whipdry

I think the arduino nano has com port issues, it disconnected when running a (cloudy night) test & now I get this error; I'm using a USB port on the nano, just wondering if it's a possible to wire it with a serial connection & use a separate serial to USB converter if that parts shot on the nano? Before this issue the IR sensor showed a stable minus -12 to -15C, no more runaway... thinking now the heat pad should have its own power supply! Peter

Decided to take some action... I have two identical boxes so rather than trying to separate the mounted sensors, I've used the empty base with them & added a wall of closed cell packing material insulating ir sensor from the heat pad as in the picture. The arduino & other boards staying as is with a plain lid... probably unnecessary as I'm thinking I'll keep the box of electronics in the warm room & just put the connecting cables through the wall along with the air temperature sensor. Peter

Thanks for the reply skybadger, your info gives me some idea of what I should be seeing. After more testing I'm wondering if heat inside the box is having an adverse effect on the readout... l've included a couple of images of my build this includes a heatpad for drying the rain sensor, first picture pointing at a white ceiling about 5M from a window the ir reading starts out around 17C & drops to 4C in a couple of hours with a consultant room temp. of 21C. I'm now thinking I should have used a bigger box as everything's a little cramped & when running opened up the ir temp readout is more stable, see last picture... any thoughts insights on this? Peter

I've only recently started to automate my observatory & this looked like a good addition, have built this but can't figure out why the IR sensor sky temperature reading steadily decreases over time... has reached minus 193 degrees C tonight (it's been as low as minus 268C when on for a longer period) while pointing at a clear sky, I'm approx. 20M above sea level! Hope someone with an answer will spot this... Peter

Just wondering if anyone else has noticed Auto-select Star seems to put the crosshair close to the edge of a selected star rather than centered... see screenshot. Peter

I have a ROR observatory I use for imaging, my first NUC lasted 3 years on the mount... decided when it failed next one would be keep in the warm room, that lasted 4 months before a warranty replacement was needed! Seems to be more luck of the draw than anything else... Peter

Thanks for the replies... after speaking with a person working for a UK etching company it seems a possibility that a combination of spiders web & contaminated moister, possibly salt due to my location can effect some grades of stainless-steel! Peter

I'm looking for an explanation of what's giong on here, one morning after an imaging session I noticed a spider web pattern on my stainless steel counterweigh... see first picture. This is the creepy bit! days later it can still be seen... see second picture. Seriously whats going on here? Peter

Slightly of topic but maybe a less complicated alternative! I have two (similar in the way they work) setups, I use off the mount NUC running SGPro for each with a single cable to industrial USB hubs on the mounts along with 12v cable supply to a fused distributor, one NUC is observatory based in the warmish room & the other in the kitchen both use though the wall USB connections to the mount hubs. LAN cables connect to my WiFi routers one in house & other in the observatory with the latter set as access point, with this setup I can RDT to both setups from my laptop or mobile phone... simultaneously on the phone! Peter

I don't use NINA but can't see it being any different to SGPro for settings on the Sitech side. See sreenshots of my Mesu Mk1 setting in Sitech have also included my SGPro settings. Both NINA & SGPro use PHD2 for guiding, I only set Reverse Guide Mode when Looking East (Dec) in Sitech not in PHD2 Here's a link for the latest version of SiTech.exe if you want to try it. http://siderealtechnology.com/SiTechExe095V.zip Peter

LED resistor?

I really like the image, perfection... it's a shame the frame's so distracting! Peter

Can you please provide a link for the type of pressure gauge you have? Peter

I must say, nicely done! Peter

Guess you've already checked your drift is the same both sides of the meridian? Peter

Hi Steve, Ok first off the Scope encoders are 10000 ticks per 360 degs. section 4/ should be 5000 & not 10000 release this as in writing below. I've tried it in both RA & Dec, for some reason the Dec Scope 10000 tick encoder always went from 5000 to 0 with 180 degs. of movement but the RA always needed a little tweek... not sure if balance has any effect! If you try the Tick Determination please would you make a note or screenshot/photo the results, I'll do mine again & post them here for reference. Peter

Perhaps not so accurate but you can test/adjust the ticks within ServoConfig select Edit Parameters (2nd down) & load from the controller, next select Tick Determination (5th down) this opens Assist Encoder Ticks Determination, use the lower half to record RA ticks... here you'll use the Scope Encoder location for adjustment of the Motor Encoder ticks. 1/ set the Ending Deg's to 180.0000 default is 360.0000 (crash setting) 2/ using the hand pad move the mount in RA until counterweight bar close to level with weights to the west 1st movement is east to west (clockwise) 3/ click Step 1: Align (Start) this sets both RA encoder to zero 4/ click Step 2: this moves the RA 180 degrees & records both RA motor & mount encoder ticks, look at the Scope Encoder Location if not 10000 move mount with hand pad to make it so. 5/ click Step 3: Aligned (saves motor ticks for averaging) 6/ click Step 4: Move to Start, this time the Scope Encoder should be 0 if not adjust with hand pad to make it so. 7/ repeat steps 3/ to 6/ another 4 times this gives an average of both directions that can be saved to the controller... alternatively copy the average from the clockwise side if more bothered about tracking than pointing. Applies to Mesu mk1 only no stars needed daytime job no responsibility taken for errors in the above if in doubt please read sitech manual before proceedings! Peter

Thanks for your reply Steve, I have a dual rig setup using 2x SGPro running on what has become an unreliable 5th gen i7 laptop... not sure what the issue is but randomly reboots/cuts out. Though if a rasberry pi was running everthing once all setup my iffy laptop wouldn't matter... I did try a refurbished NUC mounted on the rig, dead at 18 months so bought new & 7 months in that needed a warranty replacement! Peter

Can a dual imaging rig be run on a single rasberry pi? Anyone out there doing this? Peter

Where are you pointing when doing this? Only thing I can think of is check you don't have any CalPoints (PointXP file loaded). There is a setting in the config under Mount Pams tab>Freeze Declination (Equitorial only) not sure if it does anything as the Mesu is set as a German Equ. Peter

Sorry Simone I don't know, probably best to contact Starlight Xpress... here's a link that mybe helpful as it has a recent post about power supply to an sxv h9; https://starlightxpress.groups.io/g/main/topics Hope this helps, Peter

Thats a truly fine image. Just wondering why you chose StarXterminator for PS rather than the PI version, have you tried both? Peter

Good to hear you have it sorted, I'd forgotten about the flimsy sensor in the filter wheel! One thing I do like about the Moravian camera I have is it's ability to remain working through the loss of a USB connection, all the other cameras I've owned switch off the cooler! Peter

Yesterday I tried using the camera with Atik GPAcquire, I'd never connected the camera with this software before... seems it collects lots of details & settings from the camera, I left most of these on default as I'd not read the instructions but did change a couple that covered frame speed changing them to the lowest rates available while maintaining a full frame. After leaving it running as above for a reasonable time without issue I disconnected then set the GP running in PHD2 with 3 sec. exposures it would guide on a warm pixel, surprising enough no dropped frames... it's weird just wish Atik support had suggested this when it first happened! Eight hours plus guiding last night without a single dropped frame... fingers crossed!

Thanks for the link... tried the Atik Beta version using various guiding durations with both single & multiple star settings within PHD2 but found the random frame drops are still happening... think I'll test it with the GP specific planetary software, maybe that'll work properly!