PHD2 Guide star lost

[SteveBz]

Hi People,

Last night it was a bit hazy and I could see stars sometimes, but not always.

I was doing 2 minutes guided frames on M105 in Leo.  The PHD settings are "x2" guiding (reset from "x.5" guiding) and PEC.  It said calibrated, but I'm not sure that it was.

The clouds over the last month or two have been absolutely wall-to-wall, so I'm grabbing any moments I can get.  I'm sure we all are, anyhow about 80% of my images came out like this or worse:

So my question is, I think that the jumps occurred when the guide-stars were lost, but why are the jumps so dramatic and why hasn't PEC bridged the gaps?  Or am I really just learning that the guide session really wasn't calibrated properly?

Regards

Steve.

[michael8554]

Hi Steve

Need to clarify something.

By 2x and 0.5x do you mean the guide rate?

This should usually be less than 1x, so 2x is too much.

PEC smooths RA drive irregularities, but only so much, so the elongated stars could show how far out from perfect  your PEC correction is, assuming PHD wasn't  guiding at the time.

Not sure if PHD was calbrated? It wouldn't have let you guide if it wasn't.

You should read up on analysing  the PHD Guide Logs that are stored for each session.

Michael 

 

[SteveBz]

16 hours ago, michael8554 said:

By 2x and 0.5x do you mean the guide rate?

Yes, I should have said.

 

16 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Not sure if PHD was calbrated? It wouldn't have let you guide if it wasn't.

Well, Ihad it on .5x and when I changed it to 2x I didn't recalibrate and it didn't complain.

 

16 hours ago, michael8554 said:

You should read up on analysing  the PHD Guide Logs that are stored for each session.

I will do,

Tx

Steve.

[michael8554]

3 hours ago, SteveBz said:

Well, Ihad it on .5x and when I changed it to 2x I didn't recalibrate and it didn't complain

Why did you change it?

Did you change it on the mount and in the PHD2 settings?

Without recalibrating were the PHD2 moves very agressive?

Michael 

[SteveBz]

10 hours ago, michael8554 said:

Why did you change it?

Did you change it on the mount and in the PHD2 settings?

Without recalibrating were the PHD2 moves very agressive?

Michael 

I have an eq5 mount with motors and enhanced handset. I use an Arduino to steer at at x16. So what I do is point at a star near my target. Take a quick snap and plate-solve to find out where I'm pointing. Then I subtract the actual current coordinates from the target coordinates to get a steering correction. This gets sent to the Arduino to correct the mount.

Now I'm inside the house but I have to run outside and change the cable from the Arduino cable to the st4 guide-cam cable for guiding.

I'd rather have both cables going into a 2:1 adapter so I don't have to run in and out. Then I have to operate them both at the same speed. Preferably x16. That or buy a new mount.

Regards

Steve.

 

[Merlin66]

I have a "similar but slightly different" issue with the old GM8 controller I fitted to the TV Systems mount.

This only has the one ST4 socket for the basic handcontroller, and if you want to guide you have to unplug the controller and plug in the ST-4 cable from the guider.

I tried all the usual eBay suspects and had great difficulty finding a 2:1 RJ12 adaptor. When eventually I did find one I couldn't make it work!! It interfered with the nearby power connection.

Ended up buying a very short RJ12 extension cable (male to male) and a female/ female 2:1 RJ12 adaptor............

[SteveBz]

2 minutes ago, Merlin66 said:

I have a "similar but slightly different" issue with the old GM8 controller I fitted to the TV Systems mount.

This only has the one ST4 socket for the basic handcontroller, and if you want to guide you have to unplug the controller and plug in the ST-4 cable from the guider.

I tried all the usual eBay suspects and had great difficulty finding a 2:1 RJ12 adaptor. When eventually I did find one I couldn't make it work!! It interfered with the nearby power connection.

Ended up buying a very short RJ12 extension cable (male to male) and a female/ female 2:1 RJ12 adaptor............

So that's how I did it too, but I want the guide speed and the navigation speed to be the same, otherwise I still have to keep running outside to change it.

How did you manage that?

[Merlin66]

Hmmmmm

Yes that's a bit more difficult!!

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I have a home made mount controller and use PHD2 via ST4.

I see exactly the same 'jumping' behaviour if there is intermittent cloud (typically 5 minute subs). As I can track OK for 1-2 minutes without PHD2 I am also confounded why such large jumps appear.

[SteveBz]

16 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I have a home made mount controller and use PHD2 via ST4

Ok, so do I - Arduino to handset. But phd2 plugs straight in avoiding the Arduino.