Mesu not tracking on initial testing

[Tom OD]

21 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

@Tom OD Did you get any further with this or did I 'kill' the thread ?

Ha Ha A little further Steve thanks. Still some issues.

So I had powered everything up on the Eagle except the Mesu mount.

Olly moved by hand the mount towards Capella in the East.

I powered up the Mesu on the Eagle, and Olly confirmed all the LEDs came on.

I connected all the equipment on SGP, and connected the scope in CDC. I hope I can remember these steps as I did them. This may not be 100% accurate.

I took a pic in SGP and did a blind Solve. This was successful.

On CDC I clicked on Capella and then clicked on Sync. This brought up an error message, cant remember what it said.

I then clicked Yes, which gave me the option to Select Scope pointing East, and I clicked on Cal Star.

I think the message field then changed to Select 2nd Cal star. I clicked on it, and it slewed off somewhere out of view on CDC, and towards the North.

I went off script here as I was trying to get the scope back to Capella or close. I was able to move the scope back with the buttons on Sitech.exe.

Now at this stage the scope was still not tracking. I was taking 5s shots which had trailing.

I then tried to close Sitech.exe to close it so I could open the Config. It gave messages saying devices were still connected. So I had to disconnect the Mount in SGP, and CDC to close Sitech.

This allowed me to Open Sitech Config. There were no numbers in the screen, and the Address error was back. It said Unable to Open Comm port 7. This is the problem I had before.

So the mount would slew without the comm port open. But would not track. Weird.

So back to the Eagle. As I mentioned in a previous message, when it booted up originally, the Comm port was always 5. For the last few weeks, it opens as 7. The power options are blacked out. When I chang ethat port to 5,

I can power on the devices. Maybe at this point, I need to open the Sitech Config and Set the Com  port to reset it to 7. The Eagle did do an automatic Update 24hrs earlier too. Turning this off can be tricky in Won 10 from what I have read.

So after connecting the Config Com port 7, I cold again use the s/w move buttons to move the mount.

I had to leave the scope at this point. Dinner plans, but it looks like I need to get my set up sequence to get the Config running first. Then shut it down, and open the Sitech.exe.

At some point during this, the Sitech was posting only one message, before it was the bad columns etc... It did say tracking, but I still dont think it was. I thought that 5s shoots still showed trailing.

I was doing too much to remember the steps at this point, but I'll re visit it now later.

A question I have is should I stop after the first Cal Init?

I did a Park and Set Park at one point. When I did an Unpark to try following Steve steps, the mount went off on a slew on Unpark. I did A Stop to that slew as I did not think that was correct, and as the mount was not fully set up, I was worried where it was going to go. This was when the comm port was not working though. Shouldn't it just track after an Unpark, and not slew?

I'll update you all later with what ever happens this evening.

Tom.

[steppenwolf]

Hi Tom,

I think a TeamViewer session is called for so that I can see this in real time as there are too many variables to evaluate this issue currently - I will look into updating my version of TV to make it compatible with your version.

[PhotoGav]

Excellent. Good to hear that some progress is being made. It will all come good very soon.

It all certainly sounds like there is some inconsistency with the Mesu com port assignment. That needs to be stabilised first. When the com port is right it sounds as though things are starting to work properly. 

When I was setting up my Mesu I had very similar issues, but there is a way through it all. When you next have a go, try going through these steps:

Connect SiTech exe and check that it does not stay on Reading Servo Parms, if it does, sort out com port. 

Open SGP and connect to camera and Mesu

Open up CDC and connect to Mesu

Click ‘Start’ in SiTech exe (rather than Unpark), that sets it into Blind Tracking mode

Move the Mesu using the buttons in SiTech exe to a convenient part of the sky, not too near the NCP

Do a Blind Solve from within SGP

When it solves the image, SiTech will bring up its Init dialog box, Click on Offset Init

The mount should now be initialised and tracking properly

Slew the Mesu to your chosen park position using the buttons in SiTech exe

Click Stop in SiTech exe

Click Set Park Position

Click Park

Phew, all good and working perfectly...

Now click UnPark, either from within SGP or in SiTech exe

Choose a place in CDC to slew to and click Slew in CDC

Hopefully the mount will move to roughly the right place

Do a Solve & Sync from within SGP

When the Init Dialog comes up it should default to an Offset Init, if it doesn’t, click Offset Init, otherwise let the countdown run out and it will do an auto Offset Init.

You now have a perfectly functioning system... slew to your target and get on with everything!

[PhotoGav]

I should have added at the beginning to check to see if it is using CalStars in SiTech exe. If it is, delete out that model. All of that is accessed through the big button on the main screen of SiTech exe.

[PhotoGav]

Steve, I am not convinced by your statement that the first Init needs to be a CalStar. I am (and many others are) successfully running the Mesu with SGP with no CalStars at all. Now I have turned off Auto Tracking, my Offset Init is persisting between sessions and getting me very close to my target on the first slew. I’m interested to hear your opinion...

Edited December 29, 2018 by PhotoGav

[steppenwolf]

OK Tom, I now have a compatible version of TV up and running.

8 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Steve, I am not convinced by your statement that the first Init needs to be a CalStar. I am (and many others are) successfully running the Mesu with SGP with no CalStars at all. Now I have turned off Auto Tracking, my Offset Init is persisting between sessions and getting me very close to my target on the first slew. I’m interested to hear your opinion...

No opinion really, I just report what works for me! ?

[swag72]

I wonder if it's a USB issue with the Eagle? 

[steppenwolf]

6 minutes ago, swag72 said:

I wonder if it's a USB issue with the Eagle? 

It could indeed be a comms. issue on the Eagle, Sara which is why I am keen to get 'hands on' to see for myself exactly what is happening without additional variables in the equation. The trouble with 'comms'. is that there are two ends to the link! ? It is going to be fun doing this when the system is 1000 km away as I what I'd really like to do is put my own observatory PC on it.....

I have no direct experience of the Eagle, Sara how stable do/did you find the USB connections?

[swag72]

5 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

 

I have no direct experience of the Eagle, Sara how stable do/did you find the USB connections?

Not very stable..... that's why I asked as I'm thinking its more unlikely to be a mount problem.

[steppenwolf]

26 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

No opinion really, I just report what works for me! ?

I suppose that I really ought to qualify this a bit! You can run without CalStar Inits but they have the advantage of writing in stone a mini model of the sky and your particular mount's interaction with it so that your Offset Inits place a real time fix on that model. I like to use them as they have always worked well for me.

[steppenwolf]

1 minute ago, swag72 said:

Not very stable..... that's why I asked as I'm thinking its more unlikely to be a mount problem.

I had a horrible feeling that you were going to say that!

[Tom OD]

Thanks everyone for your replies. 

I m in the pub at the moment. It is Christmas after all. I ll be home soon to revisit this. 

If Steve wants to team viewer in that is not a problem. 

T. 

[PhotoGav]

3 minutes ago, Tom OD said:

Thanks everyone for your replies. 

I m in the pub at the moment. It is Christmas after all. I ll be home soon to revisit this. 

If Steve wants to team viewer in that is not a problem. 

T. 

Fantastic! I’m delighted to see that evidently you aren’t too stressed by all of this!!

[steppenwolf]

1 hour ago, Tom OD said:

I m in the pub at the moment. It is Christmas after all.

Well that trumps my 'Skyfall' distraction! ? Who needs a pub though, the Shiraz is free-flowing here this week

[steppenwolf]

On 29/12/2018 at 15:23, PhotoGav said:

Now I have turned off Auto Tracking, my Offset Init is persisting between sessions and getting me very close to my target on the first slew. I’m interested to hear your opinion...

This is going to sound a little pedantic but it is important to understand the differences between 'CalStar Inits' and 'Offset Inits' especially when you progress to using a sky model as I do - the Offset Init is not 'persisting' in the true sense of the word because it is transient and its data is lost at switch off of the mount, whereas CalStar Inits are recorded and re-loaded from a data file at start-up. However, because you have parked your mount while the offset was in play, the offset is 'remembered' by the mechanical position of the parked mount. If you are not going to ever use a sky model then this is a moot point unless the mount's Park position is disturbed between sessions.

I hope that makes sense! ?

[PhotoGav]

37 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

This is going to sound a little pedantic but it is important to understand the differences between 'CalStar Inits' and 'Offset Inits' especially when you progress to using a sky model as I do - the Offset Init is not 'persisting' in the true sense of the word because it is transient and its data is lost at switch off of the mount, whereas CalStar Inits are recorded and re-loaded from a data file at start-up. However, because you have parked your mount while the offset was in play, the offset is 'remembered' by the mechanical position of the parked mount. If you are not going to ever use a sky model then this is a moot point unless the mount's Park position is disturbed between sessions.

I hope that makes sense! ?

Yes, sense made, and it is good to understand what the mount / SiTech software is up to, thank you. The important thing is that the system is working... if only sky conditions would allow it to be used!

Any progress with Tom’s distant Mesu?!

[steppenwolf]

58 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

The important thing is that the system is working..

Absolutely!

58 minutes ago, PhotoGav said:

Any progress with Tom’s distant Mesu?!

Not heard any more - I think he's still down the pub ?

[Tom OD]

On ‎29‎/‎12‎/‎2018 at 16:19, PhotoGav said:

Fantastic! I’m delighted to see that evidently you aren’t too stressed by all of this!!

The stress was sending me to the pub.

I managed to get the Blind Tracking working yesterday. So finally I could take a pic with no trailing.

So seeing I can track and slew, with the s/w buttons and with the CDC, then I think I can rule out the mount as being the issue.

I do need to check that the Config has the comm port available each time I start a run.

At this stage I think its just a matter of finding my correct set of steps. One of the screenshots in the first thread shows that I did have Tracking enabled at one stage through the steps you all suggested. Just that the Com port must have been closed at that point.

One thing that I think keeps happening is that the mount does the Offset Init, but then it slews towards the North. Is this normal? Is this why more than more suggest using the s/w buttons or hand pad to move the scope back to the East? Once its East again I can Park it then.

Weather forecast is clear for tonight so I'll try again later.

Tom.

 

[steppenwolf]

19 minutes ago, Tom OD said:

One thing that I think keeps happening is that the mount does the Offset Init, but then it slews towards the North. Is this normal?

How far to the north is it moving Tom? If you did an Offset Init followed by a re-slew then, of course, it could easily move north to make the correction but it shouldn't just do this automatically.

[Tom OD]

12 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

How far to the north is it moving Tom? If you did an Offset Init followed by a re-slew then, of course, it could easily move north to make the correction but it shouldn't just do this automatically.

Looks like due East to Due North. The web cam struggles to see as it gets too dark.

I think I just need to do the Park straight after the Offset Init, before trying a Slew to another object anyway. I m sure whatever I was doing made it seem like the mount just went off on its own.

Tom

[PhotoGav]

I wonder whether the CalStar Inits done when things weren’t quite right and saved in the system are messing things up? What does SiTech exe report in the main Scope tab in the Cal Points section? I suggest clearing out any saved points and see if that stops the weird slews.

[steppenwolf]

I agree, if you have faulty CalStar Inits in place, the system will respond to them - CalStar Inits should only be saved after a successful alignment (visual or by plate solve) carried out while the mount is tracking correctly otherwise they are meaningless!

[Tom OD]

On 29/12/2018 at 15:19, PhotoGav said:

Excellent. Good to hear that some progress is being made. It will all come good very soon.

It all certainly sounds like there is some inconsistency with the Mesu com port assignment. That needs to be stabilised first. When the com port is right it sounds as though things are starting to work properly. 

When I was setting up my Mesu I had very similar issues, but there is a way through it all. When you next have a go, try going through these steps:

Connect SiTech exe and check that it does not stay on Reading Servo Parms, if it does, sort out com port. 

Open SGP and connect to camera and Mesu

Open up CDC and connect to Mesu

Click ‘Start’ in SiTech exe (rather than Unpark), that sets it into Blind Tracking mode

Move the Mesu using the buttons in SiTech exe to a convenient part of the sky, not too near the NCP

Do a Blind Solve from within SGP.   I was actually doing this bit incorrectly. I was Taking a Photo in the Frame and Focus right clicking then plate solving image. I never opened the Init in SGP. I only opened it in CDC. Does that matter?

When it solves the image, SiTech will bring up its Init dialog box, Click on Offset Init

The mount should now be initialised and tracking properly  At this point it was, Only "Tracking" was showing in the message section of the SiTech. When I tried to take a photo though, there was oscillations showing on the CDC, and the 10s image I took showed a long trail of stars. I guess the mount was moving small amounts. See the video I m attaching.

Slew the Mesu to your chosen park position using the buttons in SiTech exe

Click Stop in SiTech exe

Click Set Park Position

Click Park

Phew, all good and working perfectly... I made it this far. Only after having to do a Reconnect on the USBs beofre I started these steps as the first time I got the Bad Comm error.

Now click UnPark, either from within SGP or in SiTech exe

Choose a place in CDC to slew to and click Slew in CDC

Hopefully the mount will move to roughly the right place   The mount would not move with a Slew it was giving Below Horizon errors, I could move it with the buttons though. Pressing Start in SGP did not start blind tracking.

Do a Solve & Sync from within SGP.  This kept failing.

When the Init Dialog comes up it should default to an Offset Init, if it doesn’t, click Offset Init, otherwise let the countdown run out and it will do an auto Offset Init.

You now have a perfectly functioning system... slew to your target and get on with everything!

I ve added in some results to these steps I was doing.

Steve I will need to get Olly for some hands on placing of the Mount in the Park positions to run your Below Horizon steps.

So now I seem to be still stuck in the USB set up. Added to this the Eagle closed down at some stage, which may have happened about the time of he Unpark in Gavs steps. I think this happened as I was doing this for hours, and the Team Viewer kicked me off for timeouts. I ve been at this for hours this evening, so its probably about to happen again.

So USB stability does seem to be an issue, or else I m just getting unlucky with timing doing these steps as Eagle reboots, teamviewer dropping off etc...

Tom.

Happy New Year by the way.

[ollypenrice]

22 minutes ago, Tom OD said:

I ve added in some results to these steps I was doing.

Steve I will need to get Olly for some hands on placing of the Mount in the Park positions to run your Below Horizon steps.

So now I seem to be still stuck in the USB set up. Added to this the Eagle closed down at some stage, which may have happened about the time of he Unpark in Gavs steps. I think this happened as I was doing this for hours, and the Team Viewer kicked me off for timeouts. I ve been at this for hours this evening, so its probably about to happen again.

So USB stability does seem to be an issue, or else I m just getting unlucky with timing doing these steps as Eagle reboots, teamviewer dropping off etc...

Tom.

Happy New Year by the way.

IMG_6672.MOV

Is there maybe a professional variant of Teamviewer which doesn't keep switching off?

Olly

[steppenwolf]

2 minutes ago, ollypenrice said:

Is there maybe a professional variant of Teamviewer which doesn't keep switching off?

Hi Olly, TeamViewer is pretty solid - any issues are normally down to the Internet link (not a problem at your place I suspect) or one of the PCs and the Eagle doesn't seem that stable?