I'm in the process of moving from the ASIAir Plus to using NINA running on the Mele Quieter3. With all the cloudy nights I've been having lately, I made a project out of finding a nice stable way to install the Quieter3 on top of a Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advance Gen 2 (PPBADV) on my Skywatcher Esprit 100. It wasn't particularly hard but it took a bid of digging to find something to mount it on top of that was compact and would work well.
The Quieter3 comes with a VESA mounting plate and two screws to mount it on the bottom of the Quieter3. Pegasus sells a top mounting plate for the PPDADV but it doesn't quite line up with the VESA screw pattern. One well placed drill hole is all that is needed to modify the PPBADV top mounting plate into matching the spacing for the VESA screws.
To find the right spot you can use the provided VESA mounting plate as a hole template for where to drill the hole but first take some time to figure how approximately where the hole should be by putting the top plate on the back of the Quieter3. Once you have an approximate location then use the VESA mounting plate as a template for pencil marking the hole.
After making a pencil mark for the hole position, use a hammer and a nail to dimple the top plate so the drill bit does not walk over the metal before it grabs in. One light tap on the hammer is all that is needed to make a dimple. I used a small bit first and then worked up to the the bit that was just large enough to fit the screw through. Then mount the top plate on the bottom of the Quieter3. The not so hard part is done.
Next mount the PPBADV on the dovetail bar using the PPAADV dovetail brackets. I wanted to install this further back but the screws provided for the dovetail brackets were about 1 mm too long so I needed to go just above the Skywatcher's mounting ring.
Here's a shot of the final installation with all connections made. Note that I used the PPBADV's Adj Out, set to 12v, to power the Quieter3. This is useful as it allows you to shut off everything powered by the 4 12v fixed outlets on the other side in the advanced sequencer prior to using the Shutdown PC plugin to turn off the Quieter3. This is particularly nice if you are running off a battery and want to conserve charge after the imaging session is complete.
I run the scope with a single power supply line to the PPBADV that I connect to a battery or to the 10A Pegasus power supply. The mount power and USB connection run back down the same cable sleeve the power line is in so there's one bundle of three cables in the sleeve that goes up to the PPBADV. I made this extra long so there's plenty of slack for movement. Thus far I have not had any cable snags but I also haven't had a lot of imaging time yet.
Hopefully someone finds this info useful for their installation.
Clear Skies
