skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

Please. Laugh ironically with me.

Truck's coming. C8, AVX.
Friday - nice
Truck's coming.
Saturday - nicer.
Truck's coming.
Sunday - Gorgeous!
Truck's coming today...
Monday morning - Beautiful.
Truck comes to work.
Lunchtime - open boxes and fondle and drool. (That sounded nastier than it was...)
Look outside.
Cloudy.
Drive home later.
Cloudier and windy.
Shove dining room table into front room
Unpack, assemble and bring to life...

All of that so I can look out the back door and count the threads on the bolt on the clamp on the insulator on the pole three blocks away...

But, hey! The camera plumbing from my ETX fits!

I smell rain...

CraigFair Loc: Santa Maria, CA.

And your rain is coming my way Thursday and Friday.
And then on to Jim's next Tuesday and Wednesday.
Getting some clouds already.
Craig

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

I don't know how to tell you this, but it always seems to happen that way. Besides, the Moon is washing everything out anyway. Next weekend will be better and the following will be the best. Unless you bought all new stuff in which case... Aww never mind, you'll see.
:twisted: :twisted: :roll: :roll:
You're going to love the C8 when you finally get to use it.

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

I'm so sorry. I guess I should have bought separate bits from separate stores and maybe the gods wouldn't have noticed...

Is there any kind of sacrifice I could make? Animal? Human?

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

Whaddya mean "Unless I bought all new stuff..."?
You're scaring me...

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

Everyone experiences this I would set it up and tear it down repeatedly to the point you can do it blindfolded. Also upgrade all your firmware so everything is up to date that can be. Also since the curse of clouds always follows new purchases, yet the return policy usually remains the same whether is cloudy or clear. Run your mount through its paces just to help break it in, the axis tend to be a little stiff, due to the heavy packing grease being so thick. In he beginning it can make balancing a bit of a chore.

Bes t of luck and I hope to see some of your images.
Matthew

skylane5sp Loc: Puyallup, WA

Yeah, I did that about four times yesterday. Played with the balance, did seem a little "slow", hung the DSLR on the back and rebalanced and made little index marks so I can rebalance quickly.

It cleared at nine for about an hour. I ran out, leveled the mount, got Polaris in the center of the tube where the finderscope is supposed to go, did a quick two star - Capella and Procyon. Wow. Both in the field of view!
Then to Jupiter. I just had to look at something... Seeing sucked because of the weather but... dayum!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

You are going to fall in love with it!
While you're waiting for clear skies (good luck with that!), there are a lot of things to learn.
But mostly it isn't school work, it's fun stuff.
I was pleased and impressed with my AVX from the moment I unpacked it. I continue to be pleased and impressed with it every time I set it up in my backyard "observatory".
Like you, I spent days observing distant things out my window, like a knot in a distant fence, distant trees, or attic vents on distant roofs.
Then, finally, the skies cleared and I was really able to enjoy my AVX for it's intended purpose, traveling the stars and planets in the sky.
I've been following Craig's advice and doing 4 star alignments. When you finally do get to use it, choose the two star offering, then add a Caleb star, and an additional Caleb star. With that, I bet you will be further impressed and amazed at the tracking the mount will do.
I have, and so much so that I find myself wondering if I need a guide scope at all. And it is giving me much less worries as I turn my attention to imaging, instead of worrying I might lose my subject.
There are going to be lots of clear skies ahead.
Enjoy! :mrgreen:

Edit in: Like Matthew says, think about updating your firmware for the AVX.
I had a minor hick-up with mine. It announced it had a code 0080, and would not boot up.
One quick call to Celestron tech support and the problem was solved. Including Celestron sending me a USB to Serial convertor cable, for free.
You may have noticed a thin white cable to connect to the hand controller and your computer. One end is an RJ-12 connector (hand controller), the other is a 9-pin female serial connector.
Neither of my computers have a 9-pin serial jack anymore. :?
Celestron sent me an adapter cable free of charge, and emailed me this link:
http://www.celestron.com/c3/support3/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=2584
So I wanted to share the link, information, and update with all AVX users.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

Ok, Wow!
They sent you the USB to Serial Adaptor cable?
Now I am impressed.
That my friend is true customer service.
:thumbup: :thumbup:

Oknoder Loc: Western North Dakota

That was nice of them. I had one and bought two until i found one that worked.

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

I already had three of them but only one would work with Windows 7 64bit. The others apparently only want XP.
I went through 4 downloads of drivers and finally tried my 3rd adaptor and scored right away.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

They have settled on two.
A Trendnet TUS9 is what they sent me.

Alex stressed that the drivers on the CD need to be installed first.
After that the updating went fine, and more importantly the mount works flawlessly now.

So follow that link and read through each one a couple of times so you will know what and how to follow them.

And YES, Celestron has greatly impressed me.
Orion has greatly impressed me as well. But that's another story. ;)

Albuqshutterbug Loc: Albuquerque NM

I have been impressed with Orion customer support almost every time I have dealt with them.
Usually they are pretty top notch.

northcoast42 Loc: Puget Sound, Washington

I feel your pain Skylane! I'm only a few miles away in Graham. Can't count how many amazing celestial events I've missed because the Puget Sound weather had other plans!

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

I did their online chat. I explained that the small fan on my StarShoot G3 had never ran.
After a few questions, the tech decided the camera was faulty. :?:
So, following his directions, I submitted a copy of my email confirmation showing I had bought the G3 to customer support, a new one was dispatched to me.
And a pre-paid shipping label to return the defective one. So zero, nada, zilch cost to me.
The new one is working fine.
And right on cue the weather did go to chit. But it's clearing now, My Clear Sky Droid app predicts clear skies here tonight.
Yeaaa! :thumbup: