Disaster - sorta!

Well, it had to happen. As anyone who knows about the "Mangieri Cloud", technology and the local Mangieri household don't get along. It seems that whatever I buy, build, assemble, or otherwise acquire will very soon develop a problem. This is how the cloud works. I even told a salesclerk in a local store that I wanted to exchange a product while I was still in the checkout line. When asked why I told her: "to save me the trouble of getting home, finding the item to be defective, and then having to drive back to the store to get a replacement!"

So, last weekend, out of the blue, after I had setup the complete telescope system with full imaging capability, the telescope mount motor control board failed. Had to cancel the session, pack everything back up and find a vendor to replace the unit. Why, isn't the board under warranty, after all it has only been 10 months since I got the mount? Well, it would have been if I hadn't jury-rigged a power coupler on it the very day I got the telescope (see post October 26, 2013). New part costs $350 (not in the budget!). Yikes. I guess high-end, expensive equipment comes with pricey replacement parts. Funny thing (OK, not so funny) is that its probably a $1.50 component on the board that went bad, but nobody fixes circuit boards anymore, and without a schematic I don't know what type of component to get. Maybe some day I'll experiment and see if I can fix it - then I would have a spare.

New board should arrive this weekend, just in time for the cloudy skies and rain :)

A day before the board failure I was able to get some good subs of the Ring Nebula. Haven't processed them yet, but should be posting them within the next few days.