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Showing results for tags 'eqmod'.
Found 25 results
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Hi, What a time I am having with this EQ8, shame it's not a good one. I used the handset to perform the 2 star alignment, then went through the polar alignment routine on 2 different stars, about 3 times each. I got the polar alignment pretty close by using my Atik camera on the PC monitor. The mount continued to track well with the handset, I parked, turned off. Connected EQMOD cable, powered up, unparked, resync'ed encoders and then went to find Capella to sync on to start building my points list in EQMOD. Well once I got to Capella and the Sidereal rate was on, the stars were zipping past on the PC monitor - but hadn't I just polar aligned successfully via the handset? But it felt like the tracking wasn't even on in EQMOD even though it said it was. Has anybody come across this problem? Thanks Daniel
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Hi All Has anybody else had this problem? I use a single, ageing laptop (HP620 8Gb RAM) running Windows 7 Pro 64bit to control my imaging setup using the following software; Cartes du Ciel and EQMOD to control EQ5 Pro mount via EQDIRECT cable connected via powered USB Hub BackyardEOS to capture images from Canon 450D via same USB powered hub PHD2 for guiding using GP-CAM 130C and EQMOD pulse guiding What confuses me is that some evenings everything works absolutely fine. Another evening, using exactly the same hardware, software and even connections (ie I always plug the leads into the same ports) the system will be working fine but then suddenly fail. The failure affects EQMOD indicating a timeout or port not available issue and the Canon 450D also 'locks' requiring a restart of the camera and BackyardEOS. I have run USBTree during such a failure and it is showing that the EQDIRECT cable (ie serial converter) is still connected to COM4 (which is correct) and the Canon 450D is also still connected. I basically have to ensure that all the software is closed and any associated services also stopped. Of course, the scope is now pointing away from its home position so I have to move it manually back to 'home' before starting again. My thoughts are that there could be a number of issues; 1. Use of a USB hub 2. A dodgy EQDIRECT cable 3. USB cables too long (ie about 5m) 4. Windows is turning off a connection (I have set the power management for each USB port to 'off') 5. Canon 450D somehow 'freezing' When using this laptop, I turn off the Wifi and Anti Virus and Automatic Updates are also off. It just baffles me that sometimes this system works flawlessly for hours and yet other nights it keeps failing. Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks for looking.
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Hi guys Anyone out there got an EQ5, AstroEQ and EQMOD and successfully guiding? The EQ5 is important here (not an HEQ5 or higher), because you'll have the dual axis motor kit and be ASCOM pulse guiding and not ST4 guiding. If so, it would be good to exchange notes so that I can hopefully get mine going. Might save me an awful lot of time experimenting and ultimately failing! Thanks
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In the category of medium nuisance, but have had some issues with EQMOD losing its communication to the mount on several occasions and wondered if this is expected or if I have a particular issue. I'm using and HEQ5 Pro mount wired directly to a HitechAstro EQDIR. Having three USB Ports on my laptop the EQDIR share a single USB controller/port with the game pad sensor, my other two ports are connected directly to image and guide cams. All cables and connections look good (checked with multimeter for continuity/resistance), are routed away from power, connectors are taped up and I've been careful not to disturb them. I'm running Ascom 6 SP2 on a windows 7 x64 laptop, with both cams and the mount under Ascom control. The setup works fine 80% of the time, but sometimes it seems to lock on target and won't take any further instruction to change position or slew to another target. The mount continues to track the current target, but it does not respond to movement commands via CdC, game pad or directly on the EQascom controller window - though EQascom does seem to be updating (DEC coordinates) and I can still change the slew speed with game pad or directly. Pretty sure the EQMod, Ascom and CdC are playing nicely on my lappie and there does not seem to be any app actually hanging or producing an error - so had been thinking the EQDir might be suspect, though the fact the mount was still tracking got me a little confused. If comms were lost would the mount continue to track with no further input? Or perhaps the serial cable/connections are a little dubious on the EQDir - HEQ5 TX pair. If it's not a common problem, then EQDir or the serial cable/connectors seem most probable - though any suggestions considered before I hard wire everything in to place with the new pier!
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I’ve been having issues with platesolving using Platesolve2 and my Ioptron IEQ30PRO Mount, I’m connecting using the Ioptron Commander Ascom driver. I’m using Maxim DL5 to locate and image via the Planetarium section. When the Maxim platesolving fails, especially when I’ve just started in a new location, I need to use Platesolve2, which is installed as an add on. Unfortunately I can never sync once it’s finished platesolving as the telescope disconnects at some point in the process. I only use the above setup at Star parties. At home I have an observatory with Eqmod running an eq6. I don’t have any problem using Platesolve2 in a Maxim. I was wondering if I should be connecting using POTH in between Maxim and the telescope driver. I don’t generally connect a planetarium programme now I use platesolving but I want to use The Sky6 to help with camera orientation in the future. As I understand it Eqmod will act as a hub allowing this but Ioptron Commander won’t. This may be why I have issues when using my Ioptron Mount. Can someone confirm that I’ve understood the process correctly, please? Anne
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Dear All! Please read everything!!! I have a big DEC backlash on my EQ3 mount near to 8000ms, and the pulse guide correction is slow and the 2000ms doesnt enough to correct this issue. So I decided to correct it with this great EQMOD project to add some new code in the backlash correction The plan was to use the slew direction to correct the backlash! WARNING!!!! this code works like the slew controls so its minimally override the DEC coordinates. Installation from zip file: 1. install AQESCOM - final version\EQASCOM_V200j_Setup.exe 2. Copy files from final version\common files\eqcontrl.dll to C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\ASCOM\Telescope or C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Telescope, but make BACKUP first! 3. run EQMOD's toolbox and register eqmod.exe 4. Happy testing. In my case the correction ratio is 800 and duration is 290ms PS. Thank You for the developers to this great project!!! final version.zip -
Hello all Can I ask what is the current thinking and methods on the following things. There seems to be some really old YouTube videos of how to control your mount and control your camera but I would like to hear what is the latest wisdom on the following: Eq6 Mount Control? Stellarium? Eqmod? Handset? Bluetooth? Canon camera exposure control. Aptool? Intervalometer? Laptop? iOS app??? Is that even possibile? I have a Eq6 pro but I would love to know what the most current way of doing these things are. It's mainly for imaging. Bring me me up to date please! Thanks Gerry -
Hi, has anyone ever tried to use EQMOD DIRECT with an EQ8 mount under the control of CDC but with POTH used to connect the telescope and Dome together under the control of CDC slews. It all works but I cannot get EQMOD to display the correct tracking rate. It always seems to choose Sidereal even if I select the Sun or Moon. I feel sure its something I am doing but not found it after 6 months. I have even tried it in simulation mode and it still does not reflect the correct tracking rate for the Sun and Moon. -
I seem to be struggling getting the co-ordinates right in EQMOD Mine are N 53.XXXX,E -2.XXXX Do I enter it as -2 and select E or do i enter it as 02 or just 2 and select W??When i select a target in CDC it either points in the opposite direction or at the floor I've tried all manner of variations,none of which seem to work? Any help much appreciated
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For a long time now I have been using the Prolific driver installer v10518 from the HitecAstro site on my windows 7 computer. Recently I have been getting a lot of overnight crashes and lost a lot of imaging time. An analysis of last night's crash pointed to the Prolific driver. MS today offered me a new driver V3.6.81.357 to replace v3.3.5.122. First signs are that it works... well I can move the mount. My question to the group is in 2 parts:- 1) Is this new driver reliable? 2) Is this now the time to find a new more reliable EQDIR interface and if so what recommendations can you offer. TIA Andy
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Hi guys, I been googling a lot and was not able to find a solution how to connect EQMOD to the Mount via SW Wifi Dongle... it looks like EQMOD needs COM Port to be used.... I do remember there was some kind of "Virtual Com port bridge to Wifi"app back in Win98 days... But I cannot find anything similar for Win10. I want to test EQMOD auto-guiding via WIFI, - I know, it's not reliable, but I want to try as I have Skywatcher wifi dongle and my USB to Serial (RS-232) Converter Cable is wayyyy too short to keep my PC (and me) in warm. I am able to connect with SynScanPro app to Wifi Dongle and even sync it with Stellarium nicely... Only Auto-guiding missing... Any ideas?
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I am at a complete loss to understand why eqmod was not syncing on CdC last night. I have had a look at this video, I had the star centred on the screen [3m33s], I pressed sync on CdC, I got the dialog box [3m39s], I clicked 'yes' and NOTHING happened: the white circle stayed where it was, no sync points were added to EQMOD, zilch! I can get round most problems, but this really one stymies my GOTOs and, therefore, my imaging process. I have been unable to find anything in the EQMOD documentation that deals with such an error and a search on here has turned up no help (but that always depends on the words put into the search!). I checked all the obvious things (location, date/time, etc - but why any of these should stop sync working is beyond me). It's all running on Windoze 10. Any suggestions on why this should have stopped working and (more importantly) how I might get it working? Thanks.
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Well the lynx cable came yesterday for my EQ6 PRO from FLO,well packaged in a bubble wrap bag and comparing with my previous eqdirect cable, build wise much better, more professional looking , thicker round cable, metal D-sub with long thumb screws, moulded usb plug, £34 ok not cheap but about the norm for an EQdirect cable , quick check eqmod found straight off ,uses the fdti chip set so didn`t matter what usb port i used, still said com11, would recommend .
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Hello all I wanted to ask those that already use EQMOD what are the main benefits of using it. I have a eq6 and I currently use synscan BUT I have just loaded up cart du ciel with EQMOD and moved my mount for the first time. Lovely! What do people think of it? Does it help with imaging? Can it help with better alignment? I'm particularly interested in this. If some of you out there use it please give me a list of things that you use it for where it outshines synscan. Gerry
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Hi So I use Windows 7 EQMOM ASCOM 6SP2 Cartes du Ciel and for Guiding im using PHD So I set up and align with EQMOD with no issues and then slew to target and image away, PHD does the guiding independently of EQMOD and all is well. If I then try to move to a new target I get the message that EQMOD is not responding so I have to kill Cartes du Ciel and restart. This behaviour is consistent, I have no way of knowing when EQMOD stops responding but it does. So is there any logging within EQMOD that may help track down the issue ? Regards John Berman
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I have worked up a script to make it easier to use Stellarium with EQMOD. At the moment, issuing a commands to EQMOD from Stellarium requires one to press the CTRL key and a number key, specifically CTRL-1 to slew to the selected target, CTRL-3 to Sync to the current target and CTRL-5 to cancel the slew. I find this rather inconvenient when working in the dark, on a small notebook keypad and with gloves on. It is believed that in forthcoming versions of Stellarium (e.g. v0.12.x) it will be possible to re-map the telescope control keys. Even so, I'd prefer to use my wireless game pad for the job, as it has chunky buttons, is portable and already works with EQMOD to control scope pointing and other functions. About a year ago I read somewhere that a free utility called AutoHotkey can be used to assist with this, so I bookmarked the download page, but never took it any further (and can't find the original source of the info amongst my many bookmarks). Finally I got round to working on the issue, and here is my solution: You will need the following: - A working installation of EQMOD, StellariumScope and Stellarium. - A compatible gamepad, joystick or similar controller. Test this in EQMOD first under the game pad configuration screen. - Download and install a copy of AutoHotkey from http://www.autohotkey.com/ . The AutoHotkey installation is pretty simple, just follow the instructions. Now you need to create your Stellarium AutoHotkey script. To do this: 1. Open NotePad. 2. Cut and paste the script below in to NotePad. 3. Save the file somewhere convenient (e.g. the desktop). Make sure you give the file name the extension .ahk and not the default .txt that NotePad suggests. This will ensure that the script launches AutoHotkey when you double click it, and it also adds an 'edit script' option to the Windows right-click context menu which makes life a bit easier when debugging. 4. Plug in or switch on your game pad/controller. The script will auto-detect the first joystick/controller and use that one, or pop up an error and quit if it can't find a controller. (See below in configuration for help if this happens). 5. Double click the script file and AutoHotkey should launch and put a small 'H' icon in the system tray at the bottom right of the screen to show this script is running. You can right-click the system tray icon to pause or stop the script, or to re-load it from the file if you have edited it during testing. 6. If you get any errors at this point, make sure you have pasted the script exactly as shown below! All the configurable values are in the CONFIGURATION section of the script. Here are the things you may want to change: - StellariumWindow holds the window title of Stellarium. The default setting should match any version, but if the window title changes in future, just edit this value. You can either use the whole window title or just some text from the start. Make sure the text doesn't match multiple windows (e.g. StellariumScope might clash if you only used the first few letters). - JoystickNumber is set to 0 by default, which means "search all controllers and use the first one you find". If you have several controllers connected, you can set this value to the specific controller number (between 1 and 16) and the script will use that one. - SlewButton / SyncButton / CancelButton hold the button names to activate each of the three functions. These will be in the format of Joy<n> where <n> is a number between 1 and 32. To find out which button is which on your controller, download the joystick test script here (http://www.autohotke...oystickTest.htm) and run it, but make sure you exit the Stellarium script first. A tool-tip will appear and update as you press the various keys on your controller so you can see which button is which. Again make sure you quit the joystick test script when done to avoid conflicts with the Stellarium AutoHotkey script. IMPORTANT: Make sure you DO NOT use the SlewButton and SyncButton in the EQMOD game pad configuration screen. If you do, you may find EQMOD ends up doing two things at once, since (for controller keys), AutoHotkey activates its script AND passes the controller button press through to any other application that is waiting for it. Conversely, you may wish to map your chosen CancelButton to 'Emergency Stop' in EQMOD. This will ensure that the mount stops (and parks in the current position) even if your script, AutoHotkey or Stellarium/StellariumScope fails for some reason. Safety first. See below for an example of how I have configured the EQMOD game pad screen for my XBox wireless controller: I'd also recommend turning on 'Append on Sync' in EQMOD to add alignment points to the pointing model as you go. - SlewKeys / SyncKeys / CancelKeys hold the keystrokes to sent to Stellarium when you press the appropriate controller button. These are set to the current CTRL-1, CTRL-3, CTRL-5 defaults. If you change these defaults once key mapping becomes available in Stellarium, you'll need to change these values. Read the AutoHotkey documentation online for details of how to send keystrokes. The default script is set up for an XBox wireless controller, and uses the Blue ( X ) key to initiate a slew, the Yellow ( Y ) key to do a sync and the Red ( B ) key for cancel in Stellarium AND ALSO emergency stop in EQMOD. Change these to suit your own needs. ; Stellarium AutoHotkey script for Windows ; V1.0b 2012-03-09 - Ian Lauwerys. ; Joystick detection code taken from the AHK joystick test script. ; ; Go to http://www.autohotkey.com/ to download AutoHotkey. ; Create a text file containing this script (using notepad). ; Save it with the .ahk file extension (not .txt). ; Double click script to launch AutoHotkey and activate script. ; ; You will also need the following software (but I assume you knew that anyway!): ; ; EQMOD - http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/ ; Stellariumscope - http://www.welshdragoncomputing.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=31&Itemid=39 ; Stellarium - http://www.stellarium.org/ ; ; This script assumes you are using the default key mappings in Stellarium/StellariumScope. ; As of V12.0 of Stellarium ; it is possible to remap keys so if you change the Slew, ; Sync or Cancel key mappings you need to update the configuration section below. ; ------------------ CONFIGURATION SECTION ------------------- ; ** Configure the title of the Stellarium window. ** ; ** Needs the trailing space to avoid matching StellariumScope ** StellariumWindow := "Stellarium " ; ** To autodetect and use the first joystick, set to 0 . ** ; ** To use a specific joystick, set to a value between 1 - 16 . ** JoystickNumber := 0 ; ** Configure joystick buttons (Joy1 through Joy32) to perform the required actions. ** ; ** Download and run http://www.autohotkey.com/docs/scripts/JoystickTest.htm ** ; ** to identify the key numbers for your joystick or contoller. ** ; Joy3 (XBox Blue/X) for Slew. ; It is recommended that you do not map this button to anything in EQMOD. SlewButton = Joy3 ; Joy4 (XBox Yellow/Y) for Sync. ; It is recommended that you do not map this button to anything in EQMOD. SyncButton = Joy4 ; Joy 2 (XBox Red/B) for Cancel. ; It is recommeded that you map this button to 'Emergency Stop' in EQMOD for safety ; as AutoHotkey will pass controller buttons through. CancelButton = Joy2 ; ** Configure the keystrokes to send to Stellarium. ** ; ** Change these if you remap keys in Stellarium V12.0 or later. ** ; Send ctrl-1 to Stellarium (Slew). SlewKeys = ^1 ; Send ctrl-3 to Stellarium (Sync). SyncKeys = ^3 ; Send ctrl-5 to Stellarium (Cancel). CancelKeys = ^5 ; -------------- END OF CONFIGURATION SECTION ---------------- ; ------------------ INITIALISATION SECTION ------------------ ; Set hotkey variables. If JoystickNumber = 0 { JoystickNumber := DetectJoystick() } SlewHK = %JoystickNumber%%SlewButton% SyncHK = %JoystickNumber%%SyncButton% CancelHK = %JoystickNumber%%CancelButton% ; Set to match WinTitle "starting with string". SetTitleMatchMode, 1 ; Define hotkeys based on variables, will goto specified labels when pressed. Hotkey, %SlewHK%, Slew Hotkey, %SyncHK%, Sync Hotkey, %CancelHK%, Cancel return ; -------------- END OF INITIALISATION SECTION ---------------- ; ------------------------- FUNCTIONS ------------------------- ; Auto-detect the joystick number. DetectJoystick() { Loop 16 ; Query each joystick number to find out which ones exist. { GetKeyState, JoyName, %A_Index%JoyName if JoyName <> { TempJoystickNumber = %A_Index% break } } if TempJoystickNumber <= 0 { MsgBox The system does not appear to have any joysticks. ExitApp } return TempJoystickNumber } ; --------------------- END OF FUNCTIONS ---------------------- ; ---------------------- HOTKEY ACTIONS ----------------------- ; Make Stellarium issue a Slew to selected target command to EQMOD. Slew: IfWinExist, %StellariumWindow% { WinActivate SendInput %SlewKeys% } return ; Make Stellarium issue a Sync to EQMOD. Sync: IfWinExist, %StellariumWindow% { WinActivate SendInput %SyncKeys% } return ; Make Stellarium issue a Cancel to EQMOD (stop current slew). Cancel: IfWinExist, %StellariumWindow% { WinActivate SendInput %CancelKeys% } return ; ----------------- END OF HOTKEY ACTIONS ---------------------
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They say it never rains, but it pours. Certainly seems to be the case with my NEQ6 recently. When I set up the mount last night, I found the "Dec Lock Lever" (#16 on the attached diagram) has completely seized. Cannot shift it in either direction, despite attacking it with as much force/pressure as I felt comfortable doing, considering it is just a piece of plastic and breaking it would not improve the situation any. Had it out again today in the cold light of day, but to no avail. So my first question would be: has anyone else had this problem and (possibly more importantly) found a solution to it? In the absence of that, I have been giving some thoughts to what it will mean. Firstly the good news: (1) It has seized in the position in which it is stored (with the bolts "below") so at least I can keep it in its box without major alterations. (2) It was fine last night, as I was using the camera, which fits lengthwise on a dovetail bar, so when it was fitted in that position, the camera was pointing north - the usual "home" position. BUT: When I put one of the scopes on it, the scope will be facing west in the "home" position. OK, so when I first "unpark" it, the mount will think it is pointing north and so the initial GOTO alignment of the scope will have the mount pointing it roughtly 90° away from where it needs to be. I can then move the mount using the EQMOD controls so that it is pointing where I want it to and then do my first sync. Once that has happened, presumably it will continue based on that position and every other GOTO of the evening will work out fine. But what will happen at the end of the evening when I "Park to home". Will it go back to pointing west (which will mean the mount will fit in its box), or will it adjust where it thinks home is based on the syncs I have performed during the evening and so point north (which will mean the mount will not fit in its box)? Any suggestions would be gratefully received. Thanks.
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Dear fellow stargazers... I'm helping a friend with a tracking issue using Eqmod. He has used EQAscom for a number of years with his Celestron CG-5 no problem. Having moved over to the new fancy Skywatcher EQ6-R mount (I'm not jelous... not one bit), he now has a problem with EQAscom. Having chosen PC-Drect mode on the hand-controller, EQAscom connects to the mount and slews perfectly, however when using Stellarium Scope and slewing to an object, the mount does not then continue to track the target (even after pressing the siderial rate button on EQAscom). We have checked EQAscoms 'default siderial rate' and it is as it should be. It does work however by then going back to the hand-controller setup menu and re-selecting 'Siderial Rate' under tracking, then choosing PC-direct mode again. Then EQAscom/Stellarium Scope works normally with tracking. Although we have found this temporary fix, it is quite annoying to have to go through this procedure with every session. Has anyone else come across this issue or had no problems using the EQ6-R with EQAscom? Were trying to decipher if it is a compatibility problem with the new mount (as it is a new kid on the block with different motor drives etc). Thanks in advance for any comments/suggestions Matt
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Setting up all the software on my win10 laptop and getting things to talk to one another is a nightmare. I'm starting a new thread, so I can post all the problems I am having, one at a time, so issues don't get confused. This will also hopefully help anyone coming to similar situations later, as the problems and answers will not be interlaced. First issue: APT does not detect ZWO camera. I have got the camera (ZWO) drivers installed and sharpcap can see it and will connect to it properly. However, when I try to connect the camera in APT, the only CCD options it gives me are SBIG (which it isn't), QSI (which it isn't) and ASCOM. Now it shouldn't need to use an ascom driver, because the proper driver is installed, but I give it a go anyway, and this just offers me 2 simulators and 3 QHY cameras (I have one qhy driver installed for the guidecam .... I'll get to that later!). I have disconnected both the filterwheel and guide camera from the camera hub, so they cannot be interefering with the process. I am at a total loss ... any suggestions? Thanks.
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Hi all, Before turning to AZ-EQ6 GT mount, I tried to upgrade my previous Losmandy G11 mount to autoguiding by use of a SBIG Relay Box connecting the PC to the mount through an ST4 cable. I didn't intend to transform it into a goto system -it remained manual- just wanted to realize an autoguided system, and I succeded for short exposures up to two-three minutes, but I wasn't able to scale up, hence I turned to the SkyWatcher. My Losmandy dates back to the end of 1990's, but never showed backlash and worm-gear play like the brand new AZ-EQ6 GT did. I was quite deluded by that, and I still complain and dream to realize a G11 full upgrade to a goto system. Now I wonder whether Eqmod ASCOM would make it, maybe just by controlling the Relay Box/ST4 connection through Eqmod. May somebody give me an answer? I would also like to get comments on the idea of a full upgrade of the G11: is it worthy of that? If positive, I would also like to explore more complex systems for the full upgrade, given that anybody has an idea. Cesco
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Hi, After 6 months of waiting for the new deep-sky camera to reach my observatory,I discovered I have a real problem. All this time, the system was used only several times, with the purpose to make some deep-sky images using a planetary camera (an ASI 174 mono - see the topic HERE ). Using the set-up for this kind of images, the usual way to acquire images was altered. At some point I discovered that is more easy and reliable to make a synchronization from TheSky6 and not from MaximDL, as usual. This is the history. Yesterday night and the night before, after installing my new CCD camera on the rig, I started to redo the adjustments in order to have a good alignment, a good focus and have some decent pictures to evaluate the camera. But at this point, I had a nasty surprise. I inserted some screen shots to understand better what I want to explain (and perhaps I will not do it well because of my English). When I pointed in The Sky to a star and sent the "slew" command, the cross-hair on TheSky6 show me that the telescope is pointing to that star. But looking to the small planetarium from MaximDL, I sow that the crosshair here is not pointing exactly to that star, but a little bit apart from it, which shouldn't happened... Trying to synchronize the scope in Maxim with the star position, the scope stopped to move in sidereal. Actually, he stop at all. Doing the same thing first time in Maxim and then in TheSky, an error message from TheSky appeared. After rebooting the computer and started again all the programs, same thing happens. Sometimes, when first syncronizing in Maxim and then in TheSky, the error does not appear but the crosshair is jumping apart from the star in one program when is pointing in the other one and other way around... i am desperate, because I do not understand what is happen. Could anyone to give me a hint, please? Had anyone a similar problem before? How can I erase the sky model from TheSky and put it back on the same alignment with the model from Maxim (which apparently work good stand alone in conjunction with EQMOD)?
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I was showing a friend today all the brilliant things that eqmod can do for my EQ6 mount and he is totally sold. However, he has a celestron Advance GT GEM mount and eqmod won't work with these mounts. He uses Celestron's Nexremote software with stellariumScope but there's no wizzy options such as disabling meridian flip or specifying mount limits etc. Does anyone know of a Celestron compatible alternative that can work in a similar way as EQMod?
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Hello All Im using a eq6 and I'm having all sorts of problems with my guiding. I used to be without guider to get 2 minutes easily but now I'm struggling to get good shots whatever I choose. So first of all EQMOD what do people use for the RA settings for the autoguider in EQMOD? I have fiddled about with every one of them but no real improvement. What do others use? In PHD2 I have done the settings for my guide camera which is a asi120mm and the focal length of the scope is done along with the sensor size. On the PHD I've moved just about everything and nothing seems to work well enough. Can anyone give me their basic settings to see if that helps. The only thing I've changed is my way to do polar alignment I'm now using the EQMOD polar align process which might have affected it but I'm still getting objects on my gotos so I was wondering if cone error would do it also? Is drift alignment essential? I don't think so. I did do it on the south meridian as I've got views that way but not so much on the north. Help! Please guys and girls I wasted a whole session just fiddling and ended up with 8 exposures of M20 which you can see below.
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Hi All I have been using my 'best' laptop with Windows 8.1 to control an EQ5 Pro mount via a USB/Serial converter with a lead directly to the hand controller set to PC Direct Mode. On the same laptop I have installed PHD2 for guiding and BackyardEOS for image capture and a gampepad for ease of 'tweaking' the telescope pointing. I have also installed Cartes du Ciel (CdC) to find and slew to targets. This system has worked flawlessly (other than 'idiot induced' problems) for a number of months now. I was lucky enough to be given another, slightly older, laptop to use so I thought the 'best' laptop could stay in the office and the older laptop could now become the astro imaging laptop. As far as I can see, I have everything configured the same and, on first trials in daylight, everything seemed to be working OK. Could connect to the mount OK, control via gampad OK, PHD2 connected OK etc etc. First 'imaging in anger' night seemed to going well until I noticed that the star trails suddenly appeared to be streaked after successfully capturing a few previous images. PHD2 was still connected but the guide star was way off target (the little green square in PHD) and appeared to be drifting as I watched. CdC (the planetarium software I use) was still connected but the rectangle indicating the camera's field of view was also drifting off target. On looking at the EQMOD window I noticed that tracking was 'off'. "Another idiot induced problem?" I thought. Selected Sidereal Tracking in EQMOD and I heard the motors of the mount start 'whirring' again. Selected target in CdC and slewed the 'scope back to the target. Selected guide star again in PHD and guiding started OK (I could hear the motor 'tones' changing as they received correction signals from PHD. Back on track - so I thought! After a short while, the problem occurred again - Sidereal tracking was shown as being turned off in EQMOD. These are only differences between the successful setup and the rogue version; Working System 2.4ghz processor, Windows 8.1 Failing system 2.2ghz processor, Windows 7 Has anyone else had this problem? Any suggestions as to what could be causing this problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Richard
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EQMOD with EQ5 Pro - Declination Backlash Handling
morayskies posted a topic in Discussions - Mounts
Hi All I have recently started using EQMOD to control my EQ5 Pro mount. When I use the mount with the SynScan Hand Controller I have noticed the usual backlash in the Declination axis when reversing the direction from north to south or vice versa. In the SynScan Setup/Backlash/Declination menu option, I find that setting this to 0deg 0' 50" (ie 50 arcseconds) compensates for the backlash when using the hand controller. My questions are these; When using EQMOD and the PC Direct mode setting on the hand controller, is this Declination Backlash compensation still applied? (I suspect not) Does EQMOD have the functionality to apply similar Declination backlash compensation when using the the direction buttons in EQMOD to control the mount? I intend using EQMOD's Pulse Guiding and see that there is a Declination backlash compensation for this feature. Please bear with me whilst I ask another couple of questions; I intend to use PHD2 as the guiding client. I think that PHD2 will 'build in' backlash compensation when it performs its calibration. If this assumption is correct, does this mean I do not need to enter any value into the Backlash compensation in the guiding area of EQMOD? Out of curiosity more than anything else, what on Earth would the value be I should enter in the EQMOD backlash compensation? On the SynScan the backlash compensation is entered as an angular measurement (ie 50 arcsecnds) but in EQMOD guiding it seems to be entered as a time value (ie between 0 and 2000 milliseconds ) Anyway, thanks for looking.
