woldsweather

18 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

The PHD2 screen will show a bright noisy frame when no stars are present, so try gentle pulses in RA, the screen will change to dark with stars when stars are in the FOV.

Michael

My neighbour has many years experience of using PHD and he can't get anything.

19 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

According to the SharpCap Control Panel, you are taking 8 second exposures, so the image is extremely over exposed.

Try again at 1 second on a bright star.

It does look like you are close to focus though. 

If it does need collimating, which is what earlier posts suggest is the cure, then it would be worth first checking in the old-school way of looking at the out-of-focus Airy Rings.

With SharpCap in Video mode to give continuous images.

But PHD2 is very forgiving of star shape, witness it's success at guiding coma-shaped stars with OAGs.

I would ditch the Bahtinov Mask and use the HFD reading in the Star Profile window, adjust focus for lowest HFD.

Michael

Yes I'm wishing I hadn't posted that image we tried every conceivable level of gain and low exposure. Just got a fainter image of the above.

I've done that these past 4/5 evenings but I've always given up and switched to Polemaster. Its not in focus and it doesnt come into focus by the normal means. There have never been any stars showing in PHD's screen but as I'm new to this I didn't realise there should be. I have wasted the whole winter 6 month period over this.

PHD won't hold a star at all. No stars show on the PHD screen and SharpStar is very poor at finding stars.

I have the same issue with my GPCAM guide/finder scope. It was new 6 months ago. I have never seen a really sharp image with it. Is this likely to be a collimating issue?

Altair GPCAM2 130 Mono Guide Imaging EAA Camera

Altair 10x60mm RACI Finder Scope 

Altair 72 EDF Refractor with CNC Dual Speed R&P Focuser Optical Test Report - Add 1.0x Flattener:Add Flattener, Choose Version:Deluxe CNC (Imaging)

EQM-35 PRO mount

18 hours ago, woldsweather said:

Its the Altair 10x60mm RACI Finder Scope . Ah yes the camera does rotate extremely easily. I have been caught out by misting up but I have a dewband on and regularly check. How do you get around the problem of the image rotating out of view when you try and focus?

BY thumbscrew do you mean the 3 screws holding the camera in?

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Earlier you said "I came back out and swopped over the SD card"

Did you stop guiding to do that, then reselect Tracking ?

Michael

I did this again last night but it stopped tracking after that.

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Earlier you said "I came back out and swopped over the SD card"

Did you stop guiding to do that, then reselect Tracking ?

Michael

I havent successfully got guiding working yet.

25 minutes ago, Padraic M said:

I don't know for sure, but this may not be a suitable scope for polar alignment. I haven't seen anyone else using a right-angled corrected image finder for PA - will Sharpcap plate solving be able to work with a mirrored and corrected image? Also, is that focuser a non-rotating helical focuser? It doesn't say it in the spec so it's probably not. If your polemaster works well for you then keep using that.

This is the one I use:
https://www.altairastro.com/starwave-50mm-guide-scope-straight-thru-with-non-rotating-helical-focuser-no-eyepiece-2496-p.asp

I've never had a problem with the star moving out of frame when I'm focusing. If you're not happy with your PA, then use Polaris for an initial focus. Don't try to focus on another star until your PA is accurate. You can always fine-tune your focus on Capella or Arcturus later.

Don't manually centre Capella to correct the star alignment. The whole point is to use the app (or hand controller) to correct the alignment so the mount realises that it got it wrong. It can then correct its internal sky model and identify where the celestial pole is wrt the alignment stars. If you manually centre the alignment star the mount can't correct its model. While it may get the 2nd star location correct, it still doesn't have a fix on the CP so there's no guarantee that it will Goto a 3rd star reliably.

I'm not using a right angle corrected image I have the GPCAM on instead of the corrector and eyepiece.

1 hour ago, Padraic M said:

Which guide scope have you got the GPCAM camera attached to? I have the Starwave 50 so I understand to some extent what you're saying but it sounds like you need to make sure your connectors on the guidescope are tightened properly, and that the thumbscrew lock on the focuser is loosened. The focuser camera shouldn't rotate when you change focus. I find that it's useful to use the thumbscrew as a focusing lever for fine focus, but it's not essential to have the guidescope perfectly in focus. No need for a Bahtinov mask.

Dedicated guide scopes don't have r&p focusers and don't need them. Once you've got reasonable focus, you should just lock the thumbscrew and try not to knock it out. No need to ever focus again. 

The other option that occurred to me - have you checked if the guidescope has fogged up? That would impact on visibility. I have dew straps for the main scope and the guide scope.

Its the Altair 10x60mm RACI Finder Scope . Ah yes the camera does rotate extremely easily. I have been caught out by misting up but I have a dewband on and regularly check. How do you get around the problem of the image rotating out of view when you try and focus?

No I have never heard of the pin hole in foil method. I shall give that a go though thanks. Tonight I have the moon to focus on so I was going to start with that before it got dark then move on to a star. I wasn't guiding when I swapped out the SD card. I obnly discovered it hadnt been tracking this morning when I downloaded the lights. So no I didn't reselect tracking. I don't know if the device went to sleep because as I say I only discovered this morning it hadn't been tracking.

Last night Sharpcap wouldn't work at all. A couple of star images on screen were very blurry so I decided to find a bright star and use the Bahtinov mask. Unfortunately Sirius is below trees by the time its dark so used Capella. I have grown to really hate the helical focuser on the Altair GPCAM . There werent even the expected 3 rays to centre, it was just a blurr. You turn the focusser to sharpen and the star image moves with the focusers rotation. Before you know it the star has drifted offscreen any way  as the mounts not tracking at this point . Eventually my hands were so cold I had to give up on this and PA with P{olemaster. That done I did 2* alignment (when sent to the first star - Capella in the west the scope slewed towards the Plough. I manually centred Capella the went to 2nd star and Procyon was nearly centre frame. I them went to M86 and to a 30s exp. Huge trails. Mount clearly not working. I went into the synscan app and clicked on tracking and it showed the RA and DEC reading as they were changing. It had commenced tracking. After leaving it an hour taking 1min exps I came back out and swopped over the SD card to have a look how it was doing. The 1 min exp,s were fine. THis morning I have just looked at the second batch of lights after I had swopped out cards and the mount had stopped working - huge trails. Would it be expected that by replacing an SD card you have to ensure tracking is running?

If there is such a thing as a guidescope with a rack and pinion focuser I'd be very tempted.

22 hours ago, carastro said:

Yes that's correct. 

Yes I agree with above, if your mount points to the ground on first try, it must surely be trying to get a star on the other side of the world.  By then moving the mount manually, you are not "telling" the mount it is pointing in the wrong place and therefore it thinks it has it right, so next time it will do the same again. 

One really basic user error is you need to have the date in the American format.  i.e.  yesterday was 04:12.21  Not the English way around.   If you put it in the English way around the mount will think it is the 4th December and will be looking for what is in the sky in early December.  

It doesn't sound promising though if your experienced friend thinks it is not tracking.  Assuming you have the correct power to the  mount it sounds possibly faulty.  If it is still under guarantee I would have a chat with your retailer. 

Carole 

  

I can't see anywhere whewre you input the date?

On 13/04/2021 at 12:40, happy-kat said:

What mount are you using?

For inputting correct details the Android app synscaninit is very good. 

Mount is EQM-35 PRO

On 13/04/2021 at 11:28, AstroMuni said:

Check that it has your location coords correctly. Also it can sometimes think you are in Southern hemisphere and move your scope incorrectly. There is a park option in Synscan. When you execute that check where it puts the scope - that is where it thinks the Home position is. You can move your scope manually to the correct position after your have parked the scope to adjust.

I still can't find this park option.

O rightio O maybe I'll see it tonight thewn when I start using the pro I had thought I was using.

7 hours ago, Zermelo said:

I only use AZ mode, but when I do a 2-star alignment, I have to slew to the first star myself. If I do a 3-star alignment, the mount does a goto for the first star.
?

 

"common" as in, consistently, or just frequently?

As @Gfamily says above, most of the problems like this are caused when people are using the handset and entering the data incorrectly. The app usually does everything correctly (but do check that the location and time are being relayed properly).

This couldn't be a left-arm/right-arm thing could it? I believe there are different versions of the firmware depending on which way round you mount the OTA.

Can you explain how to do a 3 * alignment? My synscan app only has 1 and 2* ?

Apparently I had both synscan apps on my phone and wasn't using the pro though someone said this didn't matter. C;lear skies tonight and I think I have sorted a back focus issue so getting there slowly.

I havent been using it this morning. It doesnt always point to the ground, recently it jst moved a very tiny amount from the home position.

I have input the lat long positions now they were pretty close. My phone says no location sensor which seems odd as it works fine as satnav or walking with OS maps.

6 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

I think its the Hibernate button on the Synscan Pro app. I have this on my phone but never used it as I control via Pi and EQMOD.

Just checked I had Synscan pro installed and I had but also Synscan and I had been using this rather than pro the last 6 months. Don't know what difference that would make.

13 hours ago, irtuk said:

Go and get the  android app "SYNSCANINIT"

I had pretty much the same thing going on and it was down to the mount date / time format being MM / DD / YYYY . I had been setting DD/MM/YYYY

Synscan init will tell you exactly what to put in the settings

 

Ed.

 

I can't find anywhere in Synscan pro to put the date/year

1 hour ago, irtuk said:

Go and get the  android app "SYNSCANINIT"

I had pretty much the same thing going on and it was down to the mount date / time format being MM / DD / YYYY . I had been setting DD/MM/YYYY

Synscan init will tell you exactly what to put in the settings

 

Ed.

 

I just went to download it and I already have it on my phone. How do you use it then? Does it make sure synscan is using the right data? Do you run it every time before you run synscan?

Many thanks for the detailed response I shall print off and work through it.

21 minutes ago, M40 said:

When I first started using the HEQ5 I frequently had the telescope pointing in the wrong direction for the first star. It proved to be user error in setting the mount home position. Once I realised the error of my ways the mount now behaves, so first off, can I suggest you start with making sure the mount home position is ok. Next I found I had to do numerous corrections on the fast moving solar system stuff, this proved to be polar alignment. Get them two sorted and I think the rest will fall into place. As Padraic M said, if the hand controller is available start with that if you can. I can help with finding the home position on an HEQ5 which may translate to your mount, post away of you would like my method likewise there is an excellent polar alignment method on here, post away if you would like me to find it. HTH.

When you say making sure the mount home position is correct can you explain? I am very familiar with where Polaris will be in my garden and even setting up in a different part of the garden I usually have Polaris visible in the polarscope from my first guess. I have never used the hand controller hust the app and am familiar with that. It would be another learning curve starting with the hand controller. My neighbour who has 60+ years experience watched over me do the PA last night and was happy we had a good PA. Then a 30sec shot of M86 showed long star trails - the mount wasn't even tracking.

43 minutes ago, happy-kat said:

What mount are you using?

For inputting correct details the Android app synscaninit is very good. 

The mount is an EQM-35 Pro