Christopher Erickson Consulting Engineer Summit
Kinetics Waikoloa, HI 96738 www.summitkinetics.com
From: ap-gto@...
[mailto:ap-gto@...] Sent: Sunday, February 01, 2015 10:45
AM To: ap-gto@... Subject: Re: [ap-gto] AP V2
ASCOM v5.06.01 driver crashes when I click on RA Polar Scope
Tool
Just a small warning about using the
RAPAS.
One thing I found was that the red LED lighting was
still too bright, even at its minimum setting. So, I turned it off in
between Polaris sightings, to see the actual star – difficult to spot in urban
regions. I think the bright red image’s momentary retention in the eye,
and the black grid lines still distinguishable against a somewhat bright sky
background work quite well. A better approach would have been to have an LED
light that blinks at a settable rate, so that one could find the star which
might be sitting on a wide and bright RAPAS reticle line. But,
turning the LED off & on manually was easy.
One minor nuisance during AP mount polar
alignment is that the “thick” DEC cable perfectly bisects the open Polar
sighting port on the mount. One time, I waited quite a while, thinking that some
thin clouds had briefly eclipsed Polaris, when it was actually the cable doing
that. Now, I tape the DEC cable’s loop, to the side of the mount, away
from the porthole, while using the RAPAS. Wish that the DEC connector had a
right angle boot.
That user warning should be added to the instruction
sheet.
The RAPAS is an excellent instrument,
even if just used “seasonally” to recheck alignment on a permanent
setup.
