edjrgibbs

thanks all. I contacted eBay and I think it’s sorted. Fingers crossed. 

8 hours ago, fwm891 said:

I've just copied his photo's into Photoshop. Firstly they have both been illuminated from different directions which is misleading. The one showing what is supposedly scratches appears when magnified to be nothing more than back illuminated finger marks or reflections, the more contrasting lighting making them appear to be surface marks.

Thanks. Definitely doesn’t look like the l-extreme filter. Possibly a LP filter that’s been inserted into the bracket. 

It’s just incredibly disappointing. Everyone I’ve come across in this hobby to date is decent and honest. This is just incredibly horrible behaviour. 

Has anyone had any experience of selling on eBay where the buyer claims the item was received damaged and sends photos of an item that’s clearly not the one posted? I recently sold an L-extreme filter in perfect condition. Two weeks after taking delivery the guy claims it’s scratched and unusable and sends me a photo of a filter that looks like it’s been skated on! 
 

one on the wooden table is what I posted and the other two are his. I’m not even sure that’s an l-extreme filter. 

Thanks. I’ll give it a shot with Siril. 

Sorry if this is a stupid question but is it possible to combine data from the asi533 with asi585 taken at the same focal length?

12 minutes ago, Elp said:

The Samyang I assume you're using at f3 or so, it might be a case the light coming in is bending/refracting out of tolerance for the filter due to the speed of the lens setting, I don't think the older optolongs were designed for fast systems, I get weird light patterns when using such filters with fast optics.

Also for the Pleiades (reflection nebula/star cluster) and Andromeda (broadband galaxy) shooting with this filter is counter productive as it's use is for emission nebula strong in hydrogen alpha and o3, though you have got good results.

Cheers, will give it a go this evening

57 minutes ago, PeterCPC said:

Have you tried without the filter?

I havent but it looks clear tonight so i might try with my Altair triband to see if any difference. 

I managed to get a few nights out with the Asi 585mc paired with a samyang 135mm and Optolong L-eNhance. I'm getting some odd halos on stars. Any advice on what might be causing them?

19 minutes ago, Stu said:

Well, he certainly showed us ‘That’s the way to do it!’ 😉

Oh no he didn’t! 

The pallet obsy is finally complete and after a month of clear skies its now cloudy... Its not the most beautiful or expertly crafted but it was a fun and I'm happy. More importantly the footprint was acceptable to the boss!

Circa 90% up-cycled materials (pallets, floor boards for internal cladding etc.)

Mine arrived! Haven't tested it beyond checking that it connects etc. Need a clear night. Compared to my AZ GTI there's really not much in it. I was worried it would be much bigger. 

Correction, i used the 3.20 firmware uploaded via cable and it now works! Cheers Shimrod!

5 hours ago, malc-c said:

Whats the connectivity issue ? - It could be totally unrelated to firmware.

I think it is. I tried to re-flash the firmware but same issue. Wifi connection but can't connect to mount. I think I need a new motherboard!

20 hours ago, malc-c said:

Current Skywatcher firmware is available from their global website here  - but there no version 3.20, suggesting it's being archived.  Is there a specific reason you are looking for an older firmware version which appears to have received a lot of updates in quick succession to overcome runaway issues as per this post

Thanks, yes there is. I’ve got an issue connecting to my az gti and want to see if flashing it with an older firmware version sorts the problem. 

Bump…

Hi

Does anyone know where I can get legacy firmware for the Az Gti? I need v3.20.

Thanks

Ed

On 28/10/2021 at 14:42, AstroNebulee said:

Hopefully the upgraded firmware and lower aggression will sort the majority of your issue, let us know how you get on when you have clear skies 👍

It worked. The lower aggression and firmware sorted the guiding issues. I also refocused my guide cam. Thanks everyone for the help!

Ok, upgraded firmware. I think the aggressiveness was at 90% or so. Need some clear skies to play.

Hi Greg, I believe so. I think you just remote into it through the browser and it shouldn’t matter what os you’re on.

Thanks for all the advice and sorry for the lengthy delay in responding. Firmware version is 3.26 and i;m running in EQ mode. Next clear night i'm going to try a better polar alignment and play with the guiding settings. Also sounds like I need to focus my guide cam better.

5 hours ago, ONIKKINEN said:

The DEC axis is having trouble with backlash, it looks like. That unresponsive series of corrections and then a sudden jerk that overcorrects is what happens when your worm gear has cleared backlash. This jerky movement could also affect RA if its too aggressive. The RA error could indicate bad guide settings, mechanical issues, balance issues, calibration issues or just be a side effect of a weak DEC axis.

 

I can think of multiple issues and fixes that i have also come across but really there are too many unknowns to give good advice.

 

Did calibration succeed, what exposure time are you using, how is your mount balanced, is the guider focal length set correctly etc?

Calibration succeeded, I used 60s exposure, mount is well balanced and the fl is set correctly as far as I can tell. Odd that it tracks well without guiding but when guiding goes haywire!

I'm struggling! When guiding with the AZ GTI the movement is all over the place, more so than with no guiding! Setup is AZGTI, guiding with Samyang 135mm, ASI533  and guiding with ASi120  mini. All run through an ASI Air pro. 

This is a guided image. Guiding is all over the place. Unguided at 60s has no movement at all!

AZ GTi with Raspberry Pi4 running Astroberry

I thought it might be useful to post this how-to given that I've spent the last week banging my head against a brick wall trying to get my RP4 to connect to my New AZ GTi scope. The idea was to develop a small, portable goto setup that could platesolve and guide. I’ve yet to image with the setup but here’s my quick guide to wirelessly connecting the AZ GTI and win 10 laptop to the Astroberry hotspot to run a complete wireless imaging system.

Ø  Set up the AZ GTI with equatorial mode firmware

o   Go to http://www.skywatcher.com/download/software/

o   Download two files under ‘Motor controllers’:

§  Windows program: Motor Controller Firmware Loader - WiFi, Version 1.74

§  Firmware: AZGTi Mount, Right Arm, AZ/EQ Dual Mode, Version 3.26

o   And this under ‘Synscan App’

§  Windows program: SynScan Pro App, Version 1.19.12

o   Connect your laptop/computer wifi to the mount’s hotspot (“SynScan_xxxx”)

o   Unzip the first two files and follow the instructions in the text document in the loader folder.

Ø  Connecting Az GTI to Astroberry

o   Unzip the Synscan app file and double click ‘SynScanPro.exe’

o   Click connect

o   Select EQ mode

o   Go to ‘settings’ and then ‘synscan wifi’

o   Turn station mode on and set the following settings:

§  SSID – astroberry

§  Password – astroberry

§  Turn off DHCP

§  Assign a fixed IP address of 10.0.0.10

§  Save settings

o   Exit app

o   Turn the Az GTi off

o   Turn pi on

o   Turn AZ GTI on

Ø  Connect laptop to pi and set up KStars/EKOS to connect to the Az GTI

o   Use laptop/desktop to connect to the ‘astroberry’ hotspot

o   Use a web browser to go to http://astroberry.local/

o   Login using password ‘astroberry’

o   Open KStars

o   Click ‘toggle Ekos’ (little dome icon)

§  Either set up a new profile with your equipment or edit the profile, you can use ‘CCD Simulator’ if you don’t want to connect your camera at this point

§  For the mount select ‘EQMod Mount’ NOT Az GTI

§  Click save

§  Click the start button

§  Select EqMod mount tab and enter the following details under the ‘connection’ tab

·       Server

o   Address – 10.0.0.10

o   Port – 11880

o   Click ‘Set’

·       Connection type

o   UDP

§  Go back to the ‘main control’ tab and click connect. Everything should light up green and connect.

§  Test by closing that window going to the mount tab in Ekos, selecting AI Mount Control and issuing a coto command for an object. The mount should slew to that object.

Hope this helps someone.

1 hour ago, fifeskies said:

Worth just checking balance is not well out but my NEQ6 is reasonably forgiving for balance and will guide even a bit off without much complaint.

I do always do the 3 axis balance check when changing scopes , but swapping from camera to visual I don't usually rebalance , just assume the diagonal and eyepiece are close to the camera weight.

 

Newer versions of Stellarium have done away with Stellariumscope , might be worth upgrading to the new version , though I doubt this is behind the drift issue.

(as in , it is now integrated into the program and not loaded and run separate)

 

I assume you have checked that your cables are not tight and dragging against the mount.

Thanks, will give the balance a shot and check cables etc