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Help with PHD

blinky

By blinky
in Discussions - Software

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blinky

blinky

Posted
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OK At this point in time I am sitting in me back garden trying to get PHD to calibrate. I have got it all connected via my DSI and EQMod. I see a star in the display and click it, the box goes green. I hit the PHD button and it starts with the begining W Calibration 1 and goes all the way to 61 then says the star has not moved enough :hello2: Do I need to switch off tracking when I am doing the calibration? :scratch: Any help would be great as I was really hoping to get this sorted tonight whilst I can see a star or 2

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blinky

blinky

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At least I got a few mins to play around with it all. Glad to get PHD working. I could not get the Skyscan align to work, I think this is down to the lack of suitable stars that were around due to the moon and clouds. I did get a 3 star align in EQMod running and it was pretty accurate, well it managed to put Altair in the FoV of my 20mm so for a first night with it all I am pretty pleased.

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blinky

blinky

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I am not too sure myself Ron! I can use starry night to slew to targets. I also now use a computer joypad to manually move the mount. EQMod also means I can do a many star align, so you just keep adding stars to the alignment whenever you have slewed to them. This increases the accuracy of the goto.

TBH the only real reason I am using this setup over the normal hand controller is 1. I am a geek and the thought of my laptop commanding the goto appeals to me :oops:

2. I really want to autoguide and it seems this is the easyst way, yes I can autoguide with the autoguide port but then I need an adapter from ny PC to the guideport. By using EQMod and the newer style handset it saves the need for the adapter.

I am sure somebody else will come along shortly with a better explanation of why to go EQMod. SteveL seems delighted with his!

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winfij

winfij

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Did you know you can still control the mount via a cable from the PC to the handset, without needing to use eqmod?

The handset has a serial input which you connect to the serial port on the PC using the supplied cable.

You can control GOTO and guiding through that link without needing to use eqmod.

John

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SteveL

SteveL

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EQMOD allowsa few extra "goodies" that youonly find out about after using it fora few evenings

The ability to add more than the default 3-star alignment stars... you could add up to 1000 stars if you were really that bored :hello2: I tend to do 6 star align, 3 on each side of the meridian, and add more later around the area of the object I want to image.

The EQ mounts can do PEC training, but that data is lost if you power down the mount. EQMOD does the PEC adjustments in software, and so is held in a file on disk, and loaded at startup automatically.

Most ASCOM drivers only allowone application Starry Night, TheSy, PHD, Maxim, etc)to be connected to the mount at the same time. You want to slew to target and then guide - connect Starry night, slew, disconnect, connect with PHD, start guiding. EQMOD eliminates this, allowing multiple programs to access the mount at the same time, which saves somuch time and hassle when out under the rare dark skies.

EQMOD allowsyou to set mount limits,so that it will prevent the mount to track past any local obstrucions (trees, walls, buildings, etc), which and alsomeans the mount will not track into itself (possibly causing damage to itself and any atached equipment) if you leave it alone or fall alseep :clouds1:

Andone last item I`d like to mention, and it may seem trivial until you have actually used it - support for wirelessgame pads. Yes, yes, silly..... but following the terminator across the moon with my C11, both hands behindmy back, with the gamepad in one hand, controlling the mount position and speed, all without the hassle of cables...well, it was worth every penny!

One thing I keep "prodding" the team for is to complete the polar alignment routines. As the N-start alignment builds up a picture of tke sky, it knows and compensates for any polar alignment offset. The first half of the code is already there, it can show you have far out you are, but the second half will allow you to slew and centre on a star, and then ask EQMOD to correct the polar alignment. At that point, EQMOD will move the view away from the star and you need to correct the mount alignment so that start is central again. Job done! I`ll keep hassling to get that completed.

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MikeP

MikeP

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Ron,

The main reason why I use EQMOD is for alignment. I can't remember which star is which so to be presented with a list of names by the handset means I have to figure out where they are and if they are visible. With EQMOD, I just look up, match what I see to the planetarium program (I use SkyMap), right click on the object and select "slew to". When I've centred it, I use the planetarium's "synchronise" to allow the EQMOD software to know wher the object is. Job done.

Like Craig, I normally do "synchronise" on pretty much everything I look at to make the slews increasingly accurate. For alignment data, EQMOD seems to store RA/Dec settings against gear settings, so it doesn't care what the object is that you have aligned on - consequently I synchronise on stars, galaxies and nebulae - anything I can see.

Mike

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Ford Prefect

Ford Prefect

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Andone last item I`d like to mention, and it may seem trivial until you have actually used it - support for wirelessgame pads. Yes, yes, silly..... but following the terminator across the moon with my C11, both hands behindmy back, with the gamepad in one hand, controlling the mount position and speed, all without the hassle of cables...well, it was worth every penny!

Wholeheartedly agree with SteveL, the wireless gamepad is actually very usefull, especially when performing alignment, the only thing you have to remember is not to sit on it once you have completed you're alignment :hello2: ( and yes i speak from experience :clouds1: )

Cheers Jon

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barkis

barkis

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Wow, I didn't expect such a deluge of replies, as I didn't want to Infect Craigs Thread.

However I appreciate the input, and it is quite apparent that the EQMOD system is highly rated.

Of course I am guilty once again of getting ahead of myself. I need to familiarise myself with EQ6 Pro's own capabilities before promotng myself into another arena.

Thanks all, and as soon as I've passed my EQ6 driving test, i will give thought to converting it to a Porche :mrgreen:

Thanks again.

Ron. :hello2:

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barkis

barkis

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Ron,

My advice is to go straight to EQMOD it is so much better than using the handset. What do you think Craig, you are the latest recruit?

Mike

My EQ6 Pro. is unused since I bought it, and obviously still under warranty which I understand is for 1 year. How does it affect the warranty status if EQMOD is implemented.

I gather this is a software only amalgamation, and no alteration to the mount or the handset is necessary.

Ron.

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MikeP

MikeP

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Ron,

Lots of info and pointers to more info here - http://stargazerslounge.com/index.php/topic,29857.0.html

As Steve says it is just software. There is no need to be nervous about it but ..... the only thing to avoid doing is connecting directly from the PC to the mount. The following warning was posted on the EQMOD forum

Whatever you do DO NOT plug your RS23 cable directly into the mount without the correct interface (EQDIR or equivalent)... nasty things are likely to happen if you do.

In other words, cable from computer to handset then another cable from handset to mount.

Mike

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blinky

blinky

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Ron,

My advice is to go straight to EQMOD it is so much better than using the handset. What do you think Craig, you are the latest recruit?

Mike

I do think the alignment is a lot easier with EQMod, I tried at first last night to sync the handset and failed...miserably! I could not see the stars it listed and when I eventually found three that I knew the name/position of and could see the sync failed! It was at that point that I turned to EQMod.

I selected Vega from Starry night and slewed/centred it. I then did the same with the moon (I know hard to centre it but this was just a test) and then told the mount to go Dened and it did place it in the FoV of my 20mm EP!

I have to admit to not liking the joypad idea though, I like the handset that came with the HEQ5Pro, It has nice illuminated buttons. The joypad feels a little silly and also I like to use things for their intended function. Dont get me wrong, it works and works well, I would hust rather use the nice handset that came as part of the kit.

As afr as this thread goes Ron, dont worrk 'bout hijacking it, I did manage to get the autoguiding working (I think). All I did was increase the pulse rate (Or something, I am at work at the moment so cannot see what he exact setting was) and PHD worked a treat, or at least reported to be working a treat! By the time I got all this sorted it was 00:30 and the cloud cover was pretty much 100% with only a few bright stars poking through.

Next time out I plan to do a full 3-6 star align and then try a slew to Albireo, get the autoguiding working and try a 5min exposure with the DSLR. No star trails will make me a very happy bloke.

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