michael8554

The image has helped a lot. Take it to a Welder. Michael

Sorry vliav, the way I read your reply you seem to be agreeing with the Developers that it's not likely to be a problem at 20mS ? Michael

Here's what the PHD2 Developers said: Hi Michael I was aware of this kind of restriction, but I think the quote is slightly ambiguous because it suggests 50ms is a strict minimum value. But I think 50ms is just the default value. There is a slider cotrol for this and at least on the version I’m running, it can be set as low as 20ms: I think it’s unlikely to be a problem in practice. An over-correction problem might occur when using a high guide speed like 0.9x sidereal and a very coarse guider image scale. For example, a guider image scale of 6 arc-sec/px and the lowest allowed min-move of 0.1px could result in guide commands as low as 44ms – still above the minimum limit above. We generally discourage a guiding image scale this coarse. In the time I’ve been looking at PHD2 logs, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a problem with ongoing over-corrections using EQMOD.

That was never a replacement part, hopefully Steve has an old donor mount he can raid. Michael

I'm not familiar with the power pack, but I'm guessing there are two cigar sockets under the flaps in this image, indicated by the yellow oval. The label says Output, this means it's where you plug in and get power for your mount, so plug in to either of those. The green circle is labeled Input, this is where you send power to the power pack battery, so I would say that's where you plug in your Mains Charger. Michael

I wasn't aware of that setting, add that to the other setting that catches users out, the very low default Guide Rate. Michael

Higher Guide Rate helps mounts with large Dec Backlash. Although the mount has belt drive which removes the backlash due to the gearbox, the worm backlash could be better according to the Calibrations so far. Michael

Okay so you have a Cigar plug not a 2.5mm as in the image. Should be okay then, if the battery condition can supply enough current. Michael

During the day use the sun reflecting off a ball bearing as an artificial star. Focus mid frame, then take shots with the "star" in each corner. Analyse, adjust, repeat. Michael

The results on both nights were marred by the conditions I'd say, with RA motions mirroring the dips in Star Mass. You never got a good Calibration on either night, I guess time was pressing on the 6th. Otherwise you might try binning the ASI 290MM to get more sensitivity, and to up the image scale to 0.86arcsecs/pixel, still fairly low. That will hopefully reduce the Star Lost situations. HFD is never great with an OAG but HFD over 7 could be improved to 5's. Post again after a good night with a good Cal. Michael

No point speculating, just post your Guidelog. Michael

I think you're referring to the legend under the two 12V outputs. The legend indicates that the centre pin is +, the outer connection -, and that applies to both outputs. Does your power lead look like this? Then if the left connector in the image has the correct diameter centre pin, then your power connections are fine, but the available current may not be. Michael

I agree with Celestron4, the guidescope Signal to Noise was very low, and that was probably the cause of most of the choppy RA. At one point you guided for 8 minutes on a Hot Pixel ! I would disable Star Mass Detection and instead set the Minimum HFD to 2.5. Otherwise, good Calibration. PA was 9.3 which is a tad high, about 5arcmins would be quite useable. You could improve your guidecope focus, 4.57pixels, use the Star Profile in PHD2 to get the HFD to a minimum, ideally between 3 and 4. Your mount connection doesn't tell PHD2 the RA and Dec position, so you will have to Calibrate on every new target. Michael

Is the power plug the correct size for the power socket on the mount ? If it's one of those 2.5mm coaxial plugs, there are two sizes for the central positive pin. Michael

A joke that needs explaining is a poor joke - my bad Michael

I don't believe that using EQMOD, or not using EQMOD, will affect how well PHD2 guides. Unless you have the default EQMOD Guide Rate, which is very low, something like 0.2 of Tracking Rate. I'm sure you're aware that you can only re-use Calibrations if you have a permanent installation, or if the Guidecam and Guidescope orientation/rotation on the mount is unaltered between sessions. Michael

Has it actually saved an Autosave.tif in your Light folder? You could try pointing the Autosave to a new folder with less layers, say C:\Users\Astro. Michael

0.001 seconds exposure is too fast for stars (interesting, the camera spec says 0.01 seconds is the fastest). Try 0.1 seconds on the moon, which might or might not be over-exposed, but will prove the camera is working. Adjust exposure, and then adjust focus. This focus setting will be correct for stars too, but experiment with 1 or 2 seconds exposure to start with. Take measurements or make marks on the focuser for next time you set up. Michael

Did you see how he did that ? Nice one. Try PemPro......... 😆 Michael

Same here, half a turn. Michael

I don't know whether the mount has it or not, but if it does turn it off, and in EQMOD. Run the Guiding Assistant in PHD2, that will generate a Backlash setting, or will suggest One Direction Dec Guiding That compromise for Dec Backlash is to unbalance slightly in Dec so that the mount is only having to push in one direction. If balance is perfect you will find the mount will flop back and forth between the extremes of the backlash. Michael

Check Power Management Settings for the USB2 port in Device Manager, and untick "allow the computer to switch off this device to save power" Michael

Hi Rick Are you using EQMOD or are you ST4 Guiding? What guidecam are you using? Have you switched off Dec Backlash in the mount, as it conflicts with PHD2 ? Does the mount have a low Periodic Error in RA, does it have PEC, have you trained it ? Post a PHD2 Guidelog that includes a Calibration. Michael

Still available in the UK at least, for about £1500 Overpriced Good "Coma Free" optics, Mount will be okay for visual use. Michael

Just move the guidescope onto the empty position on the imaging camera rings . Michael