My Review on the ES iexos 100 PMC 8 Mount
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Hey everyone. It's been a while since posting a video. Welcome back. In this video I review my Explore Scientific iexos 100 pmc 8 mount. If you haven't watched my unboxing video please do so here.
• IEXOS 100 UNBOXING and...
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Came for the mount review, stayed for the dog squeeze
Great review. I have the same mount, I added a sturdier tripod (Bresser ST3) to it but for small refractors is the perfect mount. Be sure to lubricate the bearings for a smooth operation. Initial software setup can be tricky and if not versed to nerdy stuff of pc the average user could get lost. The forum online provides lot of help.
Thanks for the advice. Appreciate it 👍
I have the same mount with a Svbony 80mm guided. I use the wifi connection to control it. 2 nic's on the mini pc running it via NINA this way I keep internet and scope connection. I agree its light enough to carry out of the house fully assembled. Using NINA 3 point alignment I can normally get it with 15 arc seconds. The tracking is amazing especially guided. I would definitely recommend this over just a star tracker. All in all once you understand it, it is an easy and fun little mount to use. I never did try to use the mobile app in the field. CS!
Thanks for the comment. I have not used the app to control it. I'm using Nina for full control and a mini PC. It has it quirks but I'm pretty happy with it.
What kind of mini pc are you using guys?
I'm using a mele quiter 3
@@AstroEverett never heard of it, but thanks and clear skyes!! Your videos are very helpful!
Thanks for the kind words. Clear skies to you as well.
Good stuff Everett!! glad to see you have it dialed in. CS
Thanks Jason. It really is performing very well. I'm glad I bought it.
Thx for review video
Your welcome 👍
Hi AstroEverett. Very nice video indeed! I am planning to buy an Exos2-GT with PMC8. This is my first mount. I liked the mount reviews in terms of less noise and good accuracy, but I am bit skeptical on PMC8 with no hand controller. In your experience, how easy it was to use and how reliable it is? Can it be controlled from an Android mobile phone? People have said that it does not have any PEC. Could you tell me from your experiences if you really missed it in this mount?
Thanks so much.
Beautiful mount, but for some reason I can't get the ExploreStars app to communicate with the mount from my Samsung Galaxy A9+. I don't know what I'm missing. Any pointers?🙏
have you had any problems with the RA/DEC worm gear adjustments ? I have one, nothing but problems with it. I have the same on board rig as yours, my total rig load is 9.71 lbs, plus the counter weights of 9.1 lbs. I'm having guiding issues both in RA/DEC. can you offer any assistance ?
I have not messed around with the gears. I have just used it as is out of the box. Sorry. My setup is about the same weight.
mechanically, this mount is a piece of jewelry. The electronics (the pcb and specially the firmware) is garbage. I strongly recommend upgrading the electronics to OnStep using TMC2209 motor drivers. The reason is: the mount has 2 steps of reduction - one with 4.5:1 ratio being belt driven and the second stage is 144:1 using worm gear assembly => the total reduction is 648:1. Nothing wrong here, in the mechanical department. The problem is the drivers that control the stepper motors - they are DRVs and they are the worst choice that Explor Scientific could ever made. Is all about the capability of the drivers to send microstepping pulses to the motors (max of 32 microsteps for DRVs). You can see it with your eyes - while letting the mount track at sideral rate, remove the small cover from the RA's gearbox case (the small cover in the bottom right, as you look to the N). Watch carefully the small wheel with the belt -it will spin discontinuously. that is caused by the inability of the drivers to generate large amount of microsteps (only 32). The pulses are at 1.3 sec in frequency, in regards with the gear 648:1 gear ratio and the sideral rate (you can also heare it - the puff - piff sound while tracking). This delay will generate 2.15 arcsec RMS guide error. The reason why you can track (guided) at lower RMS error, is that PHD2 or your guiding software is sending, like crazy, correction instructions to the mount. After I've upgraded to OnStep with TMC2209 (with 256 microsteps) my mount is crazy silent and precise to a RMS error of 0.4 arces under a clear sky (with good seeing). The upgrade is just 50-60 US dolars. I've already entered in the ugly territory of technicalities but you can go deeper if you study the differences between TMC smart drivers and DRV (DRV drivers are sending square pulsez to the motor, TMC are interpolating that signal and send sinusoidal signal, much smoother. The square signal profile gives that "lovley" robot sound when slewing)
Wow....thanks for all that. Very technical. It's good to know there are alternate drivers out there. Appreciate it.
Sounds very intriguing, do you think a bloody amateur could accomplish that? ^^
I did. Had to do some research but I got it done.
@@herrcay0323 if you like tinkering, absolutely. It's easy. You need to just buy the electronics (around 50$) and just swap 2 wires.
In my case, it was a little different : i had to make my electronics. I am from Romania and the seller is in US. I couldn't afford to wait 5-7 days for the shipping . The excitement was to big. When it hits me... oh boy, it hits me. And i did it.
So except for the TMC2209 what would you need to get it to work?
did you wver had a problem to connect? I'm still getting the *please wait * on it😢
You need to have the ascom platform and the poth hub drivers installed. They can be both obtained from the Ascom website.
How would you connect this to your phone. They advertised that there an app to operate it but the app is not available for Apple phones. I guess you need a tablet.
I haven't used my phone. There is an app for it but I've never used it. I do use a tablet and laptop.
Hey bro, so on all the models of this mount there is no polar scope ? Glad you have NINA to help you out. Also, glad that mini PC is working for ya, clear skies
Nina is working out great for PA.
I cannot get this mount to work with my win 11 laptop, I did serial, while connected wifi, but unfortunately it appears it is not seeing the serial cord even though it says it is present.
Have you updated windows lately? I heard there was a bug with the update that messes up your WiFi. You may want to look into that first 🤷.
I just got this mount and it won't move, any help would be great thanks
It's hard to say without knowing your setup
should i consider this in 2024?
Yes......at least have a look at it and see if it fits your needs. There is a bit to setup software wise but once you do that it's rock solid.
@@AstroEverett can I talk to you on discord? i had some doubts
@astropunekar I'm not on discord sorry.
So this mount is about 300 euros cheaper than the Skywatcher EQ3 pro syncscan but it can handle 2 KG more that the EQ3. is it equal as good ?
Sorry for getting back to you late. I don't know much about the EQ3 so I can't compare that one to the one I have. But all I do know is that it handles my William Optics Z61, my guidescope and guide camera, and my mini computer with no problems. I've heard that this mount can handle up to 16 lb, but I wouldn't recommend taking it that far. You'd want to stay under the 16 lb Mark, just for stability.
Would The mount lift a omegon 150/750 ??
I don't know much about that particular scope. But if it under 15-16 lbs it might. I would check with an astrophotography store to be sure.
I have the sw 150/750 and it's about the weigjt of the omegon, inhad to put more weight to the mount to keep the balance, it is way to much, but still works fine, but not recommended
I am interested to purchase this mount
I would recommend it. It's a good mount.
@@AstroEverett but didn't understand what problem you had with az adjuster?
It's kind of hard to explain but there is a very small screw on the alt AZ adjustment adapter that I stripped and I had to drill it out and grind it down because the head broke off. This hole is for connecting the stand that the azmuth bolts push against to get side to side movement to polar align.