AstroAndy

Yeah, that's what I have done, I get about the same values, 2.1 amps is the threshold. The dec. went well, at the tightest spot I'm down to is 287ms or thereabouts. RA is almost there, I want to get it just so. Strangely enough, my values are similar to yours, initially, 3000ms of backlash, now an average of about 1350ms (287 - 2400). This is on dec. Normally, I'd have left RA alone, but the guy I had "fix" it fixed the RA too, too well, nlol.

Hi Stuart Thanks, that's the explanation I needed. I'd noticed just loosening the middle (set) screw seems to have a tightening effect, and so was wondering whether, for very small increments, that's the only one I needed.

Being a mechanical wizard, lol, NOT, I have the following few questions. I'm still adjusting my EQ8, the Dec. is done now, the RA nearly so. Just for my understanding. The middle (set) screw on the wormgear block, other than, obviously setting the position of the block, moves the block closer to the wormwheel when loosened, reducing backlash, or further away from it when tightened (reducing binding). The 2 adjustment screws move the wormwheel., tightening (moves wheel closer to the wormblock) both by small amounts will reduce backlash, loosening (away from the wormgear) will reduce binding Is this conclusion correct? Since I'm very close, I was wondering whether I can get away without one set of screws, as the instructions say loosen / tighten all of them, ie. the middle set screw, and the outer adjustment screws. Visualizing this in my mind, I should only need to work with one (set of) screw(s) for small amounts, and not all of them to create a push-pull effect on the whole assembly. Is this correct, and if not, what is the reasoning behind loosening / tightening all of them, when I only need one correction. In Dec., there is a block that the dec. wormgear is held to (bolts have to be loosened slightly and retightened after adjustment). This has a tightening effect on the final adjustment, correct? This is not the case on RA, RA does not have a block its wormgear is connected to, so no bolts to undo, correct? Additionally, are there any diagrams on the whole assembly (wormblock and wormwheel), where one can see the interplay between these elements and screws? Any input would be appreciated.

I've been comparing the settings (in different cfg's and also the settings menu (Sitech config) and I see there are some things different than in the setup guide, go figure. So I'll go through each of them to reproduce this, until I get to the bottom of it. Then I'll reconfigure with my updated settings, which in turn will rewrite the cfg file. I'll get a handle on this yet.

Thanks, Tony, those will come in handy. Meanwhile, Lucas, all hail to the Mesu Meister, has provided a cfg file, where I just swapped out my data for his (location, etc.) and now it works. I see there are different values on his. No more stray slews, meridian flip works, and no more slews to the wrong side of the sky. He promptly worked with me by email(which I didn't expect), and things got straightened out. 50 points to Gryffindor. However, since I'm a nerd who likes to understand the background of things, I'll keep at it for my own understanding. Maybe the values I was not supposed to touch were outdated, or something.

Hello Folks Looks like my mount problems never end. I have recently acquired a Mesu 200MKII, and while I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, I'm also not the dullest. So, painstakingly, I set up the SiTech software (ServoII and Sitech.exe, filling in the values I should, leaving alone the values I should leave alone. I have read all kinds of docs, and worked on this all day, and still can't figure it out. After I set a park location, and unpark, it tracks for a while, and all of a sudden, starts slewing, up to 360 degrees in RA. Sometimes, from park, it moves around almost 360 degrees when I perform a go to, to a close star, where it should stay in the same area, slewing just a few degrees.(looks like it goes North when it's supposed to go South). I am in contact with Lucas, but also wanted to check on here (yes, I read all the Mesu articles, but could find only one article of a similar nature, which didn't cure my problem. Disclaimer: all my tests have been done indoors, without a scope on it (and a good thing, too, or it would have banged str8 into the tripod). I set up the park position correctly (slew dec. east / west by hand, select a star close to "horizon", performed the offset init, manually went to park, parked saved the park, and unparked. Before that, I also removed the previous PXP files, my encoders are set to ignore. What could be the problem, and, more importantly, the solution? Regs. Andy

You guessed right, lol. Yup, that's what I did, but due to the binding, I probably went to the other extreme and made the gap too big, so I'll have to carefully approach the correct position again, with an eye to where it starts binding on the gear. Shame, though, at calibration, it cleared the backlash in 3 steps, probably because it was too loose. On the other hand, after the repair, I could hardly move the belt by hand, so it was too tight. Thanks for the advice.

Hi Stuart Thanks for the input..the sad part is, one of the 4 bolts on the block was already stripped when I got it (which I didn't find out until much later upon opening it (of course, the guy who "fixed it didn't re-thread it, ALTHOUGH I made him aware of it, and he said he'll include it in the price), and 2nd, the last of these 4 bo0lts I can't get to (I've read the instructions 😛 ) as it is behind the motor. So, how do I deal with the bolt I can't get to? How do you mark this spot on the mount? Just stop slewing and adjust? I got about the same values from my power box, and all I need to do it is tighten it with the adjuster screws. My private suspicion is that the guy didn't even loosen the 4 block bolts, and in one instance, gave me bad advice by saying all I need to do was worry about the center adjustment screw which holds things in place. So, after waiting 4 months (instead of the 2 weeks he said), I got my mount back too tight (stiction all over the place), and, although the guy came by once and "fixed" it again, still stiction. What's on me is that I loosened them too much now , so I'll have to redo things. I've been monkeying around with this thing since a year already (between UK weather, shlepping equipment, job, etc.) I don't get to go out too often.

Hello all I was wondering if there was a guiding emulator, or a way to adjust an EQ8 R Pro in RA AND Dec. by reading the power output from a Pegasus power box. This is to save me having to carry upwards of a 100 pounds of equipment over 4 flights of stairs (up and down), try to fix it, find out that I have to make another adjustment, and repeat the same operation multiple times. With real world conditions, ie. all my equipment on the mount when fixing it. There is a whole sob story behind it, the short of it is: S/one "fixed" it (abt. 1000 pounds), it had terrible binding, he "fixed" it again, still binding, now I'm adjusting it myself, now it's too loose. The repair in itself is theoretically straightforward, but practically, it's fast becoming a nightmare. If I were to do it outside (after taking into consideration UK weather, cloudiness, rain, cold air humidity, etc.), I can't adequately handle millimeter Allen wrenches well. I have to go to a nearby schoolyard parking lot (my dark site is even further away), with all the problems that are associated with it. If doing it inside the apartment, I won't know if it's adjusted right (hence the q. abt. the guiding emulator, or reading a power output. Loosing a day (night) in the UK is like losing a week is loosing a month, nlol. I'm on my last back, so any advice would be appreciated. Andy

Thanks for the suggestions..I have meanwhile replaced the mini pc with another mini pc with more storage, I'll just do the file transfer from pc to pc, or use a usb ssd..lugging equipment upwards of a 100 pounds over 4 flights of stairs, setting up and tearing down in a dark zone I have to drive to and stay in the cold all night is enough without me having to worry about a file problem.

Thanks, William, I'll see whether can run those checks, and see whether I can apply the fixes you suggested. Since I don't have the source files anymore (ie. I cut them from the APT file path to the sd card because of storage space), I can only run some of those checks, thanks for the suggestions. @Elp, they all come up with the error. Andy

Hello folks I’m wondering if there are any IT wizards out there that can help with the following problem. Working with a mini pc remote setup and APT as capture software, I don’t have a whole lot of storage space left on the mini pc, so I got a micro sd card w/ 1000GB. I can’t set the capture folder to the sd card (it keeps jumping back to the APT image path, so I transferred the capture files manually to the sd card. The problem is, the files seem tto get corrupted, and I can’t open them on my processing pc. The error message reads: Tried to move past end of file. Mini pc, processing pc, and sd card are (formatted to) NTFS; I have also tried to rename the files, still, no luck. What can I do to solve this, any ideas? Andy

Problem is now solved, there is a preview checkbox in the camera settings (APT), which helps with focusing (faster download), it should be unchecked when imaging. I now have an even unlit frames.

Hello Folks Recently, my Atik 383L + has been showing even illumination on top of the sensor, which hasn't happened before. I've tested it indifferent environments, on scope, off scope, in a dark box lights, darks, and different exposure lengths. What it is not: Stray light coming in from outside Interference from the pickup prism of my OAG. Would anybody have any ideas as to what this could be? I've included images below, on at 60s, and one at 300s. Any answers much appreciated. Andy

Awesome shot, Martyn.

Thank you, guys. 🙂

True, plus, air humidity was high, my equipment looked like it got rained on. I used an ADC, and collimated on a 6mm diagonal sensor.

Saturn, 9/22-9/23, I've monkeyed around with this so much, I'm not sure of some of the stats anymore, lol. C11 Edge HD scope, SW8 R Pro mount, ZWO ASI 120 mc-s, Barlow x28 min. videostream, (about 21000frames, of which 1000 were kept for this image. Pre-processes In Autostakkert (Drizzlex3, resized down 1.5x), Registax, finished with Ps. High air humidity, about 22 degrees at culmination, shot about culmination time. No derotation (actually looks slightly worse with derotation).

Thanks, Kon, shouldn't be that, though, as I have Winjupos filename enabled in Firecapture.

Hello Astro Folks I was wondering what causes artifacts in Winjupos, and how to avoid / fix them. Below is an image of Saturn, which shows them. I had derotated a videostream, tried it a few times, yet these artifacts persist. Regards Andy

Hi all Thanks for all your input. It seems that the things I first did all helped. Other things I have done is update router firmware (didn't help) check power, cables etc. (the basics). I've trolled thru a lot of event viewer logs. and these are the things I've been experiencing: RDP ClientActiveX has been disconnected (Reason= 2308) RDP ClientActiveX has been disconnected (Reason= 263) 0x80004005 RDP ClientActiveX has been disconnected (Reason= 516) 0x80004004 RDP ClientActiveX has been disconnected (Reason= 3) 0x8000ffff RDP ClientActiveX has been disconnected (Reason= 260) 0x8000ffff From what I understand, reason 263 pertains to the NLA, which can be reset any number of ways (I went with a Group policy edit, NB, one may have to try more and do a RESTART, not a SHUTDOWN and TURN ON of BOTH the machines, server and client). Basically, you have to make sure that the client computer (ie. the control one), either has suport for NLA, or have NLA disabled on the server (NUC) While it is workable to go without NLA, I'd rather not. Reason 516 has to do, as I understand it with the transport protocol (ie. TCP, and more importantly, UDP). I got around that by forcing a connecting to one ethernet card (on the NUC) only. Works like a charm now. Haven't figured out reason 260 yet, but it may be tied in to the others, having solved the other issues, this one doesn't show up anymore, which is good enough for me. I've tested it on more devices, and loaded up a shedload of programs (apps.), which I normally wouldn't use during an imaging session, as a sort of stress test. Strangely enough, only Stellarium gets thrown out after a while, so I've checked the Windows Defender Firewall. I can live with how it performs now ( a lot better than before), just some latency, which is to be expected. - Andy -

@Onikkienen I tend to think it's with the router. I've tested it with the internet completely off, internet on, at a distance of 6 feet, with different ethernet cables and computers, with the scope always in the same position. Obviously, with the internet on, one has to be on the same network for the computers to "see" each other, so no problem there. In the field (no internet), the control computer and mini pc automatically go to the minirouter network. With the internet, it's completely stable, without, I have now gotten to the point where it is satisfactory. I'm ok with it dropping out infrequently, but of course would like to have it to a 100%. @StevieDvd possibly, I have to check further into that Thanks for your input, guys.

Hello folks While I would describe myself as a mid-level nerd, there is something that has me foxed. I have an older Win 10 Pro Lenovo Thinkpad (client, control computer ), which I've networked to a Mele Quieter NUC (Server, Win 11Pro, v 21H2). No problems with the internet, stable connection. In the field, there won't be internet. Now, testing it without the internet, I get more or less frequent random disconnects. The NUC is connected with an Ethernet cable to the mini router (GL iNet AR300M). The Laptop is wireless, within the correct distance. Here are the things I have tried (the last one has netted me an acceptable, but not fully fixed solution with very few drops, and quick reconnects) I will not cover the basics, such as router setup, etc, this is all good. On the server side (NUC) 1) In device manager, all the power options for Network adapters as well as universal serial bus controllers have been changed. 2) In the Group policy settings RDP), all the timeouts have been reset to never (including idle and active) 3) In command prompt (admin. mode), pinged the relevant IP 4) In command prompt (admin. mode), checked IP configuration and flushed the DNS cache 5) In the RDP menu, smart cards etc. disabled 7) Similar things on the client side (Lenovo Thinkpad)T440, Win 10 And probably some other things supposed to cure that problem I read online What I don't want to do just yet: Mess around with registry keys and DWORDS (unless I absolutely have to) Give up looking for a permanent solution The only thing I've had success with is actually supressing (disabling) the Wifi network adapter (on the NUC side). It's not a big thing, since I can re-enable it back at home / and /or get internet anyway with it being disabled, as the Ethernet adapter connects it to my control pc (T440 Win. 10). I don't have an option to use internet for astrophotography in my home environment, nor the wish (and possibly monetary bandwith to work with a hotspot) The only desired solution is a Windows Remote Desktop connection that will not fail for 8 hours. Any ideas what could be the problem and the solution? That would be awesomely kewl. - Andy - PS: As I sit here, my RDP connection with the WIFI adapter disabled, has been working well for about 1 hour now, but there are still random dropouts, which I want to get rid of.

Gracias, desafortunadamente, no vivo en España (todavia), pero en esa zona poco favorecida cuando se trata del tiempo conocido como Reino Unido, jeje. I know about the fourth bolt..I´m also ok w/ backlash adjustment, I just didn't want the hassle, and may as well get that stripped bolt retapped.

I don't get it...should be better for what they call an observatory grade mount. I'm not a mechanical wizard, but in mine, I've seen backlash as little as like 120ms..When I opened to fix it myself, one of the holding bolts was stripped out. I finally sent it in to Dave at Darkframe optics to get everything sorted, where it has been sitting for the last 4 months, lol.