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Auto-guided EQ1 mount

Gonzo

By Gonzo
in DIY Astronomer

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themos

themos

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Last night I was "in the zone" so it only took 7 iterations, about a couple of minutes for each? I was only shooting 10 second frames. Also, I started with a fairly good alignment by using the red dot finder. Can you see the animation?

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Gonzo

Gonzo

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Last night I was "in the zone" so it only took 7 iterations, about a couple of minutes for each? I was only shooting 10 second frames. Also, I started with a fairly good alignment by using the red dot finder. Can you see the animation?

yes I can see the animated gif.

I do need to buy this wifi sd card so I don't have to remove the card from the camera every time ;)

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Gonzo

Gonzo

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fingers crossed here...

After the dreaded "star did not move enough".... I've finally been able to guide :)

It's been guiding for quite some time now, uninterrupted :)

Will post my results shortly.

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Gonzo

Gonzo

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Here are my results for this evening (all after a proper polar alignment using our script).

60" motor off

image_service.php?photo_id=1537&type=mid

60" motor on

image_service.php?photo_id=1538&type=mid

60" guided

image_service.php?photo_id=1539&type=mid

217" guided

image_service.php?photo_id=1540&type=mid

For this one, I used the bulb function on my GF1, however I had to "hold" the button down. Read = I was adding vibrations to the camera.

I'm about to buy the wifi remote for the GF1 to avoid such issue.

I'm very pleased with the results today, there is still tons to learn and tweak.

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themos

themos

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I know what you're doing wrong, you need a bigger, longer pulse for the calibration step. Stop guiding, click on the PHD brain and put 1000 for the calibration step parameter. It's probably set too low and PHD never sees enough motion of the star when it sends calibration guiding commands.

Also, set aggressiveness to 103.

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Gonzo

Gonzo

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I know what you're doing wrong, you need a bigger, longer pulse for the calibration step. Stop guiding, click on the PHD brain and put 1000 for the calibration step parameter. It's probably set too low and PHD never sees enough motion of the star when it sends calibration guiding commands.

Also, set aggressiveness to 103.

Found that tip after doing a Google search, so I bumped it to 2000 I believe.

Can't remember, on my on Linux laptop side now not on XP so can't check.

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themos

themos

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Sorry about that! Pictures of the finished item here (I shot those pics 40 minutes ago)

Stargazers Lounge - themos's Album: Autoguided EQ1

The thing you need is

1) an EQ1

2) an Orion EQ-1M motor and handset (or equivalent)

3) a 9x50 finder and a webcam and an adaptor to make them work together

4) a way of attaching a DSLR and the finder to the EQ1 (I used an old bracket from Astroboot and a standard Skywatcher finder shoe)

5) the Orion handset mod: A few wires, soldering iron, an ILD74 dual optoisolator, an Arduino, USB cable, project box and assorted bits to make it tidy (grommets, heatshrink wraps).

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Gonzo

Gonzo

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Just wondering guys exactly what do I need to give this a go? Have you got any instructions or photos? Or a list of stuff:)

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Everything is at the start of this thread :)

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themos

themos

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Last night I found out that putting the heavy russian 300mm lens on the EQ1 is too much. Itching to try it out with a Canon 200mm f/2.8L. I will post some Periodic Error plots, before and after, in my Albums.

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themos

themos

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I know, it sounds too good to be true, as the pixel scale with the webcam (5.6 micron pixels) and the finder (175mm focal length) is 6.6 arcseconds per pixel.

You need to get PHD working, then open the brain and click on disable guide output, then Tools -> Enable Logging, then find a star and let it "guide" for an hour. Then feed the PHD_log.txt file to pecprep or send it to me.

I vaguely remember taking that RA nut apart at some point in the last 5 years that I've had the EQ1. See how much play there is in the RA worm, there is room for adjusting it but be careful because the worm housing can crack (mine is superglued back together).

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