david_taurus83

PHD algorithm just as good as PPEC?

17 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Hmmmm, I asked Rob, the same thing, why it would not do a few worm periods, and it’s because he uses the skywatcher code that it already in the handset, which just does 1 worm period…EQMOD has its own code that does a few…and does not use the skywatcher code.

Have not tried the PHD PEC yet…must give it a go….👍🏼

It's a shame as the PEC works really well. I done a GA in PHD last night and with PEC enabled with no guiding pulses the total RA movement over a full worm rotation was less than 6 arc seconds compared to near 40 without PEC. I may give EQMod a go in the future and see if I can get it working but this evening PHD with its own algorithm is chugging along at 0.4/0.5"RMS so don't think there'd by any huge improvement tbh.

Well, no spectacular results with PEC again tonight. Done a fresh calibration and retrained PEC. Unfortunately while recording, there were 2 or 3 large RA spikes and GSS recorded them and they playback when enabled and overwhelm PHD. I must have just been lucky to have good guiding when I tried it the first time. I've set the PHD algorithm to Predictive PEC and it's working just fine tonight so will probably stick with that. It would be better if GSS could record a few worm periods to average out the guiding errors. 

Nothing spectacular to see here! This was a sort of first light with the Esprit 100. With last weeks full moon and a clear sky that I didn't want to waste, I thought I'd try something a bit different. I set up an imaging plan in Nina to take 20s subs all night and went to bed. Wanted to see if I could capture the relativistic jet coming out of M87. Below is a result of 600 x 20s Lum subs captured with an Atik 460 and 100mm f5.5 scope. 

Rob has recommended I update the motor controller on the mount. Sure enough, my mount was on 3.09. Just updated to 3.17 which came out a few weeks ago. GSS was also updated a few weeks ago so will give it another bash tonight with a PEC train.

I've also been having a few issues unfortunately. With PEC enabled it's just not been as good as it was when I first tried it. Its like PHD is fighting against the PEC curve. I've tried with Alternate PEC switched on and off, not much difference. The mount is always parked before I switch it off. Last night I was capturing Lum data so I switched off PEC and guiding was more stable, the usual 0.5/0.7" RMS. Should be clear again tonight so I might just enable PHDs PEC algorithm and leave GSS PEC off as want to get as much Lum as I can while we have the weather. I might check and redo my PA tonight and tighten things up as there's a big weight difference between the Redcat and the Esprit so maybe adding to the mounts struggles of late. 

Perhaps I'm stating the obvious but have you tried a different cable?

Will do, thanks!

10 hours ago, scotty38 said:

I'd have to check but I think I'm sure the manual says to turn it off when calibrating.

Edit:

From the manual:

"When using PHD2 for guiding it’s recommended to turn off PPEC during the PHD2
calibration process and turn it back when finished."

Manual?! What's one of them?!

Guess that'll be why then!

Just a bit of a heads up. I've ran into a couple of issues when doing a fresh calibration in PHD. The mount ended up doing weird things and wouldn't calibrate properly. Would either give a bad orthogonal angle or would track the star out of the fov during calibration. Think I've nailed it down tonight. I had PPEC enabled when trying to do a new calibration. When calibrating, deselect PPEC first in the GSS dashboard. Do the calibration as normal in PHD and afterwards switch back on PPEC. Personally, I do a fresh PEC training after calibration as well as it doesn't take long. Seems to have fixed things. Will look further into this and see if it's a bug or if PPEC should be disabled before calibrating in PHD.

I've got some Red and Ha on M81/M82 this last week. For something different last night with full moon, I took a load of short subs on M87 to try and capture the Jet. Hoping to process them all later to see what I've got! Loving the Esprit 100 so far 😃

I also had it down below 0.3" for a spell the other night. Generally speaking, looking through the guide logs, the average all night is below 0.5".

44 minutes ago, Astropedro said:

Well I've tried all the spacers I've got and I tried removing the reducer too......can't achieve good focus.   The attached photo was the best I could get.

 

To clarify, the rotator I refer to came with the scope and is at the beginning of the train.  I'll attach a photo in another post of my imaging train which I'm guessing needs a spacer or something removing and changing as good focus is impossible.

Is that with a bahtinov mask? What's it like when you remove it?

A picture of your setup would help.

In construction, "buried to the b*******" is a commonly used and well understood measurement of depth to describe bogged heavy plant.🙂

Does the app work yet?! I struggle to connect to it almost all the time I try yet when I VNC in everything is fine. The only reason I try and connect with the app is it updates the time and date. That's it! 

With an Atik or SX camera the sensor is further away from the filters than with a typical ZWO so dust isn't noticible with the former. With a permanent setup it's easy to get away with long standing flats. Moving about on a tripod every night its clear, it's not worth risking not taking them.

Regarding the opening thread, if your prepared to put the time in, capturing those few precious photons over multiple nights, weeks, months, (years!)  then mono all the way. If you like to image for 2 or 3 hours a night and have a full colour image to process afterwards then colour. I would recommend an ASI1600 for mono or ASI294C for colour. Would buy second hand and you'd have plenty of change in your budget. Couple of weeks ago you could have gotten a full mono package of 1600 + FW + filters for just over £1k on here so keep an eye out!

When the EQMOD control panel starts flashing in what looks like a boot loop, it's usually when you try to start EQMOD directly. Its not how it works. You need to connect to the telescope from another software like NINA or Stellarium etc. The other software calls up EQMOD and it kind of runs in the background. As soon as you disconnect the mount from the 3rd party software, EQMOD shuts down. You can't control the mount independently from EQMOD alone.

Bit of fettling today with the OAG. Noticed it had a bit of a wobble on the Redcat though it didn't seem to affect guiding. Put it under the drill today and made way for a grub screw to tighten down the stalk.

And all mounted up! Ready for some testing tonight if the forecast is right. Hope to get focus all setup including on the guidecam. 

As above, you need to set up a profile in PHD first that connects to both camera and mount. NINA then starts up PHD and the profile when you connect everything.

Have decided to swap out the Redcat today. Was going to leave it a few more weeks to try and finish my current target but temptation to upgrade is too strong! Got the top plate all drilled out and fitted on top. Needed to order some 1/4 UNC countersunks for this as the Esprit tube rings are in imperial 🤷

Also added a scope handle to make lifting a bit easier 👍

5 hours ago, PatrickO said:

 

Thanks for that. I just attached it to the scope with the lens attached. 

So should it be with no lens, just straight to the sensor? This could be a RTFM situation!

Yep! With the lens on you were taking wide angle shots of the inside of the barlow!

As mentioned above, have you removed the wide angle lens and not just popped it into the Barlow and clamped up the lens? 

46 minutes ago, SlimPaling said:

Hi David ....

Some of my cables are direct connections to equipment and others go via a HiTech Powered hub.

I would try each device individually connected to the PC with its respective cable. If all OK, you can rule actual cables out and then try through hub etc. Doesn't cost you anything at the moment to do this before spending money on new cables.

All the weather apps were wrong last night. An utter disappointment as it was nice and clear at sunset and I was banking on finishing an imaging project. Was clear when I started and clouded over before the first sub even finished! Even took my bins to the astro society and the club rolled out the big dob! Disappointment all round!