PHD Woes

[Astrosurf]

I had a mare of a time last night with PHD1. It's always worked very well with my old XP laptop and old QHY5 cam, which is why I don't want to upgrade to PHD2, even if that is possible with the age of the kit. And so many people I've spoken to have trouble with PHD2. That's why I use PHD1.

Anyway, whatever I did last night it kept saying there wasn't enough movement in the star to calibrate. The green square certainly wasn't moving much at all. I tried different parts of the sky, changed the balance of the scope/mount and even threw off the polar alignment completely. The first time in months I was able to get out and got nothing. (The good thing about being in the dark is your astrobuddies can't see a grown woman cry! Embarrassing. )

Here are screenshots of the error and my settings.

Alexxx

 

 

[SteveA]

Hi Alex...its a while since I used PHD1, I think I have it installed but never use it anymore.

You do know that you can have both PHD1 and PHD2 installed at the same time? The new version has a load of enhancements and whilst I understand where you are coming from there is no reason at least not to try the new version. The documentation available for PHD2 is really quite exceptional and I bet you will have less issues with it and better guiding as well!

Just a thought though...are you sure you were not using a hot pixel rather than a star?

 

[Astrosurf]

Thanks Steve. I did wonder about having both versions. I have so much trouble understanding techie stuff that I'm always resistant to trying something new! We have so few clear nights as it is I need to be familiar with everything. But I'll have a look at it.

I tried several stars so it couldn't have been a hot pixel. I just can't understand after years of happy use that it played up the way it did. I really need to understand why or I'll never be able to sort it if it happens again.

[SteveA]

I would check the physical connections first and establish if indeed PHD is actually communicating with the mount. Are you using pulse guiding or the ST4 port on the guide camera?

[SteveA]

I meant to say of course that you can establish if th mount is receiving guide commands from PHD by selecting manual guide in PHD and try sending manual guide commands...does the mount respond? If not the there is a communications issue.

[Astrosurf]

OMG. Stupid, stupid, stupid fool!!!!! I know what I did wrong now, as you got me thinking. Haven't done astro for so many months I forgot to plug the camera into the mount. So no, it wasn't communicating.

Let this be a lesson to all who use this set-up.

Soooooooo embarrassed and angry. I could have done so much last night. I needed another pair of eyes and a better brain but all my astrobuddies were busy. What a terrible waste of the first evening out in monthss. Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!

[SteveA]

It's easily done....I find that it take me a couple of imaging sessions before I'm back up to speed after any kind of break.

Anyway.. glad you worked it out.

Seriously though take a look at PHD2!

Steve

 

[Joel Shepherd]

I had a very similar experience the other night: star not moving during calibration except for random wiggling due to PE and seeing. By the third attempt I was starting to panic ... and then noticed the ST-4 cable dangling free from the mount. Sigh. 

It's taken me several nights to get back in the groove after months of weather-induced inactivity. Another night I couldn't get the guide camera to focus ... only to remember 30 minutes later that I hadn't focused the main camera first so the OAG couldn't focus either. Doh.

But, each mistake reinforces the lesson learned, and the last couple nights went smoothly. It's frustrating to waste a good night but keep trying: it'll come back together quickly. 

[SonnyE]

On 5/27/2017 at 03:57, Astrosurf said:

OMG. Stupid, stupid, stupid fool!!!!! I know what I did wrong now, as you got me thinking. Haven't done astro for so many months I forgot to plug the camera into the mount. So no, it wasn't communicating.

Let this be a lesson to all who use this set-up.

Soooooooo embarrassed and angry. I could have done so much last night. I needed another pair of eyes and a better brain but all my astrobuddies were busy. What a terrible waste of the first evening out in monthss. Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!

Hey kid, welcome to the Human Race.

If you ever do take a fancy to delve into PHD2, the transition is fairly straight forward. Some of the icons changed a bit, but I got use to it. I have a couple of You Tube videos that helped me finally get going with PHD. Push Here Dummy was not quite dumber downed enough to work for me out of the box.

PHD Basics 1 , PHD Basics 2  Never hurts to have a look.

Maybe a check list would help till the rust is polished off?

 

[gonzostar]

I agree go for PHD2. Even i have figured it out. And can now get decent guiding with my set up  The above links also helped me a grat dea;

 

Dean

[Astrosurf]

Thanks guys. I feel comforted.  I certainly do need a checklist!

I noticed in PHD2, from others who use it, that the graph is set up so any small movement looks like huge peaks! That would worry me. Can that be adjusted?

[iapa]

On 27/05/2017 at 11:57, Astrosurf said:

OMG. Stupid, stupid, stupid fool!!!!! I know what I did wrong now, as you got me thinking. Haven't done astro for so many months I forgot to plug the camera into the mount. So no, it wasn't communicating.

Let this be a lesson to all who use this set-up.

Soooooooo embarrassed and angry. I could have done so much last night. I needed another pair of eyes and a better brain but all my astrobuddies were busy. What a terrible waste of the first evening out in monthss. Aaarrrggghhh!!!!!

not worry about it.

I spent a night trying to figure out why mine was't moving.

had somehow selected the 'virtual' mount

[iapa]

6 minutes ago, Astrosurf said:

Thanks guys. I feel comforted.  I certainly do need a checklist!

I noticed in PHD2, from others who use it, that the graph is set up so any small movement looks like huge peaks! That would worry me. Can that be adjusted?

could just be the scale you have selected? 

I start at 16arc-sec vertical axis, then once guiding settles then change to 4.

[SonnyE]

3 hours ago, Astrosurf said:

Thanks guys. I feel comforted.  I certainly do need a checklist!

I noticed in PHD2, from others who use it, that the graph is set up so any small movement looks like huge peaks! That would worry me. Can that be adjusted?

One thing I've done with my PHD2 program is to select "Pixels" instead of the default "Arc-Seconds".

See: History Menu, > Settings, > choose "Pixels".

My reasoning? My cameras record in Pixels, not Arc-Seconds, so it made a bit more sense to me to use that scale choice for my graph. (Currently my guiding usually runs at .25 pixels)

Don't be afraid to try changing things around. But do take your time. Do one thing, see what it does, and how it effects your display or performance. Back up if you get lost or don't care for the result.

I've always just left my scale (y +/-) at 1. But I think I'll try iapa's method during alignment and guiding set up.

[Astrosurf]

Excellent help gents. Many thanks!