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Maxim Guiding - issues and rant!

daz

By daz
in Discussions - Software

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daz

daz

Posted
Posted

Feel free to ignore me, but I just need to vent some frustration.....

So, yet again another clear night wasted because guiding "would not work" in Maxim!! It's in quotes because of course there could be a number of factors.....

Using my new Atik GP/Atik One combination on my RC8, everything worked fine a couple of days ago (http://darrenjehan.me.uk/blog/blog/2014/04/09/atik-one-first-light/) but simply refused to last night.

Maxim repeatedly fails to identify a star in the image, even though there are clearly stars there - and I have tried using full calibration of the guider, simple darks, no darks - same result.

If I manually select a guide star, Maxim will start to track it and then appear to push the telescope so the star moves out of the field of view....

So, stop guiding, reslew to target. Shout at computer...

I double checked my polar alignment - reasonable. There is *some* drifting, but easily capable of being guided out. It's not like I've polar aligned on Mars....

Double check balance - Good.

Double check guiding focus - Good.

Double check pick-off position - Good.

Shutdown. Park. Restart everything.

Start again. Same result.

Shutdown. Park. Cry......

So, next clear night will be to try the Atik software and see if that works. I don't know if it's an ASCOM driver issue or what - but it's giving me a headache!!!

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Sp@ce_d

Sp@ce_d

Posted
Posted

Are you calibrating each time? I've noticed if it fails to guide & I try re calibrating that fails too

I end up using PHD! Then another night PHD plays up yet Maxim guides fine! Weird!!

I'm hoping V6 is better with multiple star guiding.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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steppenwolf

steppenwolf

Posted
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Well it must be just me but MaxIm works well for me - OK, sometimes I have to select a different star from the one automatically chosen by the software but that resolves any problem I may have encountered. Sometimes, the calibration does fail - this happens with most guiding programs from time to time - and is usually caused by another bright star appearing in a position close to where the original star was located on the sensor thus confusing the recognition algorithm.

I do know that you are not alone though, Daz but I can't imagine what the issue is I'm afraid. I know PHD is very popular but it too can fail at calibration time - most strange.....

When is MaxIm version 6 coming out?

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sloz1664

sloz1664

Posted
Posted

I'm with Steve, I love Maxim. Maxim is a powerful piece of software but it does take time to understand as Photoshop & Pixinsight does.

Check out the MaxmDL youtube videos by John Blackwell they will point you in the right direction.

Steve I use John Winfield's excellent pinpoint calibration plugin. Calibrates in a matter of seconds.

cheers

Steve

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Sp@ce_d

Sp@ce_d

Posted
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When is MaxIm version 6 coming out?

Sry for late reply.. Seems I'm not auto subscribing to posts anymore?

It was announced on the yahoo group last year & but is still in beta. I thought it would have been out by now. Dougs been telling everyone to renew subscriptions to save money as it'll go up. Hope it's out before mine runs outs end of year :)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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