SC-3 Long

Am I correct that you no longer make the SC-3 Long and now only make the short version?

 

Thanks for the update. I realized that I made a mistake in the calculations for my proposed stack and I can actually use the short version. It' s good to know that if necessary I could have a long one made.

Now all I have to do is actually find a SC-3. They seem to be out of stock everywhere. I imagine it is due to the circuit board stock issue you mentioned.

 

So are we looking at a year or more lead time?

 

2 months is fine. A year and I would probably be looking at a different camera. Thanks.

 

Wondering how I electronically connect the SC-3 to AO-x. Do I need a StarChaser/Aluma CCD/STC to DB9 Adapter Cable?

 

Ok. Thanks. I didn't see it mentioned in either the SC-3 or AO-X manuals.

 

Hi, Finally have some good weather and I am trying to focus the SC3. I have moved the focus as far as I can counterclockwise and it doesn't quite reach focus. Which way do I need to move the prism to extend the focus range in that direction.

 

Thanks for the info. I think I have the guider focused now. At least if looks focused. It's hard to tell since the seeing has been poor lately.

I have some more questions. I was working on drive and image calibration and am seeing some odd results. I am running v6.40. Windows is current as of today.

First, I am using a 22" telescope and a 9.5m star through a luminance filter. With 1 1 secod exposure the brightness was showing as 281 in the AO window. This seems really low. With my old ST10 this star would have been 30,000 or more. Is this a change to the way brightness is displayed with the SC-3?

Next, I was playing with the AO calibration. The calibration lines are displaying at about 45 degrees in the AO window as you can see from the attachment. It seems odd unless the AO works at 45 degrees to its housing. Also, I ended up with three lines in approximately the same direction fanned out from a single point. That does not look right. There were no error messages so I assume MDL thinks it worked? Drive calibration in the AO window and Guide calibration in the Guide tab both look normal.

Another odd thing I noticed is that with bin1 the stars have higher values in the AO window than they do in the Information window by over 100%. Is that correct?

Sorry about using a Doc file. My Notepad didn't want to work with the screen shot.

 

Good to know about the brightness values. I guess I will have to mentally recalibrate my expections of what makes a good guide star.

 

While experimenting with the AO calibration I discovered something really interesting.

If I calibrate with Bin2 I get the weird 3 line configuration that shows in the picture I sent you and it dings at the end. If I use Bin1 it seems to calibrate normally with a nice little red cross with the arms at 45 degrees to the frame and no ding. I guess no ding means it worked?

So it seems that binning the AO really messes up the calibration process for whatever reason. I still don't understand the 45 degree issue though. Is that the way it is supposed to work?