Equatorial platform
- Part I: The platform
- Part II: The guiding- / imaging setup
- Part III: The MGEN autoguider
The MGEN autoguider
The MGEN-2 standalone autoguider package consists of a guide camera and a control box. An ST-4 guiding cable leads from the control box to the ST-4 port of the equatorial platform and an RJ45-RJ45 cable connects the guide camera (autoguider) with the control box. The control box and the platform both are connected to a 12V power supply by additional cables.
Fig. 1 - The MGEN-2 standalone autoguider package consists of an ST-4 cable, an RJ45-RJ45 cable, the DC power cable, the control box and the guide camera (autoguider). The cable for operating a Canon EOS camera and the USB cable for firmware updates are not shown.
Fig. 2 - The equatorial platform control panel with its power switch, the ST-4 port, the 12V DC power socket and the rate adjustments buttons.
The MGEN-2 autoguider is designed to also control Canon EOS cameras (exposure time, wait time, mirror lockup time, shots to do). I was fascinated by that feature but unfortunately, for some reason, the autoguider stopped controlling the camera after a few months of heavy use with two different MGEN-2 autoguiders. I tried to exchange cables and the camera but the feature just wouldn't work anymore. Maybe the power supply is the culprit. I now use Gunther Wegner's LRT Pro Timer to control the camera.
Below, you can find images of the MGEN-2 autoguider and its connections and my settings for the control box. No computer is needed for the autoguiding process - one of the biggest advantages over most other autoguiders.
Fig. 3 - The wiring for the MGEN-2 autoguider. Not shown are the cable for operating the Canon EOS camera and the power supply. I usually attach the control box with its cord loop to the the mirror box of the dobsonian telescope.
MGEN-2 autoguider settings:
Guider setup:
- Obj. focus: 2070 mm
- AG speed RA: 0.30x
- AG speed DEC: 0.30x
- CCD binning: 1x1
Guiding:
- gain: 7
- exp.: 1000 milliseconds
- thresh.: 10
Guiding RA:
- Num: 1
- tol.: 1.00
- aggr.: 70%
- mode: 0
Guiding DEC:
- Num: 1
- tol.: 1.00
- aggr.: 70%
- mode: 0
AutoExposure (not used anymore, see text above):
- Shots to do: 23
- wait time: 5.0 seconds
- mirror lockup: 5.0 seconds
- exp time: 3:00.0 minutes (sometimes I use 5 minutes instead)