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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Buying a new Mount: indi compatable?

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Those are very good mounts. My current mount is a Losmandy G11 with Gemini 1 Level IV. It is now a little dated, but is a great performer. It works great on INDI when it is set up correctly.
5 years 4 months ago #31495

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A few months ago I bought a SkyWatcher EQ6-Pro and it has been performing very well. Guiding RMS well within 0.6” using a 60 mm F=280 mm finder scope and an ASI120MC-S guide cam. Before that I used a borrowed AZ-EQ6 (not the 5 that you are considering) and it performs very well as well. The EQ6-Pro has a lot of improvements over the previous EQ6 models plus belt drives which is why I bought that one. Both mounts I controlled via INDI through an EQDir cable and the EQMod driver.


HTH, Wouter
5 years 4 months ago #31502

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Yep. Those g11's are beautiful mounts. Bit out of my price range though. Maybe one day...after the obs is built.
5 years 4 months ago #31503

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Lucky dog! The EQ6-R Pro is my dream mount. Its a heavy duty GEM with belt drive and Skywatcher are high quality and very reliable and the foundation of EQMOD drivers.

However, the AZ-EQ5 is a light duty mount. Not the same thing at all. Its payload is less that he HEQ5.

Also, the AZ-EQ's, although very nicely designed have a small negative in that the polar alignment adjustments can bind and make it hard to fine tune your PA. I used to want an AZ-EQ but not anymore. Stick with the EQ6-R !
5 years 4 months ago #31523

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Thanks for the info!
After spending yet another rare clear night wondering just when the backlash and wobble crept back into my cg-4, which does not have bearings, contrary to older reviews. Bushings are great...on an ox cart. The worm gears weren't even ground in on this thing...Barely indexed is more like it.
Go Celestron! ..yay. :/ Well I have another week of foul weather to try to retune it again. It goes out smooth as ice skates following a zamboni and comes back in buckboard on a gravel road.
5 years 4 months ago #31525

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Both my HEQ5 and EQ6-R have belt drives (I modded the HEQ5 myself) and no noticeable backlash. This is just FYI of course ;)
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5 years 4 months ago #31530

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Okay that's two votes for the EQ6-R. I think I can take the AZ-EQ5 off the list though that dual saddle head does seem pretty nifty. Easy enough to use a saddle plate on the larger mount though if I really need to go tandem. I think I'm done with Celest-Ori-meade after so many negatives in the fb groups. Also skeptical of Ioptron and well most things really. A strong clean foundation for Onstep would be terrific.

DANGER! RAMBLING THOUGHTS AHEAD:
I'm not sure if I'm "lucky" or just getting pissed enough to squeeze the wallet. I've been "that guy" who did all the DIY stuff for decades, including about 28 years as a pro electronics tech. Opensource and diy seem to go well together. For me, this a serious cop out, resignation, a breaking of the sword... or maybe I'm just tired. It's been 3 1/2 years of this little mount and I've really outgrown it. Maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way. I cobbled together old bicycles from stuff I found around for years before finally biting the bullet and buying something decent, and what became of that was a garage full of bike parts and the occasional local race medal, and a pack of memories to become dirt one day. So maybe buying the biggest mount I can handle moving to the yard is the way to go, or maybe I should give up gems altogether and buy a monster goto dob...or maybe I should STFU and go fix the stupid thing. Arg...
Also, I'm never impressed by throwing money at a project, that's for normal people.

Then there's pages like this one on diy mounts:astro.neutral.org/homemade-diy-gem-telescope-mount.shtml
I think I would miss that a little. Of course, a really good commercial build would give me a better platform for further diy experiments...but then so would a flat mill. :P
5 years 4 months ago #31543

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My cg-4 does too, in its present build. In my first version It had 515:1 gearhead DC motors with 64ppr magnetic encoders(21$ each) and would give me the occasional unguided 2 minute exposure. I never could solve the instability and motor toggle though, and later switched to belt driven steppers and joined the OnStep gang. The backlash is partly in poorly finished worm gears, which I have improved some by re-mating the Ra., terrible loose threading and screws, and the horrible way the DEC head attaches to the body. It's nearly impossible to tune out all the play in order to use guiding, especially when loaded heavily - once more reason for the discussion of getting a new one.

I found an Ioptron cg60 for 2k, but that's probably going to be over my limit. My kid just went down with an appendix...there goes the neighborhood.
5 years 4 months ago #31545

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The following user(s) said Thank You: Greg
5 years 4 months ago #31650

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After another failure(dec head unscrewed itself despite the double nut) I ordered an EQ6R pro while they are on sale. Woot! Thank's for the input guys.

Also...rain and snow now forecast in the mid-atlantic states by the weekend.
Last edit: 5 years 4 months ago by Ray Wells.
5 years 4 months ago #31749

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Nice! Congrats!
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5 years 4 months ago #31751

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Thanks!
It was really the way they designed the drive assemblies to be stationary and enclosed that finished me off. So many lesser mounts put the motors in the same configuration to my old one, (rotating with the dec head - carrying all that weight and weird torque) that it kind of put me off them for a long time. I already have one like that. This one has been getting so popular and with good and even excited reviews from all over that I couldn't pass up the sale. I bought a cable too, even more rare for me...with my luck it will be the wrong connector. :P
I still won't rule out making a big saddle mount for fun but now it doesn't have to dominate my schedule just to do AP.
5 years 4 months ago #31767

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