Autoguiding Mesu 200

[froggy]

HI,

I am the prood owner of a Mesu 200 but I am new to the stellarcat Argo Navis setup so I need some help with the autoguiding. I am use to guide an EQ6 with Maxim but I don't use an ST4 cable.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I cannot find anything on the net and the manual doesn't seem to help.

Many thnaks for your help.

Vince

[ncjunk]

You need a camera with an st4 port like the qhy6 i have. Then get an st4 cable and connect the two.

Connect the st4 on the camera to the servocat Aux/ag port.

The guide software will use your camera to guide, with the control set to guide relays.

IMPORTANT. If you push the Slew speed button on the servocat handset then move the scope, using the direction buttons, to do the 1 star alignment remember to re-select the Guide button or the autoguide wont work!

So do a one star alignment then reselect Guide on the servocat handset. Check your st4 cable is ok. Start your guide software with your camera, that has an st4 port, with guide relays as control and thats it.

Its quite easy once you have it going.

[ncjunk]

M9Its st4 only for guiding.<br />The ascom driver is only for slews i.e. carte du ciel control for example.<br /><br />What cameras do you have?

[froggy]

Hi Neil,

Many thanks for your help.

Vince

[froggy]

Hi Neil,

I have an Atik 16 ic camera I use for guiding and I believe it has an ST4 connector.

So if i understand correctly what you said I still have a small question. The ST4 cable plugs on the camera and on the Stellarcat and I set Maxim in guide relay.

How do I connect the mount to the laptop as only the camera will be connected with a USB cable.

Or does the USB cable is used to send a signal to move the mount.

Sorry if this is a silly question.

Kind regards

Vince

[ncjunk]

No silly questions here, i had the same doubts.

It is all done via the camera usb and your atik has an st4 port. I had one of those cameras and i never should have sold it.

Set the atik to camera 2 and on the maxim guide tab select camera 2 and then under settings select "guide relays".

Guide relays = guide camera st4 port

Main relays = main imaging camera st4 port.

You can, just to confuse you, use the guide relays on an imaging main camera to control but this is only useful if your guide cam has no st4 port like the dsi cam.

Make sure you buy the correct st4 cable. There is no st4 cable with the mesu....first light optics sell them.

[ncjunk]

I connect a usb cable to the servocat and select "catalogue" - "from planetarium" in the argonavis and i do gotos via cartes du ciel. You just need to install the servocat ascomdriver.

Remember to select guide on the servocat handset (i will keep repeating this as i keep forgetting and wondering why autoguide doesnt work)

Remember that it wont start tracking until after you do alignment.

Remember to flick the stop switch on the servocat box when you finish for the night or it keeps tracking.

Leave power to the argo navis to retain alignment

And most important...have fun!

[froggy]

Hi Neil

Many thanks for all the info. Now I understand the autoguiding with this mount.

Since you have been so helpful I got another one for you.

I understand from your information that I need an Ascom driver for the planetarium. How do I connect the pc to the mount to run Starry Night.

Many thanks

Kind regards

Vince

[ncjunk]

You just connect the usb cable from the pc to the servocat. It uses ftdi drivers so the pc "should" install with no problems (if not they are on one of the cds that came with the mount). Follow the instructions for installing the ascom driver (google servocat ascom driver)

Then in your planitarium select the telescope as ascom driver and select the servocat driver from the drop down ascom chooser menu.

To find the com port number i go to windows control panel and devices and see which com port changes when i unplug it <and plug it back in.

Got to go to bed now sorry! Hope it helps

[froggy]

Neil,

Thank you very much for your help.

Vince

[Poita]

How are you finding the Mesu200 to use? I am considering one. Can it be guided with my existing Lodestar and SX OAG?

[ollypenrice]

How are you finding the Mesu200 to use? I am considering one. Can it be guided with my existing Lodestar and SX OAG?

I use one with exactly the same setup. It is excellent, though the SX OAG needs a brace to stop the camera rocking on the OAG turret. Poor design.

Olly