Explore Scientific's ExploreStars App for PMC Eight Mounts

[@Handle_Not_Available.]

This is an exceptionally useful tutorial. Thank you so much

[@stevenhoward7083]

I understand this vid is 4 yrs old. But i bought this mount used about a month ago. Still havent figured out how to polar align it. One thing in your video is different from my expolrestars app. I dont have a pull down menu that shows settings. I go into the menu button on the home screen and it shows a settings choice. I select it and it looks nothing like yours. I just want to get her polar aligned. I can take it from there.

[@OutlandishJourneys]

Great intro to the software side of things...thanks for another great upload! 😀

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks for watching, I hope it's useful at some point :)

[@mickwhitaker4086]

Hi, I would be interested to hear how you get on with any images using the ExploreStars application.

[@Astrolavista]

No worries, I've already started doing some test images using the app with the mount set up in the observatory, so I'll be talking a lot about this in future videos :)

[@book3100]

Heya Mukka :)

[@slither7152]

Thank you for this video I’ve been having a hard time with this software mainly with the mount disconnecting from my pc

[@avt_astro206]

Great Tutorial Chris ,,, Have a Nice Weekend ☺️👌✨🌌

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks, you too!

[@Seany75uk]

Great videos thanks just stumbled across your channel while trying to find more information on the exos-2 pmc-eight, I'm thinking of buying this mount after Christmas, hoping your going to do an imaging review soon with it would like to set how it holds up in actual use.

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks Sean, Well it looks promising! I did some test shots on M45 using a stock MIrrorless camera, and it tracked well enough for 30sec subs unguided at a massive 1600mm focal length! So I could imagine it doing several minutes at short focal lengths unguided before you even apply guiding :) I'm putting all my spare time into a video about how to choose your first deep sky imaging telescope at the moment, but any clear night I'm not working I'll be out in the obsy tinkering. I might need to sell a kidney in exchange for a proper cooled astro cam soon :)

[@Seany75uk]

@@Astrolavista that sounds very promising, I'll probably be using my Sigma 150-500 on a Canon 550D at first until I get a wide field refractor, which is next in the list after the mount. Will definitely be looking into the Stella Lyra scopes later next year they look to be great value for money, hasn't heard of them until I seen your video but they look very impressive for the price. Keep up the videos 👍🏻

[@spaceinyourface]

I love my exos-2pmc8, I use it with my raspberry pi, as mentioned, it does guide ok , I use mine with either a 152mm refractor or my 72mm refractor, it plate solves & centers target perfectly. I absaloutley love it with my asi533 camera combo. Not yet figured guiding out just yet but I'm getting there. Totally recommend it & the camera & scopes.

[@spaceinyourface]

Good video by the way 👏

[@julienlecocq9545]

Great video ! With that mount, can you just launch the tracking mode without any software ? Like we could do with a simple star tracker ? I mean, polar align, switch on whatever button, and tracking starts ? I know I may loose significant features, but I am just thinking about case where computer (or phone / tablet) breaks down, or whatever bad things that could happen, but I could still track any target.

[@Astrolavista]

Hi Julien, It's a good question. I often just want sidereal tracking without the goto, but unfortunately you need to connect to the Explore Stars App for the tracking to kick in. It's a real shame there isn't just a switch for sidereal tracking only.

[@julienlecocq9545]

@@Astrolavista interesting. Anyway such mounts are not so nomade / mobile, so having a pc around is almost a must, and also for guiding. By the way, how is it tracking with your beautiful 8’’ RC ? Does it support it well and accurately ? This mount is so affordable, and with a good RC (or a smaller MAK - still thinking about both), this is a really great deal for DSO imaging.

[@comm2005]

Thank you for your great tutorials. If possible can you upload a detailed video on how you balance this mount. I am new and I don't want to ruin the mount. Secondly do you unlock both the ra and dec locks when you use the software ?

[@Astrolavista]

To balance the scope unlock the right ascension clutch and move the counterweight up and down the shaft until it counteracts the weight of the telescope. Tighten the right ascension clutch and undo the declination clutch, then move the telescope via the dovetail clamp until it balances without one end falling down. To slew the telescope and track objects you need to have the clutches locked, just unlock them when you want to make manual movements.

[@comm2005]

@@Astrolavista aah. Thank you. Now I get it. Appreciate your quick response.

[@TheUrbanAstronomer]

Very nice in-depth review Chris! Looks like a nice piece of software!

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks Vineeth, it's quite different and there's one or two glitches, but I like it so far.

[@bushcraftandastronomer.3775]

Hi Chris. A very enjoyable and relaxing video to watch and this software looks pretty interesting. You'll learn more and more about the software the more you use it. M51 is your favourite galaxy and I'm going to photograph it this coming spring. M31 is my favourite object in the entire night sky because I just think with it's fame and how it looks through binoculars it's a beautiful object. It's the most famous galaxy to see and it's one of those objects you must see. How's the new telescope going and your observatory going too? Been cloudy alot lately and rain too here too but a clear night sky will come and hopefully no moon. Thanks for sharing this video and take care Chris!!!

[@Astrolavista]

Cheers John, well M31 is another good choice :) Telescope wise I checked collimation and both mirrors plus the optical axis were out, so I've adjusted it the best I can using my Cheshire collimator and I'm just waiting on a star test once I've got the scopes setup in the observatory. I can do this anytime now as I've just finished painted the inside. I just need to schedule it around the work life thing :)

[@kipter]

does anyone know if theres a way to download the windows 10 version without using the shitrosoft store? my windows tablet refuses to open the craprosoft store.

[@sahilpanse6932]

Good going Chris. This is very informative. Interesting point about "tracking" and "pointing". This is where open software might help. Making features such as pointing into something even more. How is the software holding up. did it crash? Did I hear you say that you installed it thrice.

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks Sahil, It can take a while to connect sometimes where you need to restart both the mount and the software to get it to connect so I'm wondering if this will improve if I try re installing the software? Once up and running it seems to work well with only the occasional glitch. I'm aware that I'm almost making it sound bad but it's honestly much much better than the last wifi mount I tested, the Celestron Astro FI. I'm very hopeful that the mount will work out just fine once a few little niggles are ironed out :)

[@petelopez5826]

Do you still own this mount? Explorer scientific mounts are not that reliable. Had to return one of them that they had on sale for $299. It was the iEXOS-100-2 PMC-Eight Equatorial Tracker System with WiFi and Bluetooth.

[@johnmalin1676]

Hi Chris, bit late to this party, but how are you getting on with the EXOS-2 mount ? i nearly pulled the trigger on one but things have had to go on hold at the moment. I remember reading the review in the Sky at night magazine, and they said they had the occasional connection drop out and it would stop the mount. Have you experienced this ? Regards John

[@Astrolavista]

Hi John, I haven't had any issues with the mount dropping out since discovering you need temporarily disable the PC's fire wall before connecting. On the whole I think the mount is very good value for money. It tracks well but you need to have your RA and Dec balanced well else it really does grumbles. The bearings are really good so balancing is easy, no stiction with this mount. I mainly just connect up to the Explore Stars app which lets the sidereal tracking kick in. I haven't used the goto that much despite doing a bit of DSO imaging as well as my usual planetary and lunar imaging. I generally just find stuff by star hopping. To give you an idea of the inherent tracking performance, I get to keep about 30-50% of subs with 60 seconds unguided at 1000mm with my 8" f/5 Newtonian, or around 120 second with my small Apo. So fairly typical for this class of mount. I think the main selling point of this mount is it's payload per price. hth :)

[@johnmalin1676]

@@Astrolavista Also Chris, i have added to a post on SGL, regarding PHD2 guiding this mount. Have you got guiding set up yet ? and what are the logs / Graphs Like ? Cheers again

[@Astrolavista]

@@johnmalin1676 Hi John, I saw your post on SGL. Sorry I couldn't answer, I still haven't got guiding sorted. Historically I've got away without guiding using short apo's and lenses for DSO's and mainly doing planetary and lunar, but I do need to get this sorted out now I'm using a 1000mm focal length scope in an obsy. I've been looking at the ASI air Pro so I can have PA, focus, guiding etc is all in one place, but as you probably know it's not so straight forward with the PMC8 as some other mounts. Hopefully someone will chime in on the thread so you can get your answer.

[@johnmalin1676]

@@Astrolavista Thanks again Chris. I will follow your posts and look forward to your updates, 👍. Yes, someone else might chime in. Also, may look through CN.

[@bobbeanbags]

Thanks for this! Is this software available for the Mac?

[@Astrolavista]

Yes, IOS is first on the list :) explorescientificusa.com/pages/software-and-downloads-for-pmc-eight-system

[@slither7152]

Do you know how to make it so that the tracking doesn’t stop if the WiFi drops I know there’s a way to do it I’ve seen it somewhere on a forum but I can’t find it.

[@Astrolavista]

Hi Slither, when I owned an EXOS2 PMC8 it needed to be connected to Explore stars in order to activate the tracking, but there are things you can try to improve the reliability of the connection - disable screen savers, power saving, and the firewall. I ended up doing the above and it did improve things but you just need to remember to turn the firewall back on again when using regular internet!

[@slither7152]

@@Astrolavista thank you for the information

[@michaelclem3339]

How is auto guiding with the PMC 8?

[@Astrolavista]

I've just bought a ZWO462mc and finder adaptor to get guiding going, so I'll let you know once it's setup. I only posted an unboxing and first light for the camera today, but hopefully testing guiding wont be too far off.

[@michaelclem3339]

@@Astrolavista thanks, I'll keep an eye out for it.

[@givskingosk8]

Do you know if the pmc 8 & explore app will work without wifi?

[@Astrolavista]

Hi Badger, there is a support group for the PMC 8 which can be very helpful. I've found the same question on this thread, and it seems to have some good info. I think the first step is to select the serial port, but there might be some other steps having skim read the thread. It definitely appears to be doable which is great! I might look into that myself at some point :) If the answer isn't there ES also have a youtube channel where they do a lot of live streams with their chief engineer! A great place to ask questions. espmc-eight.groups.io/g/MAIN/topic/wired_connection/24821452?p=,,,20,0,0,0::recentpostdate%2Fsticky,,,20,2,0,24821452

[@givskingosk8]

Thanks!!

[@alexchong1979]

Am missing DEC cable … can share yr Dec wire connection diagram so I make one repair my mount too..

[@Astrolavista]

The mount didn't come with any wiring diagrams, sorry. Explore scientific has a KZbin channel and they do regular live streaming. Maybe drop a message in the comments over there as their head engineer takes part in the videos :) kzbin.info/door/4AR7eOxPBo7UHoJOZcgrTQ

[@alexchong1979]

@@Astrolavista yeah… I was looking anyone have this mount to share their cable diagram… instead or buying

[@astrotechnique1]

Explorestars shuts down whenever i open it

[@astrotechnique1]

Explorestars app on windows shutsdown after a few seconds without connecting. I need help

[@astrotechnique1]

And wifi disconnects after the app shuts down and i have to restart pmc in order to reconnect

[@smalloptics753]

Great video Chris, looks like a decent bit of software that, and not too hard to understand. I think even a dummy like me could get my head around that.

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks Jason, I think the goto routine looks particularly straight forward, but I hope that translates well when it comes to doing it for real lol

[@dinomonaco2665]

Great tutorial Chris. I was also thinking of purchasing this mount. Question. Do you know if there is a way to incorporate plate solving functionality with the pmc 8 using some of the other softwares out there like APT or SGPro for instance.

[@Astrolavista]

Thanks Dino. I need to look at plate solving also. I think people have been using NINA to plate solve with this mount, but we'll need to investigate that further.

[@MTSKamila]

Hello Chris, I've got EXOS-2 and I've got some problems with setup. I sent You an email. Regards, Kamila

[@Astrolavista]

Hi Kamila, I read your email and believe you're having trouble setting up polar alignment. My EXOS2 broke a year a go and I gave it away to a local school to use as a manual mount, however I remember that polar alignment was like any other equatorial mount - E.g. there are two bolts to adjust latitude at the front and back and you undo one and tighten the other to adjust latitude, and there are two bolts either side to adjust azimuth in the same way. You can see this 5 minutes into this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eabLao2apbV8fbc You just need place the mount down facing north if you're in the northern hemisphere, look through the polarscope and make the above adjustments until Polaris is in position on the reticle. You can down load a polar finder app on your phone to tell you where this exact position is. I hope this helps.

[@MTSKamila]

@@Astrolavista Hey, thank you Chris. This is unfortunately not the case. Maybe it was both at first, but now and then there is another problem from time to time. I set the assembly, I do pole alignment and 3-star alignment. I currently have a TS65Q installed and a camera attached. For example, I go to Capella and it's ok, and then I go to Arctur and can turn the tube 180 degrees, and point the camera at Arctur :( It doesn't always happen, but sometimes it does.