ZWO Pier Extension for AM3/AM5 Mount, 160mm

ZWO 160mm Pier Extension for ZWO AM3 and AM5 mounts # ZWO-PE160

1. Aircraft Grade Aluminum

Thanks to the aircraft grade aluminum, the pier extension features great capacity of high-temperature resistance and wear resistance. It's durable and hard to deform, ensuring a higher strength and better rigidity, and it has a large load capacity of up to 13kg (recommended load: up to 10kg). Payload capacity does not include the weight of the mount.

2. Hollow-Carved Design

With its lightweight design, one single pier extension only weighs 1.0kg, which will greatly reduce your burden of transport when out for astrophotography.

3. Simple Installation

The pier extension can be easily installed and tightened up.

4. Dark Black Tone with Matte Surface

The match of the dark black pier extension and red ZWO mount is quite classic and artistic. The pier extension itself also features great comfortable texture. Please note: tripod adapter as produced by manufacturer on stock we have received is silver rather than black as shown. Not visible once on tripod. All other elements black.

5. Specifications

• Weight: 1kg
• Dimensions (mm): Φ 124 x 160
• Load: Up to 13kg
• Manufacturing process: CNC craft

ZWO AM5 with Harmonic Drive

AM5 is a larger travel mount for astrophotography. Although the mount itself weighs less than 5kg, it carries telescopes up to 20kg with and up to 13kg without a counterweight. As a travel mount, the polar elevation can be adjusted up to the equator - it belongs to the AZ-EQ mount family. The supplier measures the periodic error of each mount before delivery and guarantees a slowly occurring periodic error, which is less than 20" and can therefore be easily corrected by the ST4 interface for autoguiders.

According to the manufacturer, if the mount is aligned exactly to the north or south pole, it comes also without an autoguider (note from Lacerta: it is of course dependent on the focal length.)

Whether the mount is in which mode is shown by color coding (LED on the head): Red stands for parallactic mode and green for azimuthal mode.

No counterweight necessary

Thanks to robot technology, a counterweight (mandatory for equatorial mounts) is only necessary if the telescope weight is over 13 kg. This makes the ZWO-AM5 lighter and more compact. The cable clutter can also be omitted: in addition to the hand controller, communication can also take place via the ASI-AIR WiFi interface - a tablet or smartphone can be used instead of the hand box.

Scope of delivery

• ZWO-AM5 mount head
• Hand controller with cable
• carbon tripod

Technical specifications

• Equatorial mount (both azimuthal and equatorial modes)
• PE less than 20"
• Motorisation: NEMA42 (RA) and NEMA35 (DEC) stepper motors, each with a reduction of 1:100
• Carrying capacity: 20kg with GGW and 13kg without GGW
• Telescopic Clamp: Dual Quick Coupling Vixen & Losmandy
• Pole height setting: 0° to 90° north/south
• Counterweight rod: M12 thread / ?mm diameter
• Speeds: 0.5x - 1x - 2x - 4x - 8x - 20x - 60x -720x - 1440x (corresponds to 6°/sec)
• Power supply: 12V, minimum 1.5A stabilized (at least 3A is recommended)
• Autoguider input: ST4 protocol, compatible with MGEN