SW EQ5 guide erratic behaviour: what to inspect? (guidelog attached!)

[rofus]

Hi all,

received yesterday and tested my first autoguiding system, the Orion Magnificient Mini package (Orion Starshoot Autoguider + 9x5 mini finder/guiderscope). I have a SW Deluxe EQ5 that I use with a SW Startravel 102 or recently Startravel 150.

Yesterday I did my usual procedure to test it all in 2h of clear skies I got:

1) Used PolarAlign to see where Polaris is

2) Positioned my EQ5 in the usual marked place in my back garden, where is level and basically already roughly polar aligned

3) Set the discs to correct date/hour, verified the circle is indeed where PolarAligh says, and did usual small regulations of the alt/lat bolts to center polaris in the circle in my polar scope (aligned with the mount once when I got the mount two years ago)

4) Balanced the Startravel 150 with all equipment on the scope, rechecked that polarscope was still aligned

5) Did the 3 stars usual alignment, pointed back to Arcturus for test (most of following tests where on Arcturus zone).

After spending some time to focus the guidescope/cam and locked everything in, connected to computer, all was ready to finally do my first guiding tests!

First I tried with default settings, calibration failed and reading on forums I found I shall increase the calibration step to 2500, so I've done it and calibration succeeded. 

To my surprise it starts tracking for a minute or so with nice small oscillations in the graph, star pretty much centered, then RA starts going up, PHD trying to correct but no way, DEC follows the spike, star starts falling down the PHD square/cross on screen, I interrupt guiding. Check that all is tight on the guiderscope/cam (no flex etc.), I try again, and this time RA and DEC go up immediately.

And basically that's how the night went on, I got another session of a minute or two nicely guided, till at some point RA and DEC go up a lot (+16) and I interrupt guiding as PHD is unable to counter act it. I tweaked a few settings (following forums/websites) checked stuff, connected/reconnected, nothing. You can see a good part of the night in the GuideLog file attached.

Now...my question is, for next test, what should I check mainly? It seems to me something so big and constantly happening, that must be a very basic/mechanical thing more than any software related, because all seems working well and I take astrophoto since some time unguiding subs up to 90secs without many problems.

Main causes I can think about:

1) too much weight on mount (the Startravel 150 + finderscope + cam)? Shall I try with the ST102 that is sensibly lighter? I honestly think this is the main cause...but...am I wrong?

2) polar alignment and/or balance? I usually get unguided subs up to 90s, so this seems strange, balance is ok and that alignment although not drift should be good enough to not create that big RA/DEC swing

3) broken or not well working mount? Again seems odd if I can can take unguided subs up to 90s (but not tried yet with the ST150, only with the ST102)

4) any setting wrong in PHD2?

I'm more a photographer than an astronomer but I decided to jump into guiding because I'd like to achieve at least 5 minutes of subs...I hope that someone more expect than me can suggest me something based on that log

Thanks!

PHD2_GuideLog_2014-08-14_214842.txt

[ChrisLX200]

The first thing I would do is put a high power eyepiece (a reticle guiding eyepiece is even better) in the scope rather than the camera, and _watch_ what happens as the scope is tracking unguided. That will tell you a lot about how the mount is performing, and how well you have managed to polar align. An autoguider is only able to correct for minor irregularities, not for mis-behaving RA drives (e.g., lagging) or for gross mis-alignment. Try it and see, then you can move on to tweaking PHD.

ChrisH

[rofus]

Hi Chris,

thank you very much for this, I was thinking indeed about registering on PHD an unguided session (possibly with the ST102 so I can avoid the overweight possible problem). I don't have a reticule one but I can sure put an high power and see what happens visually as well.

I just thought that if I can do constant 60s subs with a Nikon D90 with the ST102 (500mm focal length), with 90s sometimes possible (50%/60% good frames) it means that both the polar alignment and drives are 'decent' enough to see some decent guiding behaviour, or at least not that bad. Considering that the guiderscope has a focal length of 200mm and I was looking at the drift happening there, yesterday it was a quite bad combination of facts..

Problem is that I'm not really able to connect/relate my ST102/Nikon d90 60 or 90secs subs performance with that big drift in RA I've seen yesterday. Considering the rarity of clear nights I wanted to do more tests (also with an higher power eyepiece as you suggested) but trying to address already some more possible problems.

[blinky]

OK, so what did the star do on screen?  Did it stay within the square guide box al the time? I think if the star moves outside the box PHD will then try to re-find it and it basically all goes to pot!  I would try again, keep an eye on the guide box on screen. You can also increase the size of this box in the settings menu (Click the brain icon if I remember correctly).  But don't give up, generally PHD works and works well, so keep at it! 

[rofus]

Hi Blinky,

thanks for your message..is well encouraging...I was so happy when the first minute or so of guiding was almost perfect, then RA and DEC started going up (over +14/16 on the PHD2 graph not sure what it means), and it was depressing

The star after 3 or 4 minutes was still into the square, simply not centered there anymore, so PHD never lost the guide star. Arcturus (auto selected) was sliding constantly down (slightly right).

I see that PHD2 was trying to send messages to the mount to counter balance (graph going up, PHD2 sending signals going down), and I was hearing the motors responding to PHD2 signals, simply it was unable to correct it, even when I pushed RA and DEC max to 1000 (as shown into the guidelog).

It's furstrating I don't understand what movement the scope was doing and PHD2 was unable to counter balance (not the software but the mount/motors). I don't get if the scope was going too fast/slow or what else, I think understanding that I could understand maybe if/what was the mechanical/weight problem. Unless yesterday my polar alignment was really bad, I see only in the weight of the ST150 (a big refractor) the problem, but maybe I'm wrong?

I always thought that a polar alignment through polar scope calibrated should be not perfect but 'good enough' to not cause such visible drift (that I usually don't get with the ST102 whendoing AP unguided), in particular with short focals like 500/750mm and on a balanced and level mount.

Scratching my head....waiting for the evening and hoping in some dark sky to do more tests...

[rofus]

Another question as well..from where I have telescope, I basically don't see east and south, I have no way of seeing anything around (not to say near) Celestial Equator.

How to do a drift align anyway? Is it possible anyway?

[Gib007]

Hi, I'm Kayron from Light Vortex Astronomy - you sent me an e-mail to check this thread so here I am. I thought best to reply here so you get the collective support of many. 

I'm glad you got your autoguiding system set up so quickly. I see you're using PHD2 instead of PHD Guiding. That's fine. What are your exact PHD2 settings then? I would like to know the following:

- RA Aggressiveness

- RA Hysteresis

- RA Duration

- Dec Duration

- Min. motion

- Search Region

I see you've set Calibration Step to 2500 ms. That's a good value so no trouble there. 

You say you have done unguided imaging before up to 90 seconds and got no star trails. That does indeed mean that for the imaging focal length you're using, your polar alignment routine suffices. If you've done the same in these tests, then you should be fine polar alignment wise. I agree that drift alignment is the gold standard of polar alignment. PHD2's Drift Align tool does want you to point to the intersection of Celestial Equator and Meridian to the South (it's quite high up for me in Gibraltar) for Azimuth adjustments and to the Celestial Equator line to the East OR West for Altitude adjustments. PHD2's Drift Align tool will slew your telescope to the relevant location in the night sky automatically but you can always use planetarium software like Stellarium, enable the Equator and Meridian, zoom in and just pick stars you can see along these critical points for drift alignment. 

Apart from the above, I pose a few questions to you for diagnostic purposes:

1. How do you do your balancing of the telescope on your mount?

2. Is your mount the EQ5 or the HEQ5?

3. How is your StarShoot AutoGuider connected to the mount? Directly through the white ST-4 cable or are you using EQMod's ASCOM PulseGuiding?

[Christopher Davenport]

Personally I think this has something to do with PHD settings and calibration

Many posts on here with people who experience similar challenges

One example I found

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/219837-phd-dec-all-over-the-shop/page-2

[rofus]

Hi Kayron,

thank you very much for your reply, I hope this thread and all help will be useful for me and others, I agree on keeping this public, I found so many answers on this forum!

Quick replies to your points:

1) I first connect all equipment/cables to the ota (that is on the mount already). Then I unlock DEC and balance the tube (moving it in the circles) till is balanced on that axis, then I do the same on RA (with the ST102 I have one 5kg cw up the bar, with the ST150 I have two of them same position). In the end with both axis unlocked I make sure all is perfectly balanced in all positions. I ignore the slightly east rule for now on purpose, one step at a time

2) I have an EQ5, not HEQ5 (that's why I can't wait to try the same with the much lighter ST102 scope)

3) My mount is connected directly through the cable from the camera, no ASCOM as I'm on Mac. In this case I think PHD2 during drift alignment wizard does not slew the scope and I have to do it manually (or SkySafari on the Mac that usually pilots the mount)

My settings for PHD2 are below (as you can see I followed your fantastic guide):

- RA Aggressiveness 70 (tried 100 as well)

- RA Hysteresis 10

- RA Duration 500 (tried 1000 as well)

- Dec Duration 500 (tried 1000 as well)

- Min. motion 0.05

- Search Region 15

 

All the pictures you see in my gallery in signatures are nothing exceptional but taken all with a D90, SW Startravel 102 (f/5 500mm), unguided, with an 80% good frames at 60sec unguided, and about 50% good subs at 90sec unguided, always putting the mount in the same point and polar aligning through the polar scope and the RA circle on the mount (and a software to check Polaris position and check I have the same in polarscope). I thought that although not 100% precise should be good enough for some more decent guiding start.

Eager to have some feedback from people more expert than me...also because as I said from my house (and also from the new one!!) I have no view of Celestial Equator (East and South mostly covered), so I don't think I can do any polar drift alignment?

[rofus]

Personally I think this has something to do with PHD settings and calibration

Many posts on here with people who experience similar challenges

One example I found

http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/219837-phd-dec-all-over-the-shop/page-2

Not sure, my case seems different because both axies are moving that way!

I attach the screenshots of the guiding sessions from PHDLab...one session was ok for almost 3 minutes (!), another for almost 1 minute, others where way off, both axis in same way (scratching my head)

[Christopher Davenport]

Not sure, my case seems different because both axies are moving that way!

I attach the screenshots of the guiding sessions from PHDLab...one session was ok for almost 3 minutes (!), another for almost 1 minute, others where way off, both axis in same way (scratching my head)

Okay, i think I may have spotted some problems.

It seems that your mount is trying to correct, but is not giving a large enough correction command, so as polar align kicks in it starts to drift.

You need to check that the nudges are actually getting through the ST4 port to the mount. (Do some  test nudges in PHD and listen if the mount responds)

How many steps does your calibration take, it should not be more that 20 to 30 at a max.

Every time you slew to a new object, you need to recalibrate. (There is a setting in the brain somewhere.)

Next thing to check is the image scale that you are using, above images suggests 6.62 arcsecs px. 

Based on this site 

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Refractor-Telescopes/Orion-Awesome-Autoguider-Refractor-Telescope-Package/pc/-1/c/1/sc/10/p/24770.uts

and this site

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/field-view-calculator

I extrapolate the following vitals for your setup:

F ratio:              f5

Focal Length:   400mm

Field of view:    57.2' x 55.42'

Resolution:       2.68"/pixel

I suggest you keep your RA aggressiveness at 100 to start with.

Otherwise not really sure, if it was a weight issue it would always happen immediately and if your polar align was really bad, same thing.

Good luck.

[ollypenrice]

Is this PHD2 or the orginal? I haven't played with PHD2 much but it did exactly what you are describing, ie drive both axes in the wrong direction. I have a good observatoruy class PA so it isn't that. I don't normally guide in PHD but I'd like to know what was going on. In a nutshell this sounds like an x and y inversion. That is, your guide commands are working the wrong way, sending the corrections in the wrong direction. I don't know about PHD but in Astro Art, my regular guide programme, there are just  'invert x' and 'invert y' tick boxes to reverse the direction of the commands. If you are getting 60 sec subs unguided it might take a few seconds before a correction is needed, hence the initial delay.

What you are describing does not sound at all like a fine tuning issue to me. Balance, PA etc. These matter but something is fundamentally wrong. I'd bet on the command directions.

Olly

PS AstroArt requires a cacophany of little windows open, and the procedure for setting up is oddly elaborate - plus it doesn't automatically get the guide directions right. But, and this is a big but, when things don't work it is an absolute peach to adjust and experiment with. It also remembers its previous settings. I do like it.

[rofus]

Okay, i think I may have spotted some problems.

It seems that your mount is trying to correct, but is not giving a large enough correction command, so as polar align kicks in it starts to drift.

You need to check that the nudges are actually getting through the ST4 port to the mount. (Do some  test nudges in PHD and listen if the mount responds)

How many steps does your calibration take, it should not be more that 20 to 30 at a max.

Every time you slew to a new object, you need to recalibrate. (There is a setting in the brain somewhere.)

Next thing to check is the image scale that you are using, above images suggests 6.62 arcsecs px. 

Based on this site 

http://www.telescope.com/Telescopes/Refractor-Telescopes/Orion-Awesome-Autoguider-Refractor-Telescope-Package/pc/-1/c/1/sc/10/p/24770.uts

and this site

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/field-view-calculator

I extrapolate the following vitals for your setup:

F ratio:              f5

Focal Length:   400mm

Field of view:    57.2' x 55.42'

Resolution:       2.68"/pixel

I suggest you keep your RA aggressiveness at 100 to start with.

Otherwise not really sure, if it was a weight issue it would always happen immediately and if your polar align was really bad, same thing.

Good luck.

Ok,

yes yesterday I tested that PHD was sending commands, and it was indeed, with some manual guiding, and when it was correcting I was clearly hearing the motors working on PHD commands (not the usual tracking noise).

About calibration, it said star was not moving enough with 1000 as calibration step value, then I moved it to 2500, but it took up to 60 steps if I remember correctly! More than 20 or 30 for sure, and I recalibrated it before moving to another object (last test guiding I did).

I will try aggressiveness to 100. And yes I agree that those almost 4 minutes of good guiding and then that huge erratic behaviour is strange indeed and tells me that polar alignment should not really be the main issue...

[rofus]

Is this PHD2 or the orginal? I haven't played with PHD2 much but it did exactly what you are describing, ie drive both axes in the wrong direction. I have a good observatoruy class PA so it isn't that. I don't normally guide in PHD but I'd like to know what was going on. In a nutshell this sounds like an x and y inversion. That is, your guide commands are working the wrong way, sending the corrections in the wrong direction. I don't know about PHD but in Astro Art, my regular guide programme, there are just  'invert x' and 'invert y' tick boxes to reverse the direction of the commands. If you are getting 60 sec subs unguided it might take a few seconds before a correction is needed, hence the initial delay.

What you are describing does not sound at all like a fine tuning issue to me. Balance, PA etc. These matter but something is fundamentally wrong. I'd bet on the command directions.

Olly

PS AstroArt requires a cacophany of little windows open, and the procedure for setting up is oddly elaborate - plus it doesn't automatically get the guide directions right. But, and this is a big but, when things don't work it is an absolute peach to adjust and experiment with. It also remembers its previous settings. I do like it.

Actually....you gave me an idea, I thought also about this possibility, but looked too odd to be true! I was using PHD2 but I see now that PHD original as well is supported.

ANYWAY, I reopened my log in PHDlog and enabled 'Drive' as well, that I suppose shows me drive corrections? If so....it looks VERY ODD...it seems while was drifting down, drives were actually pushing it down even more, or am I wrong? (if anyone is able to manually read the log, I attached it to my original post)

On these screenshots...it seems indeed PHD was driving down while the mount was going down? Or I am reading these wrong?

[Christopher Davenport]

Ok,

yes yesterday I tested that PHD was sending commands, and it was indeed, with some manual guiding, and when it was correcting I was clearly hearing the motors working on PHD commands (not the usual tracking noise).

About calibration, it said star was not moving enough with 1000 as calibration step value, then I moved it to 2500, but it took up to 60 steps if I remember correctly! More than 20 or 30 for sure, and I recalibrated it before moving to another object (last test guiding I did).

I will try aggressiveness to 100. And yes I agree that those almost 4 minutes of good guiding and then that huge erratic behaviour is strange indeed and tells me that polar alignment should not really be the main issue...

Please also try setting your focal length to 400mm as it is at 162mm at the moment.

[rofus]

Please also try setting your focal length to 400mm as it is at 162mm at the moment.

Yes sorry forgot about it, I already configured it in both PHD and PHD2. The package I'm using is the Mini one, so it's this one

http://www.telescope.com/Orion-Magnificent-Mini-AutoGuider-Package/p/99631.uts

Is a 200mm focal length, so I should use probably 200mm I suppose.

[Christopher Davenport]

Yes sorry forgot about it, I already configured it in both PHD and PHD2. The package I'm using is the Mini one, so it's this one

http://www.telescope.com/Orion-Magnificent-Mini-AutoGuider-Package/p/99631.uts

Is a 200mm focal length, so I should use probably 200mm I suppose.

Ahhh Okay.

[ollypenrice]

It is obviously driving the wrong way. That is far worse than your natural drift could have been.

Olly

[rofus]

I'm running it just now again. I don't see how to invert the driving directions...am I wrong thinking that calibration should be where PHD understands its directions? How can it drive the other way round?

It is obviously driving the wrong way. That is far worse than your natural drift could have been.

Olly

[rofus]

Ok I got just a few minutes of guiding in the short times of visible Alphecca or Vega through the clouds, long enough to calibrate and do some guiding.

This time I've put on the mount the much lighter Skywatcher Startravel 102, balanced, aligned through polarscope, 3 stars aligned on Synscan, tested a couple of stars as usual later, all working. This should mean that PA again is fairly good (in particular for a 500mm scope and 200mm guidescope), both motors work etc.

I got basically the same behaviour or previous night...at some point RA and/or DEC go all over the place. I also tried some manual guiding to check that PHD can talk with the mount, and heard the motors (both DEC and RA) moving. The RA makes a more evident noise, the DEC one I needed to go really near the motor to hear the action after the PHD manual guide impules, is that normal?

CALIBRATION took (2000/2500 step value) I notice behaves always in the same way. East/West is farily quick, backslash sometimes takes a lot (40 steps), then when it arrives to North/South it takes 60 steps, and once failed calibrating the DEC. I tried also in PHD (not PHD2), same results.

GUIDING: I attach below the analysis of the guiding...basically:

1) I disabled DEC because it failed during calibration (PHD1), started guiding, result was like yesterday: RA goes bananas and PHD seem completely unable to counter act

2) re-calibrated in PHD2, guided, this time RA and DEC go in opposite directions generating huge waves

3) DEC correction disabled, PHD2 is unable to correct the RA (that goes down) while the DEC goes up

I really hope someone can suggest me something...at this point I'm just lost and frustrated, between failed attempts and clouds impeding some more continuous test..

Outside is now raining...exactly like I feel, I thought was going to be a much less painful process at least to start. I was expecting a long learning curve to make it better, but not such a crappy performance, basically doesn't work even on a mount that is able to take 60/90 secs subs unguided

[Gib007]

Looking at your posts and your log graphs, it seems odd to me too. You've probably tried settings like these, but I'd recommend giving it a go if not:

- RA Aggressiveness: 100

- RA Hysteresis: 10

- RA Duration: 1200

- Dec Duration: 1200

- Min. motion: 0.05

- Search Region: 15

- Calibration Step: 4000

- Exposure Time (for SSAG): 2.0s (this is to average out seeing)

The reason I suggest such a high calibration step is because if looks like your calibration is taking way too many steps and is sometimes even failing as a consequence. 2500 may just not be enough for such a short guiding focal length for the particular area of the sky you are calibrating on. In theory, the optimum number of steps for calibration should be between 15 and 20 in each direction. Use that as a guideline for the value of calibration step you should use. 

It's unfortunate you are unable to use ASCOM PulseGuiding through EQMod, as a means of testing guiding without the white ST-4 cable. It looks to me as if your guiding stability lasts less time than the minute to minute and a half frames you can capture without any guiding whatsoever. If you captured these length frames without guiding, it means your polar alignment is sufficiently accurate. 

Could the problem point to a bad ST-4 cable? Have you checked the contacts closely to make sure the cable physically works? You could try the continuity tester of a multimeter through each individual pin to make sure no connection is broken. I suggest this because a friend's Lodestar bundled ST-4 cable had one pin's connection broken and he just resorted to ASCOM PulseGuiding. 

Some comments on what you replied to my questions:

1. Your balancing procedure sounds good. Unlocking DEC first and making sure the optical system is perfectly balanced with all the equipment you're going to use on there is a good start. With an equatorial mount, I used to then unlock RA, move the mount in RA about 90° and place the telescope parallel to the ground. I would then lock DEC and unlock RA to see how the telescope bobs around as I touch it to check balance. Counterweights can be adjusted to achieve a nice balance at this point. Once done, you can leave the mount in RA at about 90°, lock RA and this time point the telescope perfectly upwards, and check the DEC balance like this as well. With telescopes held by scope rings, I used to have to sometimes physically rotate the telescope within the scope rings in order to get the balance correctly at this angle. 

2. As far as I remember, the EQ5 had a lower payload capacity than the HEQ5, by about 5kg less. I think the maximum recommendation for imaging with an EQ5 is then about 12kg. It does sound like it more than suffices for your optical systems though, including your bigger refractor (which from what I read, weighs about 7kg by itself). I do think you should however stick to your smaller telescope for now until this problem is sorted. Once you're getting good guiding on that one, move up to the bigger telescope and see how it goes. In theory it should work just as well if balance is good. 

3. As aforementioned, I would venture on to checking the connections between all the pins on your ST-4 cable. It's a shame you can't try out ASCOM PulseGuiding on EQMod. You never know! I myself no longer use the ST-4 cable. One less cable to worry about. 

I have to say that guiding should NOT be this problematic. Not when your polar alignment is half-way decent and your balance is good. Sure, if no drift alignment is performed and your polar alignment is rough, you can get visible field rotation on images, but the guiding performs regardless and certainly does not lead to these graphs!

[rofus]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply, really useful.

I'm on Mac but I use Parallels with a Windows XP for compatibility with some software, so I can indeed try Ascom/Eqmod and Pulseguiding, I found the drivers for my serial/usb adapter that I usually use from Mac to slew the scopeon SkySafari.

Tonight and tomorrow I should have some clear sky to try, so I'll do this (always with small scope):

1) will try the values you suggested in PHD and see if anything changes

2) will register graph of a session unguided to have an idea of the normal behaviour of the mount

3) will try phd on windows to rule out possibility of mac drivers not good

4) will install ascom/eqmod/phd (through pulse guiding and not camera) to see if it makes any difference not using the st4 cable

I have no idea about ascom/eqmod, will leave it default nust enabling pulse guiding...I have a very fast ssd macbook pro so if it works is ok to load Parallels and guide/slew scope from Windows while imaging on OSX. If there's anything I should be aware to guide with EqMOD let me know

In terms of balance thanks for the tips, I will apply them. I also agree about the payload, the 150 refractor (also considering the short tube) should be 'just' within the limit for photo with that mount, but till I solve the guiding problems I'll keep small one to avoid another possible source of problems.

I need to find out how to guide...I did decent amateur astrophoto for years unguided, now that I decided to guide all seems a problem, will go through these tests and will report here!

[Christopher Davenport]

Thank you very much for the detailed reply, really useful.

I'm on Mac but I use Parallels with a Windows XP for compatibility with some software, so I can indeed try Ascom/Eqmod and Pulseguiding, I found the drivers for my serial/usb adapter that I usually use from Mac to slew the scopeon SkySafari.

Tonight and tomorrow I should have some clear sky to try, so I'll do this (always with small scope):

1) will try the values you suggested in PHD and see if anything changes

2) will register graph of a session unguided to have an idea of the normal behaviour of the mount

3) will try phd on windows to rule out possibility of mac drivers not good

4) will install ascom/eqmod/phd (through pulse guiding and not camera) to see if it makes any difference not using the st4 cable

I have no idea about ascom/eqmod, will leave it default nust enabling pulse guiding...I have a very fast ssd macbook pro so if it works is ok to load Parallels and guide/slew scope from Windows while imaging on OSX. If there's anything I should be aware to guide with EqMOD let me know

In terms of balance thanks for the tips, I will apply them. I also agree about the payload, the 150 refractor (also considering the short tube) should be 'just' within the limit for photo with that mount, but till I solve the guiding problems I'll keep small one to avoid another possible source of problems.

I need to find out how to guide...I did decent amateur astrophoto for years unguided, now that I decided to guide all seems a problem, will go through these tests and will report here!

I suggest that you setup during the day and play with the software (ascom, eqmod) as it is a bit techie, to start with.

There is a simulator if you do NOT have access to plug into your mount, etc

BTW, I capture, guide and process using my Virtual machine with XP on it, no problem. Host -> (I5, 8GB, win7, lenovo)

I guide my 80ED with a 50mm finder guider and can do over 15min if required. My calibration takes 15 steps in either direction.

Screen shot shows all the stuff you will need as a starter for 10, good luck with tonight.

Warning Once you go to EQMOD, you not going to want to use anything else

[rofus]

That's brilliant again! Thanks

Indeed I already installed all drivers and stuff, configured ascom and eqmod, will double check some suff in your screenshot that I did not configure, and later when back home from the terrible Sat morning shopping (!!) I'll test the connection to the mount to verify that the serial usb works (it seems to anyway) and EQmod can talk with the mount.

I'm an IT engineer so nothing too scary I just need to understand all parameters and settings

I suppose once eqmod can talk with the mount I can then try phd on windows to manual guide the mount through ascom and through the camera driver, and then I should be ready to the night tike tests!

Would love to do 10 or 15 minutes. The few test unguided shots I took with the 8 inch achro + semi apo filter were impressively better than my 102..going up to 10 mins with that scope would definitely and literally open a new Universe of objects to image for me!

Ok will update here with all my tests..hopefully I'll solve and will be of good help for others.

[Dave_D]

i get this on a reasonably regular basis... good tracking for a while and them 'poof' it all goes pear-shaped for no apparent reason. i'm not convinced it's a mount issue as it now appears that others are getting it too.

Vixen GP, Orion autoguider and PHDv2 using ascom pulse guiding from a couple of nights ago

@rofus, we do seem to have the orion autoguider in common though