Detec

1 hour ago, Elp said:

I've had similar but sounds like you've got the experience using it to troubleshoot the usual issues. I've only ever had it due to the following:

1. The obvious doh moment but the scope is too low and pointing to a building/fence,

2. Dewed over scope, even a little,

3. FWHM stars around 4+, this sometimes happens also due to point 2.

Have you got another camera you can try whilst the 585 is doing its no-go as that will eliminate the asi air unit being the route cause, I sometime switch on the fly between guidescope cam and main cam if I get issues which sometimes helps fault finding whilst outside.

I checked if the lens had dew but it was fine.

1 hour ago, Budgie1 said:

Did you change the scope focal length setting in the ASIAir from your C8 to that of the ED120, or are they the same?

I changed the focal length and also tried entering "0" so it would decide itself.

All I could think about in the end is that ASIair was a bit corrupted somehow. So today I have reset to factory and then updated. The only problem now is I probably have to wait five or six weeks for a clear night.

Good morning, Last night I actually had a clear night for the first time in weeks. I got out my new ASI 585mc camera and decided to take pics of Jupiter on my ED-120 refractor.

I hadnt connected the ASI 585mc to the refractor before, I had it on my celestron C8 and it worked perfectly. But last night I could not get the ASIair plus to polar align, it would not plate solve. I thought maybe my focusing was out so I used the bahtenov mask to obtain perfect focus. It found 43 stars but I still could not polar align & plate solve.  I tried powering off and starting again and still the same. The ASIair has version 1.91 (9.97) running which has been fine up till now. So I am wondering if the problem was connecting the ASI585mc to the refractor could be the problem or the ASIair?

In the end I tried ignoring the polar alignment, and tried to goto Jupiter. It missed Jupiter but found 212 stars but still wouldnt plate solve. So I spent 3 hours and didnt do anything.

Has anyone else had this type of problem?

Hi, Can I somehow use my DSLR clip filters with a ZWO astro camera. Maybe some kind of filter draw for clip filters. This will save buying them again for the astro camera.

2 hours ago, Chefgage said:

Do you tell the mount to go to the home position using the asiair after polar aligning?  This is how I do it and I seem to remember a time I did not and went straight to the target from poloar aligning (so heq5 pro at 60 degrees from home position). The mount tried to plate solve the target but failed (it was obvious it would as it was pointing nowhere near the target) it then moved again but not to the correct position and tried and failed to plate solve again. After about the fourth time it finally managed to move and centre on the target.

Never had this issue when polar aligning, then send mount to home position, then slew to target and plate solve using asiair.

Up to now I never have had to set a home position. I always start off with the mount pointing north, and the 52 degrees latitude set up but I have never said return to a home position in the past and never had a problem. I dont even know how to set a home position in ASIAIR. But maybe I should look into that.  Also when I polar aligned it, it should know where it is and be able to go to a target?

Sorry guys I am leading you on a wild goose chase. I just realised I put the time into my synscan in dd-mm-yy format, what a pillock.

The only reason I was trying the handset was because my ASIAIR was taking me to the wrong place after polar alignment.  So I am back to my original fault now. Anyone know what could be wrong with my ASIAIR, which has been working good up to now.

So I will explain again, using my ASIAIR I polar align perfectly. Then I enter my plan, Flaming star nebula C31, 300 seconds 40 exposures. Now normally when I run the plan it drives perfecly to the object then plate solves and starts the exposures. But this time it points down at my garage wall, nowhere near C31. So I send it to Polaris, it drives there fine but then says it cannot plate solve, I dont know why because it previously did it.

So then I sent it to Capella which was pretty close to C31, and again it pointed down at the garage wall. This is the second outing it has done this. The power supply was fine. I even updated the ASIAIR to the latest firmware and it still did the same.

Any Ideas?

8 hours ago, AstroMuni said:

When you attach the scope on which side are the screws that hold the scope in the dovetail. I have noticed on mine that if I have the screws on right hand side I can get the wrong slew. I am sure this has something to do with home position, but havent delved too deep into the why.

Screws on the left. Its always been fine before. 

9 hours ago, Budgie1 said:

When you say you reset, what/how did you reset?

Have you sent the mount to the home position on the handset to confirm that it's pointing North & scope-up?

Sometimes, if the position is changed using the clutches, the mount will still have the old Home Position registered and will work from that to point at an object. Get the mount to put itself to where it thinks the Home Position is and then release the RA & DEC axis clutches and manually put the mount to the correct Home Position should sort the issue.

I turned off the power, and started from scratch, like I always used to do before having the ASIAIR.

Last time I had a clear night, I polar aligned using my ASIAIR then I put a plan in for C31 Flaming star neb.  When it should have slewed to C31, it just aimed at my garage wall, miles from C31. I couldnt get it right on the night, in the end I assumed my power bank was low and so the mount couldnyt slew right.

So tonight I did the same again, good polar alignment still using my ASIAIR, and again the mount slewed to the wrong place. Power bank was fine. I updated ASIAIR, still the same.

So I disconnected the asiair, and reset the mount and run it from the synscan. Polar aligned fine, the I chose singe star alignment and chose Capella in the east., and the mount slewed to the west. So I reset and started again, and again it to took me to the wrong part of the sky. Never had this problem before.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be wrong?

I have recently bought an ASIAIR Plus. A few nights ago I put an Ha filter in my DSLR. To polar align I had to make the ISO 6400 so the ASIAIR could see the stars and it was taking 10 second shots.

Then I changed my ISO to 1600 on the DSLR and the shot length to 300 seconds on my plan, then It started to slew to my target which was C31. But it could not plate solve because it couldnt see the stars on ISO 1600. How can I plate solve on ISO 6400 but then change the ISO to 1600 for the longer exposures.

Each time I change my plan on the ASIAIR it wants to first plate solve the target. Am I not understanding something here?

Thank you all for the replies and suggestions. I think I have a much better understanding now. I was using too many cables. I will just await a clear sky and give it another go.

Thank you all again for the time you have spent sorting my problem out.

Chris

22 hours ago, malc-c said:

APT doesn't control telescopes directly.  It controls cameras via ASCOM compliant drivers

You have two choices for the physical connection between the computer and the mount, and its an either / or choice.  

* Use a  suitable lead to connect to the Synsacn Handset.  This can either be a USB to serial connector and the standard serial cable that probably came with the mount. (This is a long cable that looks like a a telephone extension lead, but with a standard serial 9 pin connector at the other end, or a USB A to B cable depending on the version of handset you have), and then have the handset connected to the mount via the handset port on the mount.  You must have the handset set to PC-DIRECT mode in order for communications to pass through from the PC to the mount

* Use a dedicated EQDIR cable that replaces the handset altogether as it connects to the port the handset normally connects to and then the other end plugs into a USB port on the laptop / computer. 

You then need to run an ASCOM compliant "driver" for the telescope.  This will either be EQMOD or GSServer.  You will also need the ASCOM platform installed on the computer, which as you haven't said anything about any software reporting ASCOM related errors I think we can presume that this is already installed.

Then connect your main camera, and your guide camera directly to the computer via USB.  Forget about ST4 connections.  ST4 was mainly used for direct connection between the guide camera and mount with the handset in control, as you are using the computer to control the guiding and mount this isn't required.

Now even if you are connecting through the handset in PC_DIRECT mode forget the handset as a means of control.  Use a planetarium application such as CdC.  You will need to enter the location details and time into both EQMOD and CdC.  CdC should then be used to connect to the mount via EQMOD.  You can then unpark the scope and right click on a target and select slew to instruct the mount to move.

Then open up APT and PHD2.  Connect  PHD2 to the guide camera (again we're assuming the driver is installed) and the mount.  Do the usual calibrations etc and let it guide.  Then in APT select the main camera, and set up a sequence or take a test image.  All being well all the applications and hardware will play nice and you won't have any errors or issues.

Hope that helps... if you still have any issue then PLEASE explain to us exactly how you have set up the mount and what connections and software you are using....  I've made the assumption the computer is running windows... but could have wasted my time typing this reply if you are running LINUX as you haven't really been forthcoming with information.

 

 

My hand controller does'nt have a USB socket. It has the ST-4 connecter and the one that goes to the mount. I  use the EQDIR cable to connect the pc to the synscan controller, I thought I needed that for APT? If I dont connect the EQDIR cable APT wont recognise my mount. I have to put the hand controller in the PC Mode or, again, APT doesnt recognise my mount. I connect my guide camera to the mount with the ST-4 cable then the USB3 cable to the PC.

So I polar and star align using the Synscan, then I add the extra cables 1), The DSLR to the pc for APT to recgonise the camera. 2) The EQDIR from hand controller to the pc.

Then I launch the PHD2 and APT programs. I connect the guide camera to PHD2, and then I connect the ON Camera option on PHD2. I then  start it looping, let it find stars to guide on. Then I click on the guiding button, and it tries to calibrate. I get an error saying one axis isnt working and the it might not guide properly.

The Only way I can get it to calibrate is by disconnecting EQDIR cable from the hand controller.

I thought all this was needed?

I do have the Ascom platform installed and my PC operating system is windows.

I think I have too many cables connected by the sound of things.

3 hours ago, barbulo said:

I had the same problem you have but with a EQ-3. I only managed it to work when removing the ST4 cable guider-to-mount.

If you prefer to keep it, then you should NOT connect the Synscan to the PC, and do the star alignment and GOTOs from the hand controller.

If you connect the cam both to the mount and the PC (being this connected to the Synscan), it will duplicate the orders given to the mount.

Hope this helps.

I am only using APT so I can dither my pictures, so I dont know if I need the cables as I have them. I like to use the synscan for the goto function. But I was under the impression I had to connect the cable from the Synscan to the PC, so APT could work?

5 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Sounds like you have PHD2 AND APT both trying to "talk" to the mount at the same time.

If so, this requires a Software Hub, such as ASCOM POTH or ASCOM DeviceHub, to mediate.

Michael

I cant understand why everyone else just seems to connect and work. I followed Trevor Jones on AstroBackyard. He conects the guide camera to the mount, using the "On camera" setting, and everything works fine. I have three USB sockets on the laptop, so I connected as Trevor Jones did, using these three USB's. He polar & star aligns from the synscan, so I do that, then he plugs in the extra connections for the guiding and APT. So I did that. Then the calibrating on PHD2  says one axis isnt responding, and wont calibrate, and it wont calibrate until I unplug the cable from APT which goes into the Syscan hand controller.

4 hours ago, barbulo said:

If you disconnect the mount (Synscan HC) from the PC, where do you connect the guiding cam? To the mount or to the PC? 

I have the Guide cam connected to the PC and also to the mount. My DSLR connected to the PC, and the Synscan connects to the PC.

I find I cannot use APT and PHD2 together. Both work independently, but together my PHD2 wont calibrate, it says there is something wrong with one axis or the cables. Then the guiding doesnt work. If I disconnect APT and the cable to the Synscan controller on my HEQ5 Pro mount, the guiding calibrates and guides ok. APT says its connected to PHD2 ok.

Has anyone had this problem? Could it just be a setting somewhere?

I put a bigger battery in my power supply and it doesnt flash anymore.

Thanks Guys

When I'm guiding, should the power light on my HEQ5 pro mount be flashing on and off?

I had my first attempt at guiding last night all be it only short before our local clouds arrived. I polar aligned, then star aligned. Started the guiding and it worked. I took 2 m 30secs images with my celestron C8 with no star trails, where previously 45 secs was the max I could get. Great.

The only thing I didnt manage to work out was how to set exposure and gain to get the best guiding picture I could.

Thanks Guys

The targets I have captured in the past I couldnt see because of all the bad light polution. So I have to star align so the mount takes me there. Although I still cant see my target I trust the Goto function has positioned me correctly.  But I cant just goto a target until I star align.

Chris

Thanks Dave. I was just a little worried that once the mount was already tracking something , then th phd2 moves the mount about a bit to calibrate, I thought it might confuse the mount?

So I will polar and star align, goto the target which is then being tracked by the mount. Then I will start PHD2.

Hope im understanding this correctly.

Chris

No I just polar align like I always have with my synscan.

I have just received my ASI120mm mini and guide scope. While I decide whether to get the ASIAIR or not I am going to try guiding with PHD2 and laptop. I was watching a video today on how to set it all up. The guy says to first polar align my mount and then slew to the target before I start guiding.

Does this mean polar align then "star align"? So that the mount is already tracking? When PHD2 starts to calibrate, will this hurt the mount if its already tracking my target?

If this guy means only polar align then slew to target I cant always see the target so how can I slew to it? I have to star align then Goto to the target normally.

This might seem a basic question to the seasoned pro's but I havent used PHD2 before.

I just now read on the astrogeartoday website an article about the ASIAIR, but the one part that concerns me is

quote"Two-axis guiding on my German equatorial mounts, including the entry-level Sky-Watcher EQM-35, also worked well.  I encountered no issues with oscillations, runaway stars, or imprecise guiding — unless clouds moved in and the guide star disappeared. The app then proclaims “Star Lost,” in which case the autoguiding corrections can go wild, instead of just stopping."

"Going wild" are the words that are worrying me about this device. I dont think I would like my DSLR camera banging against a tripod leg.

Could this be the case?

Thanks for the replies. I too think this is a lot of money, and from what I read from varius places, some people have had quite a lot of trouble with this device. I dont know if it is the way it is setup or bugs in the software. But I was hoping if I just use it for guiding it might be ok.

I was thinking of getting an ASIAIR pro to save leaving my laptop outside. I only need it for guiding, but I was wondering; If a cloud comes over and blocks the guiding star, what would the ASIAIR do. Would it erratically move my mount about looking for the star, or would it just stop working? Because I dont want to get anything broken. Would the same happen if I used PHD2 guiding with a laptop? Or would my mount still track but without any guiding?

Thanks Guys