Simon Dunsmore Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 Hi Folks, After a day of pulling out what little hair I have left. I thought I'd appeal to the mercy of you life savers So I'm trying to set up my heq5 mount to be controlled directly from my laptop. I'm attempting to use carte du ceil as Stellarium just wasn't playing ball. I've installed ASCOM and have had some success but I'm aware that I need EQMOD. The problem is whenever I download EQMOD it downloads as ASCOM. Sorry if this is a silly question but where can I download EQMOD? I'd really appreciate it if anyone could help Thanks Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vineyard Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 (edited) I'm guessing you're on Windows? Fwiw, I've found EKOS really good & user-friendly - I'm on Mac but I think EKOS can also be used on Windows (its INDI not ASCOM but there is a Windows bridge). Good luck! Edited March 14, 2020 by vineyard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Varley Posted March 14, 2020 Share Posted March 14, 2020 EQASCOM (EQMOD) can be found here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 And have a look at Chris Shillito's You Tube channel - he has a whole series of tutorials from installation to advanced usage. Well worth the few hours (!) required to watch them all - you only need to watch the relevant ones as you learn your way around EQMOD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cornelius Varley Posted March 15, 2020 Share Posted March 15, 2020 And just to clarify, the file you need to download is EQASCOM_V200q_setup.exe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dunsmore Posted March 15, 2020 Author Share Posted March 15, 2020 Hi Folks, Thanks for all your help. We have lift off! Will definitely check out those tutorials. Thanks Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dunsmore Posted March 21, 2020 Author Share Posted March 21, 2020 (edited) Hi People, Update. OK so I got everything set up and working in the daytime, with the camera attached to the guidescope and focused on a pilon across the road. Night time.... Set up, switched on camera and fired up sharpcap. Did a basic polar alignment... So far so good. Can't get anything other than black on the screen. If I shine a torch across the guidescope it goes grey but that's it. I tried winding the focus right out and then slowly winding in, nothing. I tried uping the gain, again nothing. Tried altering contrast, brightness.... Nothing. Have to admit, I'm totally baffled. I don't give up easily but this really is frustrating. Im sure it's down to something simple, but I don't know what else to try. I've tried the camera in the main scope and attempted focusing that way, nothing. This must be down to settings? Any pointers would be greatly appreciated. Bit of a newb to this camera stuff so be gentle 😊 Thanks from a very cold and frustrated 😤 but enthusiastic stargazer Simon Edited March 21, 2020 by Simon Dunsmore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cletrac1922 Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Simon First of all welcome from Land Down Under I am now also using SynScan WiFi adapter on my EQ5Pro, and makes life lot easier controlling my mount Download the SynScan APP to mobile phone, tablet or PC The APP automatically sets your GPS location, date/time from our device John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almcl Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 You don't mention changing exposure length? What was it set to? I find somewhere around 1 to 2 seconds gives a result, YMMV of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dunsmore Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Hi, Thanks for your reply. Yes, sorry tried increasing and decreasing the exposure in increments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizibilder Posted March 22, 2020 Share Posted March 22, 2020 Try focussing on something like Venus for a start (it is well placed around dusk as long as you have a view to the W or NW). As it is so bright you should see something and be able to focus on it (You say you can focus in daylight on a distant object so this should work). The slew the scope to a bright star and you should be able to see it. Whack the gain right up for a start and increase the exposure time. At worst you should be able to see a gray blob! Then go from there lowering the gain a bit at a time. Once you have the hang of it you should be able to slew around and find the brighter stars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dunsmore Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 Thanks, I'll give it a go. How hard can it be 😊? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Dunsmore Posted March 22, 2020 Author Share Posted March 22, 2020 11 hours ago, Bizibilder said: Try focussing on something like Venus for a start (it is well placed around dusk as long as you have a view to the W or NW). As it is so bright you should see something and be able to focus on it (You say you can focus in daylight on a distant object so this should work). The slew the scope to a bright star and you should be able to see it. Whack the gain right up for a start and increase the exposure time. At worst you should be able to see a gray blob! Then go from there lowering the gain a bit at a time. Once you have the hang of it you should be able to slew around and find the brighter stars. Hi, Just thought I'd get back to you with a huge thank you. I did as you suggested. Eureka moment! I also used an eyepiece to get as close as could to focus and then switched this out for the camera. Next step is to use my new found ability to use Sharpcap for polar alignment. That's what I love about this hobby, the breakthroughs. If I could I'd buy you a cold one! Thanks again Simon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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