Stupid mistakes - FUN THREAD

[Carole]

Oh Duncan, that lot was a laugh.  I have polar aligned on the wrong star once.  But not laughing at the lightning strike.

Not testing dew heaters annually

I have no way of checking dew heaters electrically speaking, but I normally put my hands on them to see if I can feel warmth every imaging session.


Carole

[The Thing]

Same again last night - hadn't tightened the mount fixing bolt -  PA all over the place! I was trying to do some test vids of the moon with a different configuration but the tracking at lunar rate didn't really help as the mounts ecliptic didn't coincide with the real one!

[The Thing]

Not testing dew heaters annually

I have no way of checking dew heaters electrically speaking, but I normally put my hands on them to see if I can feel warmth every imaging session.

That works if you turn the power up but they shouldn't be warm enough to feel in use, you are only really trying to replace the 1 or 2 watts lost by radiation to space from your exposed optics. Too hot can cause heat plumes and possibly optics to distort a bit.

[Carole]

Well when I got my first Dew heaters there was no controller and so I got used to being able to feel the heat.  that's what I have always done and how I discovered my DH hub wasn't working when I was in Wales at the Astrocamp.  No lights on it as a clue.  Luckily I managed to borrow one.

Since then I bought a controller, and being used to feeling the heat have it fairly high.  Don't want to speak too soon, but so far not found any problems from doing so.  It just reassures me they are working.

Carole