Excellent! They include it. Someone at Celestron is using their head. Do you have a computer with a 9 pin serial? I couldn't agree more with you. Use the mount for a short while then work with upgrades. My experience has been that weight further out does add to the vibration. Kind of a tuning fork thing, ya know? I'll bet you could ask a hundred people and the answers would be 50/50.
Date: Thu, 13 May 2010 21:07:27 -0600 From: chuck.hards@gmail.com To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] CGEM (Was: Atlas or CGEM?)
Thanks, Don and Steve.
Included with the mount is a cable that's a 9-pin serial connector on one end, and a phone-style jack that plugs into the hand control on the other. After perusing the Celestron site, I've determined that this cable will work. It's actually included in the package for using the computer to control the telescope. A CD is included with it with the neccesary control software.
But NOWHERE in the manual is upgrading the firmware mentioned. It's buried on the Celestron webiste, but it is there. They have a decent Q&A page and that's where I found the link to the upgrade download. I didn't try a site-based search, perhaps that would have gotten me there faster. I'm trying to absorb all I can. This is only my second "GoTo" mount and while not terribly more complex than my first one, which is alt-az, this one is quite a bit more capable and there is much to absorb for a guy who's mind is still wrapped around synchronous motors and setting circles, lol.
I may play with it as-is for a few days before I upgrade the controller, we'll see.
Now, here's an engineering question:
Would it be better to use the smaller counterweight, further out on the dec. shaft, or a heavier weight, closer-in? The difference is only 6 lbs. I'm thinking less total mass on the mount is good, but then a longer moment-arm may contribute to vibration.
Thoughts?
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