teoria_del_big_bang

43 minutes ago, Rustang said:

Just to add, I know I couldn't see or hear anything for RA when trying manual controls, well i have just noticed that when moving in DEC you can see the numbers change in the 'Mount Position' panel in ASCOM, so should I also see the numbers change for RA when trying the manual controls because that would surely mean there's still an issue not just me not seeing or hearing anything!?

I have put it all away now so can't check at moment but I am pretty sure you don't see them change in Ra because they are in Hrs, Min, Secs and so changing all the time as the earth rotates unless you are in tracking mode then the mount is moving to keep up with the earths rotation. I think they have made PHD2 corrections ignored by Ra position because they are corrections to a wrong position not actual adjusting the position it thinks it is.

 I think that is right but I could be talking out of my backside so some confirmation from some other member would help.

Steve

yes put it to 0.5

Basically yes. In APT you can Platesolve which will revolutionize your imaging and  star aligning will be a thing of the past but suggest we leave this for another day. Its not hard in fact once setup its just a matter of take a short exposute, platesolve it and the mount will then correct any error in position and go to the correct position in the sky.

Steve

Make sure you are not parked then click the button ringed in red

From what I remember that looks okay

Ah good. With the guiderate at 0.5 it is very (very) difficult to see any change (although I suspect you are right) but can you change the guiderate using the handset to 1 (or higher if you can - on my old version 1 is maximum but I think on newer versions may be able to go to 2).

At 1 it actually stops rotating when you press west and if you keep pressing west it is pretty easy to see it stops (even though it may move very slightly between presses). At 2 if that is possible it should go the other way.

If that fails then something is wrong. But do not give up if the new st4 cable is the same I think you just ditch it and use proper pulse guiding via EASCOM if you now have that working.

Steve

20 minutes ago, bottletopburly said:

If you are connected to a pc lose the st4 and hand controller buy a fdti chipset type eqdirect cable such a lynx Astro cable from flo , honestly your just complicating everything for yourself 👍 .

That was suggested early on but the OP wanted to keep the handset plugged in which is why he wanted to stick with the ST-4 cable.

Now the last few posts suggests he may have done the mod to be able to plug it into the handset instead of the mount itself and use both handset and computer.

That being the case then yes he can forget the ST4 cable and use EQASCOM an pulse guiding.

Steve

1. Click on Img tab in top RH corner.

2. Then click on the current path.

3. Select the directory where the image is.

4. Double click on the image you want to platesolve.

5. Select Image Preview: On (Flt)

6. Stretch the image on main screen.

7. You should then be able to platesolve it (I think anyway). Either tyoe in approxomate Ra and Dec positions of object and solve or blindsolve it, which may take sometime.

Steve

35 minutes ago, Rustang said:

I've had a quick go, did what you said Steve and still no movement what so ever, however having ago in EQASCOM today I can move all directions now by using the manual controls on that interface so that's somehow working!! When the new ST4 cable arrives I will try that later. 

Well that's something.

When you say no movement if you are in sidereal tracking then the Ra motor should be moving without PHD2 even running or having any interaction with the manual  guide buttons. It should rotate about 1 rev in 60 seconds or so in an anticlockwise direction. Are you saying it is totally still?

If so then you did not select sidereal tracking first which if my theory about the firmware is right it will not do anything when you use manual guide.

Also when you press any of the manual guide buttons do you see any text appear bottom RH of PHD screen ? If it does can you get a screen shot of it or write down what it says it should be there for 5 seconds or so.

Steve

3 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

First I saw the best OU4 I've ever seen. Then I read '47 hours.'  Congratulations on both! 😁

Olly

Definitely best I have seen - really well done 🙂 

Steve

I just searched for "PHD2 ST-4 cable not working".

But I had a think last night and for sure your firmware in the mount will be different to mine. My mount is well old and uses a much simpler handset than yours so the firmware has to be different.

What the above tests were for were to see if your mount would act the same as mine but we are doing something that you would never do in the real world, that is using the manual guide buttons in PHD2 without the mount tracking. (just so you can detect movement in the Ra motor when using the manual guide buttons). We would never do that because without the mount tracking in the first place the star would disappear out of view pretty quickly on the PHD2 screen and so pressing any of the manual guide buttons would do nothing to keep the star in view.

So maybe the firmware in your mount only enables the manual guiding when the mount is in sidereal tracking mode, which makes it very difficult to tell whether the east and west buttons are working because they only speed the rotation up or slow it down but if you press the north button say 20 times (wait at least 5 seconds in between presses) then you should see the dec motor move and same with south.

If you then put the guiderate up to 1 (should be 0.5 now) or higher if it will then you might see the Ra motor speed up when east is pressed and it should actually stop for 5 seconds when west is pressed. I will try that later.

Steve

I have done a bit of a search and whilst not a common problem other have had this issue and major causes seems to be the st-4 cable  or unfortunately the circuit board in the mount.

Steve

No worries mate, just sorry we can't seem to get yours work same as mine.

Where abouts do you live, maybe there is a SGL member very close to you can help ?

Oh well I had sort of accumed in the last posts I sent you still only had the handset connected.

But not sure that actually matters, I have tried with the EQDir cable, with the handset and even without anything plugged in (no handset - socket left bare) and in all three instances the manual guiding works as described in previous posts. The only way I can stop it working is if I unplug the ST-4 cable.

So I am really now at a loss where to go, but if you want to use the ST-4 cable then I would go back to using the handset as it was, no need to do anything else as yet.

Go back to handset  make sure you can move it in Ra and Dec, whilst cover is off check when in sidereal rate it is the Ra motor that moves in anticlockwise direction then at least all is working there and only guidong not working.

Steve

Ah so have you ditched the handset now and using a EQDir cable and Eqascom to control the mount ?

While the cover is off does the Ra motor move when sidereal rate is enabled on the handset ?

I would try a new ST4 cable, sounds unlikely but otherwise it is something in the mount or camera, there the only things in the loop.

Oh forgot to add, to check North South East and west make sure sidereal rate is off so both motors stationary.

Had to press east 5 times (again wait at least 5 seconds between each ress) to move Ra motor 1/4 turn anticlockwise.

Had to press West 8 times to move Ra motor 1/4 turn again anticlockwise.

Had to press North 20 times to move Dec motor 1/4 clockwise.

Had to press south 20 times to move Dec motor 1/4 turn anticlockwise.

Steve

Oh by the way do not have sound on our cat was going mad and thats all you can hear 🙂 

I am sure it is all working. I think that the problem is these movements are so small and the noise is so quiet you are probably not detecting it.

If you are determined to prove it is working all I can suggest is you take off the side panel covering the motors and observe the motors moving.

Just to give you an example this is my Ra motor moving in sidereal tracking mode and it takes around 15 seconds to do one revolution. Watch the arrow I have marked on the end of the Ra motor.

Yours may look slightly different with gears instead of the belt and large timer pulley but the motors will be the same.

Notice in this video how long it takes for 1/4 revolution of Ra motor when in sidereal tracking mode (following earths rotation).

Now when you use the manual guiding whilst in sidereal rate pressing east just speeds up that rotation by 50% and pressing west slows it down 50% so very difficult to detect. And notice the for North hemisphere it moves anti clockwise.

When not in sidereal rate both motors will be stationary. Whilst like that pressing east moves the Ra motor ever so slightly again anticlockwise and what may sound odd is that pressing west also moves it in the same direction anticlockwise. That may sound odd but really this manual guiding can only be done when the mount is already tracking in sidereal mode so overall the Ra motor would still go in same direction (in this case anticlockwise) but would go faster when guiding east and slower when guiding west.

Pressing north or south does move the dec motor but very small amounts. North I had to press it 20 times (waiting 5 seconds in between each ress to allow movement to stop) to make motor turn 1/4 turn clockwise and same with south but it went anticlockwise.

If I disconnect the ST-4 cable then no movement of motors but also no faults.

2 minutes ago, Rustang said:

Yeah changed to 5000 So try the manual controls with the mount turned on, no sidereal!? If that's the case then no sounds heard that way either!

yes.

Well I am stumped now it worked fine on mine. All I can think is to try another ST-4 cable. Unlikely it has failed but it is possible.

Okay as it is now - dont change anything  Can you take some screen shots of anything you can on HD2 and also a couple of pictures of your setup showing where the cables are going.

Steve

Have you changed the duration to 5000 mS ?

Try stopping the sidereal tracking with the handset then so then the ticking sound should stop and try again.

8 minutes ago, feverdreamer1 said:

Thank you for your comments, I installed PS today and it does look much more powerful, looking forward to install some plugins too, as I've heard they make wonders.

You're right, cloudy nights dont come quite often, although the main problem for me is the LP,  another problem is dew, I have to check it every 10 -15 min, and I found this out by experience (had to throw away 60 x 1.5 minutes lights)

Clear skies!

LP, yes the plague of many of us. I am on the edge of a town and do have LP but not that bad. Best move I ever made was to a dedicated mono Astro camera and ND filters. It's a big (and expensive) move from DSLR but can pay dividends.

Steve

Nice, certainly nothing wrong with the colours there, looks great 🙂 

Steve