Anthonyexmouth

thanks but really want to find a broken one with a screen i can salvage or get a new screen. seems stupid and wasteful that i cant fix this one for the sake of what is probably an off the shelf lcd screen worth about £1

Does anyone know if it's possible to get a replacement screen for the v4 synscan handset. A now ex friend just broke my screen. I never use it but it's bloody annoying and if I can fix it I'd like to. 

6 hours ago, Forunke said:

Coming back to post some results from playing around with some settings.

I managed to stop the image flipping by using Subframes (PHD2, settings, camera, use subframes), which makes me think there's a bottleneck somewhere down my USB3 line.

Will have to try the suggested firmware update to see if it helps but ultimately I'll probably switch to ethernet for data transfer.

 

Thanks for all suggestions!

converting to use cat5/6 ethernet wont help, any usb-cat5/6 converters will be slower than usb3. 

I did try a dedicated usb cable but still had the same issue. 

1 hour ago, matt_baker said:

So all I literally have to do is:

Polar Align

Load up APT and PHD

Use PointCraft to slew to a bright star and focus

Slew to target and solve to centre

Start Guiding

Start Imaging

 

Is this pretty much right?

Yup. That's it. Point craft has a list of all common targets. There's no manual slewing. Just pick a bright star from the list of stars. Click goto++ let APT do it's thing and plate solve onto it. I have mine set to auto sync but you can click sync just to be sure when it's finished, focus then pick an image target from the list in APT. It'll slew and plate solve until it's centered then start imaging. 

In trying to get some screen video capture software to record my process. 

It's so easy. The first time you do it make sure you're sat down as you'll be laughing so much at how easy it is and kicking yourself that you've waited so long to do it. 

Just now, Marci said:

I use 3.65.5 (beta) without issue. See http://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=2260 for changelogs from 3.65 thru to 3.65.5.

The _next_ release (3.65.6) should feature full INDIgo integration.

cool, just downloaded it. might have too many targets now.. lol

8 minutes ago, Marci said:

They've expanded APT with a further 18000 objects in latest betas... just tick the "show expanded object list" checkbox in lower left of the Objects browser pane if you're a paid-up user with access to the beta versions. Without it ticked you'll just get "the usuals".

Which is the best option, Beta or preview?

13 hours ago, tooth_dr said:

Since I switched to EQMOD and APT, I haven't done an alignment.  I connect to EQMOD and APT as usual, open PointCraft, click on SCOPE POSITION.   I then just select my target within APT (I've added a long list of custom targets as a downloaded file from another forum), and it moves to that target.  It often isn't right on target, so once it's solved that image, it moves again and then solves a second image.  After the 2nd or 3rd go the target is in the centre by <10 pixels.  And if your target isn't in APT, just enter the RA and DEC and that's it.  I do run CdC via EQMOD at the same time, but I use that for info and targeting and seeing what is nearby etc. 

I'm with you on this. pretty much do everything through APT now. My routine is

1. Check PA with SharpCap

2. Start PHD2

3. Fire up APT, get APT to slew to target and plate solve

4. Start Guiding

5. Start image session. 

Be interested in that custom target file. 

1 hour ago, matt_baker said:

If I setup my mount through Stellarium and have APT alongside, does this mean I won't have to have EQMod for the alignment?

I can just slew to a random bright star and plate solve it to the center, then sync, focus and slew to my intended target and do another plate solve to get it centered

Is this correct?

APT through pointcraft will slew and platesolve in one action. APT has a list of targets . I rarely use stellaruim anymore. Usually only use it in the day to look around to plan targets. 

20 minutes ago, JamesF said:

There is a firmware "upgrade" for the USB2 models.  I found that made the camera a bit more stable at the expense of dropping the maximum frame rate slightly.  Might be worth a try?

(Actually the alternative firmware is, if I recall correctly, to return the camera to work in compliance with the USB2 specification because the default firmware bent the rules a bit , I assume to try to increase the frame rate as far as possible.)

James

I'll double check mine but pretty sure I'm on the latest firmware. Sure that was one of the things I went through. Only ever use it with phd2 and brief spells with sharp cap for polar aligning. Never in sharp cap long enough to notice any issues there. 

9 hours ago, JamesF said:

Out of interest, is this the USB3 model (of the ASI120), or the old USB2 one?

James

The old usb2 one for me. Was having guiding issues from lost stars for ages and only by chance was looking at the screen when I saw it flip then flip back. During that time it lost the star. 

44 minutes ago, Forunke said:

So how did you go about guiding then? Another cam? Different software?

New camera, well my asi290mc camera I usually use for planetary imaging. Spoken to a couple of others here who had the same problem. No solution found as far as I know. 

I had the same flipping problem, after trying everything I could think of I stopped using it. Nothing I tried worked. 

Yeah, they are fine up to 15v . 

I had this a little while ago. I can be pretty confident in saying it's a power supply issue. Under voltage was the problem. 12.2v measured on the multimeter was giving this error, swapped to a 13.8v supply and error gone. Tried another 12v supply and the issue came back. They seem to like 13v a lot better. It wasn't a lack of amps, all PSUs I tried were at least 5 amp supply. 

1 minute ago, Danjc said:

No problem it will be in the post tomorrow ?

Disaster averted. 

Huge problem, you gotta dump that power box and send it to me for safe disposal. 

not a lot, 760 has an lcd screen on top and maybe a couple of other little tweaks but the same camera 

Noels tools for photoshop apparently work well but not tried it myself. 

this is the pattern in mine

i've been told there are PS tools to get rid of it. 

the banding should be 7 pairs of lines. its the slightly less sensitive auto focus pixels apparently. i've got the 760d

i've been seeing the same thing. from what i can find out its the AF pixels on the sensor, only shows up when really stretching the data, i could be wrong, but thats the only explaination i found for my issue, count them, if its 7 or 8 pairs of lines thats what it is. cant remember if its 7 or 8 off the top of my head

just as a quick check you could pop the head and handset out to a car and use the cigarette lighter lead. defo have 12v and plenty of amps there. 

Yeah I read that astro baby one, ended up following that video I posted. Just got that little stiff bit in Dec I have to sort now. Could be a grindy bearing. 

Ok, I've just followed a YouTube video explaining the procedure on an NEQ6 and it seems to have worked. Just having a coffee and will check again. Only issue now is I've found a stiff 30° ish section in the Dec worm. 

Is this something that can be tuned out or does it need striping down?

Here's the video I followed. Hope it's similar enough to the heq5

I think my problem is I have no idea what it SHOULD feel like.