QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Use this section to discuss "standard" Baader/Coronado/ Lunt SolarView/ Daystar, etc… filters, cameras and scopes. No mods, just questions/ answers and reviews.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Joe

great pics, not so geat pics and fine comments.

Did the NR appear in the green mode ? Mine where only there in the yellow mode.

at the moment I can only comment on f/6, f/7 and f/8 scopes. They work very well once tuned (green light).

As I mentioned in an other post. I had no sucess double stacking with a LUNT 100 (uneven field) . Next week I'll have a try in DS mode with a PST mode set up ;)


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Hi Walter, thank you and they were there in green mode. I need to get my tilter in the mix and see what happens.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Joe

thank you. Good luck with the tilter, that is exactly was Daystar recommends to get rid of the NRs


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

So what's this tilter ya talking about and where does it fit.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Merlin66 »

Alan,
I think they're talking about something like this:
http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pro ... photo.html

It goes immediately in front of the camera body in your optical train.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

Merlin66 wrote:Alan,
I think they're talking about something like this:
http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/pro ... photo.html

It goes immediately in front of the camera body in your optical train.
Thanks Ken now I understand.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Merlin66 »

OK.
Got a reply from Sean at Daystar re ambient temp...
""
No problem. We can even make yours a higher temperature than normal so that even at 40, it will have to heat the etalon a bit to be on band
''''
Sounds like letting Daystar know whether or not "high ambient temperatures" may be an issue for you when you order.....


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

I like Sean and Jen, the Daystar team is attentive to our needs and respond quickly. Gotta like that! :D


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

Merlin66 wrote:OK.
Got a reply from Sean at Daystar re ambient temp...
""
No problem. We can even make yours a higher temperature than normal so that even at 40, it will have to heat the etalon a bit to be on band
''''
Sounds like letting Daystar know whether or not "high ambient temperatures" may be an issue for you when you order.....
Hey Ken thanks for that, I shot off an email to Gary at Anacortes where I ordered mine to get him to pass it on to Sean.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Merlin66 »

Alan,
I just hope that Daystar can keep track of these "high ambient" requests.......


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

Just got this from Sean.

Hi Alan,

High 30's is no problem. The Quarks are set to warm up to more than 40 degrees Celsius. The last request was for mid 40's, so for that one, we just have to make sure we don't send out one with a lower temperature than the mid 40s.

Thank you,

Sean


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

I had my first session with the Quark this morning. We got about an hour's worth of sun and it was very windy. I had the quark on a Skywatcher ST102mm refractor. I began visually and things looked fine. I could fit the whole disc in with a 40mm eyepiece and the image had a lovely even illumination. One of the drawbacks of the quark could be the need to wait 5 minutes after each tuning adjustment though, especially here in the UK. This is certainly not a grab and go setup. I must admit though that I am NOT a visual observer, and staring at that red disc trying to discern detail is not my forte. So I decided to try the camera, the DMK31, get a screen image. And here is where things went haywire. I couldn't for the life of me achieve focus! After trying various combinations with and without the diagonal the clouds intervened......Now I've had time to think about it I believe I require an extension to move the camera back. Also if I had used a focal reducer it may have worked. So I await the next session...unfortunately the forecast is not good from here into next week...


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Double stack PST, Lunt CaK B600, Daystar Quark Chromosphere
with Altair Astro 102 ED f.7 Refractor and 60 EDF f.6 Refractor.
Celestron Nexstar 8SE.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

Brian I await with a keen interest.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Yes, you will need an extender to hit focus. Here you can barley see the extender i have on the 65EDQ. It has to be on all my scopes to hit focus.
IMG_8192.jpg
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by marktownley »

I also await with interest how you will get on with the scope, as you know i've just bought the same one too...


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by axlefoley »

sullij1 wrote:Yes, you will need an extender to hit focus. Here you can barley see the extender i have on the 65EDQ. It has to be on all my scopes to hit focus.
IMG_8192.jpg
What size extender Joe and are you using a UV/IR cut filter.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

Thank you Joe - just as I thought! I already have an extender, so that's the next mission. Mark, could you please send some of that lovely sun you're having up north? :lol:


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with Altair Astro 102 ED f.7 Refractor and 60 EDF f.6 Refractor.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by LorenzoM »

Hello!
Now the quark has arrived in Italy! I received a cromosphere version yesterday!
Today the first visual test using a Stellarvue 102/800 refractor. As Erf I am using a uv/ir cut filter and I used a cheap 40 plossl eyepiece.
I inserted the quark and turn the knob in the middle position and waited for the green light. After I look inside and I was really disappointed by the view! Prominences are quiete easy to see but active regions on the disk completely lack of contrast the image appears worst than in my pst modification with same magnification. I tried to rotate the knob in clockwise the image was worst and I tried in counterclockwise but the temperature adjustment takes to much time!
More or less I am waiting in band from 30 minutes at least!
What is your experience? Is there one direction in which you need more time to go in band?!
Visually have you found the observation an improvement compared to larger filters or modified pst?
I think it's a problem of magnification because I am used to use low magnification with pst and also with pst modification I don't use short eyepiece very often
I hope tomorrow to use the camera and send the first results!


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

As for uv/ir cut, Just follow Daystar advise. Below 80mm you dont have to use anything unless you are using petzval designs. The EDQ is a petzval type design so I used the 50mm Lunt ERF. That is what you see on the front of the scope.

I will measure the the extention when I get home and get back to ya.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Lorenzo, Sorry to hear that. I will look again this weekend to see if I have the same issue visually. I am not a visual observer so I don't pay a lot of attention to the visual stuff.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by LorenzoM »

Maybe i have solved the mystery about on band temperature...
If I live the quark inside the house doesn't seem reach the right temperature of I turn the knob counterclockwise...but if I leave the quark mounted in the telescope pointing at the sun the led become green!
So seems that we need the heat coming from the sun focused light!
What do you think?


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Lorenzo

the heating of the sun helps.


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

I too am not a visual observer, but I do see what you mean Lorenzo. I have a double stacked PST and certainly the image was not as contrasty through the quark. It does however take time to get optimum results from of a new piece of gear; and like you I haven't mastered the tuning yet.

Anyway, today the sun god allowed me at least some time to grab some images. Conditions again were not ideal with variable high cloud and wind. Nevertheless I am pleased with the initial results which show much promise. I was using a Skywatcher ST102mm f.5 refractor with a IR/UV cut for the ERF and the ASI120MM camera. I have sharpened and enhanced contrast in the following images but I have not cropped them. I did take flats to remove newtons rings (as I was using the ASI this was to be expected anyway). The solution to my focusing problem was indeed the absence of the extender - once that was added I achieved focus without difficulty.

Firstly, here are the shots WITHOUT a reducer - I think I was slightly offband here. The dodgy edges are due to windshake.

Image
Image
Image

Next I added an Antares 0.5x reducer. In between doing this I was turning the tuning knob trying to get optimum contrast before the sun left me!

Image
Image
Image

Two prominences, still with the reducer attached.

Image
Image

Finally, I wondered what would happen if I screwed the reducer onto a barlow extension to give me a further reduction. I tried it and lo and behold I got a fairly nice full disk. :)

Image

By this time I'd been out just over an hour and the weather was definitely worsening and the cloud thickening. Time to call it a day and see what I'd got.

All in all I'm very pleased with this piece of kit! A few more sunny days and lots more practice and I'm sure it will produce some great shots! :band


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Double stack PST, Lunt CaK B600, Daystar Quark Chromosphere
with Altair Astro 102 ED f.7 Refractor and 60 EDF f.6 Refractor.
Celestron Nexstar 8SE.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Brian

great results, congratulations


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by marktownley »

Cool stuff Brian. The last couple of disk shots are definitely getting on band...


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Here is my last contribution to testing, I have my tilter issues ironed out and shot out the 102s today. I want to clear up some previous mis-statements and provide an answer to a question.

First the mis-statement; There is no silvered bevel to reflect light, my mistake (sorry, senior moment). Here is a pic of the front end of the Quark. It is done right.

url=https://flic.kr/p/nBG2RU]Image[/url]front quark by Sullij1, on Flickr

2nd Here is the answer to the question regarding the spacer length; it is a 50mm spacer. Glad to see you got the spacer sorted out.

ImageIMG_8209 by Sullij1, on Flickr

Here is the tilter. I saw my friends at Oceanside Photo and Telescope today. Mr. Mike West helped me find the right thread changer to go from the T/S T2 to M48 thread on the tilter to accept the nose piece to get into the Quark and another to get onto the Baader eyepiece holder a total of 4 pieces including tilter. Here is the whole setup with the cam positioned to minimize reflections. You can see the tilt needed.

Imagetilter side by Sullij1, on Flickr

Imagetilter front by Sullij1, on Flickr

The result - lets look at the flats, the Newton rings are gone. 1st is the Explore 102 flat and 2nd is the Celestron 102 flat.

Imageex flat by Sullij1, on Flickr

Imagec102 flat by Sullij1, on Flickr

Lets talk about the bright spot that you can still see in the corners; Turns out this bright spot runs all the way down the side of the chip. I think this is the problem with chip mounting Don from Pt. Grey talked about in a thread sometime last year. Tilting and rotating the cam until the bright spot was contained to the corner defeated this. Your camera may not have this issue LUCKY YOU. Flats kill the remainder of the reflection. Now on to the good stuff.

Here is the Celestron 102 all setup.

Imagec102 by Sullij1, on Flickr

Here is the Explore 102 APO all setup. (please pardon our gardening, we are upgrading our planters.)

ImageIMG_8193 by Sullij1, on Flickr

Here is the end result in raw. Some pics were stacked in Registax and other in AS2. Just depended on what looked best to me. Wavelets were applied but there is no cropping or finish processing.

First up the Explore 102 APO

ImageEX SPOT 3 RAW NO FLAT by Sullij1, on Flickr

ImageEX spot 2 reg flae wav by Sullij1, on Flickr

ImageEX spot 1 wav reg flat by Sullij1, on Flickr


And finally the Celestron 102

Image102 SPOT 1 RAW AS2 by Sullij1, on Flickr

Image102 spot2 raw by Sullij1, on Flickr

Image102 SPOT 3 RAW AS2 by Sullij1, on Flickr
Pic

There ya go! Hope this information helps somebody else tame their Quark. Processed images on the main forum later.

I too will try a reducer next time out. It does look like the SA is killing some of the detail across the FD though. Walters previous reducer pic suggests this may cause problems. Thanks Brian for giving it a go.

Clear Skies!


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by marktownley »

Thanks Joe, gives me an idea of the image scale I would get if I used it with my 100mm/1000mm frac...


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

Good info Joe. :cool:


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Double stack PST, Lunt CaK B600, Daystar Quark Chromosphere
with Altair Astro 102 ED f.7 Refractor and 60 EDF f.6 Refractor.
Celestron Nexstar 8SE.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Joe

great Setups. I'm a Little bit surprised about the amount of tilt needed


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Thanks Mark, IMHO from the testing I did, the longer focal lengths produce the best images with less corruption in the FOV. So even if ya don't get a full disc yer gonna have some of the best close in shots on the planet!

Walter, I think the tilt came out to be quite a bit cuz I had to get rid two birds with one stone, both the rings and bad chip bright area had to be moved from view. I must say the the bright areas only show up in the Ha wide fields (short focal lengths).

Brian, thanks, Looks like you got things sorted out before I posted. Best of luck with your Quark.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Joe

thank you very much


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Just saw on the mod thread that Daystar will be coming out with a new 2 inch thread in adapter for you visual folks real soon. :)

Here is the link:

http://solarchat.natca.net/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11521


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Finished images from this run here:

http://solarchat.natca.net/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11579


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Here is the process that worked for my F43 102 Quark processing for the furry look

Use the Soft from AS2 or Regi6
Levels slider to taste
Isolate surface feature areas to be sharpened with the Lasso Tool (Umbra, Penumbra and spicules). Leave the feathery chromosphere parts untouched
Feather the Lasso area by 20 pixels
Sharpen lasso area at 3 pixels and 15% about 3 times
Now blur the sharpened area by ~.5 pixel
If the area can take another sharpen routine do it
Blur again to ensure the blurred area fades into the feathery features smoothly.
Turn off lasso tool
Sharpen the “entire” image lightly 1 time more, if desired
Blur away any sharpening artifacts1 more time
(White cal if you have it)
Brightness and contrast to taste
Raise or lower white area with Selective Color/ select white adjust and adjust to taste

Optional:

Gradient exterminator if needed
White cal if you have it
Final level

DONE!
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

Thanks for the processing routine Joe. I must give it a shot! :mrgreen:


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Caithness, Scotland.
Double stack PST, Lunt CaK B600, Daystar Quark Chromosphere
with Altair Astro 102 ED f.7 Refractor and 60 EDF f.6 Refractor.
Celestron Nexstar 8SE.
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

Hi Joe,
my quick test with the Quark Prominence and my Lunt 60mm:

From the top: Lunt 60 DS (50mm), Lunt 60 SS, Quark Prom with a 80/480 ED (F6) and a 0.4x reducer before the camera. Left: just the stacking, right: with some Registax wavelet. please ignore the bad light in the second picture, don't know what happened with the camera there.
Same camera, Skyris 274, same quite poor seeing. It's a quite faint prominence, as today the Sun was very quite
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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by sullij1 »

Brian, sure thing, its all about sharing here. ;)

Marcello,

That set of images will be a hit! There has been a lot of questions about how the Quark would perform stacked on the back of a Lunt, for you to do both single and double stack is a bonus. Looks to me like the 80mm wins the day over the SS and DS Lunt. On the proms anyway.

Two thumbs up!

Thank you!


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Marcello

very fine QUARK job


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

Thanks Walter and Joe,
I can't believe I forgot this: trying the set Lunt + Quark in double stack !! Absolutely next due for me!


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by smerral »

Good stuff Marcello.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Marcello

I tried LUNT100 and QUARK and run out of light


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

Hi, I tried the Lunt 60 + Quark, and I could see only the shape of the Sun, with no details and no Proms, even if there were some very big at the time. So it does not work

I could try it with a acro 100mm F11, and it worked well, even if the F is larger than the limit recommended in the manual

I'm going to buy a large refractor for the Quark, I'm thinking to a acro Skywatcher 120/1000 F8.3, it seems a good choice


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Marcello

getting an 1000 mm FL scope just only for the QUARK, I would not do it, 4,3 m FL you would not be very happy most of the time. Well it's your money


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

Hi Walter,

thanks for the comment, my money needs wise suggestions :)
I'm thinking anyway to use the focal reducer after the Quark (o.4x or 0.63x), wouldn't that be a good set up then?

A lower diameter with a smaller focal lenght is an option as well, but I can't find many acro F7 or F8 in that range, many are F11.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Marcello

I have a good 127/820 from TS for sale with a new adapter and new 1:10 focuser


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

Thanks Walter, it's a very good option too

I will send you an email


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by DSobserver »

is there anyone who knows the power consumption (Ah) for this toy?


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Merlin66 »

I believe the manual recommends a 2A @5.5V supply.


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Vincent

the power adapter it came with states : Output: DC5V----1.8A


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Re: QUARKS ARRIVING - Comments and Reviews!

Post by Marcello »

I used a battery with output 5V - 2A, similar to the one shown in the youtube video of Daystar


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