Jason Freeland
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Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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I've always wondered if these would be a drop in replacement or if it would require any modifications. It would be nice to get the Vixen mount quality with the Celestron controller. Anyone ever looked at this?
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Anyone? How much of a clone is the ASGT/CG5 to the Vixen mounts? Could you drop a Vixen worm in as a replacement?
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Hi Jason,
I'm not sure if the motors will directly bolt up, but the main problem you will face is that some of the electronics for motor control are built into the AS-GT mount itself. Where will you plug in the hand controller, for instance? If you find out the answer, please let me know because I'd like to make the conversion as well.
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25843
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Hi Jason,
I'm not sure if the motors will directly bolt up, but the main problem you will face is that some of the electronics for motor control are built into the AS-GT mount itself.
Hi, Patrick!
I presume that you'd want to transfer the motors complete with housings, which would mean that the electronics and control panel would still be there. It looks doable; I can see how the complete CG-5 DEC motor assembly would probably bolt right up. I don't remember what the CG-5 RA motor assembly looked like when I had that removed, though. I may try to switch the stuff over from my CG5-GT to my SP some day. I believe that the gear ratios would be correct (one weakness of the Celestron system compared to others like Autostar and SS2K is that the ratios aren't adjustable). Too many projects ahead of it right now, though...
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John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
Meade 80mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Meade 152ED, 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade 12" SCT
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
NJP, LXD700, CGE, GPDX/SS2KPC
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25843
Loc: NE Ohio
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SO - I tore down the CG5-GT and checked things out. It's gonna require drilling a couple of new mounting holes (one in each motor bracket) then either tapping those holes or adding machine nuts. Looks pretty easy and the plastic covers seem to fit fine (and, since my SP is a late model, even match in color!). I'm gonna put everything back to normal tonight (don't really need to convert the SP at this time) but if I trip over a GP at the right price I just might go ahead with the conversion.
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John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
Meade 80mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Meade 152ED, 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade 12" SCT
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
NJP, LXD700, CGE, GPDX/SS2KPC
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Nice, thanks!
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Thanks for the info John. I'm still a little fuzzy on what's inside the CG5 because I've never torn into one. I was under the impression that there was some kind of circuitry inside the mount itself, besides the motors. Does the shroud that houses the connectors have some circuitry in it and is that part transferable to the Vixen mount? Did you take any pictures by chance?
Thanks,
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25843
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Does the shroud that houses the connectors have some circuitry in it
Yes.
Quote:
and is that part transferable to the Vixen mount?
Yes.
Quote:
Did you take any pictures by chance?
Sadly, no - but it's pretty straightforward. The motor mounts are nearly correct (I temporarily mounted them) but new mounting holes will make for a better setup.
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John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
Meade 80mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Meade 152ED, 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade 12" SCT
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
NJP, LXD700, CGE, GPDX/SS2KPC
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Cool...thanks John.
That means I could add goto to my GP2 mount. Since we're talking about this, do you see any advantage to doing that? Would the Vixen GP2 be a more accurate mount than the CG5? Could the Vixen GP2 carry the same load as the CG5 if it were mounted on a pier...what about on a HAL130 tripod?
Thanks for your opinions!
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Patrick, when I was working on the power switch on mine I used pictures from this site for reference. Just scroll down a bit and it will show you the guts. While I do not have a Vixen mount to try this on, it's one of my future possibilities. I'm just not interested in the starbook and most other alternatives are heavier than I want.
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Thanks for the link Jason. If I get a free day, I may give that a try.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Don't know about the GPD2, but they bolt right on to a Vixen GP mount.
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Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Mike, what kind of differences did you notice by going to the vixen mount? Things like PE and such? How much of an improvement do you think you actually got out of the switch?
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Jason, I don't have any objective measurement but I would say that the PE is substantially better than the stock AS-GT. Goto performance is pretty much the same
.
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Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Thanks Mike. I'll have to put this one on my list of future upgrades. I'm somewhat weight limited due to arthritis, so I'd like to stay in this class of mount.
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CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Hi Mike and others,
First...thanks for posting the picture of your Vixen mount with the CG5 motors, Mike...that's very encouraging. What size scope do you have on there?
Second, the Vixen Optics advertising makes this claim concerning their MT1 motors and DD1 controller:
'When controlled by the DD-1 (and I assume the DD2 as well), the accuracy of the MT-1 motor drive is within +/0.005% of the sidereal rate." I wonder if the same can be said for the CG5 motors and if it's really even important. I'm thinking it's really the accuracy of the worm gear that's important for PE, but I still wonder about the rest. Any comments on that?
I'm going to be off work tomorrow and one thing I want to do is transfer the CG5 motors and controllers to my Vixen GP2. I'll take a few pictures of the process and post them here.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Patrick, that's a William Optics FLT-110.
I don't know about Vixens advertising. The whole point of the exercise was to supply drives to my GP mount. At the time the other drive setups were substantially more expensive than the entire AS-GT mount. However I did try the AS_GT mount before performing the swap and was not satisfied with the performance. If I had been I would have just kept the AS mount. The swap was pretty straight forward and I believe if I remember correctly the only thing that had to be modified was putting a slight notch in the cover. The other advantage for me is that AS-GT pretty much the same as my CGE mount as far as controls and interface.
The PE is more than just the worm and wheel, however that's probably the major component. As I stated I don't have anything objective on the PE for this mount, but judging from unguided images I would say that the guiding error was much better than my CGE which I have measured at about +- 8 arc seconds.
Jason, even though I don't have arthritis(yet)I can sympathize. After a couple of MIs I find that I can no longer do what I was able to a few short years ago. Depressing ain't it.
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Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
As I stated I don't have anything objective on the PE for this mount, but judging from unguided images I would say that the guiding error was much better than my CGE which I have measured at about +- 8 arc seconds.
I think I have the PE data somewhere for the CG5 and Vixen as they stand now, so I'll try to do a comparison.
Thanks again!
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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I'm working on moving the CG5 motors over to the Vixen GP2 mount and the first thing I noticed is that the gear set on the Vixen mount is different than the set on the CG5. I'm assuming at this point that I will need to move the gear set along with the motor, but it still begs the question as to whether or not this whole thing will work. Any thoughts?
Here's a couple of pics of the Vixen gear set and the CG5 gear set. As you can see, the CG5 has a smaller gear on the motor with a larger gear on the worm gear, plus it has finer teeth. The GP2 has the same size gears with coarser teeth.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Vixen gears.
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Chris Rowland
sage
Reged: 02/28/05
Posts: 334
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I think you will have to change the gears as well because otherwise the gearing will be incorrect. That's assuming the number of teeth on the worm wheels is the same of course.
The next question will be "Are the mounting holes for the motor the same?". If not it might be possible to make an adaptor plate, otherwise it will be hole drilling time...
Holes in the motor bracket will be easier and less risky.
BTW the plastic on the AS-GT mount is to stop the motor controller card shorting out on the metal of the mount. It's a VERY good idea to do something similar - or better.
Sorry if this is obvious.
Chris
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MikeML
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Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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AFAIK the worm wheel on the CG5, AS-GT, Vixen GP and GPD are all 144 tooth.
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Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
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Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
AFAIK the worm wheel on the CG5, AS-GT, Vixen GP and GPD are all 144 tooth.
I hope that's the case or else I did a lot of work today for nothing! 
Okay...here's the summary. The CG5 RA motor bolted up directly to the GP2 RA axis. It was very straightforward and I did not have any trouble whatsoever. The DEC axis was a different story. The Vixen DEC axis motors bolt up differently than the CG5's and when I attempted to drill and tap a couple of holes in the GP DEC axis (not a GP2, just a used, second hand GP, BTW) the tap broke off in the hole (sigh...). I could have added a 1/8 shim and drilled a hole through the CG5 motor bracket, but I decided to bolt on the whole DEC axis off of the CG5 instead. Now I truly have a Frankenmount.
Since accurate tracking is more a function of the RA axis than the DEC axis, I think I'll still be good in that regard....I hope so anyway.
Here's a couple of pictures.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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The entire mount assembly...not pretty, but it should work.  I may not keep it that way, but it was a nice experiment.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
|
jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25843
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I'm assuming at this point that I will need to move the gear set along with the motor, but it still begs the question as to whether or not this whole thing will work. Any thoughts?
You'll need to use both Celestron gears; the software expects the transfer gear ratio they provide.
--------------------
John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
Meade 80mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Meade 152ED, 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade 12" SCT
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
NJP, LXD700, CGE, GPDX/SS2KPC
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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SteveG
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/27/06
Posts: 553
Loc: Seattle, WA
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Frankenstein Indeed!
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WO Megrez 110 ED on SP Mount
10" Meade LightBridge
Orion ED 100 on Polaris Mount
6" f8 Edmonds reflector on GP Mount
4.5" F8 Orion EQ Reflector
Astroscan
Meade 226 2.4" f11.7
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Quote:
Okay...here's the summary. The CG5 RA motor bolted up directly to the GP2 RA axis. It was very straightforward and I did not have any trouble whatsoever. The DEC axis was a different story. The Vixen DEC axis motors bolt up differently than the CG5's and when I attempted to drill and tap a couple of holes in the GP DEC axis (not a GP2, just a used, second hand GP, BTW) the tap broke off in the hole (sigh...). I could have added a 1/8 shim and drilled a hole through the CG5 motor bracket, but I decided to bolt on the whole DEC axis off of the CG5 instead. Now I truly have a Frankenmount.
Patrick
Patrick, just curious, I didn't have to drill or tap anything when I mounted the drives and I haven't seen a post in a few days. How are you making out?
--------------------
Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
|
Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
Patrick, just curious, I didn't have to drill or tap anything when I mounted the drives and I haven't seen a post in a few days. How are you making out?
I'm curious about that as well. The DEC axis that I have is from an older GP mount (Orion version). The method of attaching the DEC axis motor can be seen on page 19 of the GP manual which you can find HERE.
The DEC axis motor on my CG5-GT mount was held on with two screws in the side of the dec axis, not from the top like on the Vixen mount. There is no provision on the CG5 motor bracket for bolting it to the top of the Vixen mount like the Vixen motors are attached.
So, in my attempt to drill and tap the two screw holes I broke the tap on one of the holes...my own stupid fault...dumb, dumb, dumb. Anyway, I bolted the CG5 Dec axis to the top of the Vixen RA axis and tried it out last night. It works. Looks ugly, but it works.
What you probably don't understand is that the Vixen GP2 Photo Guider that I started with does not come with a DEC axis. I bought an older used GP, removed the DEC axis and sold the RA axis. So I now have an extra GP DEC axis and a CG5 without a DEC axis. Guess I could marry those two parts together. Hehe.
The main benefit of the arrangement is that the critical Vixen RA axis that I use for imaging is in play with it's better periodic error. I've also got goto for the whole thing on the cheap. The DEC axis does not come into play for imaging, and the goto works fine.
Patrick
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Quote:
The DEC axis motor on my CG5-GT mount was held on with two screws in the side of the dec axis, not from the top like on the Vixen mount.
Patrick
Patrick, if I remember correctly (seems I seldom do lately)
the declination motor on the AS-GT was attached with a single allen head cap screw. I'm attaching a picture of the mounting of the original AS-GT drive.
--------------------
Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
|
Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
Patrick, if I remember correctly (seems I seldom do lately)
the declination motor on the AS-GT was attached with a single allen head cap screw. I'm attaching a picture of the mounting of the original AS-GT drive.
Well...that's interesting! That's the same as the Vixen, but not what I have on my AS-GT. I have two screw holes machined into the face of the casting next to the two large screws that hold the worm gear on. The holes definitely look like an afterthought. They must have changed the attachment method somewhere along the line. I bought my mount about 2 years ago. When did you buy yours? I'll take a picture of it the next time I tear it down.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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bardo
super member
Reged: 09/13/09
Posts: 148
Loc: Ohio
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hello patrick. im the guy who bought your old RA GP axis. i have done the same thing except with meade DS motors. i have always wondered if this would work with the as-gt system though.
not only do i have a synta dec axis on a vixen GP i have motors that werent made for the mount at all. i have relatively minimal problems guided or unguided. i can get a 1.5-2 minute shot at 480mm with pec. and ive done 12 minute shots autoguiding.
just thought id throw that out there for morale!
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Hi Barto,
Hope everything is working well with the GP RA axis! It's interesting just how close all these clone mounts are to the originals and what you can do with them. That's for the encouragement.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
|
Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
Mike, what kind of differences did you notice by going to the vixen mount? Things like PE and such? How much of an improvement do you think you actually got out of the switch?
Jason,
I don't think this question was ever addressed. I have data on the PE below for the CG5 and Vixen mounts respectively. This is the native PE for each mount.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Vixen GP2 native PE.
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
|
bardo
super member
Reged: 09/13/09
Posts: 148
Loc: Ohio
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im not sure i trust that data on the gp2. thats an incredible PE graph even for a mount 10X the price.
heres more graphing of a GP.
http://demeautis.christophe.free.fr/ep/gp.htm
one is equal to the clones and one is under +/-10 arc sec. i really wish there was a more conclusive gathering of data for mounts. for instance if you graph a star close to the axis the PE is better than one at 90 or 270. if a GP really is consistantly under 5 arc seconds then that would make it by far the best mount for the money hands down. you dont usually get that kind of tracking until you get into taks and the like.
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MikeML
sage
Reged: 10/09/04
Posts: 216
Loc: NJ
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Yes it is interesting. I purchased the AS-GT in 04. I checked a friends mount last night and it appears to be the same as you describe.
I'll see if I can pull the GP mount out this week and get some pictures.
--------------------
Mike
CGE 1100
TV 85
FLT-110
Maxscope 40
Megrez 80, etc., etc.
|
Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
im not sure i trust that data on the gp2. thats an incredible PE graph even for a mount 10X the price.
Here's my second run. The mount I have is about 6 months old and is a GP2, not a GP...although I'm not sure if that makes much of a difference.
The mount was polar aligned using the drift alignment method and data captured with a Philips SPC900 video camera and recorded using K3CCDtools Drift Explorer. The scope used was an AT66ED. The K3CCDtools capture file was processed using PEAS Periodic Error Analysis Software. If I'm making a mistake somewhere I'd sure like to know. Are you interested in taking my raw data and running it?
The data for the CG5 was captured the same way, except I used my C6 SCT as the capture scope.
Patrick
--------------------
Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
|
bardo
super member
Reged: 09/13/09
Posts: 148
Loc: Ohio
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well damn! i didnt know that was your personal data either, i thought you pulled that from the net. thats pretty darn remarkable though. the only variable is still the location of the star you used. at what dec was it? not only is that very low PE but its very smooth too. i havent done mine yet expect for the live graphing in PHD. I'll have to get on that.
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Jason Freeland
sage
Reged: 05/28/04
Posts: 385
Loc: Warr Acres, OK
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Nice Patrick, thanks.
--------------------
CF C8XLT
AT66 ED
AS-GT
|
Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
the only variable is still the location of the star you used.
Unfortunately I can't remember the star I used. It was back in September, so I think it was Deneb. Whatever it was, PEAS used it as a variable in it's calculation, so it was factored in. I input the star's location when I ran the program...just can't remember which one it was now.
Regards,
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
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Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
Unfortunately I can't remember the star I used. It was back in September, so I think it was Deneb.
Okay...I went back through my data, and it looks like I used Alpheratz, declination 29 5 24. It also looks like I used my C6 SCT at 960mm focal length, rather than the AT66ED. I hate it when my memory doesn't retain the ol' data like it used to...hmmm, wonder if it ever did?
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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pollux
artiste
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 7028
Loc: Vancouver Canada
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The PE data on the GP (with Vixen's dual motor right?) is very impressive.
I thought about selling my GPD2 w/ dual motor for something else. Now I should keep it 
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 25843
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
The PE data on the GP (with Vixen's dual motor right?) is very impressive.
I thought about selling my GPD2 w/ dual motor for something else. Now I should keep it
The motors won't have anything to do with PE - so you'd have the best of both worlds with the conversion.
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John C
Urban Observatory
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
Meade 80mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Meade 152ED, 178ED F/9 "APO"
Meade 12" SCT
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
NJP, LXD700, CGE, GPDX/SS2KPC
ST-10XME, DSI Pro
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Patrick
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Reged: 05/16/03
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Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
The PE data on the GP (with Vixen's dual motor right?) is very impressive.
The data was taken with Vixen's MT2 motor and DD2 controller...RA axis only. But you guys are making me nervous. I may have to run the PE charts again to double check my results.
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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pollux
artiste
Reged: 04/01/04
Posts: 7028
Loc: Vancouver Canada
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Quote:
Quote:
The PE data on the GP (with Vixen's dual motor right?) is very impressive.
I thought about selling my GPD2 w/ dual motor for something else. Now I should keep it
The motors won't have anything to do with PE - so you'd have the best of both worlds with the conversion.
thanks John 
good to know about this
time to look for a goto kit for my mount then
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PHampson
super member
Reged: 10/25/05
Posts: 123
Loc: Nashville, TN
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Looking at your output, I noticed that the reported resolution on both setups is almost the same; 1.22 on the CG5 and 1.20 on the GP2. If they were done different focal lengths, this shouldn't be, should it? For the straight C6S and the Phillips, you should get about 0.77 arcsecond per pixel; for the C6 at 960mm, 1.20 arcsecond per pixel; for the AT66, 2.88 arcsecond per pixel. If you adjust the GP2 data by 2.88/1.20 = 2.4X, the data more closely match what would be expected from a GP2. Still pretty good PE.
Paul
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Homemade 8" f/5.9 Newtonian Dob
Celestron C6-SGT f/10
Meade DSX-90AT f/13.8
Bushnell 7x50 Wide Angle binos
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Patrick
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Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Quote:
If they were done different focal lengths, this shouldn't be, should it? For the straight C6S and the Phillips, you should get about 0.77 arcsecond per pixel; for the C6 at 960mm, 1.20 arcsecond per pixel; for the AT66, 2.88 arcsecond per pixel. If you adjust the GP2 data by 2.88/1.20 = 2.4X, the data more closely match what would be expected from a GP2. Still pretty good PE.
Yes, you are entirely correct. Where my memory is failing me right now is which scope I used. However, based on the data I input at the time, it must have been the C6 with f/6.3 focal reducer. I ran the data at the same time I captured it, so I'm pretty sure I didn't input a different scope than the one I was using at the time...had to be the C6 with focal reducer. I vaguely recall thinking that I wanted to run the same scope as the one I used to capture the CG5-GT data. I should have taken better notes. 
At any rate, I want to do some testing of the GP2 with the CG5-GT motors so I'll recapture the periodic error at the same time to verify the results.
Good eye there, Paul!
Patrick
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Just for the record, I re-ran the PE curve on the Vixen GP2 photo guider and got very similar results to my first set of runs. I used Diptha (Dec -17 59 11.4) with my C6 SCT at 960mm f/l and my SPC900NC (5.6 micron pixel size). The only difference between these two sets of runs was that I installed the motors and gear sets off of my CG5-GT mount.
Here's the results. First run:
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Edited by Patrick (12/02/09 07:54 AM)
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Patrick
Postmaster
Reged: 05/16/03
Posts: 8158
Loc: Franklin, Ohio
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Second run:
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Celestron CPC 1100 XLT
10" f/6 Truss Tube Newtonian
Celestron C6S-GT SCT
AT66ED Refractor
Canon XSi; Meade DSI;SPC900-NC
Vixen GP2 Photo Guider Mount
My Astronomy Pages
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
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