Nice setup. You can actually do autoguiding with that mount and INDI (no need for guide port). It guides through the handset. All you need is an OAG and a guide camera,
Derek

In theory yes. In practice, I don't think it would work well. This assessment is based on the fact that in Align, when selecting Slew to Target, it keeps trying for 10 or more times, and says accuracy is not met, and tries again. Don't know if it is gear or motor precision/backlash or what. The other thing is PEC. Even though the hand controller supports PEC, I tried it more than once and it made things worse, not better.

Might be worth a shot though. I also have a Celestron mount (CPC1100) and the slew-to-target align also takes a good few attempts and periodic error is terrible. Nevertheless I can guide to an RMS of about 1 to 1.5 arcsec using indi + OAG guiding through the handset.
Derek

On one session, I tested guiding with the main scope and camera first. In INDI, under 'Guider' I select the main Canon camera, and under 'Via' I would select the GotoNova mount itself, and then see how calibration is doing.

The result was a 'calibration failed' or something similar consistently. That what dissuaded me from taking this idea further.

V2 of my observatory is now installed but not live as I need a new weather station.








This time, the box is way lighter than the other one, lower design. The frame is wood, outer panels are aluminium.
It can be taken down in just a few minutes. It is quite a major improvement on the first box.

Any questions, fire away please.

Oh the box now looks a lot nicer than the one before, great improvement!!

looks very good Gonzothegreat.
Did you use some kind of black velours on the inside walls or is it just black painted wood?

Looking real nice Gonzo
I don't think this is far off a flat packed kit people would by.

If you are thinking of making a new MeteoStation, I have completed the box, and made quite a few updates to the arduino firmware and meteoWEB config (as it was not updated the last five years).
There are more options for customizing settings, and more checks to keep the firmware up. I also updated the libraries to newest versions with support for BMP180 among other.

They are all in my fork of INDI. I will make a pull-request when I get around to making the howto for it.

github.com/indilib/indi/compare/master.....c2e95ddb4f22558245ce
github.com/indilib/indi/compare/master.....34fd554289f256d03a2b
github.com/indilib/indi/compare/master.....ino-meteoweb-updates

Looking forward to some pictures.

Thanks Jasem, yes it is a vast improvement from the first one.

Paul, I didn't use any velour, wood panels painted black only.


@Magnus, I will contact you via pm regarding the weather station.



So for the new box I have spend many hours thinking about the new design. I know my first box had inspired quite a few out there. Magnus was too I believe (correct me if I'm wrong there), I saw his box and pinched the idea of having the linear actuators further apart from each other.
My first box had many flaws, for example the camera would hit one linear actuator, I had a leaky lid, the wood side panels did shrunk, the micro switches for the lid were inadequate. It had too many screws, too much wood, too many angle brackets.

I watch quite a lot of youTube videos about wood tenons, cutting wood, gluing wood etc...
The frame is wood, properly cut square, minimum amount of screws (I used probably a 10th if not less than the old box), wood glue was also used (damn this glue is super strong once fully dry). The inside panels are plywood, probably 4 mm or so, they are not structural.
The outer ones are aluminium composite panels, SUPER strong and SUPER lights.
Each panels are secure by 6 screws only at the bottom (3 each corners) and only 4 screws at the top. It takes 10 min max to dissemble the box.
The alu panels are actually stuck to the wooden frame using 3M vhb tape, go watch some videos about this tape, got to see to believe it really.
I had to design it with constraints in mind: had to "fit" the allowed/allocated space on the balcony of the in-laws, it HAD to fit 100% flat packed in the boot of my car (it fits with 5 mm to spare (witdh), no kidding.
I've relocated the solar vent/fan to the front where the sun would hit it more than when it was in the back. The wiring has been improved too.
I guess the only flaw in my design that I can think off is that I could have build it 5 cm longer (it's not quite a square, about 105cm/95cm)

if I was going to build V3, it would have a mini roll on roof on rails (similar to what you have in your drawers, but off course much stronger and weather resistant....)
I can actually modify this box for it if I really have too.

My ROR observatory is about 50 meters from my house, and I have a Celestron Edge 1100HD mounted on a Losmandy Titan GEQ. The primary imaging camera is an ASI294MC Pro, and the OAG camera is an ASI174mini. The focuser is a Moonlite instruments with a stepper motor and controller.

The mount, cameras and focuser are all controlled by Indi from a small fan less Intel x64 based system connected to our LAN.

I go outside to open up the observatory, takeoff the scope's dust cap and put on the dew shield, after which I come back to the office and manage the evening's session from a more powerful x64 desktop system.

Both computers are running Mint Linux 18.3.

Here's a shot of the imagine train and mount:


Here's the observatory:

I am using a mobile setup so I can either take images from my backyard or take my setup with me as I go observing visually with my 20" dob. I have a SkyWatcher HEQ5-Pro on which I have mounted a William Optics ZenithStar 71 ED with a modded Canon EOS 700D. The HEQ5-Pro is connected to my Lubuntu laptop using an EQDir cable. For guiding I use a ZWO ASI120MC-S (USB3) camera mounted on a TS finder.