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One day a few weeks ago I left my mount hooked up outside under a semi-reflective nylon cover. I took the OTA and camera gear off and brought that stuff inside. By dusk, my mount was still very warm, and I'm wondering if any damage may have happened. I've been noticing oscillation in the RA while guiding and it takes longer for phd2 to correct the RA. I always balance neutral and never had a problem before. I manage cables to make sure there aren't any snags. Is it possible something got damaged from the heat? Update: I just checked the temp of my rig, using the Pegasus UPB, under the cover right now is 101.48F...that can't be good. I shut the mount and all USB devices off. |
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| I had one of my mounts under a black refuse bag under the sun in sweltering heat the whole day long this summer. It was burning hot to the touch but at night it was working as expected so the answer is probably not. |
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In my opinion there’s no danger to leaving your mount outside during the day. Don’t forget, people do solar imaging during daylight - this is more stressful than plain storage. Reflective coverings are a good idea. And make sure that the mount is dry and free from dew before you cover it. Heat isn’t a problem for electronics, metal and lubricants, but humidity is a different beast. I leave mount mount *and* OTA/camera outside under a reflective cover during good weather periods. And my mount stays outside even for a few rainy days. Maybe this eases some of your concerns. I don’t think you damaged your mount. |
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I (stupidly) have left my mount and all the camera gear out for days at a time in 30 degrees C or more. Once I noticed the paint had faded on my ZWO cooled mono camera to a dusky pink I realised I'd probably overdone it and immediately purchased a Telegizmos cover which includes a reflective layer. All that said, the cameras and mount are all performing just as they did before, so I think they are all pretty sturdy. |
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| High relative humidity is the thing to watch particularly the forming of condensation on the mirrors. My Newtonian and mount has been outside permanently for the last 2 years inside a good quality cover but I also have large silica gel containers inside and remote reading electronics to monitor RH and temp. When the RH gets over about 75% I refresh the gel. The mirrors look like new. I do bring the camera inside after every observing session though. I also dry off the scope before putting on the cover if it is covered in condensation after a session. |
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| I have had one of my rigs setup for 2 1/2 years without any issues. Sometimes I cover it, sometimes I just let it bask in the sun. Just note that the sun will affect some of the color on your telescope, cameras, mount etc etc. All my ZWO cameras are now an exclusive shade of pink instead of red. Some of the black parts on my mount have turned brown as well. |
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A temperature about 101F is not a big deal at all. Usually the max temp is given in the manual. The bigger problem is UV light, because it is harming painting and plastics. Reflective foil is good idea. I use them too. Especially when observing the sun.   |
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2.41
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Wow thanks for the input everyone. I've been having backfocus issues as well so it could just be poor stars causing guiding issues. I get paranoid about leaving the OTA out in the heat because of expansion/contraction but yeah people leave their gear outside often. I definitely would never let my rig get a suntan. |
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gfunkernator: Hello I very often leave my EQ6 outside under a blue tarpaulin ("bâche" in french) and I never got any problem in 5 years. It never gets very warm as you describe (although it can reach 30 or 35°) but I leave some air around (the tarpaulin is not tight fitted around the mount) . I even happen to leave the telescope and even the camera under the tarpaulin if we have several days of nice weather. |
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In terms of operation after being left out for extended periods of time, my electronics have never had any issues but I also live in a pretty mild climate being a few minutes down the coast from San Francisco. I use an Orion brand telescope shroud that has taken a real beating from UV so while it's done its job, I think it's definitely time to upgrade to a better product. (it was never meant to be a permanently outside shroud so it's really my own fault) As people say, moisture is the enemy. Even with minimal dew, the coast here has really abused the exposed metal screw bits on my EQ-6 R Pro. They seem to be corroding due to night use, though, and not being left out during the day. The dew here can be pretty intense (the fog has it's own name here, ha) and is the true enemy. That said, it's a real shame. Even with a good wipe down after a night of imagine, the mount bolts to adjust polar alignment have rusted extremely quickly. My latitude screw being to the point it's flaking and stripping. I had thought the bolds would have been made far more resistant to rust. If anyone has any suggestions for bolt upgrades/fixes/ways to try and solve some of the damage I am ALL ears... |
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| Connor I've seen people remove rust via electrolysis. Not sure about the chemical mixtures you'd need but it does work. My alt/az bolts also rusted a bit. Whenever my gear has moisture on it I bring it inside. Today and last night have been fairly dry. I also would never use the mount or any of my gear until they've cooled down. |
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gfunkernator: Absolutely agree on the waiting for everything to cool down. I don't have the means to easily give the bolts an electrolysis bath, but water and aluminum reacts in a way that does a good job of getting rid of rust. The problem is scrubbing the bolts that are already close to stripping from corrosion so any abrasion makes me a bit nervous. I think the altitude adjuster needs to be outright replaced at this point. In the few minutes since my first reply I did find that skywatcher provided a spare adjustment bolt with the mount, so at least that is a small win. |
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This topic comes up from time to time and the responses do not vary much but it is always good for everyone to understand what is possible. I have left my entire rigs, mounts, scopes, cameras and electronics outside under a Telegizmos 365 cover for 6 years day and night, through rain, snow, ice, and wind in temperatures from -30 C to 40 C or -22 F to 105 F. The rigs have worked flawlessly all that time without any problems other than usual self induced wounds with only a small amount of care regarding occasional dust from the leaf blower and the already mentioned ZWO camera fade. The main thing to take away is that air from outside the cover must be allowed to circulate under the cover. This naturally minimizes or even prevents the formation of dew or frost by keeping the inside temperature in the general range of the ambient temperature with the cover itself acting as a shield from the rest of the weather. Although expensive,Telegizmos offers a variety of covers in shapes and sizes for most types of telescopes. Hope this helps, scott I forgot to mention I live in a temperate rain forest in the Pacific Northwest with average daily humidity of 70%  New Permanent Pier |
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Although expensive,Telegizmos offers a variety of covers in shapes and sizes for most types of telescopes. +1 for these Telegizmos covers. One caution - I've had mine blow off when we had 25 mph+ winds with gusts much higher than that. So I pack my gear and take it in if high winds are in the forecast. |
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| I typically don't leave my gear out unless the forecast is clear consecutively, or as in today's case, I woke up late and had to go to work. Otherwise I bring it all inside except the tripod, counterweights, and my bag of cables. |
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| I keep my mount out side , covered after imaging 24 x 7 |
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I leave my CEM40 and sometimes my scope and camera out in 100 degrees F or aroud 32 degrees F and only bring it in if there is strong winds or a thunderstorm or a blizzard. Not had any issues with any of the gear for a year or so. I do always cover with the Telegizmos reflective covers mentioned by others above and keep it secured to protect the gear. Gowri |
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You have to distinguish between short-term and long-term impact. Short term your gear will deal with the usual temperatures on our planet fairly well. It's trivial that protection from rain is crucial. Electronics and water don't go together very well. Long-term consequences are a different matter because the cycle of heating to high temperatures and then cooling down to low temperatures is detrimental to most materials over time. Your gear extends and retracts on a daily basis when left outside. This is the biggest issue where materials of different thermal expansion coefficient are in contact to each other - solder joints are a case in point. These contacts can get damaged over time. With modern materials under normal conditions it will take many years to get problematic though. The same holds for impact of UV radiation on plastic parts. I assume it's more a matter whether your mount survives for 15 or for 20 years (random numbers, could also be 25 or 30 years). I would not worry too much but you have to be aware that there is some small impact. As usual you can get lucky or unlucky with long-term effects. Clear skies Wolfgang |
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| My EQ6-R has been outside for about 18 months now, through a relatively mild UK winter and through the recent heatwave of around 38C (100F). It's under a Telegizmo 360 cover with some silica gel bags to avoid moisture build up. I've had no problems at all other than some mild corrosion on some bolts and the chromed counterweight shaft. |
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When the weather stays nice for a few days, I regularly leave my mount (sky-watche az-eq6), cameras (nikon d7200, qhy268c), etc. outside without covering them. I have been doing this for several years and have never noticed any degradation in performance. The only thing I have noticed is the gradual fading of some of the anodized aluminum parts. /Ralf |
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I have both my mounts with the scopes and all electronics outside - summer and winter for about 2 years now and no problems. They are well covered by two covers - one inside is from Telegizmos and on the outside a double lined (inside transparent plastic, outside golden plastic) cover. No problems so far. After several days of rain, I uncover them and check them and let them breath fresh air. For winter I plan to get now an even better and thicker cover from Telegizmos, one if their 365 series for each mount. /Georg |
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| At this point I might as well install a pier in my yard and leave my mount attached while I'm home. Could save time on polar alignment. |
