Totally fed up can anyone help

[FaDG]

1 minute ago, alan potts said:

I have 3 ST4 cables so I will try a different one if it don't start this time, Personally I feel it was cable contacts not making contact.

Ok, I really hope for you it's something that Simple, as it will be quickly solve! 

All the best for your next test. 

[Thalestris24]

34 minutes ago, alan potts said:

Agreed about movements, I selected sky position in the menu and looked at the numbers change, you can also hear the mount. It's very quiet here and I didn't hear anything different last night which I am fairly sure I would as I could earlier on when I tested it.The reason I may not have seen anything was at the time last night I had the Live View from APT on screen, silly error. Looks bad now for a run tonight, but you never know.

 

Alan

Yeah, I wouldn't bother with imaging until you're certain the guiding is working properly. As I said above, the best test is to use the manual controls with a 5s pulse so that you can hear the gears move for the 5s.

Good luck with it all!

Louise 

[ollypenrice]

You could also have a problem with the ST4 wiring of this particular camera, too...

Olly

[Adam J]

21 hours ago, alan potts said:

Right, I have lost count how many hours i have tried to do this, guiding will not work for me no matter what I try. I am fairly sure PA is OK, 3 star align plus PA using SW software gives good goto.

Scope SW ED 50mm    camera  Zwo 290 mini.  Mount AZ EQ 6 .      scope 805mm APO.

No matter what I try all I ever get is, "   Cal Fail  Star did not move enough " .   I had the same message using my other guidescope and camera combo, time and time again

If it helps the calibration did 60 or so steps and the star moved a max of 8.4 units (don't know what this measures), no matter what I altered in the steps and M/s they should take in the Camera section, calculations wizard gave 450, I even adjusted it to 2500 and there was no change in the result.

Can anyone possibly give me a clue what to do or where to go next, this is a fairly costly (440 quid) guidescope/cam combo and should work.

Alan

Its a settings issue, there is an option in PHD to change the step size which you need to increase. 

[Freddie]

9 minutes ago, Adam J said:

Its a settings issue, there is an option in PHD to change the step size which you need to increase. 

Alan has already tried a step size of 2.5 seconds so I really don’t think increasing that any further is the answer, and it looks like he has the problem sorted now anyway as he says the mount is now moving and it wasn’t before.

[alacant]

14 minutes ago, Freddie said:

already tried a step size of 2.5 seconds

Hi. No. That is the exposure. The step size is here. Calibration step size (ms): 650

HTH

[Freddie]

22 hours ago, alan potts said:

Right, I have lost count how many hours i have tried to do this, guiding will not work for me no matter what I try. I am fairly sure PA is OK, 3 star align plus PA using SW software gives good goto.

Scope SW ED 50mm    camera  Zwo 290 mini.  Mount AZ EQ 6 .      scope 805mm APO.

No matter what I try all I ever get is, "   Cal Fail  Star did not move enough " .   I had the same message using my other guidescope and camera combo, time and time again

If it helps the calibration did 60 or so steps and the star moved a max of 8.4 units (don't know what this measures), no matter what I altered in the steps and M/s they should take in the Camera section, calculations wizard gave 450, I even adjusted it to 2500 and there was no change in the result.

Can anyone possibly give me a clue what to do or where to go next, this is a fairly costly (440 quid) guidescope/cam combo and should work.

Alan

No, in his very first post he says he has “even adjusted it to 2500”

[alacant]

Hi. Yes, but the OP was in the 'camera' tab. He should be on the 'guiding' tab.

Cheers

[Freddie]

Maybe I have made a poor assumption here that when Alan says he has changed the step size he knows how to do that. If he has changed the step size by actually changing the exposure time then that isn’t going to help too much!!!! Could explain a lot.

[Stub Mandrel]

 

23 hours ago, alan potts said:

Cal Fail  Star did not move enough

That's what PHD2 says if you accidentally switch off the guide rates using the tick boxes above the rate sliders.

[alan potts]

Thanks all of you, weather not playing ball tonight, had a clear patch right where the roof gets in the way.

Yes I changed a few things but that was not until I had tried for about an hour with nothing but defualt mode.

Time of exposure I tried 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5 seconds just to see if it was about seeing.  No matter what the star never moved more than 8.6 pixels and even moved back, surely this is the worm gear doing this with its PE.

Alathough the wrong focal length was in at 250 the time of steps was 450m/s, I increased this bit by bit up to 2500 before I stopped.

I really think it was the cable, PHD commands were just not happenning I feel.

Alan

[carastro]

 

Quote

Its a settings issue, there is an option in PHD to change the step size which you need to increase. 

Was just about to suggest this, as I had a flash back to when I first started and my calibration kept failing.  Craig Stark (author of PHD) said to increase the calibration steps to 1250 or even 1500 (this is on PHD 1 of course but am presuming it's the same on PHD2).  Not had a problem since.

Carole 

[Freddie]

Carole, Alan has just said in the previous post that he has already tried 2500!!

[alan potts]

8 hours ago, carastro said:

 

Was just about to suggest this, as I had a flash back to when I first started and my calibration kept failing.  Craig Stark (author of PHD) said to increase the calibration steps to 1250 or even 1500 (this is on PHD 1 of course but am presuming it's the same on PHD2).  Not had a problem since.

Carole 

Carole,

I remembered I did try manual movement but at the time I was looking at Regulus in the APT screen with live view on, so I didn't see any movement but at the same time didn't commit to the effort because I wasn't really sure what I was doing. That said I didn't hear anything from the mount and I don't believe it moved, when I tested yesterday in day-light I could hear the motors kick in and see movement as I had the Position Numbers on the handset showing, I am believing it is a cable contact issue. Stay tuned though because I intend over the Summer to have EQmod on the mount with plate solving and dish washing, maybe the mosaic option too. Then I may buy a new mount, never ends does it?

[carastro]

Quote

Alan has just said in the previous post that he has already tried 2500!!

Sorry, wasn't reading all the posts fully as was getting a bit "bog eyed" with them all.

Carole 

[alacant]

4 hours ago, alan potts said:

EQmod on the mount with plate solving and dish washing

We took advantage of the current Skywatcher offer on the eqmod cool beer dispenser too. Recommended!

Sorry. Couldn't resist...

[spillage]

The latest version of eqmod now also has the red wine on tap add-on  On a serious note never ever trust your cables, I have spent..no wasted hour and hours removing, refitting, replacing cables to get things to work and having to give up. Next day however you go back, insert all the old cables back in and voila!! it works.

[tooth_dr]

Can you try phd 1?

Edited April 18, 2019 by tooth_dr

[alan potts]

13 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Can you try phd 1?

I do have it one of the mods sent me it and I will have one more attempt at PHD2 then if that fails I will switch.

Alan

[alan potts]

25 minutes ago, spillage said:

The latest version of eqmod now also has the red wine on tap add-on  On a serious note never ever trust your cables, I have spent..no wasted hour and hours removing, refitting, replacing cables to get things to work and having to give up. Next day however you go back, insert all the old cables back in and voila!! it works.

Mark,

I have had a terrible time from when I started back in Nov 2017 with cables. I have a Mammut Brightstar which wasn't the cleverest purchase of all time, I asked if it came with an ST4 cable and was told yes. I don't know what cable I got but I wasted two weeks trying to get it working, it was a 4 wired cable, phone maybe, then I bought a faulty camera and had more problems with cables. Now if things don't work I can at least ammuse myself taking 30-60sec subs of things and getting half reasonable results. The annoying thing here is I could easily do 5 min subs guiding, it is dark enough. I will go on to EQmod soon so don't go away, I'm sure that will cause problems. As for redwine, I don't drink anymore, I have over 100lts of rakia in the barn. 

Alan

[spillage]

100lt ?

Software is nothing but a pain. You spend hours getting it to work and then finally realize the mistake that has been staring you in the face all the time. Then you forget about it all and sometime in the future it goes wrong again and you repeat the above. I am sure once sorted your kit will up and running smoothly on those cloudy test nights and the moment you have a clear night the gremlins will attack in force..   But I would not give up on it.

[tooth_dr]

1 hour ago, alan potts said:

I do have it one of the mods sent me it and I will have one more attempt at PHD2 then if that fails I will switch.

Alan

Hi Alan. It’s downloadable from their site too. It’s not a case of switching though, both programmes are independent, it’s not an upgrade as such. I have both installed and can use either.

My own view is after reading this thread you should consider a different tack, and give up on the current path of ST4. 

[alan potts]

1 minute ago, tooth_dr said:

Hi Alan. It’s downloadable from their site too. It’s not a case of switching though, both programmes are independent, it’s not an upgrade as such. I have both installed and can use either.

My own view is after reading this thread you should consider a different tack, and give up on the current path of ST4. 

I am going to have one last try, only because I have been set back so many times by so many things, I don't want to let it beat me, then it will be on to EQmad and if that gives me problems I can just slip back to ST4.

[alan potts]

Well I have had the last try and I have come to the conclusion the mount doesn't work with ST4, it is dead as far as I can see.

15 trys to calibrate all failed for the same "Star Didn't move enough", probably because the software is not moving the mount at all and the change in pixels number on the Cal section is just drift due to the fact it is not tracking accurately.

I reported I moving the mount manually the other day and really thought I was, but I cannot replicate that tonight at all, I tried 3 different cables and begin to wonder if I imagined it or am I going mad, because I would swear I heard it moving.

I don'tknow enough about mount to start taking motherboards apart, even if I remove the cover unless it is obvious I don't have the knowhow to find the issue and no one around here would know anything about mounts either, so that's a none starter.

So I am giving up ST4 without one success and 10's of hours wasted, I don't feel tonight is a good time to start with EQmod as I am not happy, best sleep on it and try again tomorrow.

Alan

[michael8554]

The Star Cross Test will give you certainty whether the mount is moving correctly in all directions, so far you have been guessing.

I don't remember reading what mount you have, may have a bearing ?

If guiding via a serial connection to your pc is next, then get a usb to serial adapter that has the reliable FTDI chipset.

Note these often require a two-part driver installation, first to establish an entry in Device Manager, then a second Update Driver to complete. 

Keep us posted !

Michael 

 

Edited April 20, 2019 by michael8554