Falcon Rotator-Preparation

[MartinS]

Last month I purchased the Pegasus-astro Falcon Rotator and have been pursuing and awaiting threaded adapters before installing and setting to work (stw).

The last adapter arrived today, boy what a saga, as they came from U.K., Singapore and China. One of the adapters I needed was also available in the USA or Germany but alas the US vender wouldn’t ship to the U.K. and the German vender wanted €120 which included €45 postage for an item weighing 4oz and the size of a fag packet, with fees it was over £125, that was unacceptable to me. So the moderate wait from China at a total cost of £36 was selected.

I do feel ripped off when it comes to buying threaded adapters and know I could have purchased a high spec cooled Astro camera for what I have spent on adapters, these last 4 years.

I now hope to install and stw the rotator in the next couple of days and plan to post a review on how it all went.

 

[MartinS]

I was about to say gripe over, then found the 82x1 adapter appears to have either a dodgy thread or is 82x0.7 contrary to sales literature, sadly supplier doesn’t have another so the search continues. Ho hum.  Not prepared to risk the flattener forcing on the thread so that install is off for now, may look into fitting on the Esprite 80, adapters willing.

I know fitting rotators can be a pain but worth the effort on a permanent installation. The Falcon offers a completely threaded option whereas my Pyxis Le on the GTF81 is restricted to the 2” fitting so was not an option on my other refractors.

[Alex]

On 1/19/2021 at 7:06 PM, MartinS said:

Last month I purchased the Pegasus-astro Falcon Rotator and have been pursuing and awaiting threaded adapters before installing and setting to work (stw).

The last adapter arrived today, boy what a saga, as they came from U.K., Singapore and China. One of the adapters I needed was also available in the USA or Germany but alas the US vender wouldn’t ship to the U.K. and the German vender wanted €120 which included €45 postage for an item weighing 4oz and the size of a fag packet, with fees it was over £125, that was unacceptable to me. So the moderate wait from China at a total cost of £36 was selected.

I do feel ripped off when it comes to buying threaded adapters and know I could have purchased a high spec cooled Astro camera for what I have spent on adapters, these last 4 years.

I now hope to install and stw the rotator in the next couple of days and plan to post a review on how it all went.

 

 

I am seriously thinking about a rotator as well. I really want the Primaluce 2" Arco but they don't seem to be available. M<y second choice is the Falcon rotator so would be really interested to know how you have got on with it.

[MartinS]

 

5 hours ago, Alex said:

would be really interested to know how you have got on with it.

 

Hi Alex,

 

  I have only managed to install one Falcon on my Esprit80/QHY268C rig and still awaiting further spacer adapters to fit the second on the CFF rig.  Due to the weather I have only managed one short session with the Esprit but can report the falcon worked perfectly.

I plan to post a detailed report on the falcon once I have had the opportunity to further test it.

I can report that the software worked fine for a Win10 environment and compared to my Optec Pyxis 3” and LE they are very quiet in operation. In my CFF rig the rotator will be driving an SX maxi wheel with 9 2” filters and QHY600, so should be a good test of its load handling capability. The specs are impressive for this rotator and I’m looking forward to more operating time. My only criticism is that more thought could have gone into the choice of the included adapters.  

 

Martin

 

[Alex]

21 hours ago, MartinS said:

 

 

Hi Alex,

 

  I have only managed to install one Falcon on my Esprit80/QHY268C rig and still awaiting further spacer adapters to fit the second on the CFF rig.  Due to the weather I have only managed one short session with the Esprit but can report the falcon worked perfectly.

I plan to post a detailed report on the falcon once I have had the opportunity to further test it.

I can report that the software worked fine for a Win10 environment and compared to my Optec Pyxis 3” and LE they are very quiet in operation. In my CFF rig the rotator will be driving an SX maxi wheel with 9 2” filters and QHY600, so should be a good test of its load handling capability. The specs are impressive for this rotator and I’m looking forward to more operating time. My only criticism is that more thought could have gone into the choice of the included adapters.  

 

Martin

 

 

Thanks Martin

 

I preferred the Primaluce rotator as its much smaller and I can drive it from my Sento Senso V2 focuser. If I can't get any joy getting info from Primaluce then I will go with one of these.

 

Look forward to the detailed report 🙂

 

Alex