SIGH!
I had my new iOptron Az Mount Pro out in the driveway for practice setup today. It started out as a nice day, a bit breezy but nice. About 50-50 clouds & Sun. I was able to get the mount nice and level, as indicated by the circular bubble level on the mount head.
So, since there are (somewhat less) patches of blue sky up there, and it's 50-50 sunny, why not try the TV-85 for some Solar viewing? OK!
I pulled out the TV-85, figuring that I'll have to reverse the mounting ring...
No dice at all. It appears that the $50 hunk of metal that I bought to fit the TV-85 to the Celestron NexStar mount is not a Vixen, but angled like a vixen on only one side and flat on the other, with a little cutout that I tightened the Celestron saddle screw thingie into:
https://agenaastro.com/televue-vixen-mo ... -1011.html
Too bad! That won't go onto the iOptron saddle at all. I went and took a look for a real Vixen bar and here it is:
https://agenaastro.com/agena-vixen-styl ... 180mm.html
With shipping, another $41.53. Guaranteed arrival by next Wednesday, June 19. So, I guess I lied a bit in the title - not quite another $50 hunk of metal, but close enough for me.
I now have a couple of those Tele Vue Vixen-adapter-plate-that-isn't-a-Vixen-dovetail, in case anyone is looking for one.
Anyway, I went to remove the Tele Vue mounting plate and switch around the mounting ring.
Ha! the Allen Wrench set must be with my tools in the RV. Well, if I'm going to go into the RV, I might as well take the keys and run it a bit to charge up the batteries. Into the RV, and wow, the battery is dead, and the coach batteries are also dead. That hasn't happened before. Grabbed my trusty Li-ion booster battery, and opened the coach battery compartment. Oh! a nice big mouse nest on top of the batteries. Lots of moisture in there, too. That's not good. Dragged out the vacuum cleaner and a long extension cord. Got the mouse nest cleared out. Inspected all the zillion wires and fuses and everything that's in the compartment. Thankfully, no damage to anything there. One of the negative battery connections that had some sort of goopy insulation on it was all gone, courtesy of the mice, but that's it. Those critters must have some sort of psychic sense to stay away from live wires, thank goodness! Attach the booster battery. Check it - yep, all 4 lights, fully charged. Up to the cab and give it a try with both the vehicle and coach batteries, and, and, and, yes! It started up. Back to the coach battery compartment, and the Li-ion battery is quite hot, and no lights are showing at all. Pretty much fully depleted. Got the job done though!. Started the on-board generator to charge the coach batteries. Detached all that stuff, cleaned up a bit and closed up the coach battery compartment. Put away the vacuum cleaner and extension cord. Brought the booster battery inside to get it charged back up. Hopefully, in a couple of hours all the vehicle and coach batteries will be charged. I'll have to keep better track of how long I go between running the motor for that.
So, where was I? Oh yeah, get the Allen Wrench set and switch around the TV-85 mounting ring. Yeah, that should take too long... and, of course, now it's completely clouded over!
:joking:
Thanks for listening!
smp
