PHD2 Guiding Setup Help Needed !!

[daveangie0110]

Hi All

I attempted to guide my HEQ5Pro the other night using my QHY Mini Guide Scope and a Altair Mono GPCAM, but i kept on getting a error message saying "Your Max RA Duration setting is preventing PHD from making adequate corrections to keep the guide star locked increase the Max RA Duration setting to allow PHD2 to make the needed corrections.", but i have no idea what to do or what settings to change, i even tried the guide assistant and that failed.

I have uninstalled PHD2 and re-installed it again as i played with some of the advanced settings so i thought i would start over again.

Thanks.

T

[newbie alert]

Your RA  could be balance..your DEC could be polar alignment errors ..these 2 u tube videos could help but PA needs to be fairly accurate and balance maybe slightly east heavy to engage the gears..

https://youtu.be/PRY2jN3xTBQ

[kens]

Make sure your guide rate is between 0.5x and 0.9x sidereal. Can you also post the guide log where you did the calibration?

[daveangie0110]

28 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Your RA  could be balance..your DEC could be polar alignment errors ..these 2 u tube videos could help but PA needs to be fairly accurate and balance maybe slightly east heavy to engage the gears..

https://youtu.be/PRY2jN3xTBQ

Hi,

I balanced my scope before hand and I polar aligned it using polemaster.

[newbie alert]

Ok..cant see how the errors are so high..must be something on the lines of tracking sidereal rate

You will get different guiding on different parts of the sky but not to that extent..

Is everything tight..az bolts etc?

 

[david_taurus83]

Did you calibrate on the night or did you use a previous calibration?

[daveangie0110]

Hi Dave, all I did was pick a star to guide on then started the guide assistant, then it failed, so I tried guiding anyway then I kept on getting the error message.

[Thalestris24]

Make sure the 'auto RA sync' box is checked n eqmod https://github.com/OpenPHDGuiding/phd2/wiki/EQASCOM-Settings

How was your PHD2 calibration?

 

Louise

[gonzostar]

How are secure are your cables around the scope? Also from my limited experience Hys seems a bit low, and try min-mo around 0.1

Check PHD2 calibration, and run guiding assistant. Polemaster should get you close to PA

Good luck, those You tube clips above are very good also. They helpt me alot aswell  

[david_taurus83]

25 minutes ago, daveangie0110 said:

Hi Dave, all I did was pick a star to guide on then started the guide assistant, then it failed, so I tried guiding anyway then I kept on getting the error message.

Did it calibrate? It sounds like you've used a previous calibration and the guide camera has rotated since then. You need to calibrate as when the guide camera rotates so does the field of view. In calibration PHD monitors your chosen star and works out which way is up, down, left and right. It also works out the distance the mount moves as it sends guide commands.

 

So if you have tried guiding before and since then removed or moved the guide camera you need to calibrate again.Trust me, I have made the same mistake!

 

Download the PHD log viewer as it gives details of your guiding session and shows your calibration result. PHD saves guide logs to the PHD folder on your PC and this software can view them. Post up a screen shot of your result on here for those that know better than me to analyse!

 

http://adgsoftware.com/phd2utils/

[daveangie0110]

13 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Did it calibrate? It sounds like you've used a previous calibration and the guide camera has rotated since then. You need to calibrate as when the guide camera rotates so does the field of view. In calibration PHD monitors your chosen star and works out which way is up, down, left and right. It also works out the distance the mount moves as it sends guide commands.

 

So if you have tried guiding before and since then removed or moved the guide camera you need to calibrate again.Trust me, I have made the same mistake!

 

Download the PHD log viewer as it gives details of your guiding session and shows your calibration result. PHD saves guide logs to the PHD folder on your PC and this software can view them. Post up a screen shot of your result on here for those that know better than me to analyse!

 

http://adgsoftware.com/phd2utils/

Thanks Dave, how do you calibrate again ?

[david_taurus83]

18 minutes ago, daveangie0110 said:

Thanks Dave, how do you calibrate again ?

It should automatically calibrate each time UNLESS you have ticked the settings box that says to Auto-restore calibration.

 

Can you post up a screen shot of the settings box as below?

 

 

[daveangie0110]

6 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

It should automatically calibrate each time UNLESS you have ticked the settings box that says to Auto-restore calibration.

 

Can you post up a screen shot of the settings box as below?

 

 

Thanks for trying to help me Dave, but I have uninstalled PHD and done a fresh install, what sort of setting do you think I should use, or should I just pick a star and run guiding assistant?

[david_taurus83]

Have you got the correct focal length? Your scope should be 130mm? It should auto detect your camera? Google says your pixel size should be 3.75 micron?

[daveangie0110]

27 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Have you got the correct focal length? Your scope should be 130mm? It should auto detect your camera? Google says your pixel size should be 3.75 micron?

Hi Dave, that is correct that is what I inputted in the settings.

[david_taurus83]

Not much else I can think of really. Posting the guidelog might give a better clue.

[daveangie0110]

4 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Not much else I can think of really. Posting the guidelog might give a better clue.

Thanks for all your help Dave, should I delete the calibration files after every imaging session?

[david_taurus83]

Is the Auto restore calibration box unticked? If so, it clears each time anyway.

[newbie alert]

Try to calibrate on a star as close to DEC 0 and the meriian.. stay away from the pole and zenith

[spillage]

I just start up drift align, slew then calibrate.

Mark.