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Project:
HEQ5 as portable mount


Contents:

  1. Introduction
  2. EQDIRECT from D-sub to RJ45
  3. Power terminal of HEQ5 changed
  4. Installing the 300 mm lens on HEQ5
  5. Rewiring the electric cables
  6. Connecting the Raspberry
  7. Setup GPSD
  8. Setup GPS NMEA
  9. Power consumption
  10. Battery power cables
  11. Tweaking auto guiding parameters
  12. Rowan Belt Modification Kit
  13. Making the tripod to a low rider
  14. Redesign of mount head details
  15. Raspberry Pi4 bracket
  16. Brackets: temperature sensor, spirit level and stepper motor
  17. Transport box
  18. EQDirect cable
  19. Brackets reinforced and adapt it to EQ6
  20. Cut the length of the GPS cable
  21. HEQ5 and TS130 refractor ?
  22. To be continued

Related projects:

  1. HEQ5 as portable mount
  2. Pentax 645 300 mm ED IF f/4 lens
  3. KStars / EKOS and Raspberry Pi4

Note:
I take no responsibility or liability for what are written here, you use the information on your own risk!


1: Introduction

Recently I bought an used HEQ5 mount. My idea is to use this mount when travel by my car to dark places. Much less weight compare to my EQ6 pro mount. When I'm using my 300 mm lens I don't need the stability of the EQ6, and the HEQ5 mount has about the same precision.

HEQ5 as a portable mount

I bought this mount used and the earlier owner has already installed a belt drive, that save me a lot of time. The weight of the HEQ5 mount with one 5 kilos balance weight is about 19 kg. The EQ6 mount is at least 5 kilo more heavier. The tripod can be replaced with something lower because I don't use it for visual observations.

There are some problem to solve:
1: The serial cable, the EQDIRECT has not the same connector. I have one spare cable and I can change the cable from 9-pol D-sub to RJ45 standard.
2: The power connector isn't very good, it can fall out and then the mount loses its power.
3: More and even more things to do


EQDIRECT Raspberry Pi4

I also plan to control this mount with a Raspberry Pi4 one chip computer. That saves a lot of power and then the need for a heavy battery is reduced.

There are more to do but I start with this so I can start use the mount.

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