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Folks- I don't want to veer out of my lane and misuse the group. What is the procedure for posting info about some gear I have for sale? (apart from going to AstroMart, Cloudy Nights, etc.) Thanks.

Is anyone in the UK wanting to unload a Titan (or even an HGM-200)? If so, I’m interested. I will do a swap for a G11 plus whatever if you’re down-sizing. Cheers, David Please click here to support DeepSkyStacker development

I was out last night on a fairly nice, clear night watching and imaging the planets and around 1am decided to hit the sack for a few hours so I could look at the sun come morning. Since it was clear and not a single cloud out I thought I’d save time and effort by leaving the mount out, already setup for the morning session. Well, you can guess what happened during those few hours. The mount was drenched when I went out. At some point a rain shower must have sprung from nowhere to spoil my plans. I was relieved I didn’t leave the scope on as well. I’m not sure where I’d be if the scope got wet like that lol Now to my issues. I took the G2 control box off the mount and brought it inside for cleaning and drying. Thankfully there was no water inside the box but, should I be worried about the connectors? I’m particularly worried about the DIN connectors as those seem to be more finicky and delicate? I sadly do not have immediate access to deoxit or something similar, any alternatives I could use if needed? As for the mount’s mechanics, should I clean and relube everything? Just dry it all as best as I can and let it be? Something in between? My main concerns would be the motors, gearboxes and worm mechanisms. I wish I could say lesson learned but, I know myself lol. And to show Murphy does really exist, this all happened a few weeks before I get my telegizmos cover that I purchased a few weeks ago. Dangit Thanks for your help Jonathan

I just purchased a used but like new AZ8. I owned a G11 from the Celestron days so I am familiar with Losmandy products. I have the typical stiction in the movement of the axes and the stuttering of the slo-mo controls. I have read just about every online discussion on this mount and have dialed in the worm pretty good where there is little backlash and the stuttering is fairly minimal. But for the stiction in the axes, what I am referring to is the "pop" when an axis starts to move. It happens even with the clutches fully loosened but, of course, more so when the clutches are tightened up a bit. Everything I read about the clutch pads is that they need to be dry. This makes sense for the G8 and G11, but for the AZ8, we want the clutches to only be engaged enough to prevent any minor off-balance issues from moving the mount. So what I did was apply a very, very thin layer of a low viscosity telfon grease to the clutch pads. I mean a very thin layer. Now the axes move without any popping even with the clutches fairly tight. It is very, very smooth. With grease on the clutch pads, the axes will easily move with a little bit of force even with the clutches fairly tight. So beware of any major balance issues in Altitude before you let go of the scope. But there is still plenty of clamping force to deal with minor balance issues. This is not an issue with the AZ axis since it is vertical. For all you AZ8 owners, give it a try. You can always remove the grease.

I’ve been having a problem with the hand controller starting up in “Night Mode” when I turn the Gemini 2 unit on. The battery is new, I’ve reseated the SD card and reseated the screen. I can set it to “Daytime Mode” and it turns green. I can set it to “Dawn Mode” and it turns blue. When it starts up, it is marked as “Daytime Mode” but displays red for “Nighttime Mode”. The adaptive color box is checked. I uncheck it and it turns to “Daylight Mode”. I can turn the unit off, turn it back on and it opens up in “Nighttime Mode” and the adaptive color box is checked again. Can someone shed some light on how to solve this? It’s got me scratching my head. Thank you in advance!

Hi folks, Does anyone know which mount or mount settings to use for PEMPro for the G11T? That specific mount doesn't show up on the list. Do I just input the settings manually? George

Hi, I posted an issue over in CN Software, but I don't seem to be getting someone who may know the answer. I decided to map out and see about improving the basic PE in my mount using PEMPro. I have solved an earlier issue with connecting the mount and camera, but now, on the data gathering runs I have made o far, I can't get the log files to consistently suck in all the complete mount/camera scale information and tracking data for that run that allows proper analysis and follow-on PEC curving when reviewing the data. There has been a few occurrences when it did get all the right info, but I can't figure out why on some runs and not on others, usually the ones that worked are after I repositioned the scope, but I don't think it has anything to do with the repositioning, but rather with the integration between the information coming from ASCOM on the mount and camera, versus what is loaded into PEMPro directly or as default. Or maybe the way I connect the devices, but I have tried different things and there is no consistency to when this happens and when it doesn't. I have run the mount wizard and the calibration wizard, I get thru those ok, but it seems to have no affect. On the log files with the missing info, PEMPro wants to use its default values (such as worm period of 10) to create the PE chart and PEMPro Log Viewer will not properly run on those files at all because of the missing info (it doesn't have default values) , if I cut and paste in the info from the runs that did work I can get Log Viewer to work on those files. On the collected data side, on those data runs that have the missing mount/scope info, there is also a missing data element that is seemingly important, it is the value in the column with the Controller Step for each exposure, that seems to be important for curve loading, it puts 1's in there instead of the step location....below are examples. I am sure this is something simple, like what I am connecting first, or how I set up for the runs, but can't figure it out. BTW I do have to Bin 2 just to get it to work thru calibration due to the file size on Bin 1 on that camera. Any ideas are appreciated. A Data Run Log File Extract Showing some of the Missing Mount/Camera info: # Gemini Firmware # # Gemini PEC Status # 0 # Gemini Worm Teeth # -270 # Gemini Guide Rate # 0.5 # Gemini PEC Guide Rate # 1 # Gemini PEC Cells # 12800 # Gemini PEC Max # 25600 # Gemini RA Spur Ratio # 25 # Gemini RA Encoder Resolution # 256 # Gemini RA Multiplier # 1 # Gemini PEC Worm Cycles # 2 # Gemini PEC Table Period # 0 # Gemini Minimum Step Size # 0 # Gemini PEC Index # 1 # Gemini PEC Phase # 0 # Camera Software # ASCOM # CCD Dimensions # 6280 4210 # CCD SubFrame # 50 x 50 # CCD Binning # 2 # Worm Period # 0.0000 # Rotation # 89.6270 # Reverse # False # Invert Curve # False # PEC State # PEC OFF A Data Run Log File extract from the same area from a good data file: # Gemini Firmware # 5.21 # Gemini PEC Status # 0 # Gemini Worm Teeth # 360 # Gemini Guide Rate # 0.5 # Gemini PEC Guide Rate # 0.5 # Gemini PEC Cells # 12800 # Gemini PEC Max # 6400 # Gemini RA Spur Ratio # 25 # Gemini RA Encoder Resolution # 256 # Gemini RA Multiplier # 1 # Gemini PEC Worm Cycles # 2 # Gemini PEC Table Period # 478.68939183834 # Gemini Minimum Step Size # 0.5625 # Gemini PEC Index # 1119 # Gemini PEC Phase # 41.8479241771174 # Camera Software # ASCOM # CCD Dimensions # 3140 2105 # CCD SubFrame # 50 x 50 # CCD Binning # 2 # Worm Period # 239.3447 # Rotation # -89.7188 # Reverse # False # Invert Curve # False # PEC State # PEC OFF Sample data line missing Stepper info (See 1's): 1 0:00:00.000 1606 198 26.024 26.347 32767.00 1 C:\Users\User\Documents\CCDWare\PEMProV3\Images\PEMPro_Ascom_0001.fit 2 0:00:03.191 1606 200 26.075 25.009 32767.00 1 C:\Users\User\Documents\CCDWare\PEMProV3\Images\PEMPro_Ascom_0002.fit Sample data line with good Stepper info (See 1431, 1516): 1 0:00:00.002 174 734 24.303 26.228 32767.00 1431 C:\Users\User\Documents\CCDWare\PEMProV3\Images\PEMPro_Ascom_0001.fit 2 0:00:03.167 174 736 24.040 23.385 32767.00 1516 C:\Users\User\

Forgive me if this is posted somewhere, but I did a search and I couldn’t find exactly this. I am at a fork in the road on building my observatory. Either a very small outhouse type covering just my G11G on a pier or a bigger observatory where I can put my scope on the G11G that on the heavy duty tripod. The first is super cheap. The second is super convenient. If I go the first route, I will take my scope off after every imaging session and then put it on to start the next one. I only get two image sessions at most a week for a couple hours a night, and as usual for most of us, there are long sessions of weather, full moon, etc. where I cannot image for weeks at a time. The scope will be kept fully assembled and wired up in a warm room about 10’ from the pier when not used. My scope is a Stellarvue SVX 140 and loaded up it pushes 35 pounds. If I very accurately PA the G11G on a pier and then set my scope on it for the next session will the PA stay accurate for doing this many times? Avoiding PA most of the time is the main point. This is the last question on which route to go. A permanent pier with a removable scope and a very small outhouse type of rolloff building (or even lift off) or the much bigger affair where I just turn the power on after rolling off the roof. Many thanks

I just received a new Titan axis upgrade for the Losmandy G11. It is a beautiful piece of kit. After balancing the axes and selecting the G11T in the hand controller, I moved the mount on both axes to make sure everything was working smoothly. In the new RA axis, I'd hear a ticking sound. The mount has some weight on it (about 45 lbs) but everything is well balanced. When I removed the RA motor and ran it from the hand controller, there was no ticking sound. Adjusting the tightness of the motor against he gear housing did produce much of a change, though I thought I noticed a much smaller tick slewing eastward versus slewing towards the west. The ticking is at very regular intervals at maximum slew using the hand controller (perhaps every 0.5 sec). It does not seem to affect slewing at all and there is no binding to the point that movement stops in any orientation I've checked. When the RA motor was attached to the G11G, it did not make this sound. The Axis upgrade calls for using the RA axis motor from the G11G for the G11T. Settings in the hand controller are those necessary for the G11T in terms of gearing. My first thought was a possible gearbox issue, though this seems a little less likely coming straight from the factory. Another thought, coming from my G11G days of two days ago, was perhaps the RA worm gear needs some adjusting? There is probably a good 30 degrees F in temperature difference between my location and where the worm gear was originally adjusted; however, I've read that these are properly adjusted at the factory. I'm not a natural tinkerer. I was recently befuddled by a focuser screw. So while I adjusted the worm gear on my G11G, I was absolutely certain I needed to. Now, I'm not so sure and would rather get some further information before taking things apart and coming to the usually problematic realization that there are extra parts. First, is this clicking sound actually normal for a new mount? If this sound isn't entirely normal but everything is working as it should, should I just use the mount under the rules of engagement regarding things that aren't broken? If tinkering is required, what are the areas I should look to tinker in? Gearbox and...? Thanks in advance for all replies! Regards, George

Hello All. I have an issue with Astroart 8 and my G11 Gemini 1, specifically AA8 calibrating commands not getting to the mount, or that’s what it seems like anyway. I have a QHY5Lii guide camera output plugged into the autoguider port of the Gemini 1, and tried all available Guide dropdown menu options available under the AA8 Telescope Control panel. I got the “mount didn’t move” error, meaning the mount didn’t receive any commands, no matter what selections used. Im using the ASCOM Diver from the Astroart website that pulls up the Gemini software and connects to the mount successfully. Lastly, using PHD2 with the same cabling/connections the mount calibrates and guides well, so I know the hardware and cabling are fine. Just to note I did put the Gemini hand controller in all speed mode and tried all combinations of the Async Pulse Guide and Precision Guide Pulse software settings but to no avail. Any help is greatly appreciated. Joe

Hello, 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? Thank you, Tom

I know the stated capacity of the g11t (75lbs imaging 90lbs visual) but having this mount for a few months I think that's overrated. I think a 16" SCT (67lbs) for planet imaging is definitely pushing it. I'm looking for some feedback from anyone who has their g11t loaded, over 70lbs.