Ioptron GEM28EC First light and issues!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- My first light with the Ioptron GEM28EC and issues i have with the ipolar ( competition for the QHY pole master).
Ive also become a Highpoint Scientific Affiliate so if you want to help me out use the link below if you purchase anything from them.
www.highpoints...
Facebook: / arizonaastro
Have you tried any long exposures unguided? I was considering an EC version to get away from guidescopes.
Unfortunately unless you wanna buy a $10k mount you will always need to guide for exposures over like 1.5 minutes. I was able to get about 80 seconds with a really good polar alignment.
I have the same mount. My ipolar has been faultless but I don't have obstructions. Guess the designers didn't consider polar aligning through obstructions. Bummer with those power lines
They did consider it and implemented the mask feature but the mask feature is basically unusable. Even when I had it in dark unobstructed skies the alignment was bad. PhD2 guiding assistant put the error at 15 arc minutes after I polar aligned with the ipolar. When I use my pole master I always get sub arc minute alignments.
@@azastro919 wow i will have to check what version software i have but i must say mines been really good, although i have used sharp cap plate solving as well which gets it even closer
Heyo! I have the cem26 non EC and I found that I was getting declination stiction. Basically a reversed movement right before clearing backlash which can resemble a periodic error in DEC. You might be tempted to tighten the meshing like on an heq5/eq6-r to reduce backlash but that does way more harm than good. (coming from experience). Since the gears are spring loaded that not necessary. I found that I was getting stiction by doing a declination backlash measurement with PHD2 and right before clearing backlash it would jump in the opposite direction and it looked like /--"\ instead of just backlash which would be /--\. Where -- is no movement. The fix is to back off the meshing. It may introduce a tiny bit more backlash but since its spring loaded not much at all. Hope this helps!
Awesome thanks for the insight I'll have to try to adjust that if I run into that problem.
Bought a CEM40EC with the Ipolar. The Ipolar has not worked since day one and Ioptron wants me to send the unit back to them for repair. Looking at $60 for shipping it back even though it was DOA
Wow really? That's messed up especially since you can easily remove the ipolar and send them just that.
So what's your opinion now? Is it better/worser/same like eq5/avx? What is the real periodic errors? Which focal range can cary on half payload?
It's a great mount the ipolar works well when there is no obstruction. I ran my explore scientific on it so about 25lbs total and I was getting about .8 to 1.0 error so pretty good so far I love it.
Helpful video--thanks! What kind scope do you have riding on the mount?
Atm I've only used my celestron c6 with hyperstar but I'm gonna throw my heavier explore scientific 102ed soon. Thanks for the positive feedback.
@@azastro919 What luck--that's my current set-up (C6 w/ Hyperstar), and I'm considering the same mount. Has it been a good match for you?
@@mattestabrook ya but if given another chance I think I would go for the cem40 it's $100 more and will carry 40lbs.
@@azastro919 Got it, thank you. My main constraint is my limited storage space, so I'm definitely looking for a compact mount.
@@mattestabrook I think the cem40 is actually lighter and about the same size but I'm not sure.
I think you've found the iPolar's Achilles' Heel -- its plate solver thinks a power line is a row of stars! I do not have that problem with trees as obstructions. It's good at dealing with obstructions that block stars, but not obstructions that reflect light.
You can drift-align in PHD2.
Ya really annoying cause I can't do anything about it meaning I polar I unless in my back yard
@@azastro919 I am wondering what they should do about this. How is the software supposed to know that the reflections from the power line are not in fact stars? It can surely be done but would require rethinking some of their machine vision algorithm.
Well they added the draw mask but it's so broken it's unusable for me
@@azastro919 Yes, if the mask feature were easy to use, it might solve your problem. I have never been able to use it. You might try past versions of the iPolar software (there are several) and see if any are different.
@@michael.a.covington ya if they could just make so that we can draw a mask like just follow the cursor or even give us the ability to choose why type of mask we can draw kind of like ms paint in a way.
Man, Not sure whats going on here... I've not used iOptron mounts, so I have no frame of reference.. .70 is not too bad I guess. but it looked like you were sitting above 1.00 all night. Image still looks clean, Interested to see it out away from the power lines to see if that helps with alignment.
Oh I hope so I know my eq6r pro gets .4 on a really good night but I'm hoping the ipolar works really well and I can get at least .7 guiding at least.
As a beginner who’s never taken any Astro pics, would you recommend ipolar? I’d like to be super accurate and it be easy, but not sure how much of a difference it makes. Thanks!!
Well that depends on what mount you have. I would personally suggest the polemaster as it fits on almost any mount with right adapter. The polemaster has much much better software and they are both similar in price around $250.
@@azastro919 well I’m debating between a few Ioptron mounts. Most come with or without the ipolar, not sure if they could incorporate the pole master. Currently between gem28, gem45ec, which I guess in those cases ipolar could definently be helpful (just came to the conclusion today of which mounts I’d like to choose from). Feel free to share your input on those !!
@@rachel7550 I have the gem28 but mine has the "ec" meaning it has an encoder in it which help it guide much more accurately.
@@azastro919 I was thinking of getting the gem28ec! Really torn between that and the 45ec. Pretty big price jump too, my bank account would not like me😅how do you like yours??
@@rachel7550 I haven't really used it too much but so far it's great
Maybe draw the mask before iPolar zooms in and before you get close to PA? Also, you are using NINA so upgrade to the latest nightly and use NINA's new Three Point Polar Align plugin, works great and will solve your powerline issues.
Ya the mask is just so horribly implemented its basically unusable. I will try to demonstrate that in my next video. I do need to upgrade nina it advances so quickly I only really u destiny how to use about 50% of its features lol.
Use the 3 star alignment plug in for NINA to get around this at home?
Ya I've been meaning to give that a try.
Very interesting about the powerlines. Hope you had some good sessions with your mount by now :D
That's a tuff position to put those power lines against the ipolar. Personally, I like the ipolar because I don't need to turn the mount 90 degrees everytime to correct for cone error. The ipolar enables me to check and maintain alignment in real time thru the night because alignment shifts while imaging for many reasons. Nevertheless, this mount has great potential and I'd love to see you use it under better conditions. Clear skies.
I've never minded the process of the polemaster. I did go camping but was unable to use it as all 3 nights were overcast/thunderstorms lol.
How can your powerlines be Ioptron's problem??
It just means the Ipolar isn't for you!!!
I never said my power lines were ioptrons problem. I'm not the only person on earth that has obstructions around Polaris to deal with. The fact that 5 power lines that run through the frame but doesn't block Polaris making the ipolar unusable and the masking option being completely unusable is just sad.
What happened to the eq5.?
The eq6r pro is under the black cover behind me in the setup. This is my travel mount replacing my avx
wow...
iPolar is just tech trash. I've disliked it since it first came out. I'll go for the AccuAlign any day!
Ya I much prefer my polemaster. All ioptron needs to do is just make a better program for it. The camera is fine and it's nice that's it's incorporated into the mount but jeeze put a little effort into the program lol.