SGPro Flats sequencer

[Fellside]

Hi

In SGPro is it possible to command the scope to move to a user selected position before taking flats. The flat panel is hanging on the observatory wall. This would be part of the flats events sequence. Is it there?

Thanks

Graham

[souls33k3r]

If you're using EQMod then you can have a preset to a custom park position.

Not sure if you can have SGP do that for you.

[RayD]

Not directly from SG Pro.  

In some mount drivers you can define a different "home" position, but otherwise to do it from within SG Pro you would need to set your flat panel at your park position.

[Fellside]

Thanks Ray, Soul for you quick reply.

I will be using a Mesu200 mount. I am about two weeks away from having it setup and ready to run.

Up till now I have run all my kit with INDI/Ekos but the INDI driver that SiTech were working on is not going to happen soon. So I have been looking at going back to windows and running SGPro. I have been reading through the manual and I think I will be happy with SGPro, its windows that worries me.

My question was promoted by an Ekos function that allows the flat source to be the "wall". You can set specific Azimuth/Altitude position on the wall to slew to. Surprised it is not included in SGPro. I`m sure as I get into the software there will be great features that I didn't know I needed and others that I wished I had.

Graham

[RayD]

1 hour ago, Fellside said:

Thanks Ray, Soul for you quick reply.

I will be using a Mesu200 mount. I am about two weeks away from having it setup and ready to run.

Up till now I have run all my kit with INDI/Ekos but the INDI driver that SiTech were working on is not going to happen soon. So I have been looking at going back to windows and running SGPro. I have been reading through the manual and I think I will be happy with SGPro, its windows that worries me.

My question was promoted by an Ekos function that allows the flat source to be the "wall". You can set specific Azimuth/Altitude position on the wall to slew to. Surprised it is not included in SGPro. I`m sure as I get into the software there will be great features that I didn't know I needed and others that I wished I had.

Graham

No problem Graham,

Yes I know what you mean, but I think I am the only person in the world who uses W10 without issues.

The only problem I can see with doing this from a slew rather than "home" or "park" is that you will still be tracking.

I believe there may be a way to get around it with scripting, but I don't think it is an easy or ideal solution.

I personally use the Alnitak flat flap so don't have this issue.

[Fellside]

There seem to be three park positions mentioned in the Sitech documentation. So you can pause in the SGPro flat sequence, move to "flat" park position in Sitech to take flats. Ok if it is at the end of a imaging run. I see scripting involved.

Graham

PS am I ok posting SGPro questions here or would it be less clutter in this forum if I posted in the SGPro forum?

Graham

[RayD]

Sounds like a great idea. 

I haven't looked at my Sitech in this regard so I will look in to this further.  There are several people here who know the Sitech controller very well, so they would be in a position to offer better advice than me.

Yes you are absolutely fine posting SG Pro questions here, lots of us use it, and quite a few of us are using it with Mesu200 mounts also.

[nigelg]

Hi Ray,

Here are the instructions from the Sitech Help file.

Nigel

[Fellside]

Thanks for that Nigel.

As this will be a steep learning curve, To save hassle initially I may set the SGPro park to look at the flat panel.

After a bit of reading could I setup a second target in the sequence that will be the location of the flat panel on the wall. When that target is complete the scope could park to it normal position. The only problem with this I can see is are you allowed to specify targets below those shown in the horizon file.

Graham

[RayD]

Thanks Nigel that's really helpful.

[gazza]

Hi,

I also have a Mesu 200 and have been using SGPro. Whilst I like the software I have experienced random hangs - often when plate solving/cancelling platesolving. This is irritating enough that I would jump at shifting to Indi/Ekos (which I have used before with other mounts). As an alternative I have installed Kstars for Windows and Indi Server for Windows---  http://www.cloudmakers.eu/windi/   which allows Ascom drivers to be used with Kstars/Ekos Windows. I haven't yet run it but figure it MAY be a good alternative until Sitech for Linux happens.

Hope this helps

cheers

Gary

[sloz1664]

Hi Graham,

You could add a script in the pre-event option in SGPro when taking your flat frames. The script will slew to your predetermined alt/az coordinates, take the flats and after SGPro will take over with the end of sequence process.

 

Click the "run script" box. Click the "Set box" and add your vbs file. Click OK and run your sequence. The mount will then move to your Alt/Az coordinates and start your sequence.

The following script should work.......If; the Mesu sitech ascom driver is Sitechexe. Also, you will need to add your Alt/Az coordinates in lieu of x.xx,x.xx

 Dim Telescope
set Telescope = CreateObject("Sitechexe.Telescope")
Telescope.Connected = True
Telescope.Tracking = False
Telescope.SlewToAltAz x.xx,x.xx
Telescope.Connected = False

HTH

Steve

[RayD]

2 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

Hi Graham,

You could add a script in the pre-event option in SGPro when taking your flat frames. The script will slew to your predetermined alt/az coordinates, take the flats and after SGPro will take over with the end of sequence process.

Click the "run script" box. Click the "Set box" and add your vbs file. Click OK and run your sequence. The mount will then move to your Alt/Az coordinates and start your sequence.

The following script should work.......If; the Mesu sitech ascom driver is Sitechexe. Also, you will need to add your Alt/Az coordinates in lieu of x.xx,x.xx

 Dim Telescope
set Telescope = CreateObject("Sitechexe.Telescope")
Telescope.Connected = True
Telescope.Tracking = False
Telescope.SlewToAltAz x.xx,x.xx
Telescope.Connected = False

HTH

Steve

Great info, thanks for that, Steve.  I presumed it would need scripting as you would need to stop tracking, so it couldn't just be added as a target.

Have you tried this out and does it work ok for you?

[sloz1664]

2 minutes ago, RayD said:

Great info, thanks for that, Steve.  I presumed it would need scripting as you would need to stop tracking, so it couldn't just be added as a target.

Have you tried this out and does it work ok for you?

Hi Ray,

Yes it could be added to a target I add it as the last event in a sequence or as a Flat sequence in it's own right. Say you want to image LRGB event sequence SGPro will step through the LRGB events gathering data. As soon as it comes to the flat sequence it will read the pre-event script and move the scope to the Alt/Az coordinates you have set in your script. How you switch on your Light Panel is another issue. After the flats have been completed SGPro will flag the end of sequence command. If you have a manual Light Panel then a dedicated Flat sequence is the way to go.

Yes I do use the scripting sequence to produce my Flats in SGPro. I have recently set up a Light Panel in my Obsy which fully automates the Flat sequence and adjusts the illumination for each filter using the "adjust flat box settings per filter" in the equipment profile manager. I modified an A2 light panel which runs on the Alnitak driver. Project can be found here:-

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/536533-diy-alnitak-flat-panel/

Steve

[RayD]

Thanks Steve.  I use the Alnitak Flat Flap here so don't have any issues at all, but this is a possible solution for me out in Spain.