Motorised mount

[MarkG]

Hey all,

Am about to dip i to buying a full motorised mount.

I have currently a celestron eq5 manual.. i got an addon ra and dec motors that dont offer control beyond the dial... so ive been looking around and saw the aisair plus back in april.. oooh.. my finger slipped :p
Now im looking for a mount to pair with... i was looking at some eqm5 from rother.. but not sure about connectors.

Can anyone reccomend a decent mount?
Or what i should be looking at?

Speed of motors matter ?

Cheers

[Carole]

Depends whether you want to do imaging, I suspect you do with the ASAIR.  Is so you'll needs an Equatorial mount capable of guiding.  For imaging the minimum really is an HEQ5 (or whatever the latest version of it is). 

BUT

It does also depend on how big a scope you want to put on it. 

to give you a guide, I use an HEQ5 and can mount an ED80 on it plus a WOZS71 as piggy back.  Or an ED120.  Anything bigger you'll need one of the EQ6 models (sorry I am a bit out of date with the latest versions of these mounts.

If you are doing purely visual then some of these factors are less critical.

Carole

[MarkG]

Hey carole

I am going to use a eq 130 with a guiding scope.. so pec is a must which heq5 supports.. but rather more than i wanted to pay. Hence the eqm5 which is about 690 or so.

I think the eqm5 will support the weight ok even if i put my dslr on if i want...

I think the eqm5 has the edge i  that bracket with a belt drive mod i know is possible also..

Just unsure about connections.. usb to rj45 etc.

[Carole]

I am not familar with an EQ 130 scope, Have you got the name correct?

I believe there is a version of the EQ5 mount that can be used for imaging, Julian had one, but I don't know much about it as there are some versions which don't guide and some that do apparently.

Stability is important in long exposure as is guiding.

Most Astro retailers will know about connections.  Make sure you go to a proper Astro dealer and not a Photographic shop of Amazon etc.  You'll get no support there. 

Carole

[Mac]

I have an EQ6 mount, and i often stuck 40kg on but made sure it was perfectly balanced,
When its out of balance, thats whn you do the damage to the bearings.
I did upgrade all my bearings to SKF, replaced all the grease and cleaned up all the interior.
You'll be surprised how bad those mounts are inside.

I' havent done the belt mod, but there are a few on here who have.

I personally would save up a bit more and grab at least an EQ6, especially as the amount of weight it can hold is excellent.

As for mount, I had mine made, it cost far less than anything comercially available and was far superior.

Mac.

[The Thing]

Hi MarkG,
Carole is not a tweaker and but if I remember right has had her HEQ5 tuned by someone else. Basic EQ5 mounts are not suitable except for visual use. I have an NEQ6 and an HEQ5 Pro. These Skywatcher mounts may be old hat but that means they are well supported, there is loads of info and tweaks on the web. As Mac said, you can put in better bearings, change the gears to belt drive and generally make them work very well indeed (as long as you like tinkering that is). I have done everything to both my mounts over time. I started with the third hand HEQ5 That I bought off RobertM and haven't looked back. Whatever others have found I have been able to guide a Meade LX90 8" SCT on it and use it at f40 (two stacked barlows!) for planetary imaging very successfully. I've had it for years now and it's excellent, smooth and quiet.

My knowledge of other makes is limited to what I have read and other members will tell you that no mount works properly out of the box even if you spend thousands. There seems to limited opportunities for tweaking and improving other makes as well.

So if I was you I would be looking around for a second hand HEQ5 Pro. You have an ASIAir so you don't need the sysnscan hand controller, you use a EQDIR cable to link the mount to the ASIAir and use that to control the mount. Google it, you can also make one easily.

Hope that helps,

Duncan

[Carole]

Yes absolutely I am not a tweaker.  I got First light optics to do my belt Mod. 

I do agree with the above comments, better to save up and get the right tool for the job.  An NEQ6 is excellent, but not entirely necessary if you are not going to use a heavy telescope as I have proved over the years using an HEQ5, but I was able to go over 600seconds with the NEQ6 without trailing whereas I find the HEQ5 maximum seems to be 600secs or I get slightly elongated stars. 

I went to an HEQ5 for camping trips as the NEQ6 was a bit heavy the lug around and in the end decided to just keep the HEQ5 and sell the NEQ6. 

Carole 

[MarkG]

i took the plunge and got a heq5 i don't think ill exceed 20kg at most.. so as long as i balance it i think i'll be fine.

Its a beast and no mistake. just waiting for some clear weather to setup and test it now.. already done some testing indoors with the asiair plus.. just itching to get my camera pointing up now

[Carole]

Great, l am glad you took our/my advice, it's a good tool for imaging.   If you need any help let me know, but apart from an electronic filterwheel l am not into automation.

Carole