PHD2 settings heq5 + 50mm guidescpe

[Michael1971]

Hi ,

I am having a bit of issues with my phd2 settings.

I know that even similar setups dont have to work the same but it would be helpful if someone with a heq5 mount and a 50mm guide scope could provide me with a screenshot with some settings that work.

At least I can use that as a starting point.

Thanks in advance for the effort.

Cheers,

Mike

 

 

[Freddie]

Are you having trouble with calibration or guiding?

[Michael1971]

Calibration seems fine, guiding not so much. 

[pete_l]

8 hours ago, Michael1971 said:

I know that even similar setups dont have to work the same but it would be helpful if someone with a heq5 mount and a 50mm guide scope could provide me with a screenshot with some settings that work.

At least I can use that as a starting point.

Here's one I prepared earlier.
It;'s an HEQ5 with a 50mm guide scope and QHY5Lii camera
The telescope is an ED80 + Canon 1100d

 

On this rig the things that seem to be absolutely critical are getting a good balance and making sure no cables are loose to move. They must not be stiff, but must stay quite close to the body of the mount as it moves. Nothing dangling, nothing catching as the mount rotates and don't bundle them into an inflexible single group.

 

I should add that the mount has had no work done. Although it is three years old and gets used maybe 150-200 nights a year - all night, it is straight out of the box. No mods, tweaks, lubes or adjustments.

[michael8554]

Hi Mike

If you have poor guiding (you haven't mentioned in what respect it's bad)  with the standard settings, then you probably have problems with your mount or setup.

So someone else's settings for their good mount and setup will only be a guide.

You may have:

Poor Polar Alignment

Periodic Error on your RA drive

Dec Backlash

Poor balance

Stiction on an axis

etc etc

Run the Guiding Assistant for a couple of minutes and it will quantify some of these errors.

Michael

 

[newbie alert]

7 hours ago, pete_l said:

Here's one I prepared earlier.
It;'s an HEQ5 with a 50mm guide scope and QHY5Lii camera
The telescope is an ED80 + Canon 1100d

 

 

On  your guiding graph you have lots of blocked peaks,is that right? I had that on the few times I've tried phd and found that I wasnt guiding on a star, I found that I could do longer subs without it and someone on here said my guide log showed it was on like a demo mode..

I use a similar setup to you..

[pete_l]

45 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

On  your guiding graph you have lots of blocked peaks,is that right?

Those are just the guiding corrections that are applied. You can prevent them from being displayed if you wish, click on the tick mark in the left-side box.
You should have let PHD create a dark library so that it can eliminate the hot pixels from the display and star selection (if you are letting it choose a star automatically)

[newbie alert]

Thanks for the reply,I must of clicked a box and thought it was related to the demo mode as it didn't do it first time around...yes I've done the dark library thing,but it wasn't that  it was my camera so badly focussed that the noise looked like stars..should be sorted now but my mount,rs232 connector etc are playing up at the moment and stopping testing..

[Michael1971]

Guys, thanks for responding.

Polar alignment is always on my mind, but last time it seemed pretty decent.

and yes it might be balancing, cable drag etc.. but I try to do my best to do it good.

But I wanted a frame of reference with the phd2 settings so that I am at least sure not something is totally off. 

Sometimes I think phd2 is more sensitive in showing corrections, I added a photo with just some stretching and it actually doesn't look that bad then phd2 implies.

@michael8554

What guiding assistant are you referring to?

Thanks all

[newbie alert]

Stars look good..  what was your sub lengths?

The guiding assistant is pretty easy to use..does the RA and DEC  separately then makes suggestions which you can apply on your settings..

[Michael1971]

These subs were 300sec.

Guiding assistent is a function in phd?

[kens]

On 26/09/2017 at 00:31, Michael1971 said:

Hi ,

I am having a bit of issues with my phd2 settings.

I know that even similar setups dont have to work the same but it would be helpful if someone with a heq5 mount and a 50mm guide scope could provide me with a screenshot with some settings that work.

At least I can use that as a starting point.

Thanks in advance for the effort.

Cheers,

Mike

 

 

Use the guiding assistant for a starting point. If that doesn't help then attend to the inevitable mechanical issues.

Edir: sorry missed earlier comments. The GA is on the tools menu. Let if run for 10 to 15 minutes and accept its recommendations.

[michael8554]

28 minutes ago, Michael1971 said:

Guiding assistent is a function in phd?

Here's one of the PHD2 Guides, Guiding Assistant is about halfway through the guide:

http://openphdguiding.org/man/Tools.htm

It's found in the Tools and Utilities dropdown menu.

The full Guide is here, quite a lot to digest.......

https://openphdguiding.org/manual/

[Michael1971]

Thanks for replying.

Yes quite something to scroll through...

Next time the skies are decent ill give it a shot with the information i got here

 

btw: if possible, I like to see some more screenshots with phd and ascom open (if you have no big guiding issues.)

Thanks!