Giving the AVX it's first workout since it "gave up the ghost" last year
Jun 16, 2016 23:59:26 #
I thought I would see if the AVX worked.....when I got it back from Celestron (repairs) last year.... I checked to see if it was working - inside. But I just haven't been gutty enough to risk a clear night on it. Tonight is iffy, 43 percent chance of a thunderstorm but so far I see sky. I guess I will stay up for the entire imaging session should rain, wind, hail, and stuff come down on us. I started imaging NGC7000......I use polemaster and got a good PA and it's guiding pretty good, not great but I am low on the horizon too. Sorta par for the course. I did no alignments - just used Astrotortillia to locate my target....and it was dead on! I am using the Atik 383L cam on the Vixen Refractor ...curious to see how the mount does - so far so good.
Jun 17, 2016 01:43:14 #
Jun 17, 2016 06:56:33 #
Europa wrote:
It turned out ok - we did end up with lots of clouds so I am having to cull images but NO RAIN or other stuff. For the next 3 or so says - it looks like very promising clear sky nights. The mount tracked flawlessly for 4 hours guided with pretty good guiding. The only issue I have with Astrotortillia for finding targets is that it does not move the mount in NORTH and WEST for the last nudges - or I don't think it does. So I have to manually do that after getting a target - but even doing that the blacklash with the AVX is pretty serious.....still manageble. I am tickled (knock on wood) with the AVX performance. The mount is so light ...like a toy - compared to the Atlas Pro. I can carry and lift the AVX with one hand but the Atlas Pro - jeeeze louise - it takes two hands and even then I struggle to put it on the tripod.Looks to me like you have 71% clear sky😂
BTW, the CLEAR SKY CHART indicated that there would be NO CLOUDS after midnight - that chart has been so wrong the last few times I have gotten to the point where I have lost confidence in it....I am going back to "sticking my wet finger in the air" like my daddy would do!
Jun 17, 2016 10:02:59 #
nikonshooter wrote:
It turned out ok - we did end up with lots of clou... (show quote)
Nice to see it back online again. Let's hope that it decides to stay working this time.
Jun 17, 2016 11:34:50 #
Since feeding my AVX ONLY battery power from my 56 pound AGM battery it has ticked right along.
So I have concluded the Chinese electronic components are too weak to handle any stray harmonics from a transformed down AC source.
Batteries are a pure source of DC current. My car sized battery is steady for days and days of use.
Glad to hear it behaved. But I can assure you, it can't hold a candle to your Atlas behemoth mount.
That said, I think I finally got back in the swing of it last night. I used the software you sent to pick targets.
I got on the Ring Nebula M 57 with almost a bulls eye, after a second stab at alignment. I just didn't feel like the first was quite on.
My tracking was good with just PHD2, my usual poison. Good enough in fact, I removed the .5X focal reducer in flight and watched as the graph settled back on target.
Then pulled down several images trying RGB and RAW settings.
M57 is one of the very first, if not the very first, Nebula I successfully imaged about a year ago.
I have Astro-tortillas installed, (What a name!) but still haven't managed to use it. Haven't found all the magical settings for my equipment.
Maybe that should be my next quest. 
I got most of the way through your video. Thanks for that! It's good to see how others are doing it.
Smokey here today from the Santa Barbara fire to our West. Don't know what tonight might hold.
May be a good night to fling tortillas?
The moon is getting obnoxiously bright, so most imaging it up or Northward for me.
PS: I could loom up your spaghetti.
And I see your weight runs really close to your front Latitude adjusting screw as well.
So I have concluded the Chinese electronic components are too weak to handle any stray harmonics from a transformed down AC source.
Batteries are a pure source of DC current. My car sized battery is steady for days and days of use.
Glad to hear it behaved. But I can assure you, it can't hold a candle to your Atlas behemoth mount.
That said, I think I finally got back in the swing of it last night. I used the software you sent to pick targets.
I got on the Ring Nebula M 57 with almost a bulls eye, after a second stab at alignment. I just didn't feel like the first was quite on.
My tracking was good with just PHD2, my usual poison. Good enough in fact, I removed the .5X focal reducer in flight and watched as the graph settled back on target.
Then pulled down several images trying RGB and RAW settings.
M57 is one of the very first, if not the very first, Nebula I successfully imaged about a year ago.
I have Astro-tortillas installed, (What a name!) but still haven't managed to use it. Haven't found all the magical settings for my equipment.
Maybe that should be my next quest. I got most of the way through your video. Thanks for that! It's good to see how others are doing it.
Smokey here today from the Santa Barbara fire to our West. Don't know what tonight might hold.
May be a good night to fling tortillas?
The moon is getting obnoxiously bright, so most imaging it up or Northward for me.PS: I could loom up your spaghetti.
And I see your weight runs really close to your front Latitude adjusting screw as well.
Jun 17, 2016 11:53:11 #
nikonshooter wrote:
It turned out ok - we did end up with lots of clou... (show quote)
I was able to manually adjust most of the backlash out of the worm drives very easily.
Pull the covers off, loosen a lockdown screw and adjust. Took 10 min per gear.
I wish my CGEM was so easy.
Craig
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.