Mesu 200 with sitech ii controller

[Gedan]

Can't find anything to help.

[steppenwolf]

in the Field of view calculator I am getting a FOV of 16.5' x 12.38'. How do I convert that to Square arcminutes?

Multiply the two dimensions together:- 16.5 x 12.38 = 204 square arcminutes

[Singlin]

Thank you steve.

Do you think that the ASI120 would be ok for this or should I use my Atik 383?

I would prefer the ASI120 as it would be quicker to setup.

[steppenwolf]

To be honest, I'd use the Atik 383 for sensitivity and field size.

[Singlin]

Rgr that.

Thanks steve.

I am off toget some sleep. Thursday forecast is looking good.

Good night

Simon

[Steve 1962]

16.5 x 12.38 arc minutes = 204.27 sq arc minutes .

Whoops - sorry - way too late with that!!...and I agree with Steve - use the larger chip.

[Singlin]

I have been reading the operations manual and it states that Cart Du Ciel does not send Nutated/Abberated coordinates so therefore one must turn Nutated coords and Abberated Coords ON in the config\Misc section.

Page 185 of manual.

Is this advised?

[Singlin]

Clear skies and I am half way through traditional drif alignment horaaah

[Singlin]

I successfuly did a drift align and maped the sky with 16 cal stars and saved the calstar file.

My go tos were very accurate and I was Happy.

I then decided to try the Park feature.

1. I slewed the mount to my home position with weights down and scope pointing North.

2. I stopped tracking and clicked setprk and then park.

3. I turned the mount and software off.

4. I turned the mount back on and opened Sitech.exe

5.I clicked UnPrk and the mount immediately slewed to a position with the weight bar at the limit on the East and the scope pointing up at the meridian.

6. I then clicked stop and tried to do an offset ini but the scope started to oscillate.

7. I turned the scope off and closed Sitech.exe

8. I turned the power back on the scope and opened Sitech.exe

9. I performed and Offset init

10. I loaded my calstar file

11. All my got tos were no longer accurate

Has anyone managed to use the Park feature?

[Singlin]

Alt\dec Encoder error has come back

[Singlin]

Alt dec encoder error when slewing to my first or second cal star.

Fedup

[steppenwolf]

Has anyone managed to use the Park feature?

I use the Park/Unpark routine at every session - it works fine for me thus, sadly, indicating that you must have a fault of some kind.

You need to concentrate on the Alt\Dec encoder error issue and get that nailed. As a start, can I suggest that you check every electrical connection on the mount, starting with the screw terminal connections to the SiTech controller.

[Singlin]

1. I got a Blinky error whils slewing to my first cal star

2. Whils pressing the North and South buttons on the handpad they often invert whils slewing.

3. When pressing unpark the mount goes all over the place.

I am beginning to think that 6000 euros could have been spent on something a bit more reliable.

[steppenwolf]

1. What PSU are you using for the mount?

2. Meridian flip?

3. This is weird behaviour - have you contacted your supplier or Lucas Mesu directly?

[ollypenrice]

I"m really sorry. I've been a great advocate of the ArgoNavis version and hope that you'll get sorted.

Olly

[Singlin]

I have just had a fruitful skype session with Dan Gray in the states.

After all the controls we went through we found out that their is a problem with my DEC scope encoder.

He thinks that it could be a set screw loose.

In the sitech exe config I have placed the dec encoder in "Ignore mode"

And to resolve my parking issue in the Servo Config I went to "Auto/Tracking"-"Equatorial  Parameters" and disabled "Use Equatorial Mode"

Now the Parking feature is working.

I no longer have the encodr error and things are looking up.

Just need to get the encoder sorted.

At least I know what it is and that their is a reason for my suffering.

I can tell you suffering is alot easier when you know why

[steppenwolf]

Fantastic news! One of the additional great advantages of using SiTech is the amount of control data available to you if you know how to use it. I hope the encoder issue is a simple one to fix - yes a loose set screw or a cable connection fault, both worth checking out. The set screw, Lucas can advise on the cable termination, I have already commented on.

I'm delighted that you are making some good progress.

[Gedan]

Glad to hear you have an answer to this....frustrating all the same.

[Singlin]

My Main controller Sitech II has blown today, no sign of life.

[Helen]

Sorry to hear of all your problems Simon    Hope Mesu sort you out quickly!

Helen

[Singlin]

I have not had a huge amount of luck.

I am taking a few days off thinking about it.

[steppenwolf]

You're certainly not having an easy ride here ....

When you say 'blown', have you checked the output from the PSU to ensure that the problem isn't occurring before the controller?

Did the controller apparently fail while the mount was running or at switch-on?

Sent from my iPhone from somewhere dark .....

[ncjunk]

I know how you feel, my first attempt with my mesu was a disaster due to poor shipping/packaging (the packaging is now better) and a dodgy motor that kept slipping (after a bang from ups).

I then sent it back to have it completely checked and the scitech ii fitted, no problems since.

I've had a few power cuts but no problems from the scitech afterwards. I power everything from a custom power box that has 220v to 24v transformer and supplies up to 20A. Each 12v supply runs through a relay so on power fail it has to be re-armed, as it were.

I'll shortly be adding a 1200va ups to shut everything down on power failure.

so no problems with the scitech ii and power for me.

isn't there a reset button on there? Sounds more like a fuse blown.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[ncjunk]

There's a fuse on the input so if it's done its job you should be ok...unless you wired it backwards at any point.

I blew a fuse on another powersupply the other night, just needed a fuse change.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

[Singlin]

I checked the 5 amp fuse and it is intact.

Dan grey from Sitech was really helpfull and via skype he told me the procedure to re flash the firmware but the procedure failed pointing to a suspected total failure.

He has shipped a new controller out to me.

I am interested in protecting my electrics from static and power surges but am very ignorant on such matters.

Dan mentioned grounding my power that arrives at the pier and also grounding the controller. I said good idea but was too embarrassed to ask what to do.