EQDimmer (not working)

[Demonperformer]

EQMOD running and communicating with the mount (check).

Move the slider and press the set button (check)

... and nothing happens.

I have tried moving the slider fully to both ends and setting the new level, and the brightness of the light does not alter in the slightest.

I have found threads on SGL that indicate that other people have had the same problem, but can find no solutions.

Any pointers gratefully received.

Thanks.

[Earl]

Depending on the model of the circuit board it may not support dimming. 

[Demonperformer]

Right, sorry, should have mentioned this is a new NEQ6 syntrek.

My understanding is that the circuitry is the same as the NEQ6 synscan, which you can dim via the synscan handset, but the syntrek handset does not have this facility.

[Spikey]

Doesn't it need a power cycle to take the new setting? i.e. set the dimmer to the required level and power off the mount.

[Demonperformer]

Well, I posted a query on the EQMOD yahoo group and from the replies it seems that EQDimmer cannot run while EQASCOM is running.

If I understand that correctly, it means I need to plug the cable in between the mount and the laptop and NOT run EQMOD, but just fire up the EQDimmer application, and then it should work.

I will let you all know how it goes ....

[JamesF]

I wish I'd known this the other night when I couldn't see Polaris because the LED was too bright and I couldn't find the handset cable for my NEQ6.  *sigh*

I shall download EQDimmer now  Then find the cable, just in case.

James

[Bizibilder]

Thanks for this info  - I also spent a very difficult two hours aligning on Polaris with a ridiculously bright polarscope dimmer the other night!!  Downloading it is the next job on my to do list!!

EQdimmer is here:  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EQMOD/files/A%20EQMOD%20Release/EQASCOM/

[JamesF]

Thanks for this info  - I also spent a very difficult two hours aligning on Polaris with a ridiculously bright polarscope dimmer the other night!!  Downloading it is the next job on my to do list!!

EQdimmer is here:  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EQMOD/files/A%20EQMOD%20Release/EQASCOM/

You do need to join the Yahoo EQMOD group before you can download it, in case anyone else is trying.

James

[Demonperformer]

Yay!

It took some doing, but now I have the LED at '10' which is bright enough to be visible and the markings are clear.

Looking forward to trying it in anger tomorrow night (when clear skies are promised).

The irony is that, having gone through all this to do it, I should never have to do it again!

BTW, It can also be downloaded from here for those who are not registered on the yahoo group:

http://taursansaakamera.dyndns.org:2222/Software/ASCOM/Drivers/EQMOD/Misc/ (I did try and attach it to this post, but I don't have the permissions to allow it)

Or - if you are happy to play with it, I gather you can amend the eqmod.ini file manually by changing the appropriate line to:

POLAR_SCOPE_BRIGHTNESS=10

or the appropriate figure you want to use.

mine was located here: c:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\EQMOD\EQMOD.ini

[Demonperformer]

Or - if you are happy to play with it, I gather you can amend the eqmod.ini file manually by changing the appropriate line to:

POLAR_SCOPE_BRIGHTNESS=10

or the appropriate figure you want to use.

mine was located here: c:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\EQMOD\EQMOD.ini

Actually, having run this past Chris on the eqmod yahoo group, it seems that this line is only used by EQDimmer, so without EQDimmer working properly, it would be "unlikely to fix anything".

Apologies for misleading.

[Spikey]

Yay!

It took some doing, but now I have the LED at '10' which is bright enough to be visible and the markings are clear.

Looking forward to trying it in anger tomorrow night (when clear skies are promised).

The irony is that, having gone through all this to do it, I should never have to do it again!

BTW, It can also be downloaded from here for those who are not registered on the yahoo group:

http://taursansaakamera.dyndns.org:2222/Software/ASCOM/Drivers/EQMOD/Misc/ (I did try and attach it to this post, but I don't have the permissions to allow it)

Or - if you are happy to play with it, I gather you can amend the eqmod.ini file manually by changing the appropriate line to:

POLAR_SCOPE_BRIGHTNESS=10

or the appropriate figure you want to use.

mine was located here: c:\users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\EQMOD\EQMOD.ini

I'd be wary about downloading anything executable from outside of the official route.

[Amra]

So I'm supposed to connect to my mount with my laptop, not run EQmod & only run EQdimmer.exe, choose a level value & 'set level' and then power off & power on my mount?

Will be interesting to see if it works, I do have the HEQ5 board, so maybe it isn't supported, worth a try though.

[Demonperformer]

Yes, that should do it, if your board supports dimming at all.  It seems that some of the older ones don't.

[Bizibilder]

I found that I had to connect to EQMOD once (with the dimmer set to 10) then disconnect EQMOD.  Power off/on and the polarscope was just right!

[tingting44]

Thanks for this info  - I also spent a very difficult two hours aligning on Polaris with a ridiculously bright polarscope dimmer the other night!!  Downloading it is the next job on my to do list!!

EQdimmer is here:  http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/EQMOD/files/A%20EQMOD%20Release/EQASCOM/

i cant seem to join the group no matter what i do to get the EQdimmer download

 any chance anyone can send me the file pretty please

[Bizibilder]

[chrisshillito]

I've put the official EQDimmer executable up on the EQMOD source forge download site - https://sourceforge.net/projects/eq-mod/files/EQDIMMER/ were folks should be able to get at it without requiring any group membership etc.

To work EQDimmer must be able to access the com port used for serial communication to the mount. EQMOD cannot therefore be running otherwise it will have nabbed the COM port already.

i cant seem to join the group no matter what i do to get the EQdimmer download

I don't know why that should be - did you get a membership reject message?  The only reason we ever reject membership is if a suitable astronomy related comment hasn't been supplied as part of the membership request ("hi" or "let me join" etc. won't do). That said there have been only two rejections made  this month, both on the on 14th and in response to the same user who didn't appear to provide a comment at all (or perhaps yahoo had lost it). The only reason we keep the EQMOD goup "closed" to non members is to protect our current members from junk email - by insisting the potential members supply a comment detailing their Astronomy equipment or particular interest means we have a better chance of keeping the spambots out.

Chris.

[tingting44]

I've put the official EQDimmer executable up on the EQMOD source forge download site - https://sourceforge.net/projects/eq-mod/files/EQDIMMER/ were folks should be able to get at it without requiring any group membership etc.

To work EQDimmer must be able to access the com port used for serial communication to the mount. EQMOD cannot therefore be running otherwise it will have nabbed the COM port already.

I don't know why that should be - did you get a membership reject message?  The only reason we ever reject membership is if a suitable astronomy related comment hasn't been supplied as part of the membership request ("hi" or "let me join" etc. won't do). That said there have been only two rejections made  this month, both on the on 14th and in response to the same user who didn't appear to provide a comment at all (or perhaps yahoo had lost it). The only reason we keep the EQMOD goup "closed" to non members is to protect our current members from junk email - by insisting the potential members supply a comment detailing their Astronomy equipment or particular interest means we have a better chance of keeping the spambots out.

Chris.

i have got 4 reject's now in 2 days, ive got all the emails still, i wrote about me, about what gear i have, about what i like to image, i gave up after the 4th rejection....