Hello,
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This weekend, I considering purchasing a Losmandy G11 with the latest Gemini with the last version of the Gemini-1 controller with untucked motors. The drive is about three hours. This would be my first German equatorial mount and my knowledge is limited. The present owner does not know anything about the mount, it is an estate sale. What should I look for - technical details and operation of the mount? A broad question, any pointers and ideas would be greatly appreciated. Included is an Explore Scientific ED127 with large Orion guide scope with an Orion StarShoot Autoguider. Utimately, my goals are astrophotography. Are there software limitations with this older version?
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Thank you,
Tom
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Hi Tom, Gemini-1 is fairly old and so electronics and motors need to be tested to make sure everything still works. The G11 mount itself can require some testing and possibly servicing. The good thing there are still many parts available to repair G-1 should things not work, including motors. The mount itself should be serviceable and can (depending on age) be brought to the latest spec with parts available from Losmandy.
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If everything is assembled together, then a functional test would be to:
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1. Put an OTA on the mount, balance it well in RA and DEC. Put the mount into rough counterweight-down position (CWD).?
2. Connect Gemini and the motors, boot up Gemini. Make sure it goes all the way through to displaying text on the hand controller. If it gets stuck with some dots visible, there are issues with the controller. Pay attention to any error messages, such as stalled motors, lag messages, etc. -- these are indication of either bad motors or poorly adjusted worm/worm-gear, or possibly poorly balanced mount or mount that needs regreasing.
3. Try using the hand controller buttons (make sure the mount is set to Visual mode) to slew the mount in all four directions. While slewing with RA and DEC motors, touch the outside of the corresponding motor -- warm or hot motor could be an indication of existing problem or problem to come
4. Make some changes to settings (like geo-location or time). Turn off Gemini for a few minutes, turn it back on. Are the settings still there? If no, there's a 3v coin battery inside that may need replacing.
5. If the seller has a PC with Gemini.NET ASCOM driver on it and a serial connection to Gemini, it would be worth a test to make sure the PC can connect to Gemini over serial port.
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There are many more things that you'll need to check assuming this works fine, but most will require stars.
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Double check that the controller is at least updated with Gemini L4 v1.04 or v1.05 -- these are the latest.
Most of the modern software that uses ASCOM will work with Gemini-1 if you have a serial connection to the mount from your PC. Some software packages know how to talk to Gemini directly, without ASCOM, and some use INDI drivers. Not all of these will work with G1, but most should.
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I believe others may give you a more in-depth advice as to what and how to check.
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Regards,
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? ? -Paul
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Paul Kanevsky
Chip Louie