teoria_del_big_bang

I have tried the calculator and it is right but I would be a little cautious because it assumes a set thickness of the filter wheel (I guess the manufacturers specification) but does not include any adapters on the filter wheel that connect it to the camera and any spacers on the scope side. Also it is best to measure the actual width taken up by the FW and adapters as I have found these to be up to 1 mm different from the manufacturers specification.

Steve

Just looking at this calculator, but I assume it just is programmed with the correct back focus for a certain setup of camera, FW with a certain corrector or flattener, then adds on 1/3 thickness of the filter and then gives you the remaining spacers needed to make up that back focus, so nothing different to manually adding up all the elements and doing a bit of maths.

Best way (I thought anyway) to check is to look closely at your images, hopefully well focussed images, and see if there is any distortion of stars at the corners of the image.

How far out do you think your BF is ?

Steve

It must have worked otherwise I think the frames after the flip would be much further out that the slight rotation error you get there, a small crop is normal on all stacks to get rid of the uneven border, so I don't think there is anything wrong whatsoever there. 🙂 

Steve

1 minute ago, Andyy said:

Thanks! The setting is "ON"

But what happens then if I've used frame wizard and framed slightly off target center

It should re-centre to same position as before the flip, only just started using NINA but most software tries to platesolve to same coordinates as the images before the flip.

Steve

If not plate solving after the flip I am amazed it is not more severe.

I take it you do not have a rotator and so the images were upside down after the flip ?

If so them just as @ONIKKINEN says there will be some error after the flip.

Steve

Is anybody going to Kelling in September ?

Steve

I would see if PHD2 now runs without issues.
If this is the only issue then maybe not a problem, I don't know what exposure time you normally use for guiding bit I find generally the best for me is betweem 1.5 and 4 seconds so maybe no real need to take the darks any longer than 4 seconds.

Anyway you have your darks library now that should be fine for several months now 🙂 

Steve

I have Baader ultra NB and I do get some halos on OIII as well but usually manageable.

Steve

11 minutes ago, Starflyer said:

Are you getting them in all channels, I'm not near my PC at the moment so can't split the image.

Do you have your filters fitted the right way round? What make are they?

Looks to be pretty much on all channels, mostly Green and Blue.

I certainly would make sure the filters are the correct way round, there is normally a mark on the outer edge of the filter to say which side points towards the scope/

Steve

They do exist but pretty rare in UK I think, I have seen a few on US sites, like This One

I personally would not think they are an ideal option as they have quite a tug on them as they extend so may cause some flexure on the camera as they get extended and of course there is only a small lug holding the plug in the camera or mount so if not inserted correctly could pull a plug out with the spring in the cable as they extend.

Just some thoughts, I might be over thinking the issue.

Steve

I know this will not help you much but just an observation.
I have compared the log files and generally all looks to be the same until it starts the 4.5 second exposures.
But my observation is that actually both the RPi and the Windows logs fail for two exposures at the start of the 4.5 second darks but the Windows seems to reconnect on the 3rd attempt where as the RPi gives up.

What does this mean, I really don't know but it seems the camera doesn't like 4.5 second exposures, or something in the software (either PHD2 or Camera driver) but windows seems to manage to reconnect okay.

Steve

Is camera direct to RPi then ?

And what is your Imaging camera, a long shot but if you remove that from the equation and just have the guide camera plugged in to the RPi does that work ?

Steve

Is this the first time with the ZWO guide camera or have you had it working previously ?

Is your imaging camera also ZWO I think certainly at one time there was an issue using two ZWO cameras that needed some sort of workaround with the drivers.

Are you using 8 bit or 16 bit in PHD2 ?

Also is the guide cam connected directly via a short USB to the Rpi or does it go through a USB hub or does it have a long usb cable ?

Steve

15 minutes ago, Lee_P said:

Thanks! I did try rotating it actually, but didn't like it quite as much. Maybe because I'd spent so much time looking at it the other way around, it just didn't seem right to me  😂

And quite right, no right or wrong, all personal preference and I still think it is a fantastic image 🙂 

Steve

That is a great image, only thing I would do it to rotate it 180 degrees but otherwise I love it 🙂 

Steve

It probably is fixable and if I had bought cheap 2nd hand is what I would be doing but if new I would take the refund.
I know its a pita when you have waited so long bot its a large chunk of cash so not worth the risk.
If you intend to use at some stage for imaging you want it to be reliable and to be assured once left in a sequence then clouds permitting it will work through the night, clear nights are precious in UK 🙂 
Also I think I misread your OP and thought you said minus 4 degrees but I think it is saying approximately 4 degrees isn't it, s if that's a positive 4 degrees then not really even that cold.

So Up to you but FLO are good and if they are being honest and saying they cannot test so the refund may be the best option

Steve

So are FLO sending a replacement mount or wanting to repair and return the same mount?

Diagnosing this issue could take sometime and might need the mount to be in sub zero temperatures for quite a while to let all the components soak and get to that temperature which may not be easy  without a large freezer (might be what FLO have tried).

It could be a component issue or a dry solder joint that is made worse at the very cold temperatures and components, solder contracting.
 

Steve

I am probably not the best person to help with this as many on SGL far more knowledge but they will probably need some more info such as the guide logs fro,m PHD2.

There was another thread on here very recently almost same issue i don't know if there is anything on there that may help
i-cant-seem-to-guide-anymore-phd2-not-giving-me-round-stars

Steve

1 hour ago, vlaiv said:

I use milliseconds for my flats with ASI1600. They work just fine.

I had issues with short flats on my ASI1600 and also was advised on SGL to use exposures over 1 second. Now without looking back at my notes I am not sure how short they were but I would thing still in the 100mS + I would have thought.
The issue I got was intermittent banding and after I thought about it afterwards the issue was probably more to do with my old flat panel flickering than the camera.

But, out of habit I have sort of kept up with the flats at 3 or 4 seconds, as much as anything because with my new flat panel I can get good 3 or 4 second flats for all my filters, which with much shorter exposures would not suit my NB filters, meaning I can use the same dark for calibration without needing PI to use scaling.
They seem to work okay, just take a bit longer to take.

Is there any advantage then (apart from time) to taking fast flats as opposed to 3 or 4 seconds ?

Steve

Have you downloaded TinyCad to draw the schematic first ?

TinyCAD

Steve

That's one of those sunsets that makes you glad to be alive to witness it, beautiful image 🙂 

Steve

@daz Sorry to be impatient (always have been) any firm news on this event ?

Steve

22 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I assume you must have an auto rotator then? I am not wanting to split files up that much to be honest and I chop and change between Target or Date at the top level but beyond that having everything else below that is ok for me.

Yes also fro DSD.

23 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

I'm not sure I totally understand why you want to have a separate structure as you mentioned though, maybe I'm just being dim 🙂 If you chose not to do darks unless you need them why do you end up with unwanted ones?

Okay maybe a bit OTT just that I dont really need the filter, or focus position or rotation angle in darks but I want them in the flats and lights, also I would want a different sun folder structure and lastly do not want a target name and if I leave the target name out it still puts the underscores in.
Like I say it is not something I cant live with but would be nice to specify different file and directory paths and probably not a big job.

26 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

IBTW I think we should start a NINA thread 🙂

Probably are several already but yes would be good to share ideas and tips 🙂 

Steve

Its been a long while since I did any home made PCB stuff, till have the heat bath and stuff mind. However, I think if I did it again I would be really tempted to get it made for me, they seem pretty cheap these days and by the time you buy the Ferric Chloride, copper clad board, small drills etc (if not SM components) probably not much more and will be a better job.
Or if it is small can you not use veroboard ?

Steve

54 minutes ago, scotty38 said:

Now I'm thinking of one of these and can take flats associated with the target and the camera rotation etc I amended my NINA file naming so now everything gets saved in the "Target" directory along with the related flats etc so they can be more easily tied together.

 

This is my current pattern, might tweak it yet though. I have camera rotation and focusser position just so I can see how much the focusser moves in a session, problem I see is that I end up with unwanted additions in the darks files that annoys me, such as filter and now the rotation angle and focusser position.

I would like to see the ability to specify different paths and subfolder paths along with different pattern filenames for darks and maybe even flats, maybe I will put this request in at some stage.

Steve