I am still fighting the somewhat troublesome new mount. When the mount is commanded to slew to a target it gets close but does not center it, even in a wide FOV eyepiece. Most importantly, the mount does not track precisely. Even in a short 30 second exposure the stars streak significantly. Finally, the mount also does not park all the way. It also gets close but does not reach the designed position.
After several fruitless iterations of user group questions and answers, the group moderator had me call the factory and talk with the technicians. A short troubleshooting session over the phone led the technician to a quick diagnosis. His suspicion is the control panel thinks it is on a different model mount. He classified it as a ‘personality’ problem. It is technically possible to update the control panel’s internal settings over the internet, but the “regular crew chief” is out sick, so the control panel is now in the hands of the post office.
Meanwhile, I have had plenty of time (and adequate weather) to resume work on the floor panel reconfiguration. Now finished, it is obvious which panels are new due to the new carpet, but they should weather fairly quickly and blend in once summer arrives and drives the temperature up in the dome room. But, most importantly, I can now pull up the floor and work on the wiring and plumbing without having to disconnect anything.
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3 Responses to “PTO Upgrade progress report (Part 2)”
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Does your observatory have a raised floor like a computer room? If so it sounds like a good idea if only for the cable management. When I finally sell my light polluted house in Shalimar I plan on making an observatory myself, and incorporating a raised floor sounds like a good idea.
Chad,
Yes, a raised floor was one of my better ideas. But, make sure you learn from my design mistake. Have the sections that allow cables to come up through the floor separate from the ones you want to pull up. It was a real pain to have to disconnect cables and tubing just to pull up a floor panel. Additionally, make the panel’s size manageable. Initially, each of the panels in the dome room was about one quarter of the floor space.
Tom
Tom,
Got it, I’ll keep the cables segregated. My idea (now) was for braced 2′ x 2′ plywood panels with cable openings near the edges.
Thanks,
Chad