Effects of leaving mount outside during the day

I had one of my mounts under a black refuse bag under the sun in sweltering heat the whole day long this summer. It was burning hot to the touch but at night it was working as expected so the answer is probably not.

I (stupidly) have left my mount and all the camera gear out for days at a time  in 30 degrees C or more.  Once I noticed the paint had faded on my ZWO cooled mono camera to a dusky pink I realised I'd probably overdone it and immediately purchased a Telegizmos cover which includes a reflective layer.

All that said, the cameras and mount are all performing just as they did before, so I think they are all pretty sturdy.

I have had one of my rigs setup for 2 1/2 years without any issues. Sometimes I cover it, sometimes I just let it bask in the sun. Just note that the sun will affect some of the color on your telescope, cameras, mount etc etc. All my ZWO cameras are now an exclusive shade of pink instead of red. Some of the black parts on my mount have turned brown as well.

Wow thanks for the input everyone.  I've been having backfocus issues as well so it could just be poor stars causing guiding issues.

I get paranoid about leaving the OTA out in the heat because of expansion/contraction but yeah people leave their gear outside often.  I definitely would never let my rig get a suntan.

In terms of operation after being left out for extended periods of time, my electronics have never had any issues but I also live in a pretty mild climate being a few minutes down the coast from San Francisco.  I use an Orion brand telescope shroud that has taken a real beating from UV so while it's done its job, I think it's definitely time to upgrade to a better product. (it was never meant to be a permanently outside shroud so it's really my own fault)

As people say, moisture is the enemy.  Even with minimal dew, the coast here has really abused the exposed metal screw bits on my EQ-6 R Pro.  They seem to be corroding due to night use, though, and not being left out during the day.  The dew here can be pretty intense (the fog has it's own name here, ha) and is the true enemy.  

That said, it's a real shame.  Even with a good wipe down after a night of imagine, the mount bolts to adjust polar alignment have rusted extremely quickly.  My latitude screw being to the point it's flaking and stripping.  I had thought the bolds would have been made far more resistant to rust. If anyone has any suggestions for bolt upgrades/fixes/ways to try and solve some of the damage I am ALL ears…

Connor I've seen people remove rust via electrolysis.  Not sure about the chemical mixtures you'd need but it does work.  My alt/az bolts also rusted a bit.  Whenever my gear has moisture on it I bring it inside.  Today and last night have been fairly dry.  I also would never use the mount or any of
my gear until they've cooled down.

Absolutely agree on the waiting for everything to cool down. 

I don't have the means to easily give the bolts an electrolysis bath, but water and aluminum reacts in a way that does a good job of getting rid of rust.  The problem is scrubbing the bolts that are already close to stripping from corrosion so any abrasion makes me a bit nervous.  I think the altitude adjuster needs to be outright replaced at this point.  In the few minutes since my first reply I did find that skywatcher provided a spare adjustment bolt with the mount, so at least that is a small win.

Although expensive,Telegizmos offers a variety of covers in shapes and sizes for most types of telescopes.

+1 for these Telegizmos covers. One caution - I've had mine blow off when we had 25 mph+ winds with gusts much higher than that. So I pack my gear and take it in if high winds are in the forecast.

I keep my mount out side , covered after imaging 24 x 7

You have to distinguish between short-term and long-term impact. Short term your gear will deal with the usual temperatures on our planet fairly well. It's trivial that protection from rain is crucial. Electronics and water don't go together very well. 

Long-term consequences are a different matter because the cycle of heating to high temperatures and then cooling down to low temperatures is detrimental to most materials over time. Your gear extends and retracts on a daily basis when left outside. This is the biggest issue where materials of different thermal expansion coefficient are in contact to each other - solder joints are a case in point. These contacts can get damaged over time. With modern materials under normal conditions it will take many years to get problematic though. The same holds for impact of UV radiation on plastic parts. I assume it's more a matter whether your mount survives for 15 or for 20 years (random numbers, could also be 25 or 30 years). I would not worry too much but you have to be aware that there is some small impact. As usual you can get lucky or unlucky with long-term effects.

Clear skies
Wolfgang

When the weather stays nice for a few days, I regularly leave my mount (sky-watche az-eq6), cameras (nikon d7200, qhy268c), etc. outside without covering them. I have been doing this for several years and have never noticed any degradation in performance. The only thing I have noticed is the gradual fading of some of the anodized aluminum parts.

/Ralf