Mesu 200 issue??

[Astroscot2]

Im wondering what could possibly go wrong next, I seem to go back and forth between hardware issues and software issues and everything in between, ive not managed to take a single image
in almost a year and suspect im only one clear night of frustration before I sell up and pack all this in.

A month or so ago my old lodestar stopped working, just in time for the darker evening... fair enough I knew the day would come as it had been back to SX a few times for a patch up,  So I bought a newish update the X2.  The last 4 clear evenings I have played with just about every setup combination in AstroArt with no success to guide calibration.

Tonight while attempting guide calibration for the 10th time I began to think that it may not be the software guide settings that are the issue and maybe the mount is the problem? The mount slews fine and tracks ok.

So I had  a look at the ServoConfig screen and initially had issues recognising the com port, No matter what USB port I plug the controller USB cable into the device manager always shows the same com port ? Unplugging my camera and restarting the mount  the com port was recognised I see the following on the attached screenshot, There is no encoder location on the DEC and I wonder if this is the culprit for my guide calibration woes?

 

Hopefully someone can confirm or offer help, hopefully there is a quick fix.........

 

 

 

[Thalestris24]

Hiya

Can't really help with the Mesu (I wish...) but, assuming you're running Win 10,  re your usb problems, you could try running the hardware and devices troubleshooter via Settings, probably followed by a reset or cold boot. It's generally not a good idea to unplug/plug a usb device several times across different ports as the system can get confused and may fail to recognise a particular usb device. This may be why your lodestar appeared to have stopped working (though it may have actually had a problem).

Hth

Louise

[Guest]

Good morning from Vienna,

 

Also not an MESU owmer, BUT ! I did find something interesting in your screen shot in your thread and  which could be the reason of your problem !!.

 

1) According to your problem described ( beside the USB problem) which could be easier to solve ( do you maybe use any USB HUB ?? )  and from what I did understand, your problem is " There is no encoder location on the DEC and I wonder if this is the culprit for my guide calibration woes? "

2) I can also see that you MESU is still using the old Firmware 9.5 !

3) There is already a newer Firmware available with number 9.6 and the version 9.6 is " suprise suprise " handling the problem you claim. to have.

 

;Version History
;******************************

;Version 9.6
;Fixed bug where alt/dec motor encoder reports wrong position in certain cases

;******************************

 

Could my assumption help you ?? I hope so..

 

Cheers

 

Martin

[Guest]

By the way, there a Yahoo Group under https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SiTechservo/info

where you could also get in touch with the software owner and MESU users !!

 

Cheers and good luck

Martin

[Astroscot2]

Morning Louise, Martin.

Thanks for the replies.. Louise I'm using Windows 8,  my main camera, filter wheel and guide camera are all connected through a powered hub, Main camera and guide camera all show good images and the filter wheel works fine.

 

That's interesting on the firmware update Martin, I'm only assuming that there may be a link between the guide camera calibration issue and the Dec encoder missing from the firmware, possibly another Mesu owner would give me their thoughts on this?

Thinking about last night I did not Sync the mount to a position on CDC as I was only testing the guiding,  Without doing a Sync would the mount still show encoder info? Missing this step may also have caused and issue.

 

Mark

[Thalestris24]

2 hours ago, Astroscot2 said:

Morning Louise, Martin.

Thanks for the replies.. Louise I'm using Windows 8,  my main camera, filter wheel and guide camera are all connected through a powered hub, Main camera and guide camera all show good images and the filter wheel works fine.

 

That's interesting on the firmware update Martin, I'm only assuming that there may be a link between the guide camera calibration issue and the Dec encoder missing from the firmware, possibly another Mesu owner would give me their thoughts on this?

Thinking about last night I did not Sync the mount to a position on CDC as I was only testing the guiding,  Without doing a Sync would the mount still show encoder info? Missing this step may also have caused and issue.

 

Mark

Hi again, Mark

I think there is still a hardware and devices troubleshooter in Win 8  - worth running just to check.
It does sound like your Mesu firmware may need updating though there's always a risk with doing that. Maybe have a quick word with Mesu first, or on their forum as Martin suggested.

Hope you can sort it!

Louise

[Zakalwe]

Hi Mark,

Drop Dan Gray at Sidereal Technology an email.  You will not find a better group of people to deal with than the team at Sidereal.

 

sitechcommerce@siderealtechnology.com

[Astroscot2]

Thanks Stephen, I'm asked permission to subscribe to the Sitech Yahoo group, hopefully hear back soon.

 

Mark

[Zakalwe]

I'll have a look at mine later and see what it says. I need to open the obsy anyway just to check that the mice and spiders haven't completely taken over!

[RayD]

Mine shows pretty much the same as yours.  I have V9.6 firmware though.

The thing that stands out to me is the input voltage.  If this is idle at 11.8, I wonder if it is dipping too low during a slew/tracking and causing problems.  I run my mount at 13.1 volts at which it is very happy.

As noted by Steve, the Yahoo group is really helpful.

[Star101]

If this helps.

I have just the Mesu 200 on and sync'd it with Cartes du Ciel Parked position.

Here's the settings.

[Zakalwe]

Hi Mark,

I checked mine:

As far as I know, the Alt and Azi angles boxes will have question marks until you hit the "Get Angles" button. This will then poll the Sitech controller for the angles.

I upgraded to version 9.6 and it looked the same.

I'd also question the supply voltage. Under 12volts might be a little low. The voltage also is likely to drop once you start to slew. Try swapping out the power supply and see if that works.

[Astroscot2]

Ive had another look at the mount settings,  When I plug in the date cable from the controller I get the recognised "bing",  CDC connects fine and I can slew and track, the hand controller also works perfectly well.  Looking at the device manager it is showing Com port 3 for the data cable see screen shot.  When I go into the servo config it does not recognise com port 3.  I don't have anyway of trying another power supply as I don't have an alternative.  Could it be an issue with the data cable?  The data com light flickers like it has always done?  Could I be looking at a total re-install of the software, hopefully not.  really not sure where to go with this.

 

[RayD]

I don't think you can be connected to Sitech.exe and servo config at the same time.  You need to shut Sitech.exe down and then try again.

[Skipper Billy]

@Astroscot2 I am heading to Paisley on Monday morning and I have a spare 20 amp 13.7 power supply if you would like to borrow it ?? Might help you rule out power supply as an issue ??

I will be back down again to Paisley in the New Year and could collect it then.

David.

[Zakalwe]

1 hour ago, RayD said:

I don't think you can be connected to Sitech.exe and servo config at the same time.  You need to shut Sitech.exe down and then try again.

This^^

It's possible that the COM port has become locked up. Win 8 handles COM ports differently to previous editions and normally frees them up without manual intervention. Have a read of this and see if it helps:

https://theitbros.com/how-to-delete-com-ports-in-use/

 

I'd also try another USB cable. I've had them randomly die on me and throw up funny faults.

[Astroscot2]

12 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

@Astroscot2 I am heading to Paisley on Monday morning and I have a spare 20 amp 13.7 power supply if you would like to borrow it ?? Might help you rule out power supply as an issue ??

I will be back down again to Paisley in the New Year and could collect it then.

David.

Hello David, Many thanks, I think I will take you up on that offer will PM you.

12 hours ago, RayD said:

I don't think you can be connected to Sitech.exe and servo config at the same time.  You need to shut Sitech.exe down and then try again.

Hello Ray, I need to check if I had both open at the same time, I can t recall,  I assume you can close down Sitech.exe and the config will connect showing the current encoder positions.

 

11 hours ago, Zakalwe said:

This^^

It's possible that the COM port has become locked up. Win 8 handles COM ports differently to previous editions and normally frees them up without manual intervention. Have a read of this and see if it helps:

https://theitbros.com/how-to-delete-com-ports-in-use/

 

I'd also try another USB cable. I've had them randomly die on me and throw up funny faults.

Thanks Stephen will have a read of the Link at lunchtime, regarding the USB cable,  "If I pull the cable fro the controller or USB I receive the warning "lost communication with Sitech" so I assumed its working ok? where would the best place be to source a similar cable?

 

Thanks

Mark

[RayD]

1 hour ago, Astroscot2 said:

Hello Ray, I need to check if I had both open at the same time, I can t recall,  I assume you can close down Sitech.exe and the config will connect showing the current encoder positions.

I only mentioned it, Mark, as I could see you had Sitech open in the background of your screenshot showing failure to connect to Servo Config.

If you just close Sitech then reconnect to Servo Config it should connect using Com 3.  It will only pull forward the information for the encoders if it has them, so your mount is initialised (and I think unparked, but not certain on that).  Alternatively you can fetch them as noted earlier by @Zakalwe.

If we could rewind a little, what exactly is the issue with calibration you are having as you don't mention it?  I note you are running V9.5 firmware, and often with that you could get a message pop up showing the RA and Dec rates vary by an unexpected amount if using PHD2, but not sure if this was the same when using APP.  Whilst this issue doesn't affect performance, it was fixed in V9.6, so if this is your issue you may want to update the firmware.

[Astroscot2]

Hello Ray, thanks for your thoughts on this issue, I agree I think a step back and look at the real issue which is the guide calibration, I'm using AA5, always have done and never had any issues with my current set up.

When all was well with my set up the calibration would take the guide star 4 - 5 steps in RA , return to original staring point and take a further 2 steps in DEC, the classical "L"  At the moment the guide star does not move between steps 1 - 2 moves slightly in RA steps 3 - 5 and shows no movement to return the star back to the starting point and has no movement for the last 2 steps in DEC.  The calibration also does not show failed, When I attempt to guide  the RA and DEC errors increase quickly, The mount is not making any corrections in RA or DEC as far as I can tell.  The guide camera is on my OAG, connected to the mount by ST4 cable, which Ive also tried a replacement with no success. My original thoughts were ive ticked a box in AA5 or a setting has changed but for the life of me I can t figure out. I emailed the guys at AA (MSB) and they gave me some ideas to try, Olly also offered assistance as he also uses AA for guiding but still no luck, this is what got me thinking that possibly there is an issue with a comm link or possibly the mesu?

 

What will do is update to V9.6, try PHD also for guiding, you never know, if that works them Its likely to be the AstroArt software,  I'm also going to try and rebalance the scope on the mount and take David up on the loan of his power supply, just to rule out these as problem

 

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Mark

[RayD]

26 minutes ago, Astroscot2 said:

Hello Ray, thanks for your thoughts on this issue, I agree I think a step back and look at the real issue which is the guide calibration, I'm using AA5, always have done and never had any issues with my current set up.

When all was well with my set up the calibration would take the guide star 4 - 5 steps in RA , return to original staring point and take a further 2 steps in DEC, the classical "L"  At the moment the guide star does not move between steps 1 - 2 moves slightly in RA steps 3 - 5 and shows no movement to return the star back to the starting point and has no movement for the last 2 steps in DEC.  The calibration also does not show failed, When I attempt to guide  the RA and DEC errors increase quickly, The mount is not making any corrections in RA or DEC as far as I can tell.  The guide camera is on my OAG, connected to the mount by ST4 cable, which Ive also tried a replacement with no success. My original thoughts were ive ticked a box in AA5 or a setting has changed but for the life of me I can t figure out. I emailed the guys at AA (MSB) and they gave me some ideas to try, Olly also offered assistance as he also uses AA for guiding but still no luck, this is what got me thinking that possibly there is an issue with a comm link or possibly the mesu?

 

What will do is update to V9.6, try PHD also for guiding, you never know, if that works them Its likely to be the AstroArt software,  I'm also going to try and rebalance the scope on the mount and take David up on the loan of his power supply, just to rule out these as problem

 

Any other ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Mark

Ok Mark makes a bit more sense.

I doubt that it is primarily a USB issue if you have comms with Servo Config and Sitech, as this will show as a failure to connect and Sitech will show faking servo's.  Just as a complete long shot , do you have any means to use pulse guiding just to check that the camera is sending ST4 commands?  You can do this if you try PHD2, and at least it would narrow it down and eliminate the ST4 train.

[steppenwolf]

To remove the ST4 cable/guide camera from the equation, you could make up a test ST4 cable and short pins 3-6 alternately to pin 2 (see this diagram) to check that the Mesu is responding correctly - use an eyepiece in your telescope to check for movement against the night sky. Ignore the reference to EQ6/HEQ5 as an ST4 cable is a standard!

[tomato]

Hello Mark, I would concur with RayD that it is unlikely to be a USB issue, on the rare occasions when I have had USB cable issues, I get a 'Lost communication with Sitech' error rather than intermittent drops during calibration. If you can I would try PHD2 with pulse guiding, to eliminate mount control/comms issues, it might be a problem with your ST4 cable.

I run Firmware ver 9.5 and I get the error message RayD describes after PHD2 calibration, but this has no effect on subsequent guiding performance.

Best wishes with resolving this one.

Steve

 

[Thalestris24]

Just a thought - my qhy5l-ii guide cam only works in ST4 if you set the camera to capture in 8-bit as it uses the other 4 data bits for the ST4 interface. Don't know if there is any similar requirement with the Lodestar.

Louise

[Astroscot2]

18 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

To remove the ST4 cable/guide camera from the equation, you could make up a test ST4 cable and short pins 3-6 alternately to pin 2 (see this diagram) to check that the Mesu is responding correctly - use an eyepiece in your telescope to check for movement against the night sky. Ignore the reference to EQ6/HEQ5 as an ST4 cable is a standard!

Hello Steve & Steve, I tried the spare ST4 cable that came with my SX694, faulty ST4 was my first thought also.

[RayD]

37 minutes ago, Astroscot2 said:

Hello Steve & Steve, I tried the spare ST4 cable that came with my SX694, faulty ST4 was my first thought also.

But that doesn't rule out a fault with the ST4 outputs from the camera.