ASI 120 MC-S & Firecapture

[julian489289]

I have just bought an ASI 120 MC-S to use with my 102mm APO triplet for planetary work.   I also have a lakeside focuser.  I have a windows 8 laptop, Intel 5 8gb RAM and control my mount using Ascom EQMod.  I also use Carte Du Ciel and want to use Firecapture (FC).

I open CDC and connect my mount to EQMod, this uses com port 4.  I then open FC and then switch on the focuser (have found that if this is on before I open FC, FC will not initialise with the focuser) which uses com port 5.

I have also noticed that when FC opens, it also tries to connect to EQMod and another control box opens but gives an error message that no port is available!

After a short while (less than a minute), EQMod & CDC doesn't respond any further and have to be shut down.  I assume that this is due to the second control box opening for EQMod??

Has anyone experienced a similar issue and if so can advise as how to resolve it?  Does FC need to connect to EQMod if I am just using the 120 MC-S as a capture camera?  I do not need it to be used as a guidecam.  How do I het FC to open without connecting to EQMod as I assume that this is the issue???

Hope someone can help me, thanks

[jsmoraes]

You need to disable the guiding feature in FC. You can see how to do it in FC tutorials. I don't remember now exactly where you do it.

IMHO, after the goto task with CDC you don't need it more. The guiding feature of FC will be more interesting to you. FC will use the actual image that is beeing captured to correct the position of target. Therefore, I think the best is to close the CDC connection with the telescope. Thus, you will have only one instance of EQMOD and none conflict with port.

After the goto, close the CDC and open FC to get free port. Or with guidind in FC disabled, after goto with CDC, disconnect the telescope in CDC and activate the guiding in FC.