Voyager Questions

[AngryDonkey]

No, never experienced this before. Probably best to ask on the Voayger forum.

[RayD]

I'm sure it is a simple answer, and it isn't something I do when using SGP, but is there a way to automatically connect to the mount when opening CdC?  It opens no problem, as does Sitec, but I then have to manually connect to the mount.

I haven't looked in depth at it, but is this a CdC option, or can it be scripted in Voyager.

[andrew s]

1 hour ago, steppenwolf said:

I am having a big problem with Voyager FITS Viewer in that it just hangs and the only way to release it is to use Task Manager and End Process. It makes no difference whether I manually launch it or call it from within Voyager. Has anyone else had this issue?

No but not really used it much. Email Leonardo as the forum is not the formal support model.

Regards Andrew 

[Fellside]

2 hours ago, steppenwolf said:

I am having a big problem with Voyager FITS Viewer in that it just hangs and the only way to release it is to use Task Manager and End Process. It makes no difference whether I manually launch it or call it from within Voyager. Has anyone else had this issue?

Steve

Are you running Voyager and all programs that are connected to Voyager as Admin. This is the recommended way to run Voyager. I know users have problem if some software is not set to Admin.

Ray

No there is not a way to have CdC connected to the telescope on start. It starts CdC but does not tell CdC to connect to the telescope. I think I asked about this when I started. But as Voyager is supposed to be running in "Auto" a lot of users dont use a Planetarium.

You can run External scripts from within DS So you could have a DS that connects all your equipment and connects CdC to the telescope. I hav emailed the CdC developer in the passed and he was very helpful. Hopefully he can tell you what is required for your External script

Graham

Edited May 14, 2020 by Fellside

[Fellside]

Ray

I carnt see anything that will connects to the telescope automaticity in the CdC Command line options. So it probably best if you really need that feature to email the CdC developer.

In CdC check it is set to Force J2000. This is in Setup-General-Server.

Graham

 

 

[RayD]

3 minutes ago, Fellside said:

Ray

I carnt see anything that will connects to the telescope automaticity in the CdC Command line options. So it probably best if you really need that feature to email the CdC developer.

In CdC check it is set to Force J2000. This is in Setup-General-Server.

Graham

 

 

Thanks Graham,

I just emailed Leonardo with a couple of other queries and, whilst he replied quickly, his reply was pretty much "this is automation software and will not do what you are asking, but NINA, SGP and APT will, so use them."

It is a fair point and I think he is right as I do not have a fully automated set-up, I automate most of it but do it partly attended, and for that purpose I think SGP is probably going to suit my needs better.

It's a good bit of software, but it really is targeted specifically at those who want to run a fully automated system.

[steppenwolf]

58 minutes ago, Fellside said:

Are you running Voyager and all programs that are connected to Voyager as Admin. This is the recommended way to run Voyager. I know users have problem if some software is not set to Admin.

Yes I am - Voyager, Viking and FitViewer are all set to 'Run as Administrator'. The program only crashes on exit, it seems to run just fine until I try to close it at the end of a session.

1 hour ago, andrew s said:

Email Leonardo as the forum is not the formal support model.

Have already done so, and he is looking into it with me.

[Fellside]

Steve

Are you closing voyager first or the fits viewer.

I often start closing programs then find the fit viewer is sitting in back still running. After all it is a stand along program. I don't remember having any problem though.

Graham

[steppenwolf]

24 minutes ago, Fellside said:

Are you closing voyager first or the fits viewer.

I have tried both before and after AND as a standalone! It works fine until I close it and then it hangs. I have sent Leonardo the FitViewer log files in case they throw light on the issue but currently he suspects anti-virus software *may* be at fault.

[Martin Farmer]

Hello Steve,

 

i have just come come across this new thread regarding Voyager and I thought I would add my thoughts. I’m glad you downloaded a demo Steve after our telephone call recently, I think you will get to like the program and it may prove a good replacement for your existing software.

I came across Voyager over 12 months ago when I was looking for software to run my automated observatory that I have been working on for the last two years. I use a Velleman USB K8056 and K8055N (VM 110N & VM129) that I control using Viking module. I have a ROR type of observatory and that has been able to open and close via a motor for a few years now, so linking into the new kit was relatively straightforward to do. 

I had been using previously MaximDL and Focusmax for many years but after a conversation with Leonardo I moved over to only using Voyager as the single solution for capturing data. 

Over the past 12 months with Voyager I have been using the on the fly mode to gain more of an understanding of how the program operates and behaves and I can only say it does what it says on the tin - for me it’s reliable and repeatable with operation each and every clear night.

i am in the final phase of my total automation project with the writing of the dragscript to take over total control - this is currently being worked on and I’m looking forward to handing over to Voyager the running  whilst I sleep.

So just to add some additional information regarding my setup and Voyager:- I use an AAG cloud sensor &  PHD2 guiding and homemade flat panel/endcover. The roof is driven by rack and pinion mechanism that’s homemade and not using an Ascom driver so Viking and the Velleman solution works really well.

Coming back to Voyager, I would certainly recommend you giving it a try even if you are not planning in going to an automated observatory. There are seven of us in a small imaging group and four who use Voyager with the other two just using it in the on the fly mode with precise pointing at targets all the time coupled with fast and accurate focusing  (it’s really taking the frustration out of astrophotography).

I understand that it may not suit everyone’s expectations and that’s perfectly acceptable, but you won’t know till you give it a go. The support that users have access to with this software is the best personally I have come across.

Finally, I have no commercial ties to Leonardo - i’m Just putting out here my current personal experiences with the software.

 

Best Regards 

Martin

 

[Martin Farmer]

All,

Further to my post here is how I added two extra relays that Voyager/Viking control.  

 

Users of the Velleman K8055N (VM110N) I/O card coupled with the K8056 (VM129) will know there are only 8 relay outputs but by adding this circuit you can make use of the DAC1 & DAC 2 to give you two more relay outputs driven by the analog outputs. Connection of the relays directly to the Velleman I/O card did not work so I used a transistor that’s switched by the I/O DAC output and let this operate the relay.
The photograph of the little circuit board I have put together has a 5 Volt regulator also to drop it down to 5V as I am using a 5V relay.

Operation of these two extra relays are done through the Viking program.

My unit operated on a DAC output of 3 Volts (you could alter the value of the 10K resistor but it worked)

 

image2681×1581 929 KB

 

 

image2785×1569 952 KB

 

I am putting this out there as one solution to adding more output to your Velleman I/O unit - please be careful with the soldering iron and make sure you are happy with what you have built before connecting it all together. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Regards
Martin

[sloz1664]

1 hour ago, Martin Farmer said:

All,

Further to my post here is how I added two extra relays that Voyager/Viking control.  

 

Users of the Velleman K8055N (VM110N) I/O card coupled with the K8056 (VM129) will know there are only 8 relay outputs but by adding this circuit you can make use of the DAC1 & DAC 2 to give you two more relay outputs driven by the analog outputs. Connection of the relays directly to the Velleman I/O card did not work so I used a transistor that’s switched by the I/O DAC output and let this operate the relay.
The photograph of the little circuit board I have put together has a 5 Volt regulator also to drop it down to 5V as I am using a 5V relay.

Operation of these two extra relays are done through the Viking program.

My unit operated on a DAC output of 3 Volts (you could alter the value of the 10K resistor but it worked)

 

image2681×1581 929 KB

 

 

image2785×1569 952 KB

 

I am putting this out there as one solution to adding more output to your Velleman I/O unit - please be careful with the soldering iron and make sure you are happy with what you have built before connecting it all together. Don’t shoot the messenger.

Regards
Martin

Hi Martin,

That will be a great benefit to all who use the Velleman board for Obsy control, of which I am one. Could you please post this on the Levesdome.io forum. If you are not affiliated with this group, would you mind if I posted on your behalf.

Btw I have downloaded the trial version of Voyager and getting to grips with the format.

Steve

[Martin Farmer]

Hello Steve,

Please go ahead and post it. I’m glad it’s of use to others. 

It would be good if Velleman had produced a board with more relays on. 

 

Best Regards

Martin

[sloz1664]

9 hours ago, Martin Farmer said:

Hello Steve,

Please go ahead and post it. I’m glad it’s of use to others. 

It would be good if Velleman had produced a board with more relays on. 

 

Best Regards

Martin

Thanks Martin, I'll go ahead and post. Totally agree with you, they should bring out an additional board which allws you to daisy chain the K8056 boards. I also have a couple of ADAM 6050 18 channel digital I/O modules which I'm playing around with at the moment, whether they will work I don't know?

 

Steve

[steppenwolf]

12 hours ago, Martin Farmer said:

I’m glad you downloaded a demo Steve after our telephone call recently, I think you will get to like the program and it may prove a good replacement for your existing software.

Thanks, Martin, for the original introduction to this software, you were right, it is very powerful but to be honest, it is proving a little too problematic for me at present and I am up to speed on full observatory automation!!!

Current problem is a follows and I would be very pleased to learn how other users of AAG CloudWatcher are operating.

1. AAG CW needs to be writing data to its file for Voyager to work with it. This required 12v power and for the AAG software to be running.

2. I want to use Viking to turn on my 12v PSU which is no problem, I can get it to do that easily. I next need to run AAG CW with data collection and file writing running and on my old system, I have a VBS script to do that. This VBS script can be called from a batch file, double-clicked from its subdirectory or called from a shortcut on my desktop. So, with Viking having supplied the power, I can now run AAG CW - BUT calling the script from within DragScript produces the following error message:-

I have contacted Leonardo who was very quick to respond but he suggests that either my script has the wrong syntax (no it doesn't, it works just fine outside of Voyager) or there is a problem with my OS (so why does it work when initiated from outside Voyager?).

Of course, I could manually turn on my 12v PSU by tripping out to the observatory and then run my AAG CW VBS script before I run Voyager - but that's not going to happen because I am talking about remote operation here!

So my question is, how do those of you running an AAG CloudWatcher unit get the system up and running?

This by the way is my VBS script:-

Dim oCW

set oCW = CreateObject("AAG_CloudWatcher.CloudWatcher")

oCW.Device_Start()

oCW.RecordStart False

Set oCW=nothing

[Martin Farmer]

Steve,

Regarding my AAG unit it is connected to a Solo unit and both of these units along with the observatory pc are running 24/7. If I understand your post correctly you don’t leave your AAG on all the time?. 

Sorry I’m no programming expert so I cannot offer any advice regarding your predicament concerning your script running.

 

Best,

Martin

[Leonardo Orazi]

Steve, i dont want to discuss with you but i answered to you and reported that the script work in a correct way  in my PC... the error reported is not from Voyager but from your OS, script is equal for all  .. result could depend from you environment. So i do this job for 35 years ... most of this time in Windows System. I think to know what i wrote. This is the second behavior strange you report to me like the one with closing FitViewer. You have something not work properly on your system ... permission .... DLL ... SDK ... antivirus ... version of OS ... and so.

There are thousands of users using scripts in Voyager everyday ... I think to have answered to you really fair and fast ... also I answered honestly to other users here that not really need Voyager avoid them to spent money! So please have kindly more considerations of my answers

[Leonardo Orazi]

This is the image i send to you with execution of your script on my OS ... my OS is in italian ... so the error reported is ActiveX cannot creat object because i dont have the AAG component registered. Your error report error on CreatObject ... this mean no permission .. non right configuration of COM .. not access to all library and so.

I hope this help to understand that Voyager is not the cause.

Stay safe, stay well!

[Fellside]

Steve,

I run AAG unit plus the Solo 24/7. I think I read somewhere that it was better for sensor that is permanently powered.

Graham

[steppenwolf]

On 15/05/2020 at 08:13, Martin Farmer said:

Further to my post here is how I added two extra relays that Voyager/Viking control.  

This is an excellent idea, Martin, thanks for posting it!

[steppenwolf]

OK guys, in light of Leonardo's comments I won't be taking part in any further discussions regarding Voyager. This is a great shame as the software clearly has tremendous potential and I really did want to move over to it for my own remote installation but it looks like it isn't going to work for me.

Good luck all of you and I do genuinely think that it is well worth trialling the software so give it a try.

[andrew s]

58 minutes ago, steppenwolf said:

OK guys, in light of Leonardo's comments I won't be taking part in any further discussions regarding Voyager. This is a great shame as the software clearly has tremendous potential and I really did want to move over to it for my own remote installation but it looks like it isn't going to work for me.

Good luck all of you and I do genuinely think that it is well worth trialling the software so give it a try.

That is a pity. I have had instances where it has turned out that the issue was my OS set up and others where it was the application. It is very difficult  to fault fihd these issues unless you are an expert in the OS.

The most frustrating one I had was with The Sky X hanging on image download when a new window needed to be opened. This was experienced by other on rare occasions. Years went by until an obscure interaction between a printer driver and TSX was uncovered.

I hope you find the issue rather than giving up.

Regards Andrew 

.

Edited May 16, 2020 by andrew s

[sloz1664]

Ok, hit my first hurdle regarding the Viking software and the Velleman boards. I have two Velleman K8055 boards, one drives the Dome automation as board address (0) and the second board as address (3) and switches the Velleman VM129 8 channel relay module. Viking cannot find the second K8055 board on address (3) always defaults to the first board on address (0). Any pointers?

Steve

 

[Martin Farmer]

2 hours ago, sloz1664 said:

Ok, hit my first hurdle regarding the Viking software and the Velleman boards. I have two Velleman K8055 boards, one drives the Dome automation as board address (0) and the second board as address (3) and switches the Velleman VM129 8 channel relay module. Viking cannot find the second K8055 board on address (3) always defaults to the first board on address (0). Any pointers?

Steve

 

Hello Steve,

Are you using the standard licence of Voyager?. If so then Viking can only access one Velleman board at a time - Just a thought.

 

Regards

Martin

[sloz1664]

19 hours ago, Martin Farmer said:

Hello Steve,

Are you using the standard licence of Voyager?. If so then Viking can only access one Velleman board at a time - Just a thought.

 

Regards

Martin

Hi Martin,

That's a shame. Hopefully I could get round this by scripting the velleman board switching. Do you what programming scripts the DragScript will accept?

Steve