AM5 and Heavier refractors

ShinyredAM5

Question for you all.

Currently I have a Skywatcher Evostar 80ED on the AM5 and it works nicely, lightweight etc.

Am seriously considering a longer Focal refractor and the one that I keep coming back to is the Skywatcher Esprit 120ED - its focal is 900mm so should be ok from a tracking point of view.

It does weigh _9kg so once all up I suspect the whole package will be getting close to 13kg.

Have any of you got close to 13kg without a weight / bar? Guessing it would be ok but any thoughts on if this might overload the mount without a weight i.e. is the weight just to stop the tripod tipping?

ASIMount@ZWO

ShinyredAM5
Hi shinyredAM5,
The Askar 130PHQ weights 12.5kg with tube rings and dovetail plate.
My AM5 can hold it plus a 130mm ERF, daystar quark and ASI432mm without any counterweight.
But be careful with the length and the mass center of your payload, it might hit the tripod or flip down.

ShinyredAM5

ASIMount@ZWO

Thanks for the feedback, reassuring. Currently using a PE200 so its mainly the tipping of the tripod that worries me.

Also, do we know if the counterbalance weight is needed (when getting over 13kg) to avoid over stressing the strainwave gear?

raawe

ShinyredAM5 It's needed to avoid everything tipping over

ShinyredAM5

raawe

Thanks - always stick the 50ah battery in the weight bag of tripod so should be good.

Just a touch paranoid of over stressing the strain wave gear without a counterweight but ZWO don’t call this out as a risk so guess it’s ok.

jsg

I'm using the AM5 with the Askar 130PHQ. I put on a 10 lb counterweight and put 2 10 lb weights in the tripod pouch.
The AM5 is handling fine, my guiding numbers have been below .5" on both axis consistently, sometimes as low as .27". The problem is that when imaging near zenith, a long refractor's camera can bump up against a tripod leg. And that's with the PE200 pier extension.

I just purchased the ioptron tri-pier to solve this problem. It arrives next week and I'll attach the PE200 to it and then adjust the height so the mount isn't too high (for me to lift the scope on to it) and the legs should be be quite a bit lower than with the TC-40, I think this will solve the problem.