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AstroEQ for EQ mounts

Oily

By Oily
in DIY Astronomer

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
Posted

Is the issue with avrdude (access denied) each time?

You should have 'Hyper Terminal' installed (comes with XP). If you open that, it will come up with a connection screen. Put some name for the connection (doesn't matter what), then on the next screen select your COM port and click ok. Next, set Bits per second=9600, data bits=8, parity=none, stop bits=1, flow control=none. Click ok again.

This should open a connection to AstroEQ.

type the following and press enter:

:e1

Does it respond with anything?

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TCWORLD

TCWORLD

Posted
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Another thing to try is to open command prompt (start+r, type in cmd, press enter), then run the following commands in cmd

Change directory: (C:\path\to\AstroEQUploader is the directory that AstroEQ.exe is in)

cd C:\path\to\AstroEQUploader\hex\

Test run avrdude: (replace COM21 with your com port)

avrdude -C"C:\__temp__AstroEQUploader\avrdude.conf" -v -v -v -patmega162 -carduino -b57600 -D -P\\.\COM21 -Uflash:w:C:\__temp__AstroEQUploader\AstroEQV4-DIYBoard(includingKits)EEPROMReader.hex:I

Do you still get access denied?

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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AstroEQ is a dream bit of kit certainly made my Christmas this year! :icon_salut: 

As for windows I hope they reverse the awful windows 8 idea great on tablets but horrible on a pc I'm sticking with windows 7 on my laptop and pc for now.

Clear patches tonight hoping to have another crack at guiding again. Last night my main issue was that I had not understood how eqmod integrates with phd and my Calibration steps were not correct hopefully it will be better tonight if the cloud ever gives us a break.

I have also been slewing to my first alignment star and not manually adjusting it to the centre of my eyepiece/Camera but moving it with eqmods nudge buttons this is a right pain, Chris has explained that it is ok to undo the dec and ra bolts and manually do this on the first alignment as it removes the error from the home position but that after that you must lock down the bolts and not undo them. Saves a lot of time on that first alignment being able to undo the bolts and just use a laser pointer through the eyepiece to line it up on a star. Or keep the camera on and use a laser pointer rested against the scope to see where you are then snap  a quick shot to see if the star is in the frame then just nudge it a bit to dead center and hit the sync button in cdc.

Hopefully as we all start doing some guiding with our various set ups we can post our results on here for others to learn from.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Happy to report reasonable results from tonight guiding with ASTROEQ phd and eqmod setup. Cloud and sition of target made things hard going but managed to iron out my graph in phd and get a full 5min guided image. Need a good clear night to really get this down pat but its working just needs a bit of tweaking.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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A couple of test shots from last nights experiments guiding with AstroEQ PHD and EQMOD using a Logitech 4000 webcam in the skywatcher 10x50 finder scope.
 
Not an easy night for testing this out with patchy cloud and trees getting in the way much faffing around to be done but I am happy with the first test run. I had to change my setting in PHD and increase the Calibration step to 1500 in the Advanced setup dialog box in PHD from the brain icon. Doing this enabled phd to calibrate itself correctly using Betelgeuse in Orion as my guide star because its nice and bright.

Managed a 2 minute and a 4 minute exposure with reasonable clarity before cloud and mist came in again bah! Hopefully I can get a few clear nights soon and adjust everything correctly to get longer subs then this. My scope was not balanced correctly and my observatory floor needs some extra padding to dampen vibrations but its all looking quite promising so far.

The 2 minute sub

post-8732-0-94403800-1385899031_thumb.jp

The 4 minute sub

post-8732-0-51845400-1385899064_thumb.jp

And a picture of my desktop at the time of guiding, the graph had not settled itself very well at this point but after a few minutes it settled down nicely.

post-8732-0-37909500-1385899228_thumb.jp

post-8732-0-87055700-1385899405_thumb.jp

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The_PSY3NTIST

The_PSY3NTIST

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Good update QM :) cloud cloud cloud here tonight boo. I've been giving it a good run in the house and trying to get to grips with eqmod and cdc. Think a good read up on limit setting is needed. It's like a having a totally new setup! Good riddance to that clunky hand controller!

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Next stage for me is learning how to create a PEC file to correct any periodic error in my mount lots to read about while waiting for the cloud to clear off. Glad its all going for you now takes a while to learn all the things connected with the software. When you do start using it I think you will be very happy with it I love it to bits.

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Javert

Javert

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My wife has just sent me a text to say a parcel has arrived. I'm hoping it'll be my AstroEQ. Got the next 2 days off work too, although I will have to spend some time with the family!

Just hope I don't have any issues with getting it up and running.

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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Fear not we can all help you if your have any teething problems suggest taking your gear indoors and trying it all out inside first. Getting Astroeq running is not that hard I found learning how to use EQMOD the one that took some time but its all good fun.

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The_PSY3NTIST

The_PSY3NTIST

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My wife has just sent me a text to say a parcel has arrived. I'm hoping it'll be my AstroEQ. Got the next 2 days off work too, although I will have to spend some time with the family!

Just hope I don't have any issues with getting it up and running.

:) the Astroeq is unbelievable. When you see your mount do that first slew, any teething problems are soon forgotten. Windows is a tad awkward at times, I find the simplest of tasks a slog on a pc, although I did like windows 98 second edition quite a bit ;)

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Quatermass

Quatermass

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I can remember looking for the Markarian Chain in Virgo last year it took me 4 hours with my finder-scope and binoculars with AstroEQ and Eqmod it will take 5 minutes giving me 3 hours and 55 minutes to do some imaging this time. I suppose you could get the synscan upgrade and replace your gears for a better gear ratio but to be honest if your going to spend money on the upgrade you would be better off waiting and getting the HEQ5 but for those of us with a love of our EQ5 mounts that goes back 3 year or more AstroEQ has made my day.

When I did my first successful slew to my target for the night I was so chuffed I spent the next hour just slewing to things I had never been able to find before, brilliant and then later on I loaded up the comets in cdc and found comet ISON with ease and got a nice image of it. Lets face it astrophotography is a costly hobby and anything that makes it more accessible to others is a good thing in my books. :grin:

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Javert

Javert

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My plan is to get the basic connection to everything set up during daylight, just so I know things seem to be working ok. Then over the next couple of weekends try and actually find something. I used to waste about 90% of my time searching for things so will be extremely happy once this is up and running.

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Javert

Javert

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Connected the USB cable and it found the AstroEQ and it's showing on Com3 but I can't get it to connect to EQMOD. It just keeps timing out.

Guess I should read up on what I'm supposed to do next!

I'm running Windows 8. Should I have any drivers to install? I only ask as I know some have been mentioned previously, but my PC has recognised the device automatically.

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The_PSY3NTIST

The_PSY3NTIST

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The best way I found for that was to unplug the USB and power with astroeq open the press begin 10 seconds after you plug them back in, then at the settings page for the gear ratios etc unplug them again and when you have filled the information in plug them in again then wait 10 seconds before you press done. Hope that works

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Javert

Javert

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Well, I've had much more success than I expected.

Managed to get it all connected so that I can move the motors from my laptop via EQMod. Even gave CdC a quick go and clicked on something to slew to and the motors started moving.

One issue I do have is that my RA motor keeps sticking. Think I'll have to grease / oil it up and see if that fixes it.

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