Adrift in ASCOM

[hughgilhespie]

Hi,

In my slow journey towards an automated imaging set-up I have reached an exciting stage - all the equipment is in place and operational. Well, operationalish anyway. But, I have also reached the bit I have been dreading, that is connecting everything together using ASCOM so that I have an imaging system, not just a collection of bits of equipment. The more I read about using ASCOM, the more daunted I become. I would really appreciate some advice / guidance on how to go about setting things up in a nice, simple, step-by-step way.

Some more information on my equipment. My mount is an EQ8, about 4 years old so may be in need of some updates. I would like to use this via EQMOD.  I have an old Hitech Astro EQDir cable with the Prolific  chip but I am abandoning this and switching to a new, FTDI chip version. I have put together an optical tube assembly around my Tak 106ED. The OTA carries a Kingdel mini-PC with 4 USB3 and 4 USB2 ports. The PC will be operated in headless mode (no monitor, keyboard or mouse) using Microsoft Remote Desktop over my Cat6 network. This is all tested and works well. The PC runs Windows 10 Pro. The OTA also carries a Pegasus Astro Ultimate Power Box that distributes DC power for the PC and other bits that need 13 volts. The Pegasus UPB also has a built in USB2 hub and I will be using that rather than the USB2 outlets on the mini-PC to control the mount and an Alnitak Flip-Flat box. The reason for using the Pegasus hub rather than the PC  is that it works - I found that if I connected more than 2 USB2 devices to the computer I kept getting errors - 'Unable to Start Port' or something similar. 

My observatory is a 2.2 meter Pulsar dome driven using the Lesvedome system. It will both rotate and open/close the shutter.

I want to use Sequence Generator Pro as my main imaging software and I have the latest version. So, how on earth do I connect everything together? Do I use SGP or POTH or something else?  As you may have gathered, computers aren't my thing so be gentle!

Thanks, Hugh

 

 

The equipment connections are shown on these pics.

 

[swag72]

While I don't have all the bits that you have, ASCOM need not be as daunting as you may initially think. Think of it as a generic communication language so that all the bits can speak to each other in a language that they all understand.

ASCOM download needed - http://ascom-standards.org/ 6.4 right hand side.

The EQ8 ASCOM driver is here http://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/ScopeDrivers.htm - You want the generic Skywatcher one - The other part of the puzzle you need for the EQ8 is EQASCOM - https://sourceforge.net/projects/eq-mod/files/EQASCOM/

I had a thread running on the EQ8 and EQMOD that you may find useful as well.....  Using the correct cable this should get the mount up and running in no time.  In SGP you just select HEQ5/6 I think it is.  If I can help at all just give me a shout. I can't help on the Pegasus I'm afraid, but there's bound to be an ASCOM driver online for it. Just assume that every component will need an ASCOM driver to make it work.

 

[Kaliska]

You might find this helpful when setting everything up for the first time, it's what i used the first time round and found it really good.

http://www.lightvortexastronomy.com/tutorial-setting-up-an-equatorial-mount-on-ascom-with-eqmod-stellarium-and-cartes-du-ciel.html

There are many other tutorials which may/may not be of use as well.

[spillage]

So far I have found setting up the ascom driver okay. From my experience its just another setting to check, make, update. With the software I used when choosing the mount, camera, fw etc it just opens us the ascom driver and ask you to check the properties so fairly straight forward.

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Sara,

Thanks for the reply. I had already downloaded EQASCOM v2.00q and ASCOM 6.4 and your thread answered one of my questions - why does the mount show as EQ5 and not EQ8.

But as for the rest - hmmm - I have to confess to being even more confused than before.Now my albeit probably wrong understanding was that EQASCOM is the ASCOM driver for the Skywatcher mounts and that no other driver is needed. Is this not the case?  I don't want to use the handset at all if I can avoid it - in fact it would negate the whole idea of a remotely operated observatory. So , can I get away with just using EQASCOM as the mount driver?

Regards, Hugh

 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Kaliska,

Thanks very much for the link. I had already bookmarked this tutorial and in fact I am in the middle of converting it to a word document so I can highlight the bits I want and then print out a copy to use while I play with the kit in the observatory.

Regards, Hugh

[swag72]

1 hour ago, hughgilhespie said:

Hi Sara,

Thanks for the reply. I had already downloaded EQASCOM v2.00q and ASCOM 6.4 and your thread answered one of my questions - why does the mount show as EQ5 and not EQ8.

But as for the rest - hmmm - I have to confess to being even more confused than before.Now my albeit probably wrong understanding was that EQASCOM is the ASCOM driver for the Skywatcher mounts and that no other driver is needed. Is this not the case?  I don't want to use the handset at all if I can avoid it - in fact it would negate the whole idea of a remotely operated observatory. So , can I get away with just using EQASCOM as the mount driver?

Regards, Hugh

 

Hi Hugh,

I don't use the handset at all, in fact it's still in the box! 

So ASCOM V6.4..... Good   EQASCOM v2.00q .... Good (although I rolled back to a previous version as I couldn't get the meridian flip to work)

If you are not sure if you need any more drivers, then try and connect via EQMOD tools. If the HEQ5/EQ6 option isn't in properties then you'll need to download the driver for the mount   Hope that makes sense 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Sara,

Perfect sense - thanks very much. I am now stuck until my FTDI cable arrives so I can give it a go.

One more question - assuming that's OK - Do I need to connect everything using the POTH hub or does SGPro do the same as POTH and act as a hub that all the bits and pieces connect to? I have tried reading up about this but as ever, I can't find an answer I can understand.

Ta everso, Hugh

[swag72]

8 minutes ago, hughgilhespie said:

Hi Sara,

Perfect sense - thanks very much. I am now stuck until my FTDI cable arrives so I can give it a go.

One more question - assuming that's OK - Do I need to connect everything using the POTH hub or does SGPro do the same as POTH and act as a hub that all the bits and pieces connect to? I have tried reading up about this but as ever, I can't find an answer I can understand.

Ta everso, Hugh

I don't use POTH...... In SGP I connect everything with its appropriate drivers.... Once it's all connected then SGP will issue commands etc to all the different parts as required. That's how I think of ASCOM, a universal translator so that everything can understand what the other things are saying / doing  To that end you will need the ASCOM umbrella running on the PC and then a driver for everything, if that makes sense. of course this is something that you can check during the day as well, that everything connects.

[spillage]

your prolific driver lead should be fine, they just dont like to be used in other usb ports so as long as you keep using the same one it should be fine.

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Mark,

Too late - FLO sent me a nice new FTDI lead this morning. I tried it this afternoon and it just works, no complications. I will adjust the length and cable up the OTA again tomorrow then I can get back to wrestling with ASCOM / SGP etc.

It was fairly encouraging today. I started working through the LightVortex tutorial and I managed to get the mount to move so at least that's something. 

Regards, Hugh

 

[spillage]

Just wait until you start plate solving. You will regret waiting so long to use it.