Qhy5L-ii + SW finderscope

[Rico]

Had a go at guiding tonight, but every time I started the phd calibration it would tell me that it the RA calibration failed as the star didn't move enough. This was with a 0.1s calibration step.  I changed it to 5 seconds and it seems to go through the steps but it then froze with a 'new connection' message at the bottom. Visibility dropped rapidly and i fingers were about to fall off from the cold, so i'll have to try again another day. 

Anybody use their SW finderscope as a guidescope with/without a QH5yl-ii? Interested to know what settings I should be using

Thanks

[red dwalf]

what version of phd are you using

[Rico]

PhD 2

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I think mine is set to 1600ms but PHD2 has a calculator to work it out for you. The step size obviously varies according to the parameter values you give it...

It sounds like you may also have a usb problem - maybe cable or usb port-related.

Louise

Edit: I think the camera's exposure time can't normally be longer than 3 secs. You need to select a guide star that will preferably give you a s/n value in double figures and whose brightness doesn't clip. Don't forget to make a darks library. Do display the star profile, target and graph from the View menu. 

[red dwalf]

download the latest snapshot here,

http://openphdguiding.org/snapshots.html

then after starting the program , click on the brain, enter the focal length of the guide scope and pixel size of the camera, i think phd 2 does that for you but check,

one other thing to do is if your using eqmod, make sure the ra rate is set to 0.5 x rate, this should then be changed in the phd 2 settings, when all done click on calculate and it should come up with a number.

that should be it, click on exposure, make sure it`s 2 seconds or maybe 3 seconds length and you should be good to go.

then it`s a case of tinkering with the ra aggressiveness to smooth out the graph, with a sensitive camera i set my rate to 50.

hope it helps. 

[Rico]

Thanks for the replies, I'll give that a go once the weather picks up.

@Louise ... I'm not sure if I have a USB issue. Throughout the whole process I still have an image on display, I think it may just dislike the amount which the star is drifting, which I imagine is down to how bad my polar alignment is, and my focal length. 

@red dwalf ... the calculator will be quite useful. I'm not using EQmod at the moment. I've connected the guide camera to the mount directly, so I was trying to use the on-camera option within PHD2. 

On first inspection it didn't seem to work for 4 seconds ... still got the RA cailibration failure due to lack of movement. If somebody has the specific Qh5yL-ii + SW finderscope combination, I would be glad to hear what settings they're using as well.

[Skipper Billy]

On my SW 9x50 finderscope and QHY5Lii i use these settings.

Its identical hardware to yours but there's no guarantee that it will work for you but it should give you a starting point.

HTH

[Thalestris24]

Thanks for the replies, I'll give that a go once the weather picks up.

@Louise ... I'm not sure if I have a USB issue. Throughout the whole process I still have an image on display, I think it may just dislike the amount which the star is drifting, which I imagine is down to how bad my polar alignment is, and my focal length. 

@red dwalf ... the calculator will be quite useful. I'm not using EQmod at the moment. I've connected the guide camera to the mount directly, so I was trying to use the on-camera option within PHD2. 

On first inspection it didn't seem to work for 4 seconds ... still got the RA cailibration failure due to lack of movement. If somebody has the specific Qh5yL-ii + SW finderscope combination, I would be glad to hear what settings they're using as well.

When PHD2 is calibrating it's just trying to work out the relationship between the guidescope and the mount. Typically that should be 7-10 steps in each direction and should only take a few minutes. Lack of star movement suggests either that it's not talking to the mount or you may have managed to select a hot pixel rather than an actual star. There is a sticky on here http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/188777-phd-guiding-basic-use-and-troubleshooting/ which takes you through setting up PHD. PHD2 isn't much different.

Louise

[Rico]

Thanks Skipper Billy .... what exposure times are you using?

Louise ... I can see the start drifting in the image, which confuses me as if I can see it drift, surely there should be enough data there for it to calibrate ... but anyhow, I'm novice with this stuff. Thanks for the link ... 

[Rico]

Nevermind Skipper billy, I see you use 3 seconds

[Rico]

Does the on-camera option work for the Qh5yl-ii, I've connected the camera to the mount directly ... is this ok?

[Thalestris24]

Thanks Skipper Billy .... what exposure times are you using?

Louise ... I can see the start drifting in the image, which confuses me as if I can see it drift, surely there should be enough data there for it to calibrate ... but anyhow, I'm novice with this stuff. Thanks for the link ... 

Um you should see the star move with each step. Each step moves the mount in either RA or DEC. If it doesn't then PHD2 isn't talking to the mount.  Are you sure yout ST4 cable is ok? You might find it helpful to use the simulator (select from the connect equipment dialogue). Not sure if there may also be any helpful YouTube videos.

Louise

Edit: this might be helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zey81k-OBgM

[Thalestris24]

Does the on-camera option work for the Qh5yl-ii, I've connected the camera to the mount directly ... is this ok?

Yeah, it should work. ST4 cable between camera and autoguide port on the mount.

[Rico]

I had a read through the PHD guiding instructions and I think my next step is to try manual guiding to make sure the commands are being realised and then to try billy's settings. 

[Thalestris24]

I had a read through the PHD guiding instructions and I think my next step is to try manual guiding to make sure the commands are being realised and then to try billy's settings. 

Those settings should work ok though may not be optimal for your setup. My calibration step size is 1600ms because my guide rate is set to 0.5 x sidereal (on my AVX). Setting it to 0.2 x sidereal increases it to 4000ms.

Louise

[Interested]

Got my new mount the other week, set it all up, started PHD in motion and got the "Star has not moved enough" message. Have been using a Qhy5 with SW Finder for a few years with PHD, so immediately thought, "it must be the mount". Checked all the connections and discovered I hadn't pushed the ST-4 cable far enough in to the ST-4 socket on the mount! So, can understand Thalestris24 is querying your connections. This is the only time I have ever had no movement, and it was comms related. Have now moved to EQMOD, so have got rid of the nasty ST-4 cable .

[Rico]

Right, I had a go this evening and its now working. I used billy's settings and they worked first time. I only had a short window before the clouds came in, so I didn't get to test it properly, but one sharp 6 minute image later, albeit partially clouded, and i'm happy.

Thanks