Pegasus Ultimate

[Altocumulus]

Does anyone use one?

If so do you have a stick/micro pc attached, and which one.

The Ultimate provides two options, USB power at 5v, or DC at 12v.

[Aidi]

I have two of them. One on each of my scopes. It makes the whole usb cable, power and dew heather setup so easy. I also use it in conjunction with a mini pc - Beelink N41. The combination works perfectly. As the mini pc runs at 12v also, it leaves me with a single 12v power cable running from the mount.

The mini pc is held on with hook/loop table to allow easy moving between scopes. It’s very light so it’s quite solid on the mount.

The UPB connects via USB to the mini pc which I then connect to via WiFi. The mini pc has SGP, PHD2, Carter’s du Ceil, polemaster EqMod and a couple of other small applications installed on it and handles scope control, image taking and guiding no problem at all.

[Aidi]

On the small scope, the UPB and Mini PC are mounted under the dew shield and on the larger scope the UPB is mounted between the Losmandy bar and the scope. I've since changed this as it made the mount too top heavy. The UPB is now mounted on the top bar in front of the mini PC.

I think i should mention, I dont think the Beelink N41 model is available in the US, i am not sure what equivilant is. Mine is a Gemini Lake CPU with 6GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. It runs on Windows 10 (which comes preloaded) which i then upgraded to Win Pro to give me the native remote desktop option ($25 upgrade). I partitioned the SSD to give me a seperate paration for the images i gathered - Which is 70GB in size and i have found that more than enough. To keep the space free, i created an automatic sync using FileSync applicatoin which copies all the images every 10mins to my main image processing PC...

The UPB is a great box. Its simple to use and just works... and also the developers are always updating/improving the software for it and if you do run into any difficulties, they will bend over backwards to assist you. I have known them personally for a couple of years now.

[Altocumulus]

Thanks Aidi; I'll have a look at the Beelink, the one I've noticed on Amazon has 4GM Ram. My only other option was a flirt with RaspberryPi.

I have a 15 metre length of USB2 cable between the obsy and the 'warm' room - It remains a weak link in my setup. It'll be good to be able to use USB3 for the camera too!

Yes, I agree the guys at Pegasus are very supportive, even when I find bugs in the software

(btw, I'm in the UK )

[Aidi]

Lol, I always forget to look at folks location.

I am currently beta testing the Atik Base which is a RPi in a box running StellarMate. It’s ok and functional and for someone wanting to go that route it’s a good option.. You can also buy StellarMate as an image and install on ur own RPi which I suspect you already know.

With the UBP connected to the mini pc via a 50cm usb cable, it only leaves my power cable trailing from the mount which really simplifies things.

I just did a search for the N41 on Amazon, it’s not currently listed... but I do know that when I ordered mine they did say they fly off the shelf like hot cakes!

Because I am so used to the windows approach, that’s the reason I went with a mini windows pc. And a big factor for me sticking with what I know is down to the weather. If nights were much more predictable then I’d be more inclined to experiment more, but as you well know clear nights are few and far between!!

[Altocumulus]

I was going to ask you about the power situation, you described using one power cable. I have two, one to the hub and one to the mount. May I ask how you combined them?

I agree on the keeping things simple, and I do know windows - so why make a mess of whatever brain cells I have left .

[Aidi]

I bought a two way splitter off eBay. Two Male to one female.

One goes to the mini pc (which I have configured to boot as soon as it gets power) the other to the UBP. The UBP then supplies power to the mount and the camera.

I did have to extend and change the 2.5mm power connector to the UBP as the one on the splitter had the wrong inside diameter to give a good connection