Help me choose an autoguider

[Jeff]

I've seen the Phillips & TouCam webcams with 1 1/4" adapter and the DSI II pro all in about $80-100US range. Is either of these better than the other?

My planned setup will be a Vixen 80mm f/5 guiding an Atlas EQ-G.

What considerations are there? Chip size, color/BW, cooled/not, etc.

What do you use for an auto guider?

Adrenal1n - I see we have eerily similar setups and I read your posts on guiding. What ended up working out best for you?

[Adrena1in]

Adrenal1n - I see we have eerily similar setups and I read your posts on guiding. What ended up working out best for you?

But I bet your results will be a hunded times better!!

I autoguided with my Meade DSI. Seemed to work fine, but only tried it a few times, and sometimes it would completely fail and the tracking would go all over the place.

Funnily enough, only today I received a couple of ADM Mini Dovetail adapters to attach my ST80 on top of the C11, and also my Shoestring Astronomy kit for adding an Autoguide port to my EQ6. So any day now I might be set up again for Autoguiding! Hope so! :)

[Nighthound]

Hi Jeff, looking forward to seeing your new scope/GEM images.

I've never used a web cam so I can't help with that. I guide using an ATIK 16IC Mono. I run PHD guiding and with a quick drift align each night I've managed good results.

If the 80mm Vixen is your guide scope, which scope are you imaging with? BTW at f/5 it'll make a nice guide scope to see those stars well.

[Jeff]

Funnily enough, only today I received a couple of ADM Mini Dovetail adapters to attach my ST80 on top of the C11, and also my Shoestring Astronomy kit for adding an Autoguide port to my EQ6. So any day now I might be set up again for Autoguiding! Hope so! :)
Let me know how it goes, I think I'm headed down the same road.

How's the stability of the mount/tripod with that load on it? I have to use 33lbs of weight to balance mine and it all seems a little precarious up there on a surveyors tripod. I'm having an adapter plate made so I can use the Atlas mount on the tripod from my 10" LX200GPS. I'm hoping that will be very stable.

Hi Jeff, looking forward to seeing your new scope/GEM images.

Me too!

If the 80mm Vixen is your guide scope, which scope are you imaging with? BTW at f/5 it'll make a nice guide scope to see those stars well.
My plan is to start slow so I don't frustrate myself. I'm going to start by guiding just the mount essentially with the 80mm. I also want to play around with PEC some more, watch it, measure it, etc. Then once I get a good and comfortable with the mount and guiding, the 80mm will get mounted on the 10" LX200 OTA.

Regarding the 80mm and its 400mm focal length. Will that be long enough to get a suitable guide star for a guide camera to recognize?

[Adrena1in]

Let me know how it goes, I think I'm headed down the same road.

How's the stability of the mount/tripod with that load on it?

So far so bad...the ADM Adapters I got seem to be exactly the same size as the Dovetail bar. Therefore on maximum tightness they don't grip at all. Typical...they were the smallest adapters I could get too, so the Dovetail bar must be a non-standard size. I guess I could take the adapters apart, shave off a mm or so and try again.

As for the load, I'm going to need a bigger counterweight. For the C11 alone I use 14.5kg of counter-weight, and when I add the camera I add another 2.5kg. That leaves me one more 2.5kg weight, but not sure it'll fit! I'll pick up a 7.5kg weight-training weight on the way home today...that'll do the trick. ;)

[A.S.I.G.N. Observatory]

I use the Orion Autoguider on my ED80 over my ED120 and it hasn't missed a beat.

Baz.

[Nighthound]

Regarding the 80mm and its 400mm focal length. Will that be long enough to get a suitable guide star for a guide camera to recognize?

Guiding for the FL of the 10" LX200 might be a bit tricky. You could try a 2x barlow inline with the guide cam to see if it helps(or hinders).

I guide at 500mm(Sky 90) but I'm guiding an 800mm Newtonian. In nights of bad seeing added magnification can make the guider freak a bit.

[Jeff]

Thanks all for the input. I'll keep you advised of my progress (trials). :)

[Adrena1in]

Look forward to hearing it Jeff. While watching Die Hard 4.0 last night I took my ADM Adapters apart and took a couple of files to them. Some time and one gashed thumb later I'd taken off only about half a millimetre, but they now sit nicely on top of the C11.

All I need to do now is solder the autoguide port into the EQ6 controller, (knowing me this could end in disaster!), make sure I've got all the right software on the PC, and I'll be good to go!

[Catanonia]

I use the Orion Autoguider on my ED80 over my ED120 and it hasn't missed a beat.

Baz.

I use similair with a ST4 port that plugs directly into the EQ6 Pro mount to guide it.

No need for shoestring, ASCOM etc and all for about £160 or cheaper if you buy second hand.

Mine is a QHY5 which i think is a clone of the Orion.

[Jeff]

Latest:
I got a Phillips SPC900NC with the 1 1/4" nosepiece. Everything installed just fine. Got it hooked up to the 80mm f/5 and saw....nothing. Ran through a million setting combinations and finally realized I didn't have enough back focus travel.

I put in a diagonal and was able to get focused on the moon & Jupiter. I could see the moons of Jupiter (mag 5 or 6 or so?). No stars though which worried me. I realize I have to be pretty close to focused for anything to show up so I think it just has such a narrow FOV that there was nothing there to see.

I was using Phd Guiding & the camera's own settings window. Then the clouds rolled in....stay tuned.

[Nighthound]

Latest:
I got a Phillips SNC900NC with the 1 1/4" nosepiece. Everything installed just fine. Got it hooked up to the 80mm f/5 and saw....nothing. Ran through a million setting combinations and finally realized I didn't have enough back focus travel.

I put in a diagonal and was able to get focused on the moon & Jupiter. I could see the moons of Jupiter (mag 5 or 6 or so?). No stars though which worried me. I realize I have to be pretty close to focused for anything to show up so I think it just has such a narrow FOV that there was nothing there to see.

I was using Phd Guiding & the camera's own settings window. Then the clouds rolled in....stay tuned.

I use extension tubes for both TAK scopes when using them to guide. The little FS-60C was the trickiest, I needed extra hardware even to get the DSLR to focus with it.

Good luck Jeff, hope you get it worked out soon.

[troypiggo]

Aww, wish I'd read this before you bought the Toucam. I had that, then got the DSI II Pro. The DSI is much, much more sensitive and has a bigger chip. I found the Toucam images very noisy and hard to find guide stars unless there was a really bright one. With the DSI's extra sensitivity and size, it's much easier to find stars and the contrast on screen makes them easier to look at. Plus the DSI is better for imaging.

As for focus, I found the same as you. Dropped in to my local telescope shop and they didn't have any extension tubes. What I did was buy a cheap and nasty 1.25" 2x barlow, unscrewed the lens from it and just use that as ext tube. No worries.

[Jeff]

Aww, wish I'd read this before you bought the Toucam. I had that, then got the DSI II Pro. The DSI is much, much more sensitive and has a bigger chip. I found the Toucam images very noisy and hard to find guide stars unless there was a really bright one. With the DSI's extra sensitivity and size, it's much easier to find stars and the contrast on screen makes them easier to look at. Plus the DSI is better for imaging.

As for focus, I found the same as you. Dropped in to my local telescope shop and they didn't have any extension tubes. What I did was buy a cheap and nasty 1.25" 2x barlow, unscrewed the lens from it and just use that as ext tube. No worries.

Good info. I don't mind learning on a cheap model then upgrading down the road. It'll make me appreciate it more! I do remember reading that a native B&W camera is about 3x more sensitive than a color camera. So that'll be something to look at.

Thanks for the tip on the barlow. I think I have 3 of those rolling around somewhere.