Testing a guide setup

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

Oooehhh, it is so cold outside at the moment, also in mainland Europe.

I've received my guide camera today completing my AP setup (for the moment,lol). In the cold, cold field, its very difficult to get things sorted, especially computer things. Can I somehow test my guide setup from the comfort of my living room?

Obi

[Adester]

You need long cables I'd guess. I tried the same last night. I've just got an OAG and Synguider so I was trying that with not a lot of success I have to say.

I've got a 2 meter USB cable for the camera, the idea was to get it set up and guiding then control the exposures etc from in the kitchen. Could I get anything set up and working. NO!

i set up close to the house for a change so the starts I could align with were limited so think I wasn't set up very well to be honest. Going to try again tonight.

all I got were some very milky pictures of very long star trails. Fist DSO I took unguided with no focal reducer were great, much better than the pap I ended up with last night. Good luck getting sorted out.

[ollypenrice]

You don't have to be beside it all the time. Just get it running, go inside for a bit, then come out and look at the guide trace.

Olly

[Obi Wan Ken00bi]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the information! I actually was asking about testing it during the day somehow on a distant object or on something else maybe. But I guess the best practise will be in the cold under the stars! I've got the software sorting now, fingers crossed!

[RobH]

Although you can't actually test whether it guides properly in the day, you can check everything else, and get your scopes both aligned to each other. If it's too bright for the cameras in the day, put a bit of tinfoil over the lens of the scope and make a 1/2 inch or so hole in it. This acts as an aperture stop and drops the light leves lots.

Use a distant object to align to.

Make sure all of the hardware and software are communicating, and guide commands are getting to the mount etc.

Make cable looms and label the cables and have some elastic for strain relief as you don't want the scope carrying all the cable weight from the back of the cameras.

Cheers

Rob