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Hi, I recently removed my Celestron Nexstar 8 from its AZ-EL fork mount so that I could use it with a dovetail bar on my HEQ5. I know the maximum payload specification is 30 lbs for the mount. The NexStar 8 OTA with dovetail bar is about 13 lbs. Does anyone know how much weight I can put on the mount before guiding starts to suffer? Can I go to 20 lbs? Thanks, Jim |
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The answer to that is going to depend heavily on your specific HEQ5 copy and also on what you consider acceptable guiding, but I'd say try it and see. I have an 8" newt setup that weighs 29 lbs that I regularly run on a belt modded HEQ5 with great success so a 20 lb payload is not necessarily impossible. With such a heavy payload my setup seems to be extra sensitive to seeing conditions though and I won't even set it up if it seeing isn't great. I also can't image with even the slightest breeze although that may be due to the size of the OTA rather than the weight. With excellent seeing I have no problem guiding at or below 0.5" RMS but that falls off very quickly if seeing deteriorates at all so more common RMS I see on the better nights is around 0.7" which is still acceptable for me.
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I generally guide at 0.40 - 0.50 with 11kg of newt, camera and guide scope on my belt modded HEQ5 pro. I have put better bearings through the RA axis though and polished out the high spots on the worm drive. I often hear of sub arc second with the same equipment from others though without the extra work.
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Thank everyone for the quick replies. I think I will give it a try. My HEQ5 is unmodified and I typically have guide accuracy of 0.6"-0.8". Of course that is with a light rig (SpaceCat 51 + ASI183MM OSC + guide scope) Jim |
![]() 3/16/2022
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I have a HEQ5 pro with Rowan mod and upgraded DEC bearings. Currently i have a small TS76EDPH on it with all extra's weighing about 9kg i guess, and it performs well, similar as my EQ6R pro i would say, guiding averaging around 0,5". So around 10kg payload and a not too long tube is ideal i would say. Clear skies and have fun ! |