Mesu not tracking on initial testing

[mihaighita]

6 minutes ago, Tom OD said:

Another update on this but its just pure frustration. I cannot get the mount to work with CDC.

If I dont connect to CDC and just press Start, I get blind tracking. After about 3 attempts it will blind solve, but once I connect to CDC, then it starts the Slewing / Tracking alternation when I start to get the squiggly lines in the pic attached.

Even after disconnecting the camera and mount and Sitech it still gave me Slewing / Tracking when i hit start. I had to restart the Eagle just to get back control. Nothing changed. It looks like I can not connect CDC and only get Blind tracking, or connect CDC and have it completely messed up with the slewing / tracking. I have no idea what the hell is going on here. This is really starting to [removed word] me off now. I ve gone from one  ridiculous electrical / software issue to another ridiculous software / mechanical issue. 

If anyone can offer any more help I d be grateful, go ahead and dial in to the system and have a go yourself if you d like, as right now, and for the last 4 months I ve been staring at a shed that has just been sitting there doing nothing when it has so much potential.

As it turns out today is the 40th Anniversary of Alien. My trackign seems to stencil out a pretty good Alien head of whatever star it thought it was looking at.

Tom.

Tom

 

Never had a problem with CdC and Mesu.

Try using the SGPro alone, without starting CdC. You can use the Blind Sync from SGPro to tell the mount where it is and then Target Settings -> Location  to have SGPro point the Mesu to the desired object. 

 

[whipdry]

Hi Tom, 

Are you still looking for help? 

Peter 

[Oddsocks]

Hi Tom

Not having a MESU or Sitech here to play with I can’t help that much with the setup, the only thing that consistently appears in web discussions is the need to configure the Sitech, Encoders Config, set encoders to “Polite” mode, plus a fairly large tolerance of 10:00:00 degrees in the supervisory threshold window, otherwise the MESU’s motor encoders and shaft encoders may consistently argue with each other after a slew causing the mount to continually re-slew to the requested coordinates.

( I think this info originated in Steve Richards quick-start guide but has been referenced several times in other web pages )

William.

[PhotoGav]

Oh my word, Tom, you really haven’t had the luck with this one have you. I am keen to try and help get you up and running, but fear that the best way is to be next to the kit rather than remote. Having said that, the best starting point is to dial in to the system and at least have a look... I will PM you.

[Skipper Billy]

@Tom OD I am using a very similar setup to you - Mesu 200 - SGP and CdC.

If it helps I can email you the backup/config files from my setup for each of the three above - there are two separate backup files for the Sitech/Mesu so four files in total.

Its a known working configuration.

Then providing it works it eliminates any hardware issues and you can alter the settings to suit your needs.

Just PM me your email address if you want the files.

 

[Tom OD]

12 hours ago, mihaighita said:

Never had a problem with CdC and Mesu.

Try using the SGPro alone, without starting CdC. You can use the Blind Sync from SGPro to tell the mount where it is and then Target Settings -> Location  to have SGPro point the Mesu to the desired object. 

 

This will be my next test I think. Just keeping the software connections to a minimum. CDC will actually perform the slew, I cold see M13 almost in the centre of the field after the Slew. Pity it would just not remain tracking.

Thanks Tom

[Tom OD]

4 hours ago, Oddsocks said:

Hi Tom

Not having a MESU or Sitech here to play with I can’t help that much with the setup, the only thing that consistently appears in web discussions is the need to configure the Sitech, Encoders Config, set encoders to “Polite” mode, plus a fairly large tolerance of 10:00:00 degrees in the supervisory threshold window, otherwise the MESU’s motor encoders and shaft encoders may consistently argue with each other after a slew causing the mount to continually re-slew to the requested coordinates.

( I think this info originated in Steve Richards quick-start guide but has been referenced several times in other web pages )

William.

I'll post screen shots of my settgins in case anyone spots something. I ve followed Steve Richards manual and set the Encoders to Polite. Then I have also had the advice from another Mesu user who is at Ollys to use Ignore.

I m not sure why he went tht way, I'll quiz him on that.

My co-ords on the Observatory between the CDC and SiTech might not be the same. One might be in degrees decimal while the other is in mins arc secs I think. That might be a conflict.

Tom.

[Skipper Billy]

@Tom OD  The config files for CdC, SGP and Sitech/Mesu are here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qrt987hb52bpeyk/AAAyNqZOHAqzs8_ImVDi4K5Fa?dl=0

Good luck !

David

[Tom OD]

2 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

@Tom OD  The config files for CdC, SGP and Sitech/Mesu are here - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qrt987hb52bpeyk/AAAyNqZOHAqzs8_ImVDi4K5Fa?dl=0

Good luck !

David

Thanks David, I 'll download these now thanks.

Tom

[Tom OD]

Finally some great news, the Mesu is  now working!

Massive thanks to Gav, Steve, William David and anyone else who responded to the thread.

Gav was on the phone as I set everything up. We went through some settings which matched profiles of a working set up.

Two values for Gain and Threshold were changed, and Encoders set from Polite to Ignore. My money is on that change, which I can test by resetting the other values, but finally

round stars regular tracking, no more etch a sketch images.

Next up is Guiding, then Sequencing a run. Oh the relief. I'll post the next progress as soon I reach that step. Hopefully tonight, as the weather looks good.

Thanks again everyone Tom.

[Tom OD]

On ‎27‎/‎04‎/‎2019 at 01:19, whipdry said:

Hi Tom, 

Are you still looking for help? 

Peter 

Hi Peter,

I m up and running now thanks.

Tom.

[andrew s]

Delighted you have it working. Just 4 mths from the first post, if my maths is right.

You must be a relieved and happy imager.

Well done all that helped.

Regards Andrew 

[Tom OD]

54 minutes ago, andrew s said:

Delighted you have it working. Just 4 mths from the first post, if my maths is right.

You must be a relieved and happy imager.

Well done all that helped.

Regards Andrew 

I sure am, although there still a little bit of work to do. I m relieved I don't have to send anything back for repair too.

Yes its been a few months of pain. Now I hope to reap the rewards of years of imaging

Tom

[steppenwolf]

Hi Tom that is really good news - I don't understand why Polite Mode is causing you a problem as in essence, it is just 'Ignore Mode' with a limit that kicks in as and when but in my experience of these things, if you get a working system, sometimes it is best to stick with it even if it flies in the face of what should be right!! As an aside, I also use Cartes du Ciel with no issues at all.

Let us know how the guiding and sequencing goes - unfortunately, here we have different systems as I use CCD Commander and MaxIm DL rather then SG Pro and PHD but at least with a consistently working mount, you have a great base to start from.

[Tom OD]

2 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Hi Tom that is really good news - I don't understand why Polite Mode is causing you a problem as in essence, it is just 'Ignore Mode' with a limit that kicks in as and when but in my experience of these things, if you get a working system, sometimes it is best to stick with it even if it flies in the face of what should be right!! As an aside, I also use Cartes du Ciel with no issues at all.

Let us know how the guiding and sequencing goes - unfortunately, here we have different systems as I use CCD Commander and MaxIm DL rather then SG Pro and PHD but at least with a consistently working mount, you have a great base to start from.

Yes i'll update the thread as I progress. As you say I 'll stick with what is working at the moment too.

Tom

[steppenwolf]

Tom, purely for reference, what gain figures have you got now? I have the following:-

Proportional     15000

Integral              2500

Derivative          4000

 

 

[Tom OD]

8 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

Tom, purely for reference, what gain figures have you got now? I have the following:-

Proportional     15000

Integral              2500

Derivative          4000

 

 

We did not change any PID settings, it was the Gain in the Mount Parameters tab in Sitech. Bottom right corner. We were 9 and went to 0.9, or vice versa I can remember The only oth4er parameter we changed was the Meridian Limit West to 10 for Over Pole.

Where are those PID settings you mention?

Tom 

[Laurin Dave]

That’s great news Tom.. 

Dave

[steppenwolf]

3 hours ago, Tom OD said:

We did not change any PID settings, it was the Gain in the Mount Parameters tab in Sitech. Bottom right corner. We were 9 and went to 0.9, or vice versa I can remember The only oth4er parameter we changed was the Meridian Limit West to 10 for Over Pole.

Where are those PID settings you mention?

The PID data came from ServConfig and is stored in the mount.

My Gain is 1 in the Sitech Mount Parameters tab - this is also the figure shown in my manual.

[Tom OD]

9 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

The PID data came from ServConfig and is stored in the mount.

My Gain is 1 in the Sitech Mount Parameters tab - this is also the figure shown in my manual.

Ah ok, we did not make any changes in the Config program.

Tom

[PhotoGav]

I have my fingers crossed that all is still working when you connect up tonight, Tom!! I don't see why it shouldn't be now, but look forward to hearing that it is all OK.

Please don't hesitate to ask about the next steps of getting everything up and running now with SGP and guiding (are you using PHD2?).

What is your first target going to be?

41 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

My Gain is 1 in the Sitech Mount Parameters tab - this is also the figure shown in my manual.

The Gain setting was at 9 and we changed it to 0.9, which is the value for that setting in SiTech for my mount. What is this value actually doing?

The one thing that worries me slightly from the session last night is that the mount Unparked as soon as it was connected to in SGP. I can't find any setting to ask it to do that in SGP, so wonder what is going on there. The one difference between Tom's set up and my set up is that Tom is using POTH to connect to the mount whereas I am using the SiTech ASCOM driver. Could it be something to do with the POTH driver, which I am not hugely familiar with?

 

[steppenwolf]

1 hour ago, PhotoGav said:

The one difference between Tom's set up and my set up is that Tom is using POTH to connect to the mount whereas I am using the SiTech ASCOM driver. Could it be something to do with the POTH driver, which I am not hugely familiar with?

Make sure that Auto Track is not ticked:-

[PhotoGav]

Thanks Steve - that is probably exactly it.

Tom, you might check that and de-tick it, that way you are fully in control of what is happening. Auto anything can be good, but only when you want it and know it's happening!

[Tom OD]

23 hours ago, PhotoGav said:

I have my fingers crossed that all is still working when you connect up tonight, Tom!! I don't see why it shouldn't be now, but look forward to hearing that it is all OK.

Please don't hesitate to ask about the next steps of getting everything up and running now with SGP and guiding (are you using PHD2?).

What is your first target going to be?

The Gain setting was at 9 and we changed it to 0.9, which is the value for that setting in SiTech for my mount. What is this value actually doing?

The one thing that worries me slightly from the session last night is that the mount Unparked as soon as it was connected to in SGP. I can't find any setting to ask it to do that in SGP, so wonder what is going on there. The one difference between Tom's set up and my set up is that Tom is using POTH to connect to the mount whereas I am using the SiTech ASCOM driver. Could it be something to do with the POTH driver, which I am not hugely familiar with?

 

 

22 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

Make sure that Auto Track is not ticked:-

I'll check that box when I get home.

Yes it all worked again last night when I was testing it. Well I unparked and slewed to M3 I think, and there it was almost centre again. I ended up doing a plate solve, which failed even though it knew where it was. I think I just clicked on the wrong button. Either way at least it went where I wanted it to.

Focus seemed to work well, then I tried to start a sequence but the guiding is not set up yet.

So a question for you, I m using PHD2. When I used the ZWO camera at first to connect to PHD it recognized the camera and it allowed to focus etc as a start.

I then got a BW ZWO camera, and I put the OSC ZWO as my observatory all seeing cam. Now when I open PHD is shows the all sky cam, and not the one in the guidescope.

I don't seem to have any option to pick between either camera. It looks like it has "locked" onto the OSC that I first connected. Does anyone know of a way to select the other camera, or do I need to uninstall PHD disconnect the OSC observatory cam, then install and let it hopefully pick the BW guide cam.

I use the ZWO own program to view the observatory anyway.

Thanks Tom.

[Tom OD]

And Gav I m using the POTH as I only have the USB cable going into the MESU, so I m not using ST4 to guide. So that was my understanding to go with the POTH.

T.