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EQMOD, ASCOM not as bad as I thought...

johnb

By johnb
in Discussions - Software

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johnb

johnb

Posted
Posted

So it was finally time to get rid of the handset so I bought a USB EQ Direct Interface and installed the drivers from

http://www.firstlightoptics.com/user/PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v10518.zip

and then installed

ASCOM

EQMOD

StellariumScope

Cartes du Ciel

So now after installing and configuring (which was actually easy) I can via EQMOD and Cartes du Ciel do a 3 point alignment and then control the scope through Cartes du Ciel slew to an object of choice

Next stage will be a Gamepad for EQMOD and see how I can replace PHD and get EQMOD to track

Regards

John B

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Tim

Tim

Posted
Posted

EQAscom works hand in hand with PHD. Using pulse guiding I found I could guide a single exposure for 3 hours + without creep.

EQMod is awesome, wish I could use it on my gm1000 :-)

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swag72

swag72

Posted
Posted

A good move John - I resisted EQMOD and ASCOM for ages as I thought that life was fine and dandy with the handset, how wrong I was!! It's a fantastic way of working and we are lucky that developers out there have done it all for free.

The next bit is every bit as painless!!

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johnb

johnb

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Thanks for the feedback. Now for guiding, if I understand correctly PHD and EQMOD work hand I hand ?

Does PHD continue to move the mount when Guiding or am I not getting it ?

John B

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tonedeaf

tonedeaf

Posted
Posted

thats right no st-4 cable needed then...

if you google or whatelse on pulseguiding contra direct st-4 guiding...

...there should be mentioned some pro´s and cons...

i personally find pulse guiding better...cause it works for me without troubles...

oh yes ....one cable less which the cat can disconnect :grin:

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Daddystu

Daddystu

Posted
Posted

I presume PHD ascertains the required corrections based on guide star movement then issues the instruction to EQascom which relays it to the mount via the USB/Serial connection.

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johnb

johnb

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Thanks. Starting to think there is a lot of data on this single USB lead ie PHD data , EQMOD data and Cartes du Ceil, may be a good idea to get a second lead for the camera.

John B

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continuum

continuum

Posted
Posted

Sorry to butt in on this thread but I have just installed EQMOD and finding my way around.

So if I use pulse guiding with PHD am I right in thinking I do not need my Shoestring GPUSB

between the Autoguide port on the mount and the USB port on my laptop?

Ron

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Daddystu

Daddystu

Posted
Posted

Sorry to butt in on this thread but I have just installed EQMOD and finding my way around.

So if I use pulse guiding with PHD am I right in thinking I do not need my Shoestring GPUSB

between the Autoguide port on the mount and the USB port on my laptop?

Ron

Yes thats right it doesn't use the ST4 port.

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Tim

Tim

Posted
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I can't stress enough that you should read the EQMod manual on guiding. Print off the graphs and you will be able to consult them to adjust down the aggression of the pulse and make your guiding extremely accurate along with good polar alignment.

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RogerTheDodger

RogerTheDodger

Posted
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Thanks. Starting to think there is a lot of data on this single USB lead ie PHD data , EQMOD data and Cartes du Ceil, may be a good idea to get a second lead for the camera.

John B

i had to do this, one cable for the qhy5 and the other for the mount and dslr
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IanL

IanL

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i had to do this, one cable for the qhy5 and the other for the mount and dslr

I run a DSLR (Canon 500D), QHY5 and EQMOD (with PhD) through a single cable; I have a small powered USB 2.0 hub on the mount which they're all hooked in to, and the hub is hooked back to the mount via a single cable to a USB 2.0 port. It all works fine.

The problems you may run in to with USB are as follows:

- Using USB 2.0 devices with USB 1.1 hub, or a USB 1.1 port on the laptop. You may not have sufficient bandwidth for the devices to work properly.

- Using several (old) USB 1.1 devices connected to a USB 2.0 hub/port. USB 2.0 is backwards compatible with 1.1, but normally there is only one 1.1 <-> 2.0 translator which is shared by all ports on a hub (don't forget that several USB ports on a laptop are usually connected internally to a single hub). The translator may not have enough bandwidth to service all the 1.1 devices simultaneously.

- Using USB powered devices and exceeding the available current. The device may not power up or may fail intermittently.

- Using long cables that are outside the specification.

- Using powered/repeater cables; some work and some cause problems.

- Loose/broken mechanical connections. I fixed my random camera and mount disconnects by relocating the hub from the panel on the side of the NEQ6 to the tripod base. I now have longer cable runs and a bit more of a risk of snagging during flips, but on the other hand the cables don't disconnect in the middle of a session.

The best tool for mapping your USB setup is this: USBView (This is a Microsoft tool but it is only provided in source format, so these guys complied it up in to an executable). You can get a complete view of what is connected to what (you may have to try plugging a device in to the different ports on the computer to figure out how the physical ports relate to the on-screen information; e.g. I have three ports on one laptop, one is connected to an internal hub, and the other two are connected to a different internal hub, but the two ports on the one hub are on different sides of the machine).

Read the guides below to find out about speeds, power limitations and how to work out what is what in USB land:

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/map-and-troubleshoot-your-usb-ports-with-microsoft-usb-view/5982

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/complete_guide_troubleshooting_usb_problems

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