upahill

Thanks, its the first time I have used FITS, used to getting CR2 files to stack. This appears to be a whole'nother ball game. All I have managed to do with the stack so far is produce some very grainy results. It's only 30x180s that I managed last night, with darks but would normally get better results 🤔

Something to play around with whilst it rains

Well touch wood it has been working so far tonight. I redid the coupler on the focuser which is going to have to be replaced but seems to be the cause of the majority of issues with that. Its a flexible coupler made of some sort of aluminium putty. Will replace with a solid one I think and some better quality grub screws.

Set the binning on guide camera in the driver rather than through EKOS and that has enabled guiding images to come through much better. So im guiding now. It's at 1.78" RA but that could be due to lack of dark subtraction and a combined star/hotpixel.

It hasn't crashed yet, and the platesolving server is working perfectly and solves blind in about 30 seconds with no load on the raspberry pi.

As far as proof of concept goes im getting happier with it, and I think a more powerful mini pc running ubuntu would be the next logical step. Want to future proof a bit and get something with plenty of USB3 throughput that will run on 12v

4 hours ago, PhotoGav said:

On the subject of helping...

I would be happy to give a talk / workshop on anything to do with imaging, including capture and/or processing, in the areas of deep sky, or solar, or a bit of wide field, or maybe time lapse or even a touch of planetary. I could also talk about taking Astronomy GCSE in later life, if that would be interesting. Anyway, my hand is up should their be an interest in something that I can share my experiences in, good and bad!

As for talks I would like to attend - something about spectroscopy for beginners and radio astronomy for beginners would be great, please!

I for one would be very interested in hearing more about capture/processing, and the radio astronomy would be interesting I agree.

Well tonight was one of those "Right its all going on eBay" nights....

I managed to eventually setup a VM on my server running Ubuntu and after a lot of tweaking got the Astrometry-api-lite setup installed giving me a fully working astrometry clone on the network.

Setup the gear, tinkered to get the solving working for quite some time but it did work, so Pi running INDI, Server VM running astrometry and my Windows machine running Kstars/EKOS...

Guiding was better tonight, didn't need to bin either which was weird and good. Got focuser to operate, still need to get to grips with the autofocus system (I think this is more a problem with backlash on my setup) - got the mount aligned after a few attempts and a few hard resets.

Went for an imaging run as a test, and after the first sub came in Kstars/EKOS just dissapeared. 🤬

It's done this before, but always waits until everything is working as it should.

So since its 1am and the clouds have rolled in I decided packing up was the best thing to do until I cool down a little.

57 minutes ago, rickwayne said:

Well, that is annoying. Normally "they" say don't bother binning your main camera unless it's a CCD, it just cuts down the number of pixels without any improvement to signal/noise. But here cutting down the pixel count is exactly what we want!

Downsampling should produce a similar result, but offloading the binning to the camera (if that worked) would necessitate less CPU time downsampling, in addition to speeding up the image download.

That's a pretty annoying hit.

On a similar thread I had thought about changing the camera format to JPEG instead of Native (CR2) or FITS, which does speed up download time from camera, but I can only do that in the backend - and it applies to all settings, so my main subs then become JPEG

Im pretty sure its passing a downsampling command through to its built in Astrometry but will need to confirm.

1 hour ago, feilimb said:

Also, when plate-solving with the main camera, ensure you using Binning 2x2 to reduce the workload / speed up the solve.

It wont let me bin the main camera. Only the guide camera, and only when guiding. In fact anything other than 4x4 on the guide camera and I get no picture at all.

4 minutes ago, feilimb said:

Regards a beefier SBC, the Rock64 (https://www.pine64.org/devices/single-board-computers/rock64/) is used by some Indi users. I have one myself but haven't migrated my Indi setup to it yet, the disadvantage over RPi 3 is that it has no on-board Wifi adapter, and only 3 USB ports but advantages are that 1 of those ports is USB3.0 (much faster image download) and the RAM and processing power are greater for a price which is comparable to RPi 3B+.  There are a number of distros available, I think I have Ubuntu 18 on mine but I could be wrong on that

I looked at the Rock64 and the USB3 is an attractive feature. My other consideration was getting the Pi 3B+ which has a slightly faster CPU - and then using something like this hub hat to give me a powered USB hub with 9 extra ports Now if that hat was USB 3 and could go on the Rock64 it would be a winner!

Its taking about 15 seconds to transfer a captured sub over the network to the client machine (thats from the moment it finishes on screen to appearing in the folder, so assume that includes download from camera time too) I dont mind that, but it does slow down focusing and guiding.

The best solution is just going to be a beefier mini PC, more ram, USB3 all round and then have just the USB3 hub strapped to the scope with one lead down to the PC I think.

Il give the onboard plate solving another go. I will need to redownload the indexes I think as I cleared some of them last night to test and then gave up and went to bed 🤣 Connecting remotely to INDI probably removes the need to have a full blown astroberry install on the Pi and I could go for a slicker headless install.

Had another go last night, this time using Kstars/EKOS on my indoors PC, connected to the Pi on the scope over ethernet. Worked fine once I got everything setup. I did have Kstars crash on the windows machine once and not sure what caused that but I got to the end of an imaging run whilst guiding without issue after that.

Platesolving online still only worked intermittently, fits header appears to be ok, im considering adding a mirror of astrometry.net to my home server and using that instead - its got more grunt than then Pi and uploading to it will be faster. I got astrometry.net installed on a Virtual Machine, but not the API/website side of things yet.

Guiding worked but still having to bin 4x4 to get anything out of the camera which is weird.

Until plate solving is figured out I cant really build an alignment model for the mount, so havent bothered trying to sort out parking properly etc. If its clear this evening I might have another go.

1 hour ago, feilimb said:

I can recommend the excellent Indi Web Manager for starting up/shutting down Indi Server and Device Profiles via a handy web interface:

https://github.com/knro/indiwebmanager

You can install Indi Web Manager and have it start automatically on Pi bootup as a system service, then from your 'indoors machine' in a web browser, browse to eg: http://your_pi_ip_address:8624  to start Indi Server and appropriate Libraries.

Thanks for this, for testing im going to keep astroberry running on the pi so im guessing I can install this alongside

1 hour ago, don4l said:

I've just moved to Indi in the last month.

I've given up with Ekos/Kstars because they seemed too closely connected to the Indi server.  The server and the "client" (Ekos) should be completely separate.  This caused me some problems with software crashing.

 

I've been using CCDCiel instead, and after a short learning curve, I am getting along brilliantly with it.  For astrometry, I have both Astrometry.net and ASTAP.  If you are having problems solving, then have a look at the FITS header in an image file to check that the focal length and pixel size  are set correctly.

 

I started with the Pi 3+. but quickly came to the conclusion that it couldn't move large files around quickly enough. 

I'm now using a refurbished Dell Laptop ( cost £230.00 from Dell) and it does the job perfectly.

 

To start and stop the Indi server I use "IndiStarter" https://sourceforge.net/projects/indistarter/

There is also a simple client "Indigui" which allows clear control of the individual drivers.  I think that IndiGui is included with Indistarter.

I haven't managed to figure out the limits yet, but I did have a problem with the park position.  The default position was pointing somewhere silly, which caused the mount to "crash" the ota into the tripod.  To fix this I powered up the mount in its home position.  I started Indi, and on the EQMOD driver I went to the Site Management tab.  There (beside Park Options) I clicked  "Current" and then "Write Data".  This seems to have fixed it.

 

 

 

The aim was for something small like the Pi, I had a laptop before but really wanted everything mounted semi-permanent to the OTA. If the Pi can't handle it then I might need to look at a mini-pc or beefier SBC. If im restricted to using a full pc then I may as well stick with what I know

Thanks for the tip on setting up Park position, and the FITS header info - neither of which I have configured so could well be part of the problem.  

1 hour ago, feilimb said:

Note: I also run KStars itself on the RPi3, and perform the imaging via VNC connection.  KStars runs ok, but I have had crashes of it happen during imaging sessions.  It would be more stable to run KStars on a different machine, and just have Indi server running on the RPi3, the downside being that you are the mercy of your network speed for image download (eg. when using the Focus Module and capturing continuous images, it is slower transferring 'live' images across network).

This might be the way to go. As you said I didn't think the power draw on the board was that bad, might try and find a better power block for the Rpi though just in case.

Network speed isn't an issue as I have cat6 running out to the pier. I have been launching INDI/Ekos using Kstars and assume that it will now work the other way, eg I find some way to start INDI on its own, and then Run EKOS/Kstars on my indoors machine setting the connection to remote.

Downloading from Camera to Pi has been a big bottleneck, especially if set to raw. If I lower it to jpeg to speed up focusing then I lose the option to shoot raw for the routines. Lots more tweaking I think but at least the forecast is clear for tonight again.

Thanks.

Another night of testing and I think im getting used to it a bit more, it is struggling to run with limited RAM though, issues converting CR2 I think for processing.

The main issue is still Ekos crashing when it loses connection to the INDI server - I guess this is likely due to lack of resources too.

Might have to wait till I have a more powerful test system than a raspberry pi.

Managed to find a Raspberry Pi 3 v1.2 at a carboot for £3 and suprisingly it worked so figured it was about time I gave Indi/Kstars/Ekos a go. The aim is to have the majority of stuff mounted on the scope as whilst my previous setup works having multiple leads trailing to a laptop is a pain.

So far I managed to:

• get the Autofocuser i built (myfocuserpro) sort of working through Indi - there is a lot of backlash but thats more a mechanical issue that software.
• the canon 1200 is recognised and takes shots (although the driver is randomly crashing requiring a reboot to fix)
• plate solving works about 2/10 times with remote option, and never with local.

My problems / questions are:

• The Altair GPCAM im using for guiding is recognised, but will only show an image if binned 4x4, this is leaving me with very pixelated shots where noise and stars are almost indecernible. I was using the EKOS guiding module, did try PHD but didnt get anything from the camera at all. Does anyone else use the GPCAM on INDI?
• The canon, gpcam, eq6 and focuser (arduino) are all connected to the Rasbpi directly. Im concerned there isn't enough power in those ports to handle everything (although its only really the gpcam that is 'powered' by it) Could this be causing the lack of 1x1 images from the guidecam?
• I have downloaded the indexes for Astrometrey that it said I needed, through the dialog - but still getting errors with platesolving saying that they are missing, anyone else ever had to fix this?
• Last night I struggled getting platesolving/alignment working, but when I had the first point done I would slew to a target and try and solve/sync that. First time I tried it was the first time I crashed the mount - it seems there are not limits like EQMod had, do they get up seperately?

Any help, tips, advice, gotchas greatly appreciated. The raspberry is a little underpowered I fear but if this turns out to be a workable solution for me I can consider getting a better machine to strap to the scope.

T.I.A

2 hours ago, lulu57 said:

We've just booked Friday-Wednesday - what dirty stop-outs we are! Woo hoo!!! 😃

My dad is lending us his caravan again. I've paid to pitch the awning too, but if there is anyone tall who can spare 10 minutes to help us put the struts up for it, I'd be grateful. We usually manage this no problem, but my dad dislocated his shoulder and has limited movement, and Ian and I are short-a*ses who can't reach up high enough without a step ladder! 😳

(Ian's just told me not to be such a wuss - we'll take steps!)

I was going to volunteer my height but still need to buy an awning as I tore the last one at last years SP so probably not the best qualified to help 🤣

(In my defence the awning was older than me, and damp!)

1 hour ago, Ant said:

Maybe we limit the smilies that are displayed? If you know the shortcut you can still type it, we just limit the drop down contents ? 

I didn't count properly, but there are around 2000 emoticons. At between 0.5-1kb each - so if they are all loading on selecting that dropdown thats between 1mb-2mb to download. They are all being resized too which slows down the loading a bit.

Maybe there is a way to find out which emoticons have been used the most and restrict it to those?

Then again I dont really mind waiting a few seconds each time I click it 🤣

Just caught up with your build last night and it is very inspirational, looking forward to getting the chance to do something similar myself so the wealth of information that yourself and others put here is invaluable. Thank you for documenting it

Seems like the move went well. Congrats, site working great for me.

Good luck May the power of root be with you!
 

As John78 said the AstroEQ would be a perfect fit for a next step. Goto, autoguider, ascom support etc.

The motor mouting you have done is a really neat solution. When I tried it I went with a larger pulley ratio and it really threw off the ability to tuck it all away neatly.

On 21/01/2019 at 10:59, jase1973 said:

I thought skywatchers were white, it it marked skywatcher in any way?

 

Also have this mount in black, was billed as Skywatcher too but unbranded - identical in everyway though. Possibly an older version or one they sold for OEM rebranding?

I thought it was a character LCD at first, but actually I think its a graphic lcd panel, which would explain the extra pins.

I have had some success in the past asking manufacturers to help identify components. I would start by seeing if something like this matches the physical dimensions of the LCD you have. Then get in touch with that supplier and see if they can identify compatibility / alternative options from your pics.

I imagine that the pinouts are going to be the same across similar screens, and believe there is no embedded controller on these so may be worth a punt for a few $?

It looks like a basic 2 line LCD module, but the 30 pin connector is confusing me a little.
Visually very similar to ones like https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/1602-16-Characters-2-Line-LCD_60758385192.html?spm=a2700.7724857.normalList.78.bd9048604VZ0Uu

but unless some of those pins are shared I can't imagine what the difference is?? All the ones im finding are 15 pin

Great project! That looks like a nice solid way of doing it.

Do you have a pier adapter ready to go on? Interested in which type you go for as mine should probably be replaced soon.

If you have any concrete left a few inches of "mower border" might help out in the long run

Just booked Thurs-Monday, excited already. Glad to hear the marquee will be there again too.

Hopefully we will be there again this year. Need to double check the dates but fingers crossed we get some clear skies

3 hours ago, mdstuart said:

Just back from an enjoyable time at the swag astro party.

As always I was made very welcome and caught up with some friends.

We enjoyed touring the skies with my little 127mak. We looked at doubles for Nick and then a few galaxies including NGC 2903 and NGC 4465.

Today I walked up to the Brecons. It was further than I expected but the views, the skylarks and birds of prey were amazing.

Thank you Freff for organising it.

Mark (the galaxy hunter)....and sometimes other stuff.

Mark

Looks amazing up there, drive past a few times each week and keep wanting to climb up

1 hour ago, SamAndrew said:

This thread inspired me to make the jump into 3D printing, and I've just completed the first two prints

I'm planning to make an arduino based automated lens cap initially, and eventually I want to do a my own mount.

Just printed two gears for the lens cap and absolutely stunned how well they've turned out. I thought there would be some trial and error getting the tolerances right for the hole diameters, but they've worked first time and fit on my stepper motor and mesh perfectly. Only issue is I could have made them half the thickness!

I went for a Prusa Mk3, which was surprisingly complicated to assemble! Took 3 evenings this week, and certainly sorts out the dedicated hobbyists from the casual crowd. 

For the CAD software I'm using Autodesk Fusion 360 which has a trial that can be converted to a free hobby licence.

Look forward to sharing some build threads in the future.

Great choice on the Prusa. Tomas Sanladerer on Youtube has some great videos on youtube for tweaking/building/configuring the prusa.