symmetal

Glad to help Ady. Have you actually checked you haven't downloaded it twice before? . Here's another link to the manual from skywatcherUSA if you haven't yet got it. Here's the bit you want from the manual Alan

On page 8 of the AZ-GTI manual it gives the pinout of the RJ12 connector which you can match to the known RJ45 pinout. It uses 3.3V logic. As noted on the EQDIRECT page the AZ-EQ6 and EQ8 have 3.3V logic but will happily work with 5V TTL FTDI adapters. Whether the AZ-GTI will also cope with 5V logic I don't know so it might be worth getting the 3.3V FTDI adapter to be sure it'll work. If anyone knows whether it will work using 5V logic it would be useful to know. Alan

If it was 15 degrees off in RA I would suspect a 1 hour error in the time setting somewhere. Daylight saving time ending perhaps. Alan

@AngryDonkey, Mike. I installed AllSkeye on the mini PC in the shed with the Oculus connected and I get this message when I run it. I've been using AstroArt to aquire the images which has worked well and was keen to try your software. SxUsb.dll is there in your folder. I reinstalled the latest drivers from Starlight Xpress, no change, and did the .net framework check which said it was already installed. The mini PC is running Win 10 home 64 bit. Edit. Working now. Didn't install the C++ redistributable package. . Looking good so far. Alan

I wondered how it coped with two cameras needing the same driver. Maybe not too well. I use ethernet connection to my rig as using WiFi was fine until you started transferring files when the Teamviewer or TightVNC connection became very sluggish. With ethernet it still worked fine. Having two computers would then mean running out two cat5 or installing a network switch on the scope. Thanks kens, that's interesting. My assumption that indi-web server used a FIFO was right. ? You should certainly submit the fix as it should fix the dual imaging problem using one remote computer for those not into sending scripts/commands over terminals to achieve the same result. Yes that's true, indi-web just makes it easier for those not used to scripting and using terminals. I was thinking of ways to automate sending commands via Putty or similar to achieve what indi-web does as you suggest. If kens indi-web fix gets implemented that should help the less linux savvy people. Alan

I've been having a play and you can have two indiservers running at the same time on one machine, each connected to different equipment (using different ports for the two servers) and have two sessions of Kstars/Ekos running on the Windows PC each one connected to a different indiserver. Woohoo!! However, you can't use indi-web to start the servers. Only one instance of indi-web server seems to be allowed to be run. If you start another with different ports it attempts to kill the first one, fails, and doesn't start. So using indi-web only one indiserver can be remotely controlled from Ekos. Starting the two indiservers directly on the remote machine using ssh from Windows, with the drivers required listed as arguments to the launch command (and a different port number) you can then connect and disconnect from Ekos (with indi-web un-ticked). Also if the hardware isn't connected when the server is started will probably lead to problems. Changing the equipment used on the fly is a bit more difficult though. A crude way is to kill the indiserver process and restart with new arguments. The more elegant way is setting up a FIFO and pass the location of the FIFO list to the indiserver on startup and send text commands to the FIFO to add or remove specific INDI drivers as required. Scripts could be set up to do this. I imagine this is what indi-web does for you. There are probably easier ways but this was my first attempt. ? Or,....... use a second RPi. ? I'll keep playing, but my current setup of everything running on the remote Windows PC seems much simpler. Being able to change connected equipment at will is very handy. INDI isn't very plug-and-play. Alan

Thanks for all your suggestions. As you say it's best to ask on the INDI forum. ? Alan

Thanks Wim, your method would certainly work. Mine aren't the same scopes and cameras. One's widefield with an ASI1600 while the other is narrower with an Atik One. The ASI needs the USB3 which the Pi doesn't have hence the mini PC. I thought it could be possible either to have both Ekos clients use the same INDI server, or to run two INDI servers on the same PC to save the extra RPi. Dithering is a bit messy. I just set the Atik sequence to dither and accept that the ASI with shorter exposures will have to scrap 25% of the images unless I'm monitoring it and set the Atik to pause after each image and continue when the ASI has finished an image where I pause that until dithering is done. I'd have thought that synchronizing the dithering on dual rigs shouldn't be too difficult to achieve automatically but it seems to be. Alan

With many people singing the praises of Kstars/Ekos, I've been dabbling with Linux again. Many years ago I had tinkered with Red-Hat Linux so have some knowledge. ? Does anyone know of the easiest way to do dual scope imaging with Ekos and INDI. The latest windows version of Kstars works fine (many posts recommended running Kstars in a linux VM on Windows). I installed INDI on a Pi3 running Ubuntu Mate and it all communicates fine using the indi-web Manager on the Pi. Not having USB3 on the Pi I installed Ubuntu Mate on a cheap Mini-PC I had lying around (Intel Atom, 2GB ram, 32GB SSD) as it had USB3, and it works well apart from not detecting the WiFi hardware. For dual imaging I assume two instances of Kstars have to run on the Windows PC. It would be nice if you could run 2 Ekos sessions with 1 Kstars but it seems not. On the scope mini PC, could the INDI server communicate with 2 Kstars/Ekos sessions at the same time so that you have 2 scopes and 2 focusers communicating through INDI. I assume not as searching the web the two scope solution seems to be a 2 Pi setup with the second Pi 'chained' to the first so all communication is via the 1st Pi. Another thought is would it be possible for the scope PC to run 2 separate INDI servers with one server linked to each Kstars/Ekos session. I could have the Pi 'chained' to the Mini-PC at the scope but thought there would be a more elegant solution using just one computer. Currently I have a more powerful Windows 10 mini-PC at the scope running two instances of SG-Pro, PHD2 and CdC and that works well. The Mini-PC, USB3 hub, dual focus controllers, dew heaters etc are all in a box attached to the dual scopes to minimize long, flexing cables so space/weight is at a premium. ? Alan

If you haven't already got it the SGP update patch is now released for version 3. Alan

Ken & Jared (developers) have responded apologising for the late reply but they've been away with limited web access. Ken has said he's fixed the problem and should release a patch later today. The problem was an upgrade made to the Skyview servers. Alan

If the frame/mosaic images are in your cache from previous requests it works OK. Have you tried it from a new target? If it works for you, you could charge people 5p a go to get the cache images for them. Alan

Up until yesterday neither had I. Have you tried it in the last 24 hrs Steve? There's a lot of posts on the SGP forum reporting the same problem. Still no response from the developers. Alan

The wizard returns a blank 'Error' when fetching the image. There are reports on the SGP forum of this and it seems SGP is not handling the image response from NASA properly. Pasting the failed image request listed in the error log into a web browser returns the image OK. It seems the format might have changed such that SGP doesn't accept it. No response from the developers yet. Alan

I've opened up the Synscan controller from my EQ3 Pro and it is the same PCB. U9, just above C55 is a 5V, 1A regulator. It's marked 17-50 with a 'Diodes Incorporated' logo. Here's the data sheet. C55 is most likely the output electrolytic (writing on it is too small to read). If it was a 6.3V capacitor and the regulator failed and went in/out short that would explain it smoking. U10 is a 3.3V regulator and if its input was the 5V rail that could explain C3 smoking too. If the 5V actually did rise to 12V then unfortunately several other ICs would also likely have been damaged. ☹️ If the fault was just due to C55 going short circuit and smoking, U9 would have gone into current limit so it's unlikely C3 would have been damaged. Alan

My EQ3-Pro GOTO had exactly the same issue with the RA setting circle. It had been tightened up too much when I got it as I had to use some pliers to release it. When tightened up there is a grinding noise at some spots when rotating the scope in RA. I assume the screw has punched through what it tightens against and is fouling something inside. I just leave it undone and there is no problem. The DEC setting circle does seem to have been set wrongly on yours. With my scope at the home position the arrow does point to 90. You can easily alter it by loosening the hex headed grub screw in the side of the DEC circle and resetting it. That's the only thing I use the DEC circle for, setting the home position, so it makes sense to have it reading 90 at the home position and be useful. The setting circles don't have any other use on a GOTO and they're not much use on a non-goto either. Alan

That's how I did my 125, but all the isopranol containing the dissolved seconary glue was collecting around the edge and seeping around the 'rubber' ring holding the corrector plate. In the end I decided to remove the plate from the cell as it was much easier to clean. Alan

Just concentric with the secondary mirror circle as best you can. It's not critical as only the centre portion of the secondary is actually used. I used a couple of tiny dabs of araldite to hold mine back on. Probably not the best solution but it's not coming off again. Alan

It's just the plastic light baffle which was stuck to the secondary mirror which has fallen off. The secondary mirror is the reverse side of the silver spot in the centre of the corrector plate and can't come off or move. You'll need to glue it back on. The front corrector plate can be removed by inserting a tool in the two holes on opposite sides of the corrector plate surround and unscrewing counterclockwise. Make a note of the corrector plate orientation with respect to the tube by marking the edge with a permanent marker or similar. Edit: Oooh! beaten to it. If it's like the ETX-125 the baffle was held in place by a ring of double sided foam tape which has now failed. You'll probably have to remove all the sticky stuff left on the baffle and secondary mirror. For the secondary mirror I used copious amounts of isopropanol.

Hi Shibby, yes I checked on a photography site and the DOF is stated as about 1m as you say. They use 'circles of confusion' as a limit for being in focus. I would have thought that a star would be seen as out of focus before the circle of confusion limit but the actual limit should hopefully be manageable. I did use the same star field for each test centred on Shedar in Cassiopeia as there are a mass of Milky Way stars to use as a test, 3000 stars on a 10 second exposure. I have tried it before and after a meridian flip and the tilt was the same in both tests implying everything was tight and not flopping under gravity. I've measured with digital calipers around the rotator and the Baader spacer and there was a slight error in spacing around their circumference of about 0.2mm in some tests. I think all the errors in all the spacers are on the same side at the moment so they're all adding up. The ball bearings arrived today so I can do a test indoors at about 10m to see if it works. The draw tube is only half way out at 10m so that shouldn't be too floppy when testing. Can't do it outside as pouring rain and 50mph winds for the next 24 hours. Alan

Glad it's now all working Jay. I wondered if you'd given up and it was all in the bin. The correct FTDI driver is built into Win 10 so you wouldn't have needed to download one. No snow here but very wet and cloudy almost all the time. Alan

Giving further thought, the centre of the board is closer to the scope than the corners so it will cause 'field curvature' of sorts. A curved board is too difficult to make. Tilt should still be visible though with the flat board. Squareness of the board to the scope could be checked by mounting the scope on a tripod and panning to the corners and checking they are the same focus. Alan

Thanks 'Stub Mandrel' that would certainly work, but I was hoping to let CCD Inspector do the hard work by analysing the 'stars' reflected from the ball bearings located at the crosses in my diagram. Thanks Peter, good point. My initial thoughts of a frame of perforated foil would certainly be tricky getting set up but the thick board with the ball bearings stuck on suggested by AKB would hopefully be easier. A plumb line would do vertical and a non-stretch line for horizontal might work. I don't know what the distance accuracy is needed at that distance to still be within the depth of focus at the sensor. Random would work AKB, but I believe CCD Inspector needs a good sample of stars in an area to get a good value on the actual focus. The 25 in the 100x100mm squares may still be too far apart for this. Randomly sticking them on would require lots more ball bearings to get a good density and the cost would shoot up. Spending £20 or so to make this prototype will I hope show if the idea does at least work. It shouldn't take too long to make and I certainly have plenty of time at the moment. main() { do { cloud(); rain(); wind(); } while (moon != blue); } Alan

Thanks newbie alert, but the video is using flat frames to centre the sensor whereas my sensor is tilted causing varying focus across the frame. Here's some examples using the 3D view in CCD Inspector as I was adjusting sensor distance to remove curvature by altering the Baader spacer and using the camera rotator to put the camera in the same orientation each time. The curvature is not bad in the last one but the tilt is awful and unpredictable, with everything done up tight. Here's a prototype diagram of the artificial star field at 1000 x 750mm size. This is OK at 20m for the ZS61 and ASI1600 (my initial calc was a bit off). I've ordered 500 5mm chrome ball bearings off ebay for £16.20 which seems a good deal and a large tube of black sealant to spot stick them down. The diagram needs 625 ball bearings but the 500 should tell me if it actually works and is worth pursuing. My initial thought of flood filling it with ball bearings would require 30,000 bearings. Does anyone know if the field flattener will still produce a flat field if not focused at infinity so that I could use the star field to correct curvature as well as tilt? Alan

Good idea, that seems a more practical solution. Cover the board with black silicone sealant and pour a bucket of small ball bearings over it. Spread them out and before the sealant is fully dried gently go over the surface with a cloth dampened with white spirit to remove any sealant on the top surface of the balls. It would be nice and rigid with a thick backing board, and as a bonus, when you're not using it to test your setup you could hang it on the living room wall as an art piece. Also you'd only need to cover spot sections of the board and not the whole surface to get a usable result but it might not look so good on the living room wall then. You could then use double sided black foam tape to stick the balls to the board. Alan