Installing PHD

[martin84]

Hi All,

Can anyone give me some advise on how to install/setup PHD guiding? I have an NEQ6 and a QHY5L-II Mono connected to an ST80. I've been trying all day with no joy and have been reading through various things on the web and its just confusing me!! I'm hoping someone on here uses the same equipment and can advise on what versions of PHD, Ascom, Drivers and anything else I may need! I installed PHD2 and a version of Ascom (Think it was Dome or something?) and some drivers for the QHY5L-II that have been suggested. When setting up PHD I could select the camera but on the mount selection bit I selected Ascom Dome and it would always crash with a driver error message? Now I've uninstalled everything in hope someone on here can set me on the right path with it all.

Hope this makes sense...

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

Cheers.

Martin.

 

[daz]

Hi Martin

1. Download the latest ASCOM software from http://www.ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm
2. Install
3. Download the EQASCOM driver for your NEQ6 from https://sourceforge.net/projects/eq-mod/files/EQASCOM/
4. Install
5. Download latest PHD2 build
6. Install
7. Download the latest ASCOM drivers for your camera from QHY
8. If using a USB-SERIAL lead for your mount control, make sure you have the drivers for that
9. If using ST-4 then nothing else needed, but I don't think your camera has an ST-4 port?

Once all is installed, connect your gear up to the computer.

Now open PHD2. In here you can set up a hardware profile for your camera and mount. From the mount selection, you should see an option that is EQMOD EQ5 EQ6 (or something very similar). Select this, and then there should be a Setup button (am doing this from memory, so the labels may not be 100%!). Select the COM port that your USB-SERIAL device is plugged into (you may need to look at your Hardware Manager for this port).

From the Camera drop-down, select your QHY camera.

Now, click Connect. If all has gone well, then PHD will fire up the EQMOD driver for the mount and connect to the camera.

Now, you need to set up PHD - which is fairly easy. Click the Brain to bring up the options box. You'll see various tabs of options - Global, Guiding, Camera and Mount. For now, set these basic options:

• Global - Focal Length, set to the f/l of your ST80
• Camera - Pixel Size, set to your camera's pixel size (you may need to refer to the manual for the camera)
• Mount - leave all options as default, but click the Calculate button. In here you can get PHD to calculate the amount of movement required for PHD to do it's calibration.

Click OK, and these values are saved into the hardware profile.

Back at the main PHD screen, click the Loop icon button. This will start PHD from grabbing images and allow you to check focus and select a star. Click on a star to select it, and then click the Guide icon. PHD will now start the calibration process....

 

I suggest you get this far and then we can start to look at the tools in PHD and tuning the parameters to get the best guiding...

 

[martin84]

Hi Daz,

Thank you very much for the detailed reply. I've done as listed and have made some progress.

When I open PHD and select the connect equipment icon I can now connect my camera and I can now connect to 'EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6' on the mount selection drop down. As you say, it opens up EQMOD. On the connect equip screen in PHD on the mount line I go into settings and select my port (COM3) as per device manager.

After that I tested the camera with  begin looping and it seems to be working, although i'm now testing all this indoors at the moment so the capture is just pure white.

Back to the EQMOD panel that has opened up, I thought I would see if I could slew but there is a message on the mount position window saying 'Connect Error: Timeout'. Have you seen this before or do you recognise what i'm doing wrong? Should I even be able to slew the mount at this point through my laptop? By the way i'm using a HitecAstro EQDIR adapter cable mount to laptop.

 

Thanks again.

Martin.

 

[Ouroboros]

Sounds like you might have a port (coms) conflict.  This video might help Resolving EQMOD coms conflicts.

[martin84]

Thanks for that. I will check that out tomorrow and let you know how I get on.

 

[daz]

Very welcome

You can test the camera by covering the lens and the image should go dark - then we know PHD is definitely talking to the camera OK.

As Ouroboros suggested, it sounds like a port conflict - but you had the mount powered on and connected to the computer didn't you??  

[Ouroboros]

I quite often have what I think are coms conflicts when I initially start up.  Usually resolved by switching everything off, disconnecting everything, restarting the computer, and then reconnecting things item by item. 

[daz]

I now have my USB hub and leads all numbered so I know exactly which lead to plug in where....

[Tinker1947]

you can check what port the mount is on, in Device manager, i vaguely remember it shows what port it is work in, just change EQmod to match and your on your way....

[alexbb]

Your camera seems to have an ST-4 port so you can connect to the mount via the st-4 cable which goes from the camera to the mount.
You can skip the EQASCOM and use the hand controller to move the mount and only adjust it via guiding.
ASCOM Dome I think is intended for something completely different. You should choose something with ST-4 or On-Camera if I remember well for the telescope connection.
Also, check that the guiding speed set on the hand controller is the same as PhD expects.

Regards,

Alex
 

[martin84]

Hi All,

Thanks for all the advise. I've had to start again as my laptop died... 

Just so i'm clear and am not getting too far ahead of myself, should I be running some sort of planetarium software so I can control the mount without the handset? Or do I need get set up/calibrate and align with the handset first? Sorry for the newb questions, it's all hurting my head! : )

 

Thanks.

Martin.

[alexbb]

You can still use the hand controller and only adjust with guiding by using the ST-4 connection, or you can fully control the mount from the PC without the handset by using EQASCOM.

I suggest the first method for the beginning since you already know how to align and use the mount with the hand controller. You start the guiding just after you centered on a target and you want to start imaging.

HTH,

Alex

[martin84]

Cheers Alex,

Missed your previous message. I think that would be the best way to learn. I think I will start by using the hand controller and see how I get on.

[alexbb]

One step at a night

[Ouroboros]

4 hours ago, martin84 said:

Hi All,

Thanks for all the advise. I've had to start again as my laptop died... 

Just so i'm clear and am not getting too far ahead of myself, should I be running some sort of planetarium software so I can control the mount without the handset? Or do I need get set up/calibrate and align with the handset first? Sorry for the newb questions, it's all hurting my head! : )

 

Thanks.

Martin.

No problem.  I've gone down the same path you have and it's taken me a while to get my head around how to do this.

There are several ways to do what you want to do.

You can use your handset to control the mount, whilst at the same time using your QHY guide camera, connected to your computer running PHD2. This is how I imaged with my DSLR for a while using BackYard EOS software.  This is probably the simplest way to use your kit for guided imaging.

If you want to control your mount from a computer you're right, you do need a planetarium app running.  EQMOD instruction videos assume you're using Cartes du Ciel planetarium software, which is free.  But other planetarium apps are available, as they say! 

You can also try things out by connect your computer to the handset still connected to the mount.  This works but apparently isn't fully tested. 

Have you looked at the EQMOD web site? Link.   From there you'll find instructions. I can particularly recommend Chris Stillito's YouTube videos on how to use EQMOD, one of which I posted earlier.