Ioptron ZEQ25GT mount?

[mymoon]

Well done anat.

I have recently bought the baby brother the smarteq pro for airline portability. You must be prepared to tinker to get the best out of these ioptron products.

iOptron business model is for the customer to complete the manufacturing QC . In return they provide excellent customer service at least in the USA. They walk you through a QC issue and if that does not solve the problem replacement parts will be on the way with instructions on how to remove the defective part and install the new. If you still cannot fix then send them back to be fixed.


With the ZEQ25GT there is a 3 series video on improvement

Part 1

http://youtu.be/-Cjqs4iDW1c

The other parts the link is by clicking on the name of the author.

Cheers

[anat]

Well done anat.

I have recently bought the baby brother the smarteq pro for airline portability. You must be prepared to tinker to get the best out of these ioptron products.

iOptron business model is for the customer to complete the manufacturing QC . In return they provide excellent customer service at least in the USA. They walk you through a QC issue and if that does not solve the problem replacement parts will be on the way with instructions on how to remove the defective part and install the new. If you still cannot fix then send them back to be fixed.


With the ZEQ25GT there is a 3 series video on improvement

Part 1

http://youtu.be/-Cjqs4iDW1c

The other parts the link is by clicking on the name of the author.

Cheers

I am OK with that because I enjoy DIY. haha
Most people are still willing to solve the problems by themselves because the product has a potential and there is no other choice in the same class of the mount. Of course, the customer support is excellent.

Anat

[mymoon]

I am using the iAstroHub to control the ZEQ25GT mount and my DSLR+CCD from my iPad/Nexus. Skysafari also works with iAstroHub. No need to buy the SkyFi I actually purchase this mount to fulfill my need for portability. QHY Intercam 8300 developer version is coming to complete my setup One cable from the CCD to QHY6 for guiding and one cable from the CCD to the mount. So a tablet can control everything. Very portable and revolutionary

Skychart (CDC) on iAstroHub still cannot control the mount due to the driver issue. I have to look into it. However, recently I prefer Skysafari.

Anat

Anat: where can I download iAstroHub for my iPad. Items I already have are indicated in Red Y

Based on the website for Requirements and supported devices.

1. Autoguider: QHY5 -Y
2. CCD: QHY8L-N
3. DSLR: Canon or Nikon DSLR-Y
4. USB serial adapter (FTDI232) for controlling a DSLR camera shutter and a serial shutter cable-Y
http://www.beskeen.com/projects/dslr_se ... rial.shtml
5. USB serial adapter (FTDI232) for controlling a mount via a serial port-Y
6. USB sound card (C-Media) and a mini speaker to report progress-N
7. Powered USB hub: I use Belkin Ultra Slim Hub (4 ports and 7 ports)-Y
8. MK808 (original with RK901 wifi, no bluetooth) with iAstroHub packages.-N

So the Major item is #8 MK808.

I am very interested in a system of decreasing dependency on bulky batteries and netbooks.

The way of the future is for tablets. Battery life of 8 hours is more than sufficient. You need to sleep anyway.

So can we have more info on the system you are developing.

Cheers

Aziz

[orly_andico]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/iastrohub/

Aziz, you can get that Mk808 on ebay. It is a quad core android mini PC.

You need that, the iPad will only serve as a browser to command the iAstrohub software, which all runs under Linux on the Mk808.

I actually have one of these quad-core Android mini PCs lying around because I wanted to try iAstrohub. But I have lost interest (for now). The original version of iAstrohub was called PiAstrohub and ran on the Raspberry Pi. But the RasPi is quite weak (single core 700MHz ARM) while the Mk808 is a quad 1.6GHz or something.

Do note that installing iAstrohub is really for the gearheads, unless Anat sets up a business where he will sell you an Mk808 with all the software pre-installed. You would have to

1) remove the Android OS from the Mk808 and install Ubuntu Linux

2) download all the necessary software onto the Ubuntu, apply Anat's patches, then compile everything

3) set up the software properly

At this time the CCD software in iAstrohub (which is actually CCCD from SourceForge) only supports certain specific CCD cameras. Mostly QHY. Ditto for lin_guider (the guiding software).

It is really a lot of hassle to set up, even if you're very Linux savvy. I haven't bothered to do it, and I am Red Hat certified (!)

[anat]

Aziz,

The iAstroHub project is more oriented to advanced users because it is still at its initial stage of development. For MK808, I recommend to get one only from Geekbuying to make sure that you get the RK901 wifi chip which is supported by my package.

I have tried to upload the complete image of my package (3.x GB) to the sourceforge but it failed. I don't know where to post my complete image. With the image, one can just flash the image on a SD card. No need to compile anything.

Best regards,
Anat

[mymoon]

Aziz,

The iAstroHub project is more oriented to advanced users because it is still at its initial stage of development. For MK808, I recommend to get one only from Geekbuying to make sure that you get the RK901 wifi chip which is supported by my package.

I have tried to upload the complete image of my package (3.x GB) to the sourceforge but it failed. I don't know where to post my complete image. With the image, one can just flash the image on a SD card. No need to compile anything.

Best regards,
Anat

Fascinating. Anat do you mean if I were to buy the recommended MK808 and the rest of the items (not many as I seem to have most of them already) and arrange to get the flashed SD card from you, I will have a working system.

How complicated is it to connect the items together to form a working system. Presumably I need a power supply.

How about a complete inventory and connection diagram. I don't mind being the Guinea pig. If it does not work it will be another feather to my cap on to my astrophotography (mis)adventure.

If you are not comfortable on this open forum pls contact me via PM.

BTW I could not find the MK808 with the RK901 chip listed on the Geekbuying website. FYI my internet connection too is not at their best.

Cheers

Aziz

[MooEy]

Anat, is iAstrohub going to work with this thing?

Please do report on your findings. I am finding that hauling the Mach1 is still quite a chore, so a smaller lighter but hopefully capable mount is something I really want. Tak P2Z is impossible to find and has no GoTo. EM11 too expensive.

sxd or gp-d2?

[beginner]

Anat,

Thank you for sharing your experience of your ZEQ25.

May I ask what (RA , DEC) anti-backlash number you entered for your ZEQ25?

Regards,

[anat]

I just use Zero
For the discussion on iAstroHub, please go to:
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ ... /fpart/all

[Gary]

There is a test report on this mount by Dennis di Cicco in the May/June 2014 issue of Australian Sky & Telescope:
http://www.austskyandtel.com.au/