Hardware and software advice needed for upgrading to guided imaging

[Thalestris24]

All my programs are fully updated, and PHD2 to 2.5.0. But there is no "Altair" option in the camera dropdown menu. You said yours was Rev 5, what does that mean?

Hi Ian

As I said before you need the PHD2 development snapshot - think I posted a link previously. There is a beta Ascom driver available via the Altair Astro Google group though I haven't tried it yet. The non Ascom driver works ok.

Louise

[ianpwilliams]

Ok got the updated PHD2 installed, which has Altair. I'm just going to hope that everything else is up to date enough for now. Will follow those instructions next and hopefully recognise the mount

[ianpwilliams]

I've connected everything up again. I've got USB to serial drivers installed, and I'm on COM5.

I've started StellariumScope, clicked on "Select Mount", chosen "EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6", then clicked "Properties", entered my Latitude (55.96N), Longitude (3.14W), and Elevation (21m), and Port Number (COM5), but when I click Ok it says "Invalid Parameter". I also tried clicking the "Find" button for the port which comes up with COM16 for some reason, but that doesn't do the trick either.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what I am doing wrong?

[ianpwilliams]

I've just EQASCOM_Run, and it has actually found the mount, and I am able to slew using the controls in EQMOD. So I wonder why it's not working through Stellarium Scope.

[ianpwilliams]

I'm getting the same issue if I open EQMOD from within PHD2. And whenever I open EQMOD from within StellariumScope or PHD2, not only does it give me the Invalid Parameter error message, but also I can't close EQMOD so I have to end the process which screws everything up. Is that supposed to be how it is?

I also can't get a view through my Altair DPCAM even though I can now select it in PHD2.

[salas]

When you say its not working in stell scope whats happening? Do you have the little "connect" box ticked?

[salas]

Concentrate on getting the mount going first with stell scope then look at PHD2

[salas]

1st open EQ Mod, sounds like you have the port number side of things sorted - you will hear the mount gears click in to action when it's connected.

2nd open Stellarium Scope and ensure you have selected HEQ 5/6 in the drop down ascom driver menu in stell scope

3rd click the "connect" box

[ianpwilliams]

I've done that and it's ok. I'm in Stelarium and the instructions say to add three "telescopes" in the Telescopes part of options, all "External Softsware or a remote computer". But I already had three in there, so now I have six and I'm now sure what's going on...

[salas]

Are you trying to slew to a target? I've never had to mess with anything on the screenshot you've posted. Leave the original 3 you had (thats what I have) and delete the others if you added them. To slew to a target on the map hold ctrl and press 1

[ianpwilliams]

I'm leaving it for tonight anyway. I'm still not sure why you have to go into task manager to end the EQMOD process rather than just closing the program. I've left the six telescopes in Stellarium options for now.

[ianpwilliams]

Hi Ian

You might find this Aussie info useful. You need to update appropriately

Louise

I was following these instructions. I'm not sure which three I created, so it'll be hard to know which three to remove, unless I can identify them somehow.

[salas]

The 3 which say "connected" looks like a good sign and would put my money on those, mine shows a scope, sync and cancel when not connected and if I connected (don't have my mount hooked just now) I'm sure they would say connected. By the looks of your screen grab you were there.

[ianpwilliams]

OK so I'll delete whichever three aren't "connected" next time in up and running. And then it sounds like the plan will be to run EQASCOM, then run StellariumScope, then use that to run Stellarium, and then hopefully I will be able to slew to a star (I'll choose one in a reasonable position for slewing to indoors as a test)?

I'll need to find the EQKILL program as well for shutting it down.

And am I right in saying that I have uncheck Enable Limits in EQMOD? I read that somewhere.

[salas]

The only thing you will need to do from my experience is make sure you "unpark" the mount or stellarium wont play not really any need to mess with the defaults. Go for Vega pretty high up and off of north as a test. I still have to go in to task manager to shut EQmod down sometimes...don't know why but - free software developed by enthusiasts, a bit frustrating at times but for free I guess Microsoft levels of development and roll out can't be expected.

[ianpwilliams]

I'll give that a go tomorrow.

I've had real trouble with APT though. It found my 1100D camera fine, but before too long the camera wasn't responding to my commands in APT. I'm considering trying to use the EOS utility program instead although that doesn't seem to allow you to specify a certain exposure length, only Bulb mode. So that and the guide cam issues will keep me busy for a while.

[Tinker1947]

I run Stellarium Scope, once all the settings are right all you will need to do is run Stellarium Scope, EQMod pops up and i click Unpark, Click the connect button either have the auto connect Stellarium clicked or do it manually, it should be up and running now, i now start PHD2 and it connects to the Guide CCD and Mount. When i am finished for the night i close PHD2, then "User defined" Park the scope so the Obby Roof will shut, close Stellarium Scope this auto closes EQMod, then shut down Stellarium, It seems you're almost there just a setting or 2 away from it working properly, it will be a missed or incorrect setting that's causing your problems nothing broken in your kit......

[Thalestris24]

I'll give that a go tomorrow.

I've had real trouble with APT though. It found my 1100D camera fine, but before too long the camera wasn't responding to my commands in APT. I'm considering trying to use the EOS utility program instead although that doesn't seem to allow you to specify a certain exposure length, only Bulb mode. So that and the guide cam issues will keep me busy for a while.

It won't be APT that's the problem - it's a tried and tested program. More likely a usb problem else maybe you are powering your camera from a battery? Check your camera auto power off settings...

[Thalestris24]

OK so I'll delete whichever three aren't "connected" next time in up and running. And then it sounds like the plan will be to run EQASCOM, then run StellariumScope, then use that to run Stellarium, and then hopefully I will be able to slew to a star (I'll choose one in a reasonable position for slewing to indoors as a test)?

I'll need to find the EQKILL program as well for shutting it down.

And am I right in saying that I have uncheck Enable Limits in EQMOD? I read that somewhere.

If eqmod won't shut down then run Windows Task Manager - it lets you 'kill' processes and unresponsive applications. In general, eqmod won't shut down if Stellariumscope is still running. You have to disconnect and shut that down first.

[Davesellars]

Indeed auto power off on the DSLR will 99% sure be the culprit...  I've found that out the hard way!   APT is rock solid as long as your USB cable is good.

[Thalestris24]

Indeed auto power off on the DSLR will 99% sure be the culprit...  I've found that out the hard way!   APT is rock solid as long as your USB cable is good.

Yep, a good cable can save a lot of grief! e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Cable-Type-mini-Black/dp/B004ZF32HE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1448018697&sr=8-16&keywords=usb+2.0+cable+mini+shielded+3m

[ianpwilliams]

I run Stellarium Scope, once all the settings are right all you will need to do is run Stellarium Scope, EQMod pops up and i click Unpark, Click the connect button either have the auto connect Stellarium clicked or do it manually, it should be up and running now, i now start PHD2 and it connects to the Guide CCD and Mount. When i am finished for the night i close PHD2, then "User defined" Park the scope so the Obby Roof will shut, close Stellarium Scope this auto closes EQMod, then shut down Stellarium, It seems you're almost there just a setting or 2 away from it working properly, it will be a missed or incorrect setting that's causing your problems nothing broken in your kit......

Yeah I think I might be close, although at the moment if feels like I'm still miles away. I'll try what you said and see what happens.

[Thalestris24]

Yeah I think I might be close, although at the moment if feels like I'm still miles away. I'll try what you said and see what happens.

Hi

Bear in mind that the mount cable needs to be connected and the mount switched on for anything to run, except in the case of running the simulator

Louise

[ianpwilliams]

Yep, a good cable can save a lot of grief! e.g. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ex-Pro-Cable-Type-mini-Black/dp/B004ZF32HE/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1448018697&sr=8-16&keywords=usb+2.0+cable+mini+shielded+3m

I bought a cheaper one, although I thought that that would be fine given that it's digital data:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=351527269877&alt=web

Maybe I should buy a more expensive one. I'm not convinced that the cable is the problem though, as when running the EOS camera control program it was fine, so it wasn't that the signal was dropping out or anything, it just seemed to get to a point where nothing was responding. But it was probably something that I was doing wrong in APT.

[Thalestris24]

I bought a cheaper one, although I thought that that would be fine given that it's digital data:

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=351527269877&alt=web

Maybe I should buy a more expensive one. I'm not convinced that the cable is the problem though, as when running the EOS camera control program it was fine, so it wasn't that the signal was dropping out or anything, it just seemed to get to a point where nothing was responding. But it was probably something that I was doing wrong in APT.

That one might be ok but if you have problems that aren't caused by the camera... Do you have a mains adaptor for the camera - they are much better than a battery but might not be suitable for outside (definitely not in the wet!  ). I think you can get 12V -> camera adaptors, something I'll have to look into myself. I'm sure thousands of people use APT quite happily with their Canons . Not sure that there's much you can do in APT that would cause a camera comms problem. If it comes to it, you can switch the camera off then back on again...  I usually set APT to save images to the PC rather than the camera but I guess you can save to sdcard only if you think you might have comms problems.