So they tell me astrophotography is something people do for fun...

Equipment Troubleshooting
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John Tucker avatar
John Tucker avatar

In the last 40 days…

My Newt started producing oval stars in spite of good guiding - Took me about 5 hours to track it to a loose screw on the RA axle housing of my EQ6R.

My new CEM40EC had a major tripod collision due to a communication problem with the ASIAir that iOptron has known about since 2021 but did not mention in their owner's manual. Had to be sent back to iOptron for repair

My ASI294MC Pro started banding badly. Sent it back to ZWO for a new sensor board. Got it back - still banding. Sent it back to ZWO again

Ordered an FCD100 102 mm refractor from Explore Scientific. It arrived so miscollimated that there's not a round star in the entire FOV.

Major focuser problem on my Newt that required machine shop support to repair

Bought a used astro camera on CN. It worked fine just long enough to establish that the sale was legit. Then a black smudge started appearing in my images.

ASIAIR WiFi stopped working and required a reload of the software

This is a hobby??? 😂

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Eric Gagne avatar
Eric Gagne avatar

Fun…. You mean like:

Buying a Stellavita and a new camera that is supposed to be supported only to find out that the camera works but the integrated filter wheel does not yet so you have to put everything on the shelves for 3-4 months.

Then once it’s fixed and you start using it you realize that the wobbling power connector is not a normal thing (ok, I’ll admit I was a bit slow on this) so you contact the manufacturer who tells you there’s supposed to be a lock nut there.

After you make them understand that it was always missing, you didn’t lose it, they ship you some lock nuts that fits the connector.

All happy to be able to fix your camera you put that nut on only for the connector to break completely because it got weak while it was loose so now you have a brand new unused and unusable camera and a Stellavita with nothing to use it with.

Then you go through the nightmare of shipping your camera from Canada to China to have it repaired but you don’t want to waste your shooting season so you just buy another one figuring that when the broken one comes back you can put together a 2nd rig.

All happy again when you get that brand new camera which is exactly the same as the one you sent for repair you try it with your Stellavita and you’re all happy again because the camera AND the integrated filter wheel are both recognized and working.

So you shoot some stars and DSO for an hour, download your subs to PI, check the data and find out they all have 999 degrees for sensor temp in the fits header and you have no idea if it actually cooled your sensor to the temperature you wanted.

So you shutdown and reboot everything thinking maybe you’ll have better luck the 2nd time around only for the Stellavita to keep telling you “Failed to capture image” every time you try.

If that’s the kind of fun you are referring to…….I’m playing too 😁

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John Tucker avatar
John Tucker avatar

Eric Gagne · Feb 26, 2026, 07:15 PM

Fun…. You mean like:

Buying a Stellavita and a new camera that is supposed to be supported only to find out that the camera works but the integrated filter wheel does not yet so you have to put everything on the shelves for 3-4 months.

Then once it’s fixed and you start using it you realize that the wobbling power connector is not a normal thing (ok, I’ll admit I was a bit slow on this) so you contact the manufacturer who tells you there’s supposed to be a lock nut there.

After you make them understand that it was always missing, you didn’t lose it, they ship you some lock nuts that fits the connector.

All happy to be able to fix your camera you put that nut on only for the connector to break completely because it got weak while it was loose so now you have a brand new unused and unusable camera and a Stellavita with nothing to use it with.

Then you go through the nightmare of shipping your camera from Canada to China to have it repaired but you don’t want to waste your shooting season so you just buy another one figuring that when the broken one comes back you can put together a 2nd rig.

All happy again when you get that brand new camera which is exactly the same as the one you sent for repair you try it with your Stellavita and you’re all happy again because the camera AND the integrated filter wheel are both recognized and working.

So you shoot some stars and DSO for an hour, download your subs to PI, check the data and find out they all have 999 degrees for sensor temp in the fits header and you have no idea if it actually cooled your sensor to the temperature you wanted.

So you shutdown and reboot everything thinking maybe you’ll have better luck the 2nd time around only for the Stellavita to keep telling you “Failed to capture image” every time you try.

If that’s the kind of fun you are referring to…….I’m playing too 😁

The lack of quality control throughout this industry is simply astounding. When I first got started I read about 1990s SCTs from Meade and Celestron in which the baffle tube wasn’t parallel to the tube axis in which they pushed the corrector all the way to one side trying to center the secondary mirror, and thought “thank god that’s improved’.

Then I bought a used LX200 and burned out the board the first time I used it because my power supply provided 13 volts instead of 12.5. They’d used some bargain basement capacitors that burned out if the recommended voltage was exceeded by a few tenths of a volt.

The ONTC carbon fiber Newt I bought came with a focuser attachment plate that was beveled. It was as if they designed it to wobble. It had to be machined flat to get a stable focuser configuration. The paint has all gradually peeled off the metal parts of the OTA because they apparently didn’t sand it before painting. Notably, Teleskop Service prominently advertises their scopes as “a German alternative to cheap Chinese gear”, but when the scope arrived, the box was prominently labeled “Made in Taiwan”.

The ASIAIR works if you hop up and down on your left foot while attaching the equipment. It took me most of a night to realize that the reason it wouldn’t recognize my mount was that it wanted the mount powered up AFTER the ASIAIR booted.

My $4K CEM40EC mount came with the OTA mount and the counterweight bar 170 degrees apart instead of 180. A $4K mount and the first thing I did was to spend $80 shipping it back to correct a manufacturing defect that was obvious on casual inspection.

I’ve had pretty good luck with SharpStar/ASKAR so far.

My friends ask me why I spend most of my spare time working on my gear. I tell them that this hobby requires spending $5K for entry level gear, and $20K if you want gear that actually works.

Brian Puhl avatar
Brian Puhl avatar

I’d say mostly you just had some bad luck, a real string of it…. but you will come to learn the good brands and the not so good brands. Generally speaking, those brand names you mentioned are the ones I stay away from. Skywatcher being the exception. I’m a pretty big fan of their equipment, and while it may be imported, they still seem to maintain very good QC. Almost all my scopes and mounts are skywatcher.

294’s are known for alot of issues, if you actually get your camera fixed, I’d sell it and upgrade personally.

iOptron really lost any and all of my interest last year at NEAF. I put my hands on every single mount they had on display, and every single one of them had really bad backlash. On the other hand, I was operating a remote CEM120 the other day and it quite surprised me. Small evidence of backlash but not enough to be concerned. Maybe it’s just the lower end gear?

What black smudge are you seeing on this sensor you mentioned? Might be able to help.

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SonnyE avatar
SonnyE avatar

I love a challenge! Partly because I was a professional electrical troubleshooter to my employers for 42 years.

And I like making things work beyond their out-of-the-box engineering specifications. So the challenge to make all this Shinola work has an appeal to me.

It isn’t a toaster. And if you thought it would be easy, well, you set yourself up for being sorely disappointed.

There is a myriad of things that can go wrong, as you are beginning to realize. Let it be a lesson to you that even when things do run well some doggone clouds will drift by and fubar the whole night.

You have to learn patience, as well as precision in setting up. You can’t get everything setup and squared away, then stumble on a tripod leg and ignore it. Nope, you have to go back to your Polar Alignment and come forward all over again.

I discovered one night back in the beginning that even the concrete isn’t stable. I was watching images coming in an found if I even moved slightly it showed in the end result. My best thing was to put my mount on adjustable wooden planks on sanded in bricks. that helped with any ground vibrations to get those coveted tiny round stars and fine details. To further stabilize my mount I’ve gone to remote operation. No tromping around when imaging.

Then… there is the finiky electronics, USB connectors, and gremlins that play on the compooterz.

Yeah, nope this ain’t a toaster.

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