I am trying to stitch over my ASI533MC Pro with ASI Filter Drawer and the required 16.5mm spacer for that party of the image train to reach a back focus of 55mm. I know that is solid because I have used it for years on my refractors. I am finally trying to get my C8 with an EAF set up for some DSO targets now that I have 2 AM5 mounts. I have the Celestron.63 focal reducer installed correctly then add the Celestron T Adaptor (50mm) make the threaded connection and measure with calipers and a story stick and bingo 105mm.
No matter what I do I can't get distant focus. I use a benchmark house that is about a mile away and I just can't bring it into focus before the EAF zeros out. I can focus very well on tree limbs that are 100 yards or so but other than that I am stuck. I got so frustrated I tore the entire set up back down and put it back on a 72mm refractor (minus the T Adaptor) and it focused perfectly. Now my C8 sits on my desk with a visual back in it waiting for Planets. I need to get it in the game for DSOs. Any suggestions? I suspect that somehow the EAF isn't allowing full travel of the mirror but have no idea how to proceed.
As a secondary question, I was planning to look into a Starizona reducer once I was up and running. Are they worth the investment?
Thanks in advance.
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have you tried removing the EAF and trying to focus on the distant house manually?
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I have been imaging from the back of the image train using the Starizona SCT and the Askar OAG. The Celestron reducer may not be the best option for the C8. I have the 533 MC Pro and 2600 MC Pro. I also use the Hyperstar for Nebula season which makes the focal length 390mm and f2 aperture.
My suggestion would be to contact Steve or Scott at Starizona and they can help you make sure you have everything you need to image from the back of the image train and also look into the Hyperstar if that is of interest to you.
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I have been imaging from the back of the image train using the Starizona SCT and the Askar OAG. The Celestron reducer may not be the best option for the C8. I have the 533 MC Pro and 2600 MC Pro. I also use the Hyperstar for Nebula season which makes the focal length 390mm and f2 aperture.
My suggestion would be to contact Steve or Scott at Starizona and they can help you make sure you have everything you need to image from the back of the image train and also look into the Hyperstar if that is of interest to you. Sadly my experience trying to contact Starizona has been awful. I have called and voicemail immediately picks up and the message is about Holiday Hours (this was a few weeks ago) they suggest email which gets an auto reply and that's the end of the road. Very poor customer focus. I have no doubt they are knowledgeable and that they make great stuff and I will probably end up buying their reducer but they don't have a clue how communicate with customers in my opinion.
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I have been imaging from the back of the image train using the Starizona SCT and the Askar OAG. The Celestron reducer may not be the best option for the C8. I have the 533 MC Pro and 2600 MC Pro. I also use the Hyperstar for Nebula season which makes the focal length 390mm and f2 aperture.
My suggestion would be to contact Steve or Scott at Starizona and they can help you make sure you have everything you need to image from the back of the image train and also look into the Hyperstar if that is of interest to you. Thanks that will be my next move but since I have the wide field rig set up I plan run with it for a while before going back in for Round 5 of trying to get the C8 up and running.
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When they get busy it can be a challenge trying to get them on the phone but keep trying. You can also email them. I am lucky to be living in Tucson so they are a 50 min drive for me.
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I sometimes have similar problems with the ZWO EAF on a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25. The focus point with/without reducer is at completely opposite ends. Occasionally it happens that I can't focus properly because the EAF has reached its limit, although the mirror could go further.
The following solution has helped me:
1. go as far as you can with the EAF.
2. tap on the symbol for the EAF in the ASIair app.
3. in the EAF settings there is an information for the current position (should be “0” or “60000”).
4. you can overwrite this position. Enter a value there that offers enough distance to focus. (Simply try it out, starting with “10000” or “50000”).
5. exit the EAF settings and try to focus again.
I hope this helps!
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I have the same setup. You need to remove the EAF and focus the C8 manually. Then reattach the EAF. Sadly the ZWO EAF does not have enough steps to accommodate the full travel of an SCT focuser.
Hope that helps.
Bob Stout
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+1 to focus manually. I calculated the steps required for full range support with a FocusCube v2 on an old SCT a while ago and it was in the order of many millions of steps. Once you have focus, attach the EAF and set the current step to somewhere in the middle of the EAF travel so it can bring focus in and out still.
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Olaf Fritsche:
I sometimes have similar problems with the ZWO EAF on a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25. The focus point with/without reducer is at completely opposite ends. Occasionally it happens that I can't focus properly because the EAF has reached its limit, although the mirror could go further.
The following solution has helped me:
1. go as far as you can with the EAF.
2. tap on the symbol for the EAF in the ASIair app.
3. in the EAF settings there is an information for the current position (should be “0” or “60000”).
4. you can overwrite this position. Enter a value there that offers enough distance to focus. (Simply try it out, starting with “10000” or “50000”).
5. exit the EAF settings and try to focus again.
I hope this helps! Great information, thank you. Do you know if there is any risk of damage to the EAF or the scope if the EAF is trying to actuate even if the mirror has reached its travel limit?
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Great information, thank you. Do you know if there is any risk of damage to the EAF or the scope if the EAF is trying to actuate even if the mirror has reached its travel limit? Think of the EAF at the limits as you cranking the focus knob even though it has stopped. It's probably not healthy. I know it has happened to mine (oops) and it was fine, but I wouldn't recommend it. But if it happens it's likely to be OK.
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Olaf Fritsche:
I sometimes have similar problems with the ZWO EAF on a Celestron EdgeHD 9.25. The focus point with/without reducer is at completely opposite ends. Occasionally it happens that I can't focus properly because the EAF has reached its limit, although the mirror could go further.
The following solution has helped me:
1. go as far as you can with the EAF.
2. tap on the symbol for the EAF in the ASIair app.
3. in the EAF settings there is an information for the current position (should be “0” or “60000”).
4. you can overwrite this position. Enter a value there that offers enough distance to focus. (Simply try it out, starting with “10000” or “50000”).
5. exit the EAF settings and try to focus again.
I hope this helps!
Great information, thank you. Do you know if there is any risk of damage to the EAF or the scope if the EAF is trying to actuate even if the mirror has reached its travel limit?
I had the same fear. And I can't guarantee what will happen with your telescope if the EAF reaches the limit of the mirror and wants to move on. But it wasn't a problem for me. When the EAF reached the limit, it stopped automatically and beeped to indicate that it could go no further. No damage, no distorted mirror, no blown EAF.
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Just one other note. I believe that the Celestron reducer that you have will not work with the C8. I do know the then SCT with the Askar OAG and ZWO 174 mini work well and my guiding had been spot on.
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I am trying to stitch over my ASI533MC Pro with ASI Filter Drawer and the required 16.5mm spacer for that party of the image train to reach a back focus of 55mm. I know that is solid because I have used it for years on my refractors. I am finally trying to get my C8 with an EAF set up for some DSO targets now that I have 2 AM5 mounts. I have the Celestron.63 focal reducer installed correctly then add the Celestron T Adaptor (50mm) make the threaded connection and measure with calipers and a story stick and bingo 105mm.
No matter what I do I can't get distant focus. I use a benchmark house that is about a mile away and I just can't bring it into focus before the EAF zeros out. I can focus very well on tree limbs that are 100 yards or so but other than that I am stuck. I got so frustrated I tore the entire set up back down and put it back on a 72mm refractor (minus the T Adaptor) and it focused perfectly. Now my C8 sits on my desk with a visual back in it waiting for Planets. I need to get it in the game for DSOs. Any suggestions? I suspect that somehow the EAF isn't allowing full travel of the mirror but have no idea how to proceed.
As a secondary question, I was planning to look into a Starizona reducer once I was up and running. Are they worth the investment?
Thanks in advance. You have to design the system for the correct BWD with the reducer, which won’t be 105 mm. As I recall, the C8 native BWD is 105 mm. When you add the reducer, that distance will be smaller. So, you need to know what the correct BWD is WITH the reducer. John
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I had just the same situation a few nights ago which was the first time I tried my old Meade 8" SCT with my new reducer. The quick solution was to pull off the imaging train, slap a visual back on to the reducer, thrown in a diagonal and ocular and manually focus some distant trees. Once I had visual near focus I replaced the imaging train and was now close enough to find close focus o the chip. Slewing to Jupiter allowed me to then find infinity focus. This all had to be done manually of course because of the EAF limitations mentioned above. Sometimes the quickest way to solve a problem is to dump the technology and just old school or a bit.
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I’ve been using the C8 with Celestron .63 reducer, 533, and EAF with 105mm backspace.
My C8 (I assume they are all about the same) has ~ 44 complete rotations on the focus from end to end. The ZWO EAF has 5760 steps per rotation which results in about 253,440 steps. ASIAir allows a 32 bit position setting for the EAF. So, you should have hit the physical limit of your focuser long before you ran out of EAF steps unless your SW only allows 16bit position data. Is this the case? Were you able to focus manually without the EAF?
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The zwo eaf also has a firmware update that will enable 600,000 steps, which is nice for an SCT. I updated mine two years ago, set the eaf steps at 300,000 and haven't adjusted it since, gives plenty of focuser travel for any scope I put it on.
As for getting it into focus initially, just loosed the set screws, no need to take it off. With the set screws loosened on the EAF shaft, you can just manually focus, then tighten it back down.
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FWIW, I ran into an issue with my C9.25 edge and the Celestron EAF where the focus point was close enough to the end of the focus range that it was inside the safety margin of the EAF and couldn’t be reached. Celestron sent me a longer pin for the scope’s focus assembly to extend its range.
For the edge series at least, I believe the BF from the reducer is the same as from the back of the scope without it.
Cheers,
Scott
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If the ZWO focus motor does not have a physical stop at its limit you could try resetting the zero point at the end of travel. I do this with my Gemini focuser which has arbitrary end point limits. I change the focus as much as it can go, disconnect then reconnect with a new zero point in my case and additional travel available before the next stop. I would have to do this 3-4 times if I put this on my C8 and swapped in the reducer.
I use the Celestron focus motor with my C8. It has larger significantly larger step sizes than my Gemini and I'm willing to bet ZWO. It is much faster than my Gemini which would be downright lethargic on the SCT. The C8 requires quite a few turns on the focus knob to change position between F10 and F7. It is able to cover the entire range of the SCT focus travel and calibrates to the range on your SCT.
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Thanks all for your replies to my problem. It might be a while before I can come back to this issue since I moved the image train back to my 72mm refractor. I have a visual back in the C8 now and I will get focus through an eyepiece with the EAF unmolested since my last attempts which should have the EAF towards its zero limit. From there I will see what it take to get focus on the benchmark house. I will also try and note approximately where in the range the mirror is compared to the EAF's position. John Hayes:
I am trying to stitch over my ASI533MC Pro with ASI Filter Drawer and the required 16.5mm spacer for that party of the image train to reach a back focus of 55mm. I know that is solid because I have used it for years on my refractors. I am finally trying to get my C8 with an EAF set up for some DSO targets now that I have 2 AM5 mounts. I have the Celestron.63 focal reducer installed correctly then add the Celestron T Adaptor (50mm) make the threaded connection and measure with calipers and a story stick and bingo 105mm.
No matter what I do I can't get distant focus. I use a benchmark house that is about a mile away and I just can't bring it into focus before the EAF zeros out. I can focus very well on tree limbs that are 100 yards or so but other than that I am stuck. I got so frustrated I tore the entire set up back down and put it back on a 72mm refractor (minus the T Adaptor) and it focused perfectly. Now my C8 sits on my desk with a visual back in it waiting for Planets. I need to get it in the game for DSOs. Any suggestions? I suspect that somehow the EAF isn't allowing full travel of the mirror but have no idea how to proceed.
As a secondary question, I was planning to look into a Starizona reducer once I was up and running. Are they worth the investment?
Thanks in advance.
You have to design the system for the correct BWD with the reducer, which won’t be 105 mm. As I recall, the C8 native BWD is 105 mm. When you add the reducer, that distance will be smaller. So, you need to know what the correct BWD is WITH the reducer.
John John everything I have seen suggests that 105mm is the right number with the .63 reducer. Can you point me to a different number from Celestron when the reducer is employed? Also, Starizona's .63 reducer is advertised as being 50mm to make achieving the desired 105mm as easy as adding your existing 55mm image train so I think 105 is correct. If I am wrong I would love to know it because this has been driving me crazy.
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I have been imaging from the back of the image train using the Starizona SCT and the Askar OAG. The Celestron reducer may not be the best option for the C8. I have the 533 MC Pro and 2600 MC Pro. I also use the Hyperstar for Nebula season which makes the focal length 390mm and f2 aperture.
My suggestion would be to contact Steve or Scott at Starizona and they can help you make sure you have everything you need to image from the back of the image train and also look into the Hyperstar if that is of interest to you.
Sadly my experience trying to contact Starizona has been awful. I have called and voicemail immediately picks up and the message is about Holiday Hours (this was a few weeks ago) they suggest email which gets an auto reply and that's the end of the road. Very poor customer focus. I have no doubt they are knowledgeable and that they make great stuff and I will probably end up buying their reducer but they don't have a clue how communicate with customers in my opinion.
I've corresponded with this person on several occasions. Hopefully you will have the same experience. Diana Polloni Starizona Customer Service 520-292-5010 [email protected]
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I have practically the same gear and had the same problem at first. What I did was take off the EAF, manually move the mirror in as far as it goes, moved it out about a half turn for a safety margin, then put the EAF back on and called that the zero position. Then I set the range of the EAF from 0 to 200000, which I was told was about the full range the mirror could go. For me the 533 with the .63 reducer reaches focus around position 93600.
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hi, everyone
first manually find the focus point , then install the EAF and setup with 30000 steps
and then mark 15000 as the focus point , so that mean 15000 up to ( 30000) and 15000 down to ( 0) steps ,enough to fine focus with The EAF
CS
Brian
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