cjdawson

On 25/05/2019 at 15:50, michael8554 said:

The LX200GPS ASCOM driver has exactly the same problems, so that one next please ?

Michael 

Hmmm, I wonder if the driver I'm making will work directly with the LX200GPS,   might need a few tweaks for specific features, but pretty sure that it'll be 90% there already.  Might be worth giving it a try when I am confident enough to release a beta test version.

Hi everyone.

For anyone that uses a Meade based telescope with ASCOM, I'm sure that you are all aware that the "Meade LX200 Classic and Autostar #494, #495, and #497 (combined telescope/focuser, 5.0.4)" driver is the one to use.  However, it's old and you can only connect one piece of equipment at a time oh and certain programs like WIFI Scope, Sharpcap, Sequence generator pro all have their functionality limited because the driver doesn't implement everything.

Well, I started writing a little program that would allow me to set the date, time, site lat and long using a GPS connected to my PC.  That way both the PC and Autostar are in sync.   However, it turned out that the aforementioned driver doesn't implement the ability to set the date and time, and I think it does something funky with the site too.  (Can't remember to be honest, but I know I don't trust it.

My solution, I'm in the process of creating a new driver for the Meade AutoStar #497 and AudioStar.

Here's the link to the Wiki.

https://bitbucket.org/cjdskunkworks/meadeautostar497/wiki/Home

I was wondering what sort of interest there would be for my fellow Meade users to get some much better support for our scopes.

And again, you are introducing another piece of hardware that would need power, network etc.

This is the program that I've written.

The GPS is plugged into a USB Port on the same computer.   It's a UBlox 7 usb, it's installed into Windows 10 and is a Sensor in the device manager, so I don't need to worry about the NMEA strings.

All I have to do is load the program, choose the mount which is my case is the POTH Hub, then click connect.   Click Connect for the GPS, then click Set location, and hey presto the Telescope will get updated with the information from the GPS.

No need to add GPSD, no need to have a linux device running, no need to have anything that is not directly connected to the mount or computer.

nope, eqmod does not work with a meade mount

2 hours ago, stash_old said:

Any USB GPS device - e.g. u-blox USB GPS which works very well . Just pointing out that you dont need windows to produce a GPSD service and GPSD (a Linux Daemon) on Linux has been around for decades.

You can even pick it up on Windows(or any other OS ) via Node-Red / MQTT (IOT approach) (https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-red-contrib-gpsd) so you could produce something in a matter of hours(or less). Plus using Alpaca Ascom you can produce/interface with any Ascom driven device that accesses the GPS property - No need to reinvent the wheel. ?

Handy if you have more than one device OR ,as with most USB GPS devices ,they need to be outside and have been running for a while to get a fix - so could be left permanently running in an Obsys as the Pi Zero (w) uses very little power when compared to a Laptop/Desktop etc.

I think you are completely missing the point of the program.

Let me explain "MY" problem in detail.

1. Telescope Meade LX-90 EMC with Autostar #497 running firmware 43G.

2. Laptop running Windows 10 Pro with Ascom installed.    Intention is to use PHD2, SGPro and SharpCap.

The problem, I have a ublox gps receiver.   At the moment, there is nothing in place to get the data from the GPS receiver to the scope.   Inserting extra things like a Pi Zero, won't change that,   my laptop still needs to get the current date time, to be accutare.   I still need to set the Lat/Long for the scope.

The program that I'm writing is to take the information from my GPS and inject it into Ascom. As far as I'm aware, there isn't a program like that.

22 minutes ago, Cleetus said:

What's the difference between what you are proposing and starGPS?

StarGPS is a hardware device that plugs into the mount and adds GPS support, but you have to patch the firmware of the Autostar to their special version.

What AscomGPS is going to is allow you to use a GPS on any goto scope that has site information.  You won't need a special flavour of GPS specifically for the mount, and it won't be limited to the Autostar.  It'll work with Synscan and others too.

Actually from one of my trials yesterday, I found out that I don't even need a GPS at all to get a location as IP based Geo location was enough to get a good enough Location.

Oh, and the StarGPS costs $130 ish.   What I'm planning won't cost anything.

1 hour ago, stash_old said:

Or you could just plug it into a Pi Zero W and use GPSD to distribute GPS - works great with Linux but cant remember if Windows (any) has access to GPSD.

Plug what into a Pi Zero W?      I think there's a load of context missing that would be needed for this to make sense.

Hi everyone.

Many years ago, I wrote a piece of software called AstroGPS.  It's purpose, was to ready the input from a Garmin e-trex, to get accurate date, time and location data.  then upload that info into my telescope.  It was never ment to be a big hit as it was written specifically to perform the update on a #497 Autostar.    After using the software for a few years, I wondered off in a different direction and well kinda stopped using it.     Fast forward to today.

In my current incarnation of my scope, it's the same one just all the accessories have been adjusted.   I find myself once again looking at the problem that I had all those years ago.  What's the problem?   When setting up for a session, I want to make sure that the scope knows "where on earth" (bad joke intended) it is.

I've started tinking with some code and think that it's going to be easy enough to come up with a solution to the problem.  As I'm playing with Windows 10 these days rather than Windows XP, there's been some advanced made in the tech that will make life easier.

The first instance of the program that I'm going to write.   Is going to work like this....

1. Use the Location Services API in windows 10 to get a reading for location.

I've done a test with a u-blox USB GPS and found that it can be installed as a "sensor" in device manager, so there's no need to mess with com ports and the like.

2. This time rather than connecting directly to the scope using the serial port, I'm going to use Ascom to connect to the scope instead.

This means that I don't have to be limited to only working with the #497 Autostar.    It can be made to work for any goto based scope.

The program will also be able to make use of the GPS time stamp to set the clock on the computer to the correct local time.

One immediate feature that I know that some people will want is to be able to connect a GPS via a Serial port rather than have to use Windows Location Services as there could be privacy concerns related.

Before I get too involved in the creating the application, I thought it might be a good idea to ask if what features would make you interested in using something like this?

Yep there is a much easier way.  Cheat!

For the spinning the OTA thing, you know you are spot on when polaris doesn't fly off.  the closer you are the less that polaris will move.  After that, yes there's trial and error.  There's also the geometry of the mount that can help you.  Look at the part of the fork that's connected to the OTA.   Comming from there, both sides are black metal bars that hold the primary area solidly.     What you can do is line those up with the forks and hey presto, it's in line.    See, it's cheating and it's good enough for when I'm doing stuff visual.

I've switched over to using camera, and frankly, I cheat even more.   SharpCap Pro has a polar alignment feature I use my guide camera to do this and all I need to do is get the scope pointing within 5 degress of the pole and it's happy enough to do it's thing.   Takes alot of the guess work out of it.

Sounds like you made some major progress with the latitude adjuster

I can't imagine working with a wedge without either of the alt of Az adjustment.    I know that tweaking in the final seconds of PA is very delicate, even with them.

I just found the manual for the LX-90 wedge on the web.  This is the one that I have, turns out that I don't have a deluxe one after all.  (wasn't sure, and I've had it for years)

http://www.meadeuk.com/pdf/Meade-8-inch-Wedge-Manual.pdf

You can see in the instructions that there are things in addition to the wedge itself that give you alt and az adjustment for your wedge.

I was typing from memory.   It’s the easy alignment that I do with my scope.   I’ll put some photos up of my wedge so you can see how the extra bits look.

one more trick, put a cd between the tripod and wedge, it’ll act as a bearing and help make the AZ adjustment easier

hmmm.

Let's see if I can help out a little.

Firstly, my LX-90 is the EMC version that was sold in 2001, I bought it brand new and have been using it every since.   My Autostar is on firmware 43G, the highest from Meade for the #497 Autostar.

I got a delux version of the wedge.   I believe that the different is the addition of the fine adjustments for the alt and az.  Although they are a bit basic really.

The alt adjustment came in two parts, one attached to the screw holes on the north side of the tripod (opposite one of the legs)

and the other part attaches to the edge of the edge.  This allows you to push the wedge left and right with a screen.

The Alt adjustment is threaded through a bar that goes under the wedge and allows fine control of the altitude.

I've got no experient with the LNT stuff.  That said, from memory, I was under the impression that was only designed for Alt-Az use.

For setting my scope to the home position, what I do is once the scope is on the wedge.   I use a torpedo spirit level to set the forks so that it's resting on both forks and showing level.  The gap is behind the spirit level hence the use of a long one so that it can rest on both forks without falling through.

I then have the scope pointing directly up at Polaris.

From there, do a 2 star alignment.  Make sure that you have the date time, lat and long of the site entered correctly.

And it should work just fine.

One final random thought, in the auto star menu I think you can choose which scope the autostar is connected too.   Might be worth double checking that's set to the LX-90.

WOW, hold on there.   Firstly, I have an LX-90 with a wedge.   There's loads of things that can be going on......

As I don't know anything about your kit apart from it being an LX-90 , it's on a wedge, and we're in the visual observing part of the forum.  I'll make no other assumptions.

1. Don't use internal power, ever.

The batteries simply don't last long enough to be of any use and it'll get "motor unit faults" which are simply frustrating as it should say "batteries are not powerful enough"   Use an external battery anything over 7Ah, for the scope itself only should see the end of any power problems.

2. Train the scope.

This is worth doing,  setup your scope in Alt-Az mode (leave out the wedge) in daytime.  Set the Telescope targets to Terrestrial and point at something in the distance (further the better, and with a reticule eyepiece if you have one) then run through the drive training routines.  (I used a flagpole that's about 5 miles away)

This will properly train the motors of the scope, so that it's pointing accuracy is much improved.

3. For visual observing don't bother with the wedge.

The scope is much more stable when used without the wedge.     If you are sure you want to use the wedge though go ahead.  Either way, make sure that you tell the Autostar that you are using the wedge there's a setting in the Setup menu for it.

4. Make sure that you have your location entered properly.

This will help the pointing accuracy

5. Make sure that the date and time is entered properly too.

6. Make sure that you set "Targets" to astronomical.  That will enable the scopes tracking.

For the alignment process, I do the following....

1. Setup the tripod and add the wedge.

2. Level the tripod, making sure that the wedge has the lifted up part "facing north"    i.e. the part of the wedge that hangs over the edge of the tripod is on the southern side.    Or more to the point, is on the same side as the equator.

3. set the elevation for your latitude, it'll help to get you close.

4. Add the fork mount and OTA.   Point the scope so that it's in line with the fork, it should be pointing towards polaris.

5. release the RA clutch, and whilst looking through the scope look at how the stars move.   The closer you are to alignment the tigher circles the stars will move.

6. once in the polar home position, turn on the mount and do a two star alignment.

At this point everything should be running pretty much spot on.   The pointing accuracy isn't perfect, so whilst the targets may be a little off after a slew, you shouldn't ever be too far away from the target.

As I do astrophotography, I've switched to using a camera in my piggy backed guide scope.  This makes my alignment much easier as I can use the Polar Alignment tool in SharpCap Pro.   But that's another story.

The most reliable method for collimation that I've found is to do a star test.  If the collimation is correct, when you defocus the star, the black dot will appear - but it will be very small, that will give a much better clue as to how close you are in final collimation.  Also when you focus the star, it should end up as a point, the dimmer the star that you can do this on the better, as you end up with a smaller, sharper point.

awww, I'm going to miss it this year.  That's the same weekend as Kielder star camp, and this year.  I've already booked to head north and get into the really dark skies.

On 11/03/2019 at 13:07, bottletopburly said:

+1 for deepskydad autofocus unit ?

https://deepskydad.com/

I personally cannot support deep sky dad. Not sure if things have been resolve, but check out this thread...

Turns out that Deep Sky Dad has been accused of plagerism.

I don't want to restart the debate / argument that hijacked my thread, just wanted to highlight that things are not all as it seems.

My opinion is to go for one of these https://sourceforge.net/projects/arduinoascomfocuserpro2diy/ as it's well supported by Robert, he's done a fantastic job.

Hiya.

I'm also getting myself up and running with LRGB imaging using a ZWO ASI1600MM-Pro.  Everything I understand on this subject is that there is no easy answer.  That said, I've got a plan.   Turns out there's an idea exposure time statistic in SGPro, I'm not expecting this to be the perfect answer by any means.

As an experiment, I'm going to take a sub next time I'm out, and will see what this statistic says.  From there, I'll adjust the sub time and see what happens.   I'm going to try this in L only to begin with, then if it works well, I'll try the same for each of the other filters on the same target.   If it all works out, then I'll should have some idea of the ratio of exposure times for each filter (yes, I know this is nieve, it's a start and not ment to be a complete answer)

From there on out, I'll have a starting point to tweak from.

29 minutes ago, Z3roCool said:

That sounds brilliant

May have a look at this...even though I did an Electronics & Engineering course many years ago...I am not the best when it comes to DIY but will have a go

I'm currently in the process of building one of these for my telescope.  Actually, I've for enough parts to build 3!

I got it working at the weekend using a NEMA 14 Stepper motor, works like a charm.    My version even has a Bluetooth connection so there's no need for a cable from the computer.

On 03/03/2019 at 20:30, Peter Drew said:

Many years ago I built the tube assembly to house a 106cm mirror for the Astronomy Centre. We eventually managed to purchase a pre-generated mirror blank but the project to grind, polish and figure the mirror is currently on hold whilst we find a way to mitigate the effects of turbulence from wind farm turbines that now ringfence our location.    ☹️

I'd have thought there was already enough wind at Todmorden, without the need to farm it.    oh well.

There's no need to use a cloud based sharing service.    Instead there's nothing stopping you from sharing a folder on the laptop, then connecting to that share from the desktop and copying the files directly across the network.  There won't be any thottling involved and you can pull the files off as fast as you make them.

This is the method that I've setup on my astro laptop, so that I can simply copy the files off over wifi.  it's fast enough for the deep sky images.

Hiya.    Here's a few thoughts to add to the mix.  I'm just comming into the thread, so might repeat things what others have said already...

1. Forget about ST-4, you have a goto mount and using PHD you are better using pulse guiding.    result is that you'll end up with one less cable and better results (PHD is designed for pulse guiding)

2. Windows remote desktop requires that the service side is running windows professional, so won't allow a connection on windows home edition.    Alternatives will work, Teamviewer, VNC are a couple of examples.

3. As long as you can get a good network connection for both PC's you will be able to remote control the scope.   The quality of the connection will determine the quality if the images you see remotely.

4. WIFI comes in many forms these days, they're not all equal.   The protocols are 802.11a/b/g/n/ac or for short you have the choice of a, b, g, n or ac.  a and b are extremely old and new kit doesn't bother with these.  G allows 54Mbps, again it's old and probably not used.  N allows about 300Mbps, and AC is much faster - I think it's comparible with Gigabit networking.     For Remote control of a PC, you should be fine with G, N or AC.   That is provided that you have sole access to the channel with no interference.  (which can be a tall order)      The distance of the PC from the Access Point (The Wifi antenna) determines the max throughput of the signal, the further you are the weaker and slower things go.

4. Wired network connections - These offer the best throughput the cables are normally 10/100/1000 Mbps.   The better cables Cat 6 and above allow 1000Mbps without any second thoughts.  You can get a 100m run from the switch - if you have a router (which you most likely to) all you need to do is run a standard patch cable (not cross over) to the switch and plug in there, it'll then be available on your network without any issues.

I think your idea is good and should work without much difficulty.

My own setup I'm running two cameras, filter wheel, and mount from a laptop.   I think remote into the laptop using Windows Remote Desktop and can work with it like that.   For my purposes, I run over a wifi (N) and it works just fine for my needs.   The data is captured and stored on the laptop running the camera, I transfer it afterwards.  This helps to keep the network traffic down a little.

The difference in price will be the quality of the item.   The just take a look at the two pictures on amazon.  The cheap one, looks like it's made from a cheap piece of aluminium that's been powder coated, and has the lens attached - cheap to make.  I couldn't really tell you much about the quality of the lens(es) from the picture.  My initial guess is that it's a single element.

The orion one on the other hand looks to have been machined with a polished finished - so there's some attention to detail on the housing.   They say that it's a 4 element lens, so that's 4 seperate lenses stacked together to produce the final image.  I'd bet that the glass is higher quality to start with, then 4x the amount of glass.  Add coatings, and I'd hazard a guess that it'll have a better output than the cheap lens.

That said, I'd still want to do a side by side test to be sure.

Here's my answer....   in short, don't clean it.  It'll look after itself!

That would be funny.  All the SGL Admin team, in bikinis, in the middle of the night.   It'll be freezing!