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Help PHD

cosmojaydee

By cosmojaydee
in Getting Started With Imaging

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cosmojaydee

cosmojaydee

Posted
Posted

I am trying to guide for the first time using PHD left them at default settings, each time it goes to calibrate it shows a diag box as failed , star didn't move enough . I am using the equipment in my sig. Can anybody shed any light on it for me see attached screen shots 

Thanks 

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post-26160-0-16156100-1417636126.jpg

post-26160-0-02051200-1417636133.jpg

post-26160-0-96551600-1417636139.jpg

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glowingturnip

glowingturnip

Posted
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Random thoughts in no particular order:

- check the focus - looks a bit too far off.  Some slight unfocussing can actually help PHD, apparently, but I suspect you might be a bit too far off.

- make sure you're not guiding off a hot pixel, and that it is actually a star you're using (a more common mistake than you'd think, I've done it loads of times).  Take the time to do the darks capture routine (one of the menu items, can't remember which), will help with hot pixels

- could you hear the motors whirring with a different tone when it was calibrating ?  If not, would point to a connection issue

- if all that fails to fix it, try increasing the calibration step (on the panel on the right above), 1500 should help

Don't worry, been there done that, but you will get it right, good luck !

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Tommohawk

Tommohawk

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Hi

We have similar kit so I will try and help if I can. I had similar problem at the outset with ST4, and opted for EQMOD via the handset because there turned out to be a problem with the HEQ5 control board.

My PHD settings are much the same as yours - but I agree with above that for faster scopes longer calibration step helps. I use 1450ms.

First thing is to check that ST4 control is hooked up OK. Go to PHD/Tools/Manual and see if you get a response in all directions. I'm not hooked up right now and cant remember exactly how the manual control works, but I think its pretty obvious.   If you dont get repsonses in all 4 directions, you need to look at cables and board continuity. I can talk you through this if neccesary.

Good luck - I'm sure youll get it sorted - and when its going its great!!

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Tommohawk

Tommohawk

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Posted

I sometimes get this issue if my USB cable isn't plugged into the port I installed my device on. It doesn't seem to like any of the other ports.

Yep, me too. I think is an EQMOD issue rather than ST4 though.

One other thought - the cable I initially had for ST4 was the wrong one - needs to be 6 core. (Not BT type cable)

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Owmuchonomy

Owmuchonomy

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....oh and one other thing, if you are guiding up near the zenith then push that calibration step right up. My guide scope is FL 350mm and up there I need to go to 4000ms. Optimum is to achieve around 10-15 steps during calibration.

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cosmojaydee

cosmojaydee

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Posted

Hi

We have similar kit so I will try and help if I can. I had similar problem at the outset with ST4, and opted for EQMOD via the handset because there turned out to be a problem with the HEQ5 control board.

My PHD settings are much the same as yours - but I agree with above that for faster scopes longer calibration step helps. I use 1450ms.

First thing is to check that ST4 control is hooked up OK. Go to PHD/Tools/Manual and see if you get a response in all directions. I'm not hooked up right now and cant remember exactly how the manual control works, but I think its pretty obvious.   If you dont get repsonses in all 4 directions, you need to look at cables and board continuity. I can talk you through this if neccesary.

Good luck - I'm sure youll get it sorted - and when its going its great!!

no response from mount doing this, any advise? 

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Owmuchonomy

Owmuchonomy

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Has PHD connected ok to your mount? It will say when you first set up in the bottom of the window. If so then it's probably down to the ST4 connection. I had this issue and traced it to the blue lead disconnecting itself from the control board so it wouldn't move West. I soldered it back on and all was fine. Have you a spare ST4 cable?

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D4N

D4N

Posted
Posted

In the tools menu choose manual guiding and push the buttons to send guide commands to your mount, if this doesn't do anything then there's a communication issue. If the mount does respond then the issue is either your calibration step setting or that you're on a hot pixel as others have stated.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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leemanley

leemanley

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This is just the first of many a doh ! night I'm sure you'll have cosmo, wait till you have 2 hours of frustration not being able to get anything with your kit because you left the front covers on your scope like I did not too long ago..............., oh my god, I couldn't believe how dumb I had been, sometimes it the simplest of things that catch us out !
Good luck with the rest of your sesh

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Tommohawk

Tommohawk

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This is just the first of many a doh ! night I'm sure you'll have cosmo, wait till you have 2 hours of frustration not being able to get anything with your kit because you left the front covers on your scope like I did not too long ago..............., oh my god, I couldn't believe how dumb I had been, sometimes it the simplest of things that catch us out !

Good luck with the rest of your sesh

Yep, done that too. Image qulaity definitely degrades with scope cover on.

So - did it all work in the end?

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Carina Lass

Carina Lass

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Oddly enough, I tried using EQMOD before I put in ST4 and put the connection for the mount to 'on camera'. It was a failure - failing to connect, even refusing to connect.

After that it worked fine. There's little wrong with my guide graph that PE calibration won't fix.

I even just used the base settings out of the box.

I will eventually use the hitecastro cable and cut out the handset altogether, but I want to try each bit before I move onpost-36524-0-24983400-1417662364_thumb.j

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Tommohawk

Tommohawk

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Oddly enough, I tried using EQMOD before I put in ST4 and put the connection for the mount to 'on camera'. It was a failure - failing to connect, even refusing to connect.

After that it worked fine. There's little wrong with my guide graph that PE calibration won't fix.

I even just used the base settings out of the box.

I will eventually use the hitecastro cable and cut out the handset altogether, but I want to try each bit before I move onattachicon.gif20141202_213214.jpg

Oooh thats a nice graph! Will have to have another fiddle with my settings. 

Cosmo - whats the latest? Can't work out if you're sorted or not.

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cosmojaydee

cosmojaydee

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Not had chance to have another go , but I am just pondering, How do you use a Bahtinov, do you use an eyepiece to get focus or do you use a capture  program like Artemis , if you use a program I am struggling to get any kind of live view I can work with , the exposures seem to need 1.5-2.0 secs to get anything on the screen

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