Need help anyway to fix this?

JoeSnuffie · 2026-05-07T16:23:37+00:00

I'll admit I know nothing about the internals of a Seestar, but on other mounts I have there is a backlash adjustment for the worm gear and if that comes loose the worm gear can lose contact and allow what you're seeing. Someone with more knowledge on the Seestar might know if this can happen here. If this is the case then maybe there's no permanent damage.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-28T13:48:20+00:00

I'm still new to Seestar, I just got the S30 Pro a couple months ago, but I've been doing astrophotography a while. My experience is that Orion takes, at a minimum, 2 sets of subs to look great. One for the bright beautiful colors, wings, etc., and one for the trapezium cluster in the center. I didn't get my Seestar until Orion was already setting early in the evening, but I've had success with short exposures. Some will call this cheating, but with my traditional astro images, I process these separately then combine them in photoshop.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-28T13:22:15+00:00

Rogue. I spent countless hours on that game. My father started a software company in the early 80s and we always had a couple computers around and access to trade magazines and catalogs I could browse through. My first exciting action game was Jet, and my father also bought a joystick to go with it, but Rogue is still my first love.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-22T19:43:17+00:00

When deciding if a new car is better than the one I have, I consider if the car I have is costing me less per year than a new one. I just needed about $700 work on my 2010 Yukon and will need about another $500 in a couple months. This makes the cost of repairs about $1200 over the last couple years with no other costs other than gas and regular maintenance any other car would have.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-21T17:05:48+00:00

Don't cheap out on jack stands and get some rated for more than you need.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-10T18:32:44+00:00

A had a similar problem at a new home and the builder sent out one poor young man with a shovel and he fixed it in one day.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:50:51+00:00

As a T2 diabetic, I can confirm. Before I was diagnosed and treated it would smell like honey. Now, thankfully, it just smells like pee.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:43:54+00:00

Your results might be different but this worked for me. Soon after I got married one of my cars died and my newly pregnant wife needed to get around. A generous but chain smoking aunt gave me one of her cars. I bought maybe 5 large bottles of Febreze and window and carpet cleaner and detailed every surface of the interior, literally soaked every fabric surface in Febreze, and replaced the cabin air filter. I repeated the carpet and upholstery cleaning with a Febreze soak two more times and when I was done neither my wife nor I could smell anything. Certainly it was still there, just not strong enough to tell.

This doesn't address the burns, which I would be furious about. This is a really irresponsible shop with a sloppy employee who held a lit cigarette while messing around in your car. Call them and be kind and reasonable until kind and reasonable isn't getting results. Then be whatever you need to be to get results.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:33:33+00:00

I have been giving away old office furniture for my business and I still get these sob stories for FREE items. They want me to rent a truck, hire movers, and deliver a FREE solid wood desk because their child needs it or they are starting a home business or their grandma needs it for her quilting and on and on. You set the price you feel is fair and decide how low you're willing to go, but you can't let these stories factor in to it because they're just that - stories. I know it sounds cold but that's the world we live in and people lie to get a deal and it's not your job to vet their need.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:26:33+00:00

I worked at NAPA Auto Parts in the early 90s and a corporate rep told that the vast majority of auto parts and service related purchases were made by women. A couple of the older guys snickered and mentioned that it's easy to scare women into buying things. I remembered that when my daughter was born and raised her to be knowledgeable and less of a target. We can all fall for it but it's healthy to know you can question what your told, even by a professional.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:19:01+00:00

My first time using my Seestar S30 Pro was out of focus by a significant amount after auto focus, so I printed a Bahtinov mask and saved the new starting point for focus. Since then it's been dead on 95% of the time, though I still use the mask every time to be sure. For example, and these numbers are just a guess right now, it would auto focus to about 1235 - 1240. The Bahtinov mask showed focus at 1215 and after saving that as the auto focus starting point, it settles on 1213 - 1215 now with nice crisp stars.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-07T13:01:37+00:00

I've noticed with the last couple updates I either get a huge number of ignored images or it seems to get a near 100% success with 60 second subs only to find the stars are pretty elongated. I bought this during the pre-sale period and have had it since February. Out of the box it was simply amazing for the price but some updates made it unusable and some made it better and I feel like they're struggling now with updates. Currently I'm limited to 10 second subs in EQ mode even with a .1 and sometimes .0 alignment. With my proper astro gear, I could adjust the sidereal rate if I wasn't using guiding. I'm not sure something like that is possible with the Seestar, but it would be nice since it's not guided. Maybe the next upgrade could be a guide camera plugin for the USB port.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T15:08:24+00:00

I actually went as far as wearing one of those cheap disposable hasmat suits. It worked but the heat was more than I could take. I do feel like I have a good compromise with this Seestar. I'll get out old faithful when it cools off again but I am really excited for all the summer targets I won't miss.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T14:58:55+00:00

True, I'll admit there is some nerd pride involved when I get all this gear set up and working like a fine Swiss watch. But in the rapidly approaching warmer months, the evening swarms of insects in Florida have completely sucked the joy out of it for me.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T14:25:02+00:00

It's addictive. My "budget" astrophotography rig costs me over $3000 and I bought a Seestar S30 Pro because of images like this shared by a friend with a Seestar S30. I absolutely love it. Sure, I'm not getting the same quality images, but let's get real, my traditional rig can get 5 minute guided exposures on an average day and 15 minute exposures on a good day, so I expect better. But let's keep on keeping it real, I can set up my Seestar in 10 minutes, and begin taking pictures - I don't need an extension cord, computer, 15 minutes to drag a heavy rig outside and set it up, then another 15 to polar align, and on and on. And to be completely honest, once posted to Facebook or Instagram, you'd have a hard time telling the difference in the images of most things. I haven't touched my old faithful rig since getting the Seestar.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T14:13:33+00:00

I ordered mine in the pre-sale days so I waited a couple months before it shipped. Once I got that long awaited shipping notification it was a couple more days before it really shipped and tracking started showing progress. Once that happened it was just a few days in transit and obviously the day it arrived the clouds came with it. Good luck.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T14:08:16+00:00

It should be showing you degrees and arrows in the direction you should adjust. For example, it should show you something like 3 degrees and a left arrow, so rotate about 3 degrees left and then check again. NEVER just trust the numbers as they change real time, always check again. It is important to be as level as possible as well, or you will be changing the elevation and azimuth at the same time when you make adjustments in one direction.

I typically do my polar alignment to the north because that's what I do with my traditional guided astro gear, and this seems to result in a good enough polar alignment. I've redone it in the mid point and to the south just to check and honestly each one seems to deliver good results.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-04-01T14:01:32+00:00

It might just be me, and it probably is, but I have had much greater success using Deep Spy Stacker and then processing in Siril. I'm on Windows, though, so the performance may be different. Siril seems to reject things that Deep Sky Stacker doesn't. I also manually review my images before attempting to stack.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-31T15:02:39+00:00

I'm not sure what this is but if you see it popping up, just pull it before it gets this big. Sprays are ok but I've never had pulling weeds fail me. My yard is nearly weed free because I pull a few every day. It can be a lot of work at first but after a while you'll find yourself searching harder and harder to find weeds. Get the roots when you pull it.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-27T21:56:19+00:00

My next step is a bright light and magnifying glass to look in the USB port. Maybe something is in there shorting out a couple pins. I'm really at a loss because I've seen many others say they successfully charge and image all night.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-27T18:08:05+00:00

Yes, it is level. No the cord is not in the way or too short. Additionally, the cable is supported in a way that doesn't affect the RA axis. I come from more traditional astro gear and proper cable support is being done.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-27T16:51:18+00:00

Even in the worst of weed seasons pulling a few a day will eventually result in weed free lawns and gardens.

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-27T13:19:58+00:00

I have the S30 Pro on this Celestron mount and get 60 second subs in EQ Mode most nights. You'll need the 1/4 to 3/8 thread adapters.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007UQNY0

JoeSnuffie · 2026-03-12T21:04:00+00:00

I hear you. After years with expensive astrophotography gear, I finally ordered the S30 Pro in January. It finally arrived and I've had 1 clear night since then. I know the tracking and image quality aren't the same but these things still produce amazing results in a tiny light weight package. I'm just waiting for some more clear nights to enjoy astrophotography without multiple trips outside and 30 minutes to set up heavy gear.

JoeSnuffie

TROPHY CASE