From my stash, I offered silica desiccant packs for everyone. I put some in Wayne's eyepiece case, where I had seen some moisture building.
Tony, on the east edge of the Observing Pad, reported his Celestron CGEM mount was not powering up. I took a look. Ah. The screw-in power cord was damaged. Looks like the cord was yanked or pulled without unscrewing the plug.
Nicole wondered how to power all her gear near the telescope when her marine battery had a limited number of CLA outlets. I said she needed a splitter. Rob realised what I was describing and headed to the vehicle. Now she was able to run the computer, camera, mount, and I don't know what else.
Wayne protested. His mount was acting up. The hand box slew buttons weren't working. Huh?
After a quick check I noted the lights on the hand controller flickering. Really! It looked like a bad power connector. Just like Katrina's issue, again, with a SynScan 'scope! I told Wayne what I had done to repair her 'scope. He said he'd try to find the connector I had used and could solder it up himself.
In the meantime, I suggested tethering the power cord to reduce movement. Later we found this did not help. It was still too sensitive to touch or motion.
Once the mount was working consistently, I helped Wayne find objects by RA and Dec.
Encouraged him to try his no-name 28mm eyepiece for some targets. It looked to me like an unbadged Pentax. I thought it offered decent views.
Conditions were not great, again. I suggested some double stars. But he was anxious to image. He's not a fan of doubles. So I recommended the Dumbbell.
I was very tired, my stomach was off a bit. I headed to bed early.
Curiously Sal was off. But others had encouraged him to stay and rest.
No comments:
Post a Comment