Raspberry Pi 4 for Imaging Rigs

[StevieDvd]

4 hours ago, AnakChan said:

I have had the ASIAir Pro for a year now and in the past few months with the help of some friends, been able to get full functionality running Astroberry on the ASIAir Pro hardware. I actually got it all working last year however with the DC ports control hard coded (outside of INDI/KStars/EKOS). I got it rudimentary INDI functionality of the ASIAir Pro DC hub with the Asstroberry DIY relay driver, however a friend was able to code up a proper INDI driver ASI Power which provides full control of the DC Hub to manage variable power to dew heaters, flat panels, etc.

With this Astroberry build on the ASIAir Pro hardware, one can get full functionality that's camera/focuser brand agnostic (as long a there's INDI drivers for it), and full use of the ASIAir Pro hardware including the DC hub.

Would that be Ken by any chance?

Have you done this on a clean install of Astroberry or did you already have the changes to activate the gpio pins in the config file (can't remember the name of it without firing up my Pi)?

Am now trying to get Stellarmate working with INDI-ASI-POWER too.

 

 

[AnakChan]

21 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Would that be Ken by any chance?

Have you done this on a clean install of Astroberry or did you already have the changes to activate the gpio pins in the config file (can't remember the name of it without firing up my Pi)?

Am now trying to get Stellarmate working with INDI-ASI-POWER too.

 

 

Yes it was Ken! He saw my thread on CN and helped by writing a proper INDI driver. Prior to that, I used the Astroberry DIY Relay.

So today I did a clean install of Astroberry and installed Ken’s package. There is an issue (specifically?) on the Astroberry/RaspbianOS build that there’s a clash in the libpigiod package which causes the installation to fail. So you just have to force install Ken’s package :-

sudo dpkg --force-all -i /var/cache/apt/archives/indi-asi-power_0.9_armhf.deb
 

This shouldn’t be a problem for Stellarmate however since that’s based on Ubuntu.

[StevieDvd]

Just added the indi-asi-power to Stellarmate - works OK from a limited test but surprised to see a DSLR tab on it.  This was on a Stellarmate I'd been building the asi-power on manually so I'll reformat and do a clean install again.

Looking good though.

[kens]

5 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

Just added the indi-asi-power to Stellarmate - works OK from a limited test but surprised to see a DSLR tab on it.  This was on a Stellarmate I'd been building the asi-power on manually so I'll reformat and do a clean install again.

Looking good though.

The DSLR tab is new and was a request from another forum member. It might need a bit of code tweaking but it completes the functionality of the AAP. 

[AndysAstroPix]

I recently purchased a Rpi4 and loaded it with Stellarmate/ekos/INDi. Works great with my gear - I can now plate solve/Autofocus/guide/expose/change filters/meridian flip/solve/ continue exposing etc & park it at the end of the run.

Love it because it does all this while I'm sleeping! 😀

Jasem has been awesome with free support to troubleshoot the odd gear specific issue as well.

Happy days (and nights!)

I made a short video about it HERE if you're interested. 🙂

[StevieDvd]

10 hours ago, kens said:

The DSLR tab is new and was a request from another forum member. It might need a bit of code tweaking but it completes the functionality of the AAP. 

I literally looked at your response and picked up the AAP to see what this could control and saw the dslr port I'd completly forgotten about.

😮

[dark knight]

Srry for hijacking, How much room is there inside a flirt case, I'd like to have a pi4 8gb and add a hat for controlling a stepper motor for my focuser so I can automate things. I have no prior knowledge of using a pi for astro imaging and haven't bought anything yet, I'd also like to use bluetooth between pi and mount as that's how I do it now but with a windows 10 laptop, will my existing bluetooth module attached to the mount still work?? 

[JonCarleton]

I use a pi4 on my SkyWatcher 250P and iOptron GEM28 for imaging.  I do not use Bluetooth, but have had good success with the SkyWatcher WiFi especially when the Pi is on the mount.  The WaveShare stepper HAT works well with most of the NEMA stepper motors (I use the NEMA17 on both my mounts with the WaveShare stepper HAT) for focus.  The indi_wmh_focuser driver is very reliable and works well with both KStars/Ekos and CCDCiel.

The INDI drivers should cover your equipment.  You can still operate via a laptop using VNC over WiFi if you like wireless, but I prefer to attach a keyboard, mouse and HDMI monitor to the Pi4 directly.  Although, sometimes during cold weather or mosquito season, I use a KVM extender and run 1 ethernet cable (such as this one: https://www.amazon.com/AV-Access-Extender-Adaptive-Mounting/dp/B073B84CY1) inside the house to the keyboard, mouse and HDMI monitor.

Two things to be aware of, power-wise:  If you use cameras with a heavy amp load, you will need a powered USB hub.  Plugging the camera directly to the Pi4 USB port can cause low-power issues.  Also, the WaveShare stepper HAT has a "convenient" switch to power the Pi4 from the same supply as the WaveShare board.  Leave that switch OFF and don't use that "feature."  It can't really handle the load of a Pi4.  For that matter, it is marginal for a Pi3.  Use separate power supplies for the WaveShare board (12V) and the Pi4 (5V - 3A).

[fozzybear]

4 hours ago, dark knight said:

Srry for hijacking, How much room is there inside a flirt case, I'd like to have a pi4 8gb and add a hat for controlling a stepper motor for my focuser so I can automate things. I have no prior knowledge of using a pi for astro imaging and haven't bought anything yet, I'd also like to use bluetooth between pi and mount as that's how I do it now but with a windows 10 laptop, will my existing bluetooth module attached to the mount still work?? 

with the flirc case it is just the RPi board only as the case touches the cpu to cool it so no is your answer in adding the hat as well