PhD2 graph help

[matt-c]

I'm currently having a nightmare with PhD graph lines or the lack of them should I say. 

I start guiding and for about 30 seconds all is well then the Dec just vanishes off screen no matter what settings I choose it's just gone. 

I have moved to a new spot in the Garden and Im doubting my polar alignment,  perhaps I wasn't even on Polaris,  would this explain the graph? 

Also I updated PhD so maybe I've changed something in the settings? 

I feel like I've tuned out as much backlash I can without locking up the mount. 

Any suggestions? 

 

Thanks

 

[kens]

You can revert to default settings by ticking the "Reset configuration" option on the Brain Global tab.

A bad polar alignment can cause your Dec to vanish off the screen as you describe. Post your PHD guide log file for more info.

Did you have a good calibration?

[matt-c]

just a picture of how it makes my picture look  

this is a few hours of 15/20/30 min subs

[matt-c]

1 minute ago, kens said:

You can revert to default settings by ticking the "Reset configuration" option on the Brain Global tab.

A bad polar alignment can cause your Dec to vanish off the screen as you describe. Post your PHD guide log file for more info.

Did you have a good calibration?

Good to know kens, thanks.

about calibration im thinking maybe i should aim for more steps currently i've tried 8-15 maybe i should go alot higher.

i wish i could test this out during the day instead of waiting for clear skies

 

[Davey-T]

If you use the PA drift aligning tool with the trend lines on you can see if the line is vertical.

Dave

[kens]

Higher isn't necessarily better. 12 to 15 is the usual amount. I take it you are having problems with calibration. You can find your log file under Documents/PHD2 or wherever indicated in the Brain > Global tab. Posting it will save a lot of questions.

[Davey-T]

Yes 12 - 15 should be plenty.

Dave

[matt-c]

1 minute ago, Davey-T said:

If you use the PA drift aligning tool with the trend lines on you can see if the line is vertical.

Dave

Thanks Dave, i must be honest i'm intimidated by the drift alignment procedure although i've found some good videos on youtube.
I don't have any horizon views in any direction is it still possible to do? 

[Davey-T]

49 minutes ago, matt-c said:

Thanks Dave, i must be honest i'm intimidated by the drift alignment procedure although i've found some good videos on youtube.
I don't have any horizon views in any direction is it still possible to do? 

Yes, the positions recommended are the optimum but it still works if you get as close as you can, somewhere around Regulus is a good place to start ATM.

Dave

[matt-c]

That's really good to know!  South facing I can get Sirius and possibly a little lower, West....... I'll find something 

Thanks

[Davey-T]

26 minutes ago, matt-c said:

That's really good to know!  South facing I can get Sirius and possibly a little lower, West....... I'll find something 

Thanks

Sirius is too low, try Regulus and Aldebaran maybe, doesn't need to be these exact stars as they may be a bit bright, just something in their area.

You can try letting PHD select the star.

Dave

[matt-c]

Thanks Dave I thought the lower the better?  I'll try those 2 out provided they dodge the houses/trees. 

 

Thanks

[matt-c]

8 hours ago, kens said:

You can revert to default settings by ticking the "Reset configuration" option on the Brain Global tab.

A bad polar alignment can cause your Dec to vanish off the screen as you describe. Post your PHD guide log file for more info.

Did you have a good calibration?

i was wondering if you can make any sense of these guide logs? i'm clueless with this stuff.

this is off the image i got above.

another recent dud.

last time guiding worked for me  

[Davey-T]

2nd one looks good, how it's supposed to look.

Dave

[matt-c]

2 hours ago, Davey-T said:

2nd one looks good, how it's supposed to look.

Dave

This is off the second graph, its weird this one had dec for most of the sub but then vanished and it gave me double stars

 

apologies for all the pictures i'm just hoping it helps to diagnose the problem

[Davey-T]

They look like two separate lots of stars rather than eggy ones, looks like it jumps in dec then carries on tracking, backlash maybe taken up when guiding stopped.

Dave

[kens]

The second calibration also has signs of significant backlash. It would be easier to see if you post the actual log rather than fuzzy screeen shots

[matt-c]

10 hours ago, kens said:

The second calibration also has signs of significant backlash. It would be easier to see if you post the actual log rather than fuzzy screeen shots

sorry kens new to all this.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwch4u1clctdvcc/PHD2_DebugLog_2016-03-07_194714.txt?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ybudvh3383cqi8f/PHD2_DebugLog_2016-03-13_194458.txt?dl=0

[kens]

No problem - its a big learning curve. What you posted is the Debug Log - see if you can find the Guide Log. It will be in the same folder but prefixed with PHD2_GuideLog

Its also worth installing PHD Log Viewer http://openphdguiding.org/phd2-log-viewer/ which lets you view your guide logs graphically. It's a big help with troubleshooting as the log file contains all your settings and records everything even if you don't display it on the screen. It even records when you change the settings.

[matt-c]

5 hours ago, kens said:

No problem - its a big learning curve. What you posted is the Debug Log - see if you can find the Guide Log. It will be in the same folder but prefixed with PHD2_GuideLog

Its also worth installing PHD Log Viewer http://openphdguiding.org/phd2-log-viewer/ which lets you view your guide logs graphically. It's a big help with troubleshooting as the log file contains all your settings and records everything even if you don't display it on the screen. It even records when you change the settings.

Its bad how much i dont understand in this hobby  i hope this is them.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50841363/PHD2_GuideLog_2016-03-13_194458.txt

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50841363/PHD2_GuideLog_2016-03-07_194714.txt

 

really appreciate it  

[Davey-T]

Can't download logs but just looking at them the adjustments seem very large, is your PA way out or balance or ?

Dave

[matt-c]

I've went onto the phd group page and its kinda been diagnosed as "o dear" haha 

[michael8554]

First time I've ever looked at a Guidelog, so I'm no expert, but doesn't stop me asking questions.........

I notice that sometimes the log says "Mount = On Camera", sometimes "Mount = EQMod HEQ5/6" ??

Also 33 backlash corrections on RA in the Cal sequence seems a lot to me ??  kens has already spotted backlash issues just looking at the image.

But North-South seems to calibrate okay each time, and the image only shows RA issues, so what's the Dec problem?

Might help knowing what mount, OTA, guidescope, and camera are involved?

Michael

[kens]

That was pretty much my reaction. By the way it would also be helpful if you list your equipment in your signature. You can edit it under your Account Settings

Some observations from your log of 13-March:

Your (successful) calibrations are "ok" but with a large amount of Dec backlash. That is they are more or less at right angles and the outbound steps are working

The mount doesn't know where you took your calibrations but it looks like a declination around 30 degrees - is that right?

Between the two logs, it looks like you turned the guide camera about 90 degrees - is that right?

In your 8:35pm run you had things going reasonably well. For the first 20 minutes you had an RMS of under 3 arc-seconds

Choosing dec guide mode south was the right choice. But your PA is quite a way off so PHD was working hard to keep things on track. It looks like you were about 15 to 20 arc minutes out on PA.

At 8:57pm things went pear shaped when something slipped. Looks like a bad case of flexure. Because it went south PHD couldn't guide it out till you started to adjust the various settings. It was actually your PA error that eventually brought it back on track.

 

[kens]

56 minutes ago, michael8554 said:

First time I've ever looked at a Guidelog, so I'm no expert, but doesn't stop me asking questions.........

I notice that sometimes the log says "Mount = On Camera", sometimes "Mount = EQMod HEQ5/6" ??

Also 33 backlash corrections on RA in the Cal sequence seems a lot to me ??  kens has already spotted backlash issues just looking at the image.

But North-South seems to calibrate okay each time, and the image only shows RA issues, so what's the Dec problem?

Might help knowing what mount, OTA, guidescope, and camera are involved?

Michael

I didn't notice the change in mount - well spotted! I believe matt-c has recently acquired an HEQ5. If so, I would strongly recommend to connect the mount to PHD2. Preferably directly with an EQDIR cable or at minimum with a USB-serial cable via the handset. Either ST4 guiding ("On camera") or pulse guiding are ok but my personal preference is pulse guiding. To connect the mount with ST4 guiding use the Aux mount setting in PHD.

I'm guessing matt-c is using a finder-guidescope, possibly an Orion SSAG based on the focal length and pixel size.

The giveaway on backlash was the two clusters of grey circles at each end of the Dec calibration and the absence of southbound red circles. 

The main issue on the image is in fact in declination. The rotation of the image is a bit confusing at first. 

I'd be checking that everything is well balanced and that the guide scope is securely mounted - especially at the dovetail. If there are still issues I'd look at adjusting the gear mesh.