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PHD and ZWO ASI120MC


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I tried out the ZWO as a guide camera last night. I didn't have the ST4 cable connected, as I just wanted to have a 'dry run' at using the camera and PHD.

I have read the long and excellent FAQ on guiding with PHD.

Sharpcap worked fine (and I captured some trial images of M3).

PHD found the camera using the 'windows' driver and I could adjust exposure etc. and it could either auto-find a star or let me select one, but when I clicked the 'mount' icon it said it could not connect to the camera (I had 'on camera' guiding selected), even though it was getting the images from it, so no target icon and nothing to look at for my pains.

I must use the ST4 connection as it's a home brew box and not yet ascom compatible (if it ever will be).

Can anyone tell me where I'm going wrong?

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if your mount is ascom compatible then you shouldn`t need the st 4 cable, i use the zwo asi driver usually at the bottom of the driver list in phd 2, i would recommend that you use phd 2 and the latest snapshot version, google phd 2 snapshots for the most up to date version. 

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Yep the on-camera option is telling PHD to use the ST4 port on the camera to send guiding commands to the mount, if you don't plug it in it won't work.

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There are two basic options:

One - Send guide pulses using ASCOM

Two - Send guide pulses using the physical ST4 connection

The setup of PHD is quite simple for option one, you must select "ZWO ASI Camera" (note that I'm not using it's ASCOM drivers but instead the native camera API) and on the mount select the ASCOM driver for your mount such as "EQMOD ASCOM HE5/6". If you're using EQMOD then you must make sure that on the configuration utility you have "ASCOM PulseGuiding" selected under "Guiding".

On the other hand, if you're not using an ASCOM compatible mount controller you must install from ZWO the ST4 camera driver and configure PHD to have "ZWO ASI Camera" as the camera and "ASI ST4 Telescope Driver (ASCOM)" as the mount.

I tend to prefer to use native drivers when ever they are available for cameras instead the ASCOM ones, this is the reason why I'm suggesting to use "ZWO ASI Camera" and not "ASI Camera (1) (ASCOM)".

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1 hour ago, D4N said:

Yep the on-camera option is telling PHD to use the ST4 port on the camera to send guiding commands to the mount, if you don't plug it in it won't work.

I understand teh mount won't be guided, but PHD should be able to connect to the camera without the ST4 actually plugged in...

46 minutes ago, 0x0539 said:

On the other hand, if you're not using an ASCOM compatible mount controller you must install from ZWO the ST4 camera driver and configure PHD to have "ZWO ASI Camera" as the camera and "ASI ST4 Telescope Driver (ASCOM)" as the mount.

Thanks, I think that's exactly what i was looking for!

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22 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Thanks, I think that's exactly what i was looking for!

Great ! Report back your findings.

Just do not forget to connect the ST4 cable between the camera and your standalone controller ! :-)

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11 minutes ago, 0x0539 said:

Great ! Report back your findings.

Just do not forget to connect the ST4 cable between the camera and your standalone controller ! :-)

First issue! That driver is saying it wants ascom installed.

Quote

Native Driver   

ASI Cameras Driver
*This driver must be installed for Windows users to use ASI cameras.
*ASI USB2.0 cameras and ASI120MM-S ASI120MC-S customer: you need to use the latest version of capture or guiding software such like SharpCap, Firecapture and PHD2   after install this driver .

To me this says I should not need to use ASCOM to use the camera with PHD, but when I click the 'mount icon' I get a message ''Fail:OnCamera Connection" I have the ST4 lead plugged in but as I understand it this is only wired to relays inside the camera and has no direct electrical connection to the mount.

I'm taking the earlier advice and trying PHD2 but it's busy generating a dark library.

 

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You do not need ASCOM to use the native driver with PHD but I guess they need the ASCOM platform to be installed because it's the way PHD will talk to the ASI ST4 driver. Basically what ZWO did is to emulate an ASCOM mount on that driver. Do not worry, your guide pulses will still physically go trough the ST4 port.

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  • 1 year later...

I m trying to use an ASI120  for the first time as a guide camera. As it shoots video, is there any setting I need for it to just take the guide exposures every 3 seconds/

When I connect it, it works in PHD when I connect, but it is like a live view.

As I m doing this testing indoors, I have not selected a Mount, or an ST4 cable yet.

Thanks Tom.

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55 minutes ago, Tom OD said:

I m trying to use an ASI120  for the first time as a guide camera. As it shoots video, is there any setting I need for it to just take the guide exposures every 3 seconds/

When I connect it, it works in PHD when I connect, but it is like a live view.

As I m doing this testing indoors, I have not selected a Mount, or an ST4 cable yet.

Thanks Tom.

Just set the exposure near bottom left until you see a number of potential guide stars, it will stretch the image automatically, if you get a lot of noise increase exposure. I use 1 or 2 seconds normally, these seem to be good for guiding.

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On 01/12/2018 at 13:40, david_taurus83 said:

Should just take 3 second exposures if that's what you've set! It should show up as a greyed out preview as it's likely to be way over exposed during the day.

Thanks Neil and David,

It dawned on me right after hitting send, that, setting it to a higher exposure would do the trick. Yikes, I m going to have a lot more trickier questions that coming along as I try to automate my set up.

Tom

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  • 1 year later...

Hi 

I have a similar problem and thought to resurrect this thread.  Basically an ASI120MM mini camera w. ST4 port.  I want to use the ST4 interface on the cam to drive my ST4 scope.

I cannot find the ASI ST4 Telescope Driver (ASCOM) - I don't think the ZWO ST4 camera driver exists anymore.  Certainly the link given earlier in this thread is no longer there (404 error).

The cam works fine with sharpcap.  Ascom platform  6.5 installed, asi camera ascom driver 1.0.4.3 installed, directshow asi driver installed.

I wanted to use metaguide, rather than phd, so installed  M/G 5.4.4.

So - M/G finds the 120MM, displays video.  Under Video Properties, there is a zwo window with an ST4 test tab.  I have made an ST4 breakout box that plugs into the cam ST4 port with LEDs that come on when the RA/DEC +/- pins go low.  The ZWO ST4 test tab turns the LEDs on and off as you would expect.  So that works.

When you try and go the ASCOM Telescope Chooser under setup, the only scopes listed are Device Hub Telescope, Simulator and Telescope Simulator for .NET.

Nothing about an ASI ST4 Telescope Driver, so I think that is the issue.

Metaguide info is  bit thin on the ground - maybe I should install phd and get that going first ?  Has anyone got (recently) phd+ZWO ST4 working ?

Thanks for any help - Simon

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, windjammer said:

ASCOM Telescope Chooser

Hi

You don't need the ascom driver for a ST4 connection, although it's a much better alternative.

For ST4, simply choose 'on-camera' for the mount. Connect the ST4 cable from the camera to the mount and the camera USB c to the computer usb port.

That's it.

HTH

Edited by alacant
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Thanks for this -

In metaguide the setup dialog does  not offer an 'on camera' mount - it only opens an ascom chooser with the options I stated above.

So, is the mount dialog you describe an option in PHD ?

I have the camera connected as you say.

Simon

 

 

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The "ST-4" is just a connection method for providing guide movements in RA and Dec, based on the original SBIG ST-4 (now long gone).

The ST-4 became the de facto standard for guide camera connections.

Yes, PHD2 gives you the option of using the ST-4 connection based on the setting - "On camera"

 

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Thanks for the info - downloaded PHD2.  Connect Equipment tab, ZWO 120MM connected, On Camera mount connected - and off we go.  The manual guide tab lights up the LEDs on my ST4 breakout box, and guide mode blinks the RA led (until it decides the 'scope' isn't moving) -  so I think this is working fine.

I don't know what is wrong with  MetaGuide.  Perhaps the zwo asi st4 ascom driver has not installed itself properly on my PC (the PHD2 zwo support is native, not an ascom driver AFAIK).  I was looking at MG for high frequency guiding, so I might have to come back to that and have another go at some point.

Meanwhile here is a circuit diagram for my ST4 diagnostic box - perhaps others might find it useful as well... it would be good for driving relays too, the ULA2004 can sink a fair bit of current.

Simon

 

349513154_ST4breakoutbox_200725_3.thumb.jpg.3ad975971f44f49788088d4805fa626f.jpg

 

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Hi.

Sounds like you're there:)

The main issue with ST4 is that it has no idea where the telescope is pointing; you need to calibrate each time the mount has slewed. You can get around this by using the mount's ascom driver either as a direct mount connection or in PHD2''s aux mount connection. PHD2 can use either its native así driver, the ascom asi driver or a simple ST4 connection. 

HTH

Edited by alacant
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