unger61

The mount has been sold

Selling my pre-loved DDM60 with accessories such as Berlebach tripod, observatory pier extra counter weights and counter weight shafts. Comes with flight case. The unit is located near Melbourne Australia and in excellent condition. Asking price AUD8500 ONO Contact: clemens.unger@hotmail.com

Selling my pre-loved DDM60 with accessories such as Berlebach tripod, observatory pier extra counter weights and counter weight shafts. Comes with flight case. The unit is located near Melbourne Australia and in excellent condition. Asking price AUD8500 ONO Contact: clemens.unger@hotmail.com

Not sure why the fabric is used. I could imagine that it is for dust protection and keeping stray light out. It is a very professional setup...

Hi George Like Ian I am based in Victoria where the weather can be rather diverse...and at times quite British... I can understand your hesitation to cut a hole in your pristine dome. I felt exactly the same when I installed the fan in the Sirius dome which is identical to your dome (i.e. fold out section below the shutter). I believe the higher a fan is mounted in the dome the better the effectiveness and air circulation. I know of another Australian amateur and ASA user with a number of Sirius domes who resides near Cairns in tropical Queensland who employs two fans per dome. If it works there it should work under your conditions as well. Have a look at the links below. http://www.astronomyalive.com.au/catalog/product/gallery/id/590/image/3516/ http://www.astronomyalive.com.au/catalog/product/gallery/image/3517/id/590/ Cheers Clemens

Hi George The fan draws air aout of the observatory and runs via its built in solar panel only during the day. Even though it's just a little unit it does an amazing job. Prior to the installation the observatory interior was dripping wet. Now its totally dry... I would have never thought that it would make such a difference.

Hi Thomas... Autoslew connects ok with Starry Night but the location where the Astrooptic icon is displayed on the map does not correspond. Whereas it is perfectly ok with The Sky... Location and time are correct...I am sure I am making a pretty basic mistake but I seem to have a mental block But I will keep on trying. Cheers Clemens

Hi Ian, I know C2A and it's a good program... I am running The Sky successfully but have also Starry Night Pro Plus which I absolutely love.... Even though C2A is free I am not sure if I want to start now with a third option... Clem

The majority of DDM owners seem to use The Sky or The Sky X as planetarium software. ven though the Sky is very popular I personally like the display and userfriendliness of Starry Night more. I had however some issues connecting with Autoslew as the scope position is not displaying correctly in Starry Night. I am sure that I am missing something simple here. Is anyone out there who uses Starry Night? Cheers Clemens

Hi Ian The vent sits in a cubeshaped fibreglass mount that has a flange on the bottom so that it fits exactly to the curvature of the dome. The small solar panel sits on top of the stainless fan housing. All I had to do is to drill a 10cm hole in the dome with a hole saw. One of the off the shelf hole saws with a pilot drill in the middle works perfectly. Even though it hurts a bit to drill a hole in a pristine dome... I installed it a a foot or so from the top so that the fan sits level. It has some stainless sleeves which prevent rain getting into the dome. The little unit runs all day when there is daylight. Even though it's so small it make a huge difference and I have now zero condensation in the dome. I think you can build something similar for half the price.... I think that is important to choose the location right in order to allow for good air circulation. Cheers Clemens

Hi... I got pretty much the same setup as you... I encountered severe condensation in the dome as well. I did order the dome with the "solar vent" which is Sirius' terminology for a quite dear fan operated during the day via a small solar panel. During production they forgot to fit the fan. I received the unit some weeks later and fitted it. The difference was absolutely remarkable. No condensation anywhere in the dome and on the equipment. If you haven't got a fan installed you should seriously think about it.