Having now set up the mount and all my equipment in a dry run, I’m going to agree with your cons and some possible solutions. 1- I almost immediately lost the 2mm screw that holds the knob for vertical adjustments. It was probably not screwed in deep enough. I also find it a bit small for the amount of torque that it has to deal with. 2- I have the same feeling about the counterweight possibly slipping. Being in the electric motor business, I’m very familiar with shafts and attaching things to them. It is common to have a flat milled on a shaft whenever a set screw makes contact for a better grip. Since I deal with a machine shop regularly, I’m having them tap one of the blanks in the knob for a larger screw, probably 4mm. I’m also having them mill a flat along the length of the counterweight shaft between the two threaded ends. Contact a local machine shop. The cost of the tapping is minimal. Many are up to doing this themselves. As far as the milling is concerned, be prepared to spend a couple of hundred bucks. It’s a long section and will probably eat an entire cutting insert and take up 45 minutes to an hour of milling time. Again, it’s not a big problem and might not be necessary but I will feel more at ease.
Thanks! So I can do 3-5 minutes unguided depending on the scope. The biggest I've had on it is my ES127 which is a little under 700mm of focal length and I generally do 3 minute exposures
Thanks for this. Currently have a GEM28 which I love but guiding....grrrrr...realize I may need to do some with an EC version but not as much fiddling with the guiding on the AIR attached to it. Spending the next few weeks comparing this to the RST-135E and the new Pegasus Astro as well
Thanks a lot for the review! Just a brief question..... Do you have to set the Home Position on every imaging session? Or is is enough to set it once, move to Home at the end of the session that it will remember the Home Position next time?
Great video! Question for you, for some reason I thought only the RA motor had an encoder on it and not on the Dec motor. Do you know if that is true? I have had an absolute nightmare with mine and trying to makeup my mind on what I want to do moving forward. Thanks much!!
@@keystothecosmos7527 No matter what I do, update drivers, use different laptops, even replaced the “Ipolar” and nothing will enable me to connect to the Ipolar so that I can do the polar alignment. I can manually use the hand controller and slew the mount though. Just so frustrating and depressing quite honestly. And with no support from manufacturer I have no guidance or help in troubleshooting it. I have asked a few guys on YT and nobody yet has any suggestions that I haven’t already tried. To the point I am considering selling it “used” though it’s never been used with the disclaimer that the buyer will need to figure out what’s stopping the mount from talking to the Ipolar camera
@@freeandcriticalthinker4431 I haven't had an issue with the Ipolar personally but I made a video about the problem I was having connecting to the ASIair with this mount. Maybe check that out and see if the same solution could work for this
Great video :) ! Do you need to use the CEM40ec hand control to activate the encoders with ASIAIR connected ? Or you don’t need to use the hand control. About the extra side counter weight you use to get good balance , you just need to adjust the counter weight bar to get this problem resolve
Thanks! You need to use the hand controller if you want to adjust the tracking setting. When I set it to King Rate, I use the hand controller. Its pretty much the only time I use it.
@@keystothecosmos7527 ok thanks, I have the same mount , it’s fantastic mount!! About the extra side counter weight you use to get good balance , you just need to adjust the counter weight bar to get this problem resolve,
![[Watch Party] RoV Pro League 2024 Winter | with Moowan ( Bacon Time Vs Talon )](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CCEDhu6dPN8/mqdefault.jpg)
Great overview Dave, that's one legit mount! Someday...
Thanks Ron! Definitely someday! 😃
Great review, can’t wait to see more images with this setup!
Fantastic Review man! An Ioptron CEM26 is On my possible List!
Thanks! Nice, I hope you get one! 🤜🤛
@@keystothecosmos7527 well it is Kind of Expensive because the prices are High in my country Due To Taxes, Might Take a while, But I hope I can!
Having now set up the mount and all my equipment in a dry run, I’m going to agree with your cons and some possible solutions. 1- I almost immediately lost the 2mm screw that holds the knob for vertical adjustments. It was probably not screwed in deep enough. I also find it a bit small for the amount of torque that it has to deal with. 2- I have the same feeling about the counterweight possibly slipping. Being in the electric motor business, I’m very familiar with shafts and attaching things to them. It is common to have a flat milled on a shaft whenever a set screw makes contact for a better grip. Since I deal with a machine shop regularly, I’m having them tap one of the blanks in the knob for a larger screw, probably 4mm. I’m also having them mill a flat along the length of the counterweight shaft between the two threaded ends. Contact a local machine shop. The cost of the tapping is minimal. Many are up to doing this themselves. As far as the milling is concerned, be prepared to spend a couple of hundred bucks. It’s a long section and will probably eat an entire cutting insert and take up 45 minutes to an hour of milling time. Again, it’s not a big problem and might not be necessary but I will feel more at ease.
Great input! Thanks!
Hey Dave. Great review. Sounds like and amazing mount. I've heard alot of good things about these mounts. If only I had the $$$ 🤣🤣.
Thanks Everett
What exposures times can you get un-autoguiding with 250mm, 800mm telescopes? Great video!
Thanks! So I can do 3-5 minutes unguided depending on the scope. The biggest I've had on it is my ES127 which is a little under 700mm of focal length and I generally do 3 minute exposures
Gorgeous 😍
Thanks for this. Currently have a GEM28 which I love but guiding....grrrrr...realize I may need to do some with an EC version but not as much fiddling with the guiding on the AIR attached to it. Spending the next few weeks comparing this to the RST-135E and the new Pegasus Astro as well
Thanks a lot for the review!
Just a brief question..... Do you have to set the Home Position on every imaging session? Or is is enough to set it once, move to Home at the end of the session that it will remember the Home Position next time?
Thanks. No you do not need to reset the home position everytime. Only if you recalibrate the encoders. Otherwise it will remember it
@@keystothecosmos7527 Thanks a million for you answer! I really like your channel. Keep going! Cheers, Martin
@@astrofromhome Thanks so much! 🙏
Great video! Question for you, for some reason I thought only the RA motor had an encoder on it and not on the Dec motor. Do you know if that is true? I have had an absolute nightmare with mine and trying to makeup my mind on what I want to do moving forward. Thanks much!!
Hi, I'm not sure to be honest but that could be correct. What issues are you having?
@@keystothecosmos7527 No matter what I do, update drivers, use different laptops, even replaced the “Ipolar” and nothing will enable me to connect to the Ipolar so that I can do the polar alignment. I can manually use the hand controller and slew the mount though. Just so frustrating and depressing quite honestly. And with no support from manufacturer I have no guidance or help in troubleshooting it. I have asked a few guys on YT and nobody yet has any suggestions that I haven’t already tried. To the point I am considering selling it “used” though it’s never been used with the disclaimer that the buyer will need to figure out what’s stopping the mount from talking to the Ipolar camera
@@freeandcriticalthinker4431 I haven't had an issue with the Ipolar personally but I made a video about the problem I was having connecting to the ASIair with this mount. Maybe check that out and see if the same solution could work for this
@@keystothecosmos7527 Yea I watched that video and then tried that. No joy though. Thanks for the tip though for sure
@@freeandcriticalthinker4431 Have you tried using an ASIair or other software to polar align?
Great video :) ! Do you need to use the CEM40ec hand control to activate the encoders with ASIAIR connected ? Or you don’t need to use the hand control. About the extra side counter weight you use to get good balance , you just need to adjust the counter weight bar to get this problem resolve
Thanks! You need to use the hand controller if you want to adjust the tracking setting. When I set it to King Rate, I use the hand controller. Its pretty much the only time I use it.
@@keystothecosmos7527 ok thanks, I have the same mount , it’s fantastic mount!! About the extra side counter weight you use to get good balance , you just need to adjust the counter weight bar to get this problem resolve,