price range. The best deal I ever got was a minty GM8 with a lighted rocker switch Gemini 1 and LWT like maybe 7 years ago but what a steal! I only sold it because I got impatient waiting for Scott to update it to tucked servos and gen II sprung OPWs. So I ordered a new one, picked it up and sold the old GM8.? ? Anytime I can buy a clean unmolested Losmandy mount and tripod for under $1K I buy it! Which explains why I have owned and sold so many of these gems.? Yes the SFT and MA is the best deal of the solid imaging level tripods for Losmandy mounts. 100% good enough to image with under a G11 and lighter, cheaper and easier to handle than the FHD.. -- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: LW Tripod and spreader
Ken,
Not sure how much of a difference in it makes but my LWT is the older style with push button adjustable lever handle type upper leg locks and came standard with the leg spreader limiter. I also highly recommend the optional LWT tray, very handy for the controller and eyepieces.?
This tripod is fine for casual imaging with a 100mm refractor. Just do not extend the legs any more than necessary and it is GTG.?
I have also had a couple of Meade LX200 tripods with the Losmandy MA adapter installed. This is a heck of a good setup but not nearly as light as the LWT but is almost as solid and stable as the FHD. They can be put together for under $200 with a minty used tripod, MA and $30 worth of good stainless steel socket headed cap screw, S.S. flat washers, cushy knob and a correctly sized drill bit and tap.?
--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
? ?Astropheric Weather Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: LW Tripod and spreader
Thanks Chip, George - all good suggestions.
Ken
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Re: LW Tripod and spreader
I paid $700 for a GM8 that was late enough to have the precision worms.?
Don't forget the MA Losmandy to Meade HD field tripod adapter. Combo should cost about half the price of the GM8's tripod.
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To the OP?
It seems to me that your pointing errors on slewing are mechanical.?
Is the scope balanced in RA and DEC?
Have you tried slowing down the GoTo speed to see if things improve???
Mechanical slippage can easily occur at the couplers between the gear box and the worm. I've had that happen and it's frustrating as heck.??
Please check those 4 small set screws on each. The worm shafts have a flat but the gear box shaft does not.?
If it slips under the torque of slew starts it would give you exactly the problem you describe.?
Michael?
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Mark,
I have always downloaded the file to a microSD card and then swapped it with the microSD card from the case.
The instructions are here?
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On 16 Aug 2022, at 5:26:41 am, Mark de Regt < deregt@...> wrote:
Bear with me while I try to scrape myself off the ceiling. ? I do hate practically everything about this mount and its electronics! ? With that out of the way…. ? Since it had been two years since I had used the miserable thing (have I mentioned that it really works poorly?), I put a new battery in then main board.? Then I tried to update the firmware. ? There is nothing I can do to coax any computer in the house to do that.? The Gemini 2 shows up on the network, but it is deaf to ping, and will not connect to any computer. ? Any ideas? ? Mark ? ? Thanks! ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Put the Counterweight bar horizontal , use the clutch knob as needed, and level with a torpedo level.. Spin the RA dial and set it to something like 18 hours.. Loosen clutch and lower the Counterweight bar and set it at 0 hours.. Lock the clutch.. Loosen the other clutch and adjust the scope until the level on the dovetail is centered.. Tighten clutch.. Your visual, so do this “well” but do not obsess with it.. I have a solution for you to try.. Just worked perfectly for me.. First time and I am quite pleased about it! See next email.. It’ll take a minute.. Derek ? ? Agreed about “should.”??? ? What is the best method for making sure I have CWD a good as possible? ? ? Mark, Assuming you are polar aligned it is not just the CWD position that matters but the top of the dovetail should also be levelled, both with a small level. This is easy and quick and should get you fairly close. Then centre the star and synchronise the first star. If you are not so closely polar aligned then take the time to do alignments on three or more stars spread across the sky. This sill build a pretty accurate model and no camera is required. It will need to be rebuilt if you move the mount, but should only require a synchronisation if you only warm start. ? ? On 7 Aug 2022, at 8:41:23 am, Mark de Regt < deregt@...> wrote: ? I really appreciate all the suggstions! Two things have resonated: - I only guestimate CWD position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model building.
- I need a camera to do that; I’m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.? Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
?
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Hi Frankie,
Look at the pics of your setup, I noticed your guide scope is in a fixed saddle. When in this configuration, you have no latitude to center the guide scope with the center of the imaging camera. If you have a crosshairs function on your imaging app you should compare to that of the guide scope to see how far off you are. If both are not pretty close to the center of the FOV, you can start having issues like frame drift over time, or frame rotation - both of which will create wasted margins in your final image stack and not utilize the full dimensions of the imaging sensor.?
This is why most guide scopes are mounted in adjustable ring brackets like on Derek's rig, so you can tweak the position so both camera centers are directly aligned.
Regards,
John
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Losmandy G11G2 on pier; SkyShed design roll-off observatory; ZWO ASI2600MM-P; ZWO ASI071MC; Sky-Watcher Esprit 100 ED; Celestron C925 Edge HD with 0.7XFR, William Optics Zenithstar 61 APO; PHD2, Sequence Generator Pro and PixInsight user
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Hi Brian,
Thanks for the reply. I just sent a support ticket request to the address you indicated.
Thanks,
Frankie
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Hi Frankie
can you please open a support ticket with us - there are some things you are doing and some advice you are getting that i think is outdated
techsupport at losmandy dot com
thanks
Brian
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Mark go into your ? and check the network settings.?? Note this has an address of 192.168.0.150 not the normal 192.168.0.111 because the DHCP has give the system this address.?? DHCP does that.?? Our course you can set the system to resolve the Gemini name thru , this kinda ? ? Then you can just type "http://gemini"?? Viola!
Ensure you boot the router/network before the Gemini
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Brendan
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Yes, it's the current official release. We are in beta on L6
On Mon, Aug 15, 2022 at 2:00 PM Mark de Regt < deregt@...> wrote: Got it; mine’s 5.21.? Is that current? Or at least current enough? ? ? Mark that's the hand controller version. the gemini version would be something like 5.20, 5.21, etc. ? On Mon, Aug 15, 2022 at 12:32 PM Mark de Regt <deregt@...> wrote: I agree; I am very grateful for all the time people have put into helping me.? But this thing refuses to do its part. ? BTW, my Gemini 2 is on version 1.20, March 12, 2017.? Is there a more recent version in the unlikely event that I ever get a computer to connect to the thing? ? ? I do want to add to my 'complaint' in this thread that Brian and others have been very helpful though havnt been able to get thru to me yet.
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-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
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Got it; mine’s 5.21.? Is that current? Or at least current enough? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Brian Valente Sent: Monday, August 15, 2022 12:35 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Usability Question ? Mark that's the hand controller version. the gemini version would be something like 5.20, 5.21, etc. ? On Mon, Aug 15, 2022 at 12:32 PM Mark de Regt <deregt@...> wrote: I agree; I am very grateful for all the time people have put into helping me.? But this thing refuses to do its part. ? BTW, my Gemini 2 is on version 1.20, March 12, 2017.? Is there a more recent version in the unlikely event that I ever get a computer to connect to the thing? ? ? I do want to add to my 'complaint' in this thread that Brian and others have been very helpful though havnt been able to get thru to me yet.
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Mark that's the hand controller version. the gemini version would be something like 5.20, 5.21, etc.
On Mon, Aug 15, 2022 at 12:32 PM Mark de Regt < deregt@...> wrote: I agree; I am very grateful for all the time people have put into helping me.? But this thing refuses to do its part. ? BTW, my Gemini 2 is on version 1.20, March 12, 2017.? Is there a more recent version in the unlikely event that I ever get a computer to connect to the thing? ? ? I do want to add to my 'complaint' in this thread that Brian and others have been very helpful though havnt been able to get thru to me yet.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente astro portfolio? portfolio astrobin?
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I agree; I am very grateful for all the time people have put into helping me.? But this thing refuses to do its part. ? BTW, my Gemini 2 is on version 1.20, March 12, 2017.? Is there a more recent version in the unlikely event that I ever get a computer to connect to the thing? ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of George Anderson Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 10:45 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Usability Question ? I do want to add to my 'complaint' in this thread that Brian and others have been very helpful though havnt been able to get thru to me yet.
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Bear with me while I try to scrape myself off the ceiling. ? I do hate practically everything about this mount and its electronics! ? With that out of the way…. ? Since it had been two years since I had used the miserable thing (have I mentioned that it really works poorly?), I put a new battery in then main board.? Then I tried to update the firmware. ? There is nothing I can do to coax any computer in the house to do that.? The Gemini 2 shows up on the network, but it is deaf to ping, and will not connect to any computer. ? Any ideas? ? Mark ?
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From: [email protected] < [email protected]> On Behalf Of Mark de Regt via groups.io Sent: Sunday, August 7, 2022 8:58 AM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Usability Question ? Thanks! ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Put the Counterweight bar horizontal , use the clutch knob as needed, and level with a torpedo level.. Spin the RA dial and set it to something like 18 hours.. Loosen clutch and lower the Counterweight bar and set it at 0 hours.. Lock the clutch.. Loosen the other clutch and adjust the scope until the level on the dovetail is centered.. Tighten clutch.. Your visual, so do this “well” but do not obsess with it.. I have a solution for you to try.. Just worked perfectly for me.. First time and I am quite pleased about it! See next email.. It’ll take a minute.. Derek ? ? Agreed about “should.”? ? ? What is the best method for making sure I have CWD a good as possible? ? ? Mark, Assuming you are polar aligned it is not just the CWD position that matters but the top of the dovetail should also be levelled, both with a small level. This is easy and quick and should get you fairly close. Then centre the star and synchronise the first star. If you are not so closely polar aligned then take the time to do alignments on three or more stars spread across the sky. This sill build a pretty accurate model and no camera is required. It will need to be rebuilt if you move the mount, but should only require a synchronisation if you only warm start. ? ? On 7 Aug 2022, at 8:41:23 am, Mark de Regt <deregt@...> wrote: ? I really appreciate all the suggstions! Two things have resonated: - I only guestimate CWD position with my eye.? If precision of CWD matters, and if there is a simple way to get it perfect, that may be the cause.
- People keep taking about using plate-solve to work around the poorly-functioning Gemini2 model building.
- I need a camera to do that; I’m happy to buy a cheap camera for that, but not an expensive one; any suggestions?
- I own TheSkyX Professional Edition, a very powerful planetarium program.? Would this do that is being suggested, and, if so, how?
?
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Well, I already found the solution for the sidereal speed problem and not being able to make an alignment, it was my mistake when entering the coordinates in their place, although they were the correct ones, I was changing their places, the latitude in the longitude and vice versa, I was telling the gemini that I was in another part of the planet, once I realized my mistake I corrected it and yesterday I had an excellent night, being able to handle it with the pc and cartes du ciel, so it was my fault that the mount worked wrong.
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Chip Louie
Jamie Amendolagine
Davidspain