EQMOD Advanced options

[KY Cygni]

Hi all can anyone tell me about the sliders on the right, particularly resolution 1 what ? 50 what ? is lower better etc theres enough space to put the explanation right underneath for crying out loud.

I am trying to fix some poor goto accuracy 

I wish this software wasnt free then Id feel like I could complain like hell about it, having said that its cost a fortune in wasted hours 

frustrated of Gloucestershire

 

[Skipper Billy]

Do any of these documents help?

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/tutorials.html

[Skipper Billy]

Or these....

http://welshdragoncomputing.ca/eqmod/doku.php

[KY Cygni]

Hi Billy 

'Thanks for tne replies, I have trawled through that lot a few times  

[nightvision]

Check out youtube, plenty of Chris Shillito tutorials on there:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX2uXMu0crw

 

 

[daz]

I have never had to adjust those parameters at all in my EQMOD - either with my old EQ6 or my AZGT6. I notice there are no alignment points in your screen-shot - do you normally build a model before go-to?

[KY Cygni]

4 minutes ago, daz said:

I have never had to adjust those parameters at all in my EQMOD - either with my old EQ6 or my AZGT6. I notice there are no alignment points in your screen-shot - do you normally build a model before go-to?

Daz the screen shot is not mine, its a net grab to show what I mean

1 hour ago, nightvision said:

Check out youtube, plenty of Chris Shillito tutorials on there:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX2uXMu0crw

 

 

thanks NV think I have looked at most of those but will double check again

[daz]

Ah..!

OK, so can you describe your set up - and the processes, and the results you are getting?

 

[KY Cygni]

8 hours ago, daz said:

Ah..!

OK, so can you describe your set up - and the processes, and the results you are getting?

It was slewing to target fine then it would add a movement and jump back off the target. I checked location and time in all my software checked backlash etc. It was suggested to change the goto rate from unlimited and this works perfectly but this adds all sorts of weird extra movements [hence the op question]

however it seems to of sorted itself out and is working spot on with the slider set back to unlimited, could of been a software glitch but its cost weeks of imaging time

thanks for the help though chap

8 hours ago, daz said:

 

 

[chrisshillito]

On 15/05/2016 at 16:46, KY Cygni said:

I wish this software wasnt free then Id feel like I could complain like hell about it, having said that its cost a fortune in wasted hours 

..... but did you ever wonder how many wasted hours that software took to write, how many wasted hours it took to to test, how many wasted hours it took to prepare all the free documentation and videos? or how many wasted hours have spent providing support over the last 10 years? Trust me, the overall "cost" to you is trivial compared to that already paid by those in making EQMOD available to you.

If you're really stuck for help on EQMOD then join the EQMOD Yahoo group (the official support group) and search the message archive - there is 10 years worth of product support there - pretty much everything has been covered at least once. For example here is a response I made there to a query on the Advanced Settings.

Quote

Essentially the Slew Retries sets the maximum number of goto iterations that will be attempted in order to get the RA axis within the number of stepper motor microsteps specified by the Goto Resolution. The RASlew adjust is a fixed microstep offset (intentional overshoot) that is applied to the RA axis slews when tracking is enabled.

So, in theory, if you wanted to improve the accuracy of a RA/DEC goto you would decrease the Goto Resolution slider and possibly increase the number of Slew Retries. However in practice there comes a point where the internal lags involved in mount communication and the like mean that further improvement isn't achievable and the default values have been chosen to reflect this.

Constructive criticisms are always welcome via the EQMOD Yahoo group but as you've noted EQMOD is free of charge and its developers aren't  beholden in any way to those who opt to take it - they do what then can, if they can, when they can and you should expect no more than that.

Chris.

[KY Cygni]

18 hours ago, chrisshillito said:

..... but did you ever wonder how many wasted hours that software took to write, how many wasted hours it took to to test, how many wasted hours it took to prepare all the free documentation and videos? or how many wasted hours have spent providing support over the last 10 years? Trust me, the overall "cost" to you is trivial compared to that already paid by those in making EQMOD available to you.

If you're really stuck for help on EQMOD then join the EQMOD Yahoo group (the official support group) and search the message archive - there is 10 years worth of product support there - pretty much everything has been covered at least once. For example here is a response I made there to a query on the Advanced Settings.

Constructive criticisms are always welcome via the EQMOD Yahoo group but as you've noted EQMOD is free of charge and its developers aren't  beholden in any way to those who opt to take it - they do what then can, if they can, when they can and you should expect no more than that.

Chris.

Chris 

Thanks for the reply you may or may not of picked up the frustration in my post which came across as a dig when it shouldn't of done for that I apologise

But in answer to your subsequent reply, any time I have had wasted was something I didnt sign up to, what you chose to waste you own time is your own affair, I do not anticipate joining a self help group for free software, sorry life is too short and my interest is photography not software.

You are absolutely not beholding to anyone, that works both ways I opted to use the software and invest time and money in my rig based upon it, for me it has failed and I do not opt to spend any more of my time guessing how it works.

All the best 

 

 

 

[Scott]

more oft than not problems with software can be boiled down to one of two things... user error or an error by the user. 

 

[Stu]

3 hours ago, Scott said:

more oft than not problems with software can be boiled down to one of two things... user error or an error by the user. 

 

It's curious isn't it Scott, I'm not an imager, but all I recall seeing is countless people being grateful for the time and effort put into providing free software, and just getting on and producing wonderful results with it......

[steppenwolf]

As a VERY early adopter of EQMod software, I have nothing but praise for it and the developers who have given so freely of their time - this software was and remains, a game-changer for those using Sky-Watcher equatorial mounts.

[neil phillips]

I am very interested in the moon mapping part of the software does anyone have any information about that, anything is interesting, how good it is, how it works, anything really. I know very little about it.

[Cornelius Varley]

11 hours ago, neil phillips said:

I am very interested in the moon mapping part of the software does anyone have any information about that, anything is interesting, how good it is, how it works, anything really. I know very little about it.

Do you mean EQmosaic ?

[neil phillips]

Hi yes the mosaic mapping

[Thalestris24]

On ‎15‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 16:46, KY Cygni said:

Hi all can anyone tell me about the sliders on the right, particularly resolution 1 what ? 50 what ? is lower better etc theres enough space to put the explanation right underneath for crying out loud.

I am trying to fix some poor goto accuracy 

I wish this software wasnt free then Id feel like I could complain like hell about it, having said that its cost a fortune in wasted hours 

frustrated of Gloucestershire

 

Hi

I wouldn't have thought goto accuracy problems are likely to be anything to do with eqmod itself (which is tried and tested). I see you've sorted it now. However, you could always try platesolving - so long as you were willing to invest the time and trouble getting it up and running.

Louise

[Cornelius Varley]

3 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Hi yes the mosaic mapping

It works quite well. Setting up the parameters for various camera/telescope combinations helps avoid those annoying black areas on the finished mosaic,

[neil phillips]

On ‎5‎/‎24‎/‎2016 at 19:10, Cornelius Varley said:

It works quite well. Setting up the parameters for various camera/telescope combinations helps avoid those annoying black areas on the finished mosaic,

Hey thanks Peter for the info. Do you have any suggestions how to find out more, any tutorials on how to setup the mosaic mapping for lunar. I will be using a 300p and hopefully soon to get ZWO camera

[Cornelius Varley]

This is the page for EQmosaic . All you need is the ASCOM platform,  the ASCOM mount drivers and EQmosaic, you don't need EQMOD so it will work with any goto mount. Calculate the field of view for your camera/telescope combination and enter the info in the  frame settings boxes, add a percentage overlap to make sure that you get good coverage and thats about it. The video tutorial explains it in more detail.

[Physopto]

I have used EQMOD for several years. The only error ever encountered was either of my own making, or when an electronics component failed, not the software.  I know that there have been the odd glitches but these were soon ironed out. I can only praise those who spent their own time in developing the software and putting it into the public domain for free. The amount of free help in learning to use and maintain the software is second to none. There are help videos and forums all over the place. The Yahoo group is well supported. I would hazard a guess that there are hundreds of very happy people who have spent time using EQMOD here alone. Any software that deals with complicated ideas can take time to learn the use of. If you aren't prepared to do that then you will fail. What is the point in spending anything up to many thousands of pounds only to give up at the first hurdle? Chriss deserves our thanks as do many others who have made life as an astronomer so much easier.

Derek

[neil phillips]

2 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

This is the page for EQmosaic . All you need is the ASCOM platform,  the ASCOM mount drivers and EQmosaic, you don't need EQMOD so it will work with any goto mount. Calculate the field of view for your camera/telescope combination and enter the info in the  frame settings boxes, add a percentage overlap to make sure that you get good coverage and thats about it. The video tutorial explains it in more detail.

Thank you Peter that's very helpful to me. Much appreciated. I assume the NEQ6 hand controller can be used with the software, or is that not the case ? I assume once setup the mount automatically slews to the next pane. Silly question I know, But I have never looked into this before

[Cornelius Varley]

22 minutes ago, neil phillips said:

Thank you Peter that's very helpful to me. Much appreciated. I assume the NEQ6 hand controller can be used with the software, or is that not the case ? I assume once setup the mount automatically slews to the next pane. Silly question I know, But I have never looked into this before

You can still use your Synscan handset. The software doesn't automatically move to the next pane, what you do is select the next adjacent square and the mount then slews to it, take your capture and select the next adjacent square and so on.

[neil phillips]

4 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

You can still use your Synscan handset. The software doesn't automatically move to the next pane, what you do is select the next adjacent square and the mount then slews to it, take your capture and select the next adjacent square and so on.

That makes sense Peter, I should be getting a new ZWO camera soon, I intend to use my 300p with it, doing hi res lunar. Should be interesting. As soon as I have the camera, I will download the software and see if I can get it up and running. Your information has been extremely helpful Thank you again.