Ian McCallum

1 minute ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

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

I had noticed that it seemed to hang around the 4.5 sec mark, after repeating the test a lot of times.

10 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

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

Yes, it's plugged directly into one of the RPi's USB2 ports.  I've tried all the ports including the USB 3 ones, but still getting the same problem.  It's like PHD2 on RPi doesn't like exposure times of over 3.5 seconds. I have tried to increase the timeout timer on the advanced settings upto over a minute, but it makes no difference. I've not attached any imaging cameras at this time, only the ASI120MM mini as the guide camera.

Here's two PHD2 log files, one from the RPi and the other from my laptop...

PHD2_DebugLog_2022-02-02_112400.txt PHD2_DebugLog_2022-02-02_130836.txt

1 hour ago, alacant said:

Hi

Try the phd2 internal así driver as well as indi-asi.

But anyway, best to post the indi and phd2 logs. Then we'll have a much better chance. Otherwise, we can only guess.

Any reason you're using phd2? EKOS has en excellent guider so no need for third party apps. Keep it simple?

Cheers

I liked the simplicity of the layout, plus I'd used it on my laptop successfully (as in no dropped camera connections). 

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

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

I've had it working previously, it's about a month old. I'm using 8 bit with PHD2. I've tried the half metre supplied cable, the two metre supplied one, plus one I use for charging my smartphone - all with the same results. 

I ran the dark library set up on PHD2 on my laptop, with exposure lengths from 1 second to 30 seconds - it worked fine on that! 😮

I've run a new equipment profile on Astroberry, with PHD2. I've plugged in the ZWO ASI 120MM mini guide camera to the Raspberry Pi and have run the new profile wizard in PHD2. 

It detects the camera okay, but disconnects from the camera when I'm building a dark library. I'm using the default min time of 1 sec and max time of 5 secs. It seems to throw a wobbly doing the longer exposures. 

I even tried another micro SD with a fresh install of Astroberry on, but was still getting errors. 

I tested PHD2 on my laptop and it worked fine.

Any thoughts, please? 🤔

The man from DPD delivered this, from Auntie @FLO. 

Can I do house dust, because I have astronomical amounts of it?🤔🤣

Here's what I've found... 

Firstly, that RA knob was slipping on the shaft a bit, as it appeared to be a bit bent. Looking at the rotation of the shaft, it looks okay. I think the knob was partially rubbing against the bearing adjustment nut during it's rotation. I sorted that out and it's turns more freely now. 

I also found that the two grubs screws holding the brass cog to RA motor shaft had came a bit loose. Again, that was soon sorted. 

The Dec was also sorted to make it more free running. 

If you compare the video below with my previous video, you can see there's less play in the shafts. 

I now hope that helps solve the problems, somewhat. 🤞

7 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Something is not right with this mount / setup.

Did you forget to tighten DEC clutch?

It almost looks like mount is not responding to DEC corrections. DEC should be fairly stationary on its own if everything is setup right.

Although it looks like backlash - there is simply too much of it to be real backlash. I mean - look at this:

That is 15" P2P DEC excursion over 4 minutes that is not corrected properly with like bunch of pulses.

Cable snag? Strong wind? Very poor balance?

Not even sure what to recommend as a first step.

I'd say - check mechanics of the mount and scope. Check balance, check if anything is loose to the touch - including guide scope (maybe this is just massive differential flexure in DEC?) and camera to guide scope connection.

 

The Dec clutch was tightened. The wind had dropped off, that evening, but guiding was hampered by passing clouds. 

There was no cable snags or anything like that. 

The only thing lose was the play in the motors and gears, even though they are tight on the shafts. 

8 hours ago, michael8554 said:

I see from your GuideLog that RA, Dec and Guidespeed are not being reported from the mount, so you are ST-4 guiding ?

With ST-4 you must Calibrate on every new target.

Calibration took 7 steps in RA and Dec, but Dec included clearing 15 steps of Backlash before Dec Calibration started.

It is well worth clearing that Backlash by pulsing north until the guidestar moves consistently, THEN Calibrate.

But the guiding shows that RA and Dec are both "stiff", and so not responding to PHD2 commands - Dec took 2 minutes to correct at one point !

Both worms need adjusting.

PHD2 Dec Backlash Compensation was disabled, which doesn't help.

After a good Calibration, run the PHD2 Guide Assistant with Measure Backlash ticked, that will advise a starting setting for Dec Backlash Compensation.

Michael

Yes, I'm using ST4 guiding. Can gear slop cause or contribute to backlash? 🤔

Here's a video I made earlier. The first one is the Dec and the second one is the RA. Judge for yourself which has the greatest amount of play in it. 

I'm getting to the point where I'm thinking about giving up, before I spend any more money on it. 

I'm not getting the chance to do any experiments with it or experience, due to the very poor weather we've had recently! ☹️

17 minutes ago, kens said:

Your problem looks more like dec backlash.

Your calibration is also not great. Did you calibrate on your target? The rates indicate not but that could be due to any number of things. The dec rate vs RA rate indicate calibration at a declination of around 33 degrees

A good calibration is essential for guiding. Yours is orthogonal (good) but based on only a few data points. Ideally you want about 10-15 points along each leg. That is determined mainly by the calibration step size. If you use the profile wizard to set things up it normally calculates the step size correctly as long as you input the correct guide rate. If you didn't use the wizerd then set up a new profile using it and try again. Otherwise, recalculate the step size in the brain. You should be using a step size of around 400ms (vs 1200ms) to get a reaonable number of calibration steps.

A reasonably good polar alignment is also needed for calibration but I don't see the telltale signs of very poor polar alignment in your calibration (a vee shaped RA calibration leg). Since you have both Astroberry and PHD2 you can ditch the polar scope and use any of the excellent PA methods in those tools. As a starter I'd suggest using the Polar Drift Alignment (PDA) in PHD2 as it is quick and easy. The EKOS PA too in Astroberry is also very good and more accurate but a little more involved. Both are easier and more accurate than using a polar scope and do not rely on a good calibration to work.

After you calibrate then run the PHD2 Guiding Assistant including the backlash measurement. That will tell you more about what is going on.

 

I did align it on the target and calibrated it. 

Regarding your other comments, I can't answer them as I simply don't know. ☹️

I'm not sure exactly where to post this, so apologies if it's in the wrong place...

There was a couple of hours of clearish sky, promised last night.  I bought out the EQ5 Deluxe mount with Enhance dual axis motor drives (mouthful), used a spirit level to get the tripod level and used a compass app on my phone to get a bearing of due North.  I polar aligned the best I could, through the polar scope and added the mount.  Once I got everything attached and the ZWO ASI 120MM mini guide camera attached to the guide scope, I then set up the RPi (with Astroberry loaded).

I focused to tracking the Orion Nebula, but it was a bit hit and miss with clouds rolling by.  I don't think my guide was good enough, perhaps due to polar alignment. 

Could someone take a look at these screenshots and logs and let me know what you think, please?🤔  Please be gentle, I'm new to guiding and AP.😛😂

PHD2_DebugLog_2022-01-29_200609.txt PHD2_GuideLog_2022-01-29_200609.txt

I'm drawn towards the ZWO ASI 224MC for planetary photography.

My two telescopes are a Sky-Watcher Classic 200P Dobsonian and Evostar 120 achromatic refractor.

Based on their focal length, it looks like I'd need either a 2x-2.5x Barlow.

Any suggestions that isn't going to break the bank? 🤔

4 hours ago, Adam J said:

I suspect you mean quantum efficiency which is only one thing of lots of things to consider when choosing a camera. It being nearly impossible to take the conversation further without knowing what the rest of your setup will be, your budget and what. You intend to image. 

My interest is mostly planetary and lunar, so I'll be using a SW Evostar 120 achromatic refractor on a EQ5 Deluxe mount, with Enhanced dual axis motor drives.  I'll be using a ZWO ASI 120MM mini camera for guiding. My budget is upto £250, so either the ASI 224 MC or ASI 462 MC.  What I'm trying to figure out is what the graphs below mean for me, as a beginner in planetary and lunar astrophotography?🤔

Shamelessly pinched from Auntie @FLOwebsite.😉

I'm finding the choice of ZWO ASI cameras somewhat bewildering. 

There appears to be different sensitivity to certain parts of the light spectrum, depending on the model. That's even amongst either planetary or DSO types. I'm focusing on the colour models here, so excuse the pun. 

How do you choose what you need in regards to this difference in wavelength sensitivity? 🤔

37 minutes ago, Ande said:

With global warming it very much appears that clear nights are on the decline. Is there a website anywhere that has catalogued the amount of clear nights per annum over the last few decades or so? If there is, I’d be very interested to see some of the data.

We're catching up with Venus.🙄

32 minutes ago, johninderby said:

While an IR cut filter can be useful the IR pass filter is also usefull

FLO offers the 462 as a set with an IR cut filter and a Methane filter.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/zwo-cameras/zwo-asi462mc-kit-with-125-ch4-ir-cut-filters.html

I'll try to avoid jokes about needing a personal methane filter!🤣

48 minutes ago, johninderby said:

That should be OK.

The subject of filters creates a lot of discussion with these cameras. I’m sure someone who knows a lot more than me about it will be along shortly.

I've just reread your reply, I really should put my reading glasses on more often!😂  You mentioned an IR pass filter, but the one I've got is an IR cut filter. 🙄

6 minutes ago, johninderby said:

The 462 is a newer camera with increased sensitivity but has smaller pixels than the 424 so matching pixel size to your  scope is important. I chose the 462 for my CC8” f12 as the pixel size is ideal.

There are online calculators that will help selecting the right pixel size.

The much increased sensitivity in IR means the 462 will work really well with an IR pass filter for planetary imaging. . 

 

I bought one of these, when I bought the ASI 120MM mini - will that do the job?

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/astro-essentials-filters/astro-essentials-uvir-cut-filter-125-2.html

Apart from the price difference, can someone explain to me in layman's terms, the difference between these two cameras please?  🤔

Another option could be a spare finderscope and adapter.  I had a spare Sky-Watcher straight through 9x50 finderscope and added an adapter to the back of it, to use with my ZWO ASI 120MM mini camera.

Don't how useful this may be to some people, but you can turn off the LEDs on the Raspberry Pi.

I suppose it's one less source of attention to your expensive astro gear? 🤔

https://youtu.be/DnDhUFRhFvQ

13 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

Don’t worry about indi web manger, when you run Kstars and Ekos, and create a profile, then click start, it will automatically start the indi server, you should never have to start it manually, it’s just not needed, let Ekos take care of all that…

My mistake, it wasn't missing!🙄  It doesn't appear on the Astroberry desktop on the monitor, but only if you use a web browser on the remote computer (laptop, in  my case), if that makes sense?🤔  Because I'd gone from using the web browser to VNC Viewer, that's why it 'disappeared'...  Newbie mistake.🙄  Here's a screen shot of the Astroberry connected through my laptop browser, to show it's 'back'.😳