PHD2 Guiding - Something not quite right

[Starwiz]

I started guiding last night and did a calibration first.  It seemed like every other frame, the PHD2 window flashed red like it had lost the guide star, but the guiding looked fine.   The guide star was also bright enough.  I'm using OAG.

The only time I've seen this before is when the guide star disappears due to clouds.

Any thoughts?

John

[malc-c]

If you have the log file enabled and saved, maybe post that to help diagnose what the issue my be.

[Starwiz]

35 minutes ago, malc-c said:

If you have the log file enabled and saved, maybe post that to help diagnose what the issue my be.

Thanks.

I think this the relevant log.  Star mass changed?
 

 

PHD2_GuideLog_2020-07-15_232352.txt

[kens]

I usually disbale Star Mass detection:

https://openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Advanced_settings.htm#Guiding_Tab

Quote

'Star mass detection' - tells PHD2 to monitor the brightness and size of the guide star compared to the sky background.   You may need to disable this feature or set the tolerance to a higher number if you're using a fine image scale and are getting too many lost-star events because of  this feature.

Or it could be a camera or USB problem? PHD2 has an option to save lost star images as well. It is normally enabled to some level so you may be able to view/post one or more of those.

Not related but your guide rate is very low at 0.1x sidereal. You should increase it to 0.5 to 0.9

[Starwiz]

18 minutes ago, kens said:

I usually disbale Star Mass detection:

https://openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Advanced_settings.htm#Guiding_Tab

Or it could be a camera or USB problem? PHD2 has an option to save lost star images as well. It is normally enabled to some level so you may be able to view/post one or more of those.

Not related but your guide rate is very low at 0.1x sidereal. You should increase it to 0.5 to 0.9

Many thanks for the advice Ken, I'll try it out tonight if it stays clear.

John

[malc-c]

It look like the star just disappeared around frame 590.  Whilst the S/N and Starmass is up and down (possibly related to the guide rates being low) at that frame it dropped completely.  Could it be that after the 47 minute mark the star went out of the fields of view of the OAG or cloud cover ?

[Starwiz]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

It look like the star just disappeared around frame 590.  Whilst the S/N and Starmass is up and down (possibly related to the guide rates being low) at that frame it dropped completely.  Could it be that after the 47 minute mark the star went out of the fields of view of the OAG or cloud cover ?

Yes, I definitely lost the star sometime during the night probably due to clouds coming over.  I still got 14 x 360s of OIII, so the session was worth it.

John

[alacant]

1 hour ago, Starwiz said:

14 x 360s of OIII

Hi

Where is the filter in the optical train?

[malc-c]

21 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

Where is the filter in the optical train?

Good point... could it be that the filter changed at that point (although if the 14 exposures were on the same filter that would mean it was 84 minutes before the change whereas the issue occurred around 47 minutes into the guide)

[Starwiz]

16 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi

Where is the filter in the optical train?

The filter wheel is right next to the camera, so not affecting the OAG.

John

[Starwiz]

22 hours ago, kens said:

Not related but your guide rate is very low at 0.1x sidereal. You should increase it to 0.5 to 0.9

How do I change the guide rate?  I couldn't work out how to do it last night and couldn't find anything on the web to tell me either.

Thanks

John

[malc-c]

I presume you are using EQMod to control the mount ?  If so the rates are changed by moving the sliders under "ASCOM pulse guide settings" top right of the application (need to expand the default view by clicking on the spanner and >>> button)

[Starwiz]

1 hour ago, malc-c said:

I presume you are using EQMod to control the mount ?  If so the rates are changed by moving the sliders under "ASCOM pulse guide settings" top right of the application (need to expand the default view by clicking on the spanner and >>> button)

Many thanks.  I was looking for it in PHD2, no wonder I couldn't find it.  😀

[alacant]

27 minutes ago, Starwiz said:

I was looking for it in PHD2,

PHD2 also needs that setting. If you change it, you must also change it in PHD2. But far easier just to make a new profile with the mount and camera connected. Then you can be sure to have the corect values for everying as PHD2 will then read the values from the drivers.

HTH

The setting is here but best to make a new profile. 

 

[malc-c]

9 minutes ago, alacant said:

PHD2 also needs that setting. If you change it, you must also change it in PHD2. But far easier just to make a new profile with the mount and camera connected. Then you can be sure to have the corect values for everying as PHD2 will then read the values from the drivers.

 

 

 

I thought if you choose ASCOM driver in the PHD2 connection box it used whatever settings the driver (EQMOD) was set to... didn't realise you also had to set the guidrate in PHD's profile settings too !  I might go back and double check my settings

[alacant]

5 hours ago, malc-c said:

ASCOM

I'm not certain, which is why I thought that making a new profile with the equipment connected was the better advice.

Cheers