Setting up mount and computer for guiding, software etc.

[Rustang]

22 minutes ago, fozzybear said:

have you downloaded ASIStudio the complete suite? that will enable you to capture images?

https://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/software-drivers

My computer seems to think its already installed! 🤔

[Rustang]

I'm sorted, figured it out. That's enough for one evening!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Nice one 🙂 

[Rustang]

Today I had some time to focus the guide scope during the day (tick!) and try seeing that PHD2 is sending instructions and actually guiding the mount. Following the tutorial given I set the mount into sidereal tracking via the hand controller then proceeded to manually move the mount via the manual controls in PHD2. It does say you may not be able to hear anything, i couldn't so i tried the viewing through the scope with an eyepiece idea on a terrestrial object. Because I cant see anything to far away in my garden i only used a 25 low power eye piece on a house just across from my garden but it does say use a high power eyepiece. I'm guessing its either because i was only using a 25 and not high power that I also couldn't visually see any scope movement by tapping continuously the West, East, North, South controls. Are there any other tips for trying this out or is there somewhere in the software to see that instructions from PHDS are reaching my mount!?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Can you send me a link to the instructions you used ?

I am not sure what the manual controls are in PHD2, it's not something I have ever used.

The suggestion to try it out during daylight was to get the guidescope to focus then to focus on stars will need some small further adjustment but you will be somewhere near and at least should see some stars although very bloated until you get correct focus on the stars themselves.

 I personally am not sure what can be done with PHD2 during daylight but will have a look at these instructions it may well just be something I have not come across.

Steve

 

[Rustang]

57 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Can you send me a link to the instructions you used ?

I am not sure what the manual controls are in PHD2, it's not something I have ever used.

The suggestion to try it out during daylight was to get the guidescope to focus then to focus on stars will need some small further adjustment but you will be somewhere near and at least should see some stars although very bloated until you get correct focus on the stars themselves.

 I personally am not sure what can be done with PHD2 during daylight but will have a look at these instructions it may well just be something I have not come across.

Steve

 

Sure, see image, the instructions start where the arrows are top left. 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Okay, makes sense to me now.

Is this using the ST-4 cable (direct from camera to mount) ?

If so then I do not have enough experience to say what should and should not happen when you ask PHD2 to move the mount manually.

Going back to when you start to sidereal tracking I assume you are doing this via the handset. If so then yes it should start tracking and you normally can hear a very slow ticking from the mount as it tracks very slowly (360 degrees in 24 hours).

Then yes in theory in PHD2 you should be able to move the mount a little extra using the manual guide north, south, east or west. But what I am not sure is whether this also works with the ST-4 cable. If using EQMod to connect mount to computer then of course PHD2 can control the mount via that cable, but with the ST-4 cable it has no direct connection to mount. So I am guessing here but because you are connected to camera then PHD might talk to camera and get that to send the pulses to the mount. So probably should still work but I cannot say that 100% for sure.

Personally I think it still should work:

Set the autoguider speed using the handset to 0.5

6.5 Setting Autoguider Speed • The screen will display “Set Elev. Limits:” in the top row, and “Upper=+XXX. Xo ” at the bottom row. Use the Left/Right keys to move the cursor and use the numeric keys to fill the upper limits. The leading sign can be changed with the scroll keys. Press the ENTER key to end the input and proceed. • The screen will display “Lower=+XXX. Xo ” at the bottom row; fill in the data in a similar way. Some Sky-Watcher’s mounts are equipped with auxiliary encoders on their primary axes to support manually rotating the axes without worrying about losing the mount’s alignment status. Users may turn off the auxiliary encoder to obtain the best pointing accuracy. The auxiliary encoder can be turned on again at any time for manually moving the mount. 1. Access the menu “SETUP\Aux. Encoder” and press the ENTER key. 2. Use the scroll keys to select between “Enable” or “Disable” and press the ENTER key. Note: • After re-enabling the auxiliary encoders, it is recommended to use the direction keys to move both axes for a little bit before asking the hand control to locate an object. • For mounts which do not have auxiliary encoders, the hand control will display “Not availiable !“ For an equatorial mount with an autoguider port, the SynScan hand control can change the guiding speed of the port. 1. Access the menu “SETUP \ Auto Guide Speed>” and press the ENTER key. 2. Use the scroll keys to choose one of the following guiding speeds list: 0.125X, 0.25X, 0.5X, 0.75X, 1X, and then press the ENTER key

 

Also in PHD2 click on the brain, then select the guiding tab. Make sure you have the correct focal length on the calibration section (206 mm in mine). Then click on Advanced.

 

Then in the box that appears first click on Reset.

make sure  you have the correct focal length, pixel size of your guide camera.

Ensure the guidespeed is set to 0.5 (same as in handset), select 12 calibration steps

Then click on OK to close that box and also then OK on the Advance setup box.

 

Then click on the connections icon bottom left of PHD2. 

Then Make sure you are connected to your camera. In the box next to Camera make sure you select the correct camera and click on connect. If all is working the connect symbol ringed in green should turn from red to green.

Make sure you select on camera next to mount.

Then you can close that box.

 

Then try again.

If that doesn't work then I admit it is out of the realms of my knowledge of PHD2 because it may be you cannot do this wth the ST-4 cable anly with a direct connection from computer to mount - but try it it may work.

Sorry I cannot be any surer that this I hope somebody with more experience can chip in here.

Steve

[Rustang]

7 hours ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Okay, makes sense to me now.

Is this using the ST-4 cable (direct from camera to mount) ?

If so then I do not have enough experience to say what should and should not happen when you ask PHD2 to move the mount manually.

Going back to when you start to sidereal tracking I assume you are doing this via the handset. If so then yes it should start tracking and you normally can hear a very slow ticking from the mount as it tracks very slowly (360 degrees in 24 hours).

Then yes in theory in PHD2 you should be able to move the mount a little extra using the manual guide north, south, east or west. But what I am not sure is whether this also works with the ST-4 cable. If using EQMod to connect mount to computer then of course PHD2 can control the mount via that cable, but with the ST-4 cable it has no direct connection to mount. So I am guessing here but because you are connected to camera then PHD might talk to camera and get that to send the pulses to the mount. So probably should still work but I cannot say that 100% for sure.

Personally I think it still should work:

Set the autoguider speed using the handset to 0.5

6.5 Setting Autoguider Speed • The screen will display “Set Elev. Limits:” in the top row, and “Upper=+XXX. Xo ” at the bottom row. Use the Left/Right keys to move the cursor and use the numeric keys to fill the upper limits. The leading sign can be changed with the scroll keys. Press the ENTER key to end the input and proceed. • The screen will display “Lower=+XXX. Xo ” at the bottom row; fill in the data in a similar way. Some Sky-Watcher’s mounts are equipped with auxiliary encoders on their primary axes to support manually rotating the axes without worrying about losing the mount’s alignment status. Users may turn off the auxiliary encoder to obtain the best pointing accuracy. The auxiliary encoder can be turned on again at any time for manually moving the mount. 1. Access the menu “SETUP\Aux. Encoder” and press the ENTER key. 2. Use the scroll keys to select between “Enable” or “Disable” and press the ENTER key. Note: • After re-enabling the auxiliary encoders, it is recommended to use the direction keys to move both axes for a little bit before asking the hand control to locate an object. • For mounts which do not have auxiliary encoders, the hand control will display “Not availiable !“ For an equatorial mount with an autoguider port, the SynScan hand control can change the guiding speed of the port. 1. Access the menu “SETUP \ Auto Guide Speed>” and press the ENTER key. 2. Use the scroll keys to choose one of the following guiding speeds list: 0.125X, 0.25X, 0.5X, 0.75X, 1X, and then press the ENTER key

 

Also in PHD2 click on the brain, then select the guiding tab. Make sure you have the correct focal length on the calibration section (206 mm in mine). Then click on Advanced.

 

Then in the box that appears first click on Reset.

make sure  you have the correct focal length, pixel size of your guide camera.

Ensure the guidespeed is set to 0.5 (same as in handset), select 12 calibration steps

Then click on OK to close that box and also then OK on the Advance setup box.

 

Then click on the connections icon bottom left of PHD2. 

Then Make sure you are connected to your camera. In the box next to Camera make sure you select the correct camera and click on connect. If all is working the connect symbol ringed in green should turn from red to green.

Make sure you select on camera next to mount.

Then you can close that box.

 

Then try again.

If that doesn't work then I admit it is out of the realms of my knowledge of PHD2 because it may be you cannot do this wth the ST-4 cable anly with a direct connection from computer to mount - but try it it may work.

Sorry I cannot be any surer that this I hope somebody with more experience can chip in here.

Steve

Thanks mate, I was confused a little with the guide speed, I did look around a little to see if I'm setting it in the software or the mount but thanks for clarifying that. I shall give all that ago and try again 👍

[Rustang]

One thing has to be said, it definitely makes for a cool looking setup!! 😎 I promise not to make it "all the gear but no idea!!" 😊

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Rustang

[Rustang]

Sadly this is continuing to be a head ache and I'm going round and round on the info given and the software and getting know where. I'm really doing my best but from what I've been reading online, others have had issues with the same mount etc. So, I've downloaded Ascom - do I need to do/enter anything in this!? I have Eq mod, same question do I need to do anything with this? I still don't know if I have managed to download the correct mount driver, the only one I found was in the below image 'skywatcher synscan mount controller' I'm wondering if this driver means I have to plug the cable into the bottom of the hand controller? But where's the driver so the computer can read straight to the mount!? I gave the ST4 cable way of doing it another go but I still don't think PHD2 is sending controls to the mount because I still don't think I have it connected properly. In one of the pictures below you can see there's still not an HEQ5 option in the mount connection drop down, I believe the skywatcher telescope option is the above mentioned driver. It's honestly driving me crazy, me and technology don't get on because I find it incredibly frustrating. So currently I have the mount connected where the controller used to be then into the laptop, no ST4. Also after doing some more reading, there's alot going on about computer ports, following instructions I checked my ports but I'm getting what's in the image below and not the equipment listed, what does 'phased out....' message mean!? 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Rustang

[teoria_del_big_bang]

To help I have just plugged an ASI ZWO camera into my laptop and started PHD2.

That ASCOM driver for ASI cameras should work fine. Also if you have loaded the ASI native driver that should be available as well.Both seem to work on mine.

And if you go to the very bottom of the list you should have:

Either seem to work on mine so no idea if one is better than the other.

Steve

[Rustang]

Ive got no issues with the camera its the mount that's causing me issues, well getting it connect is the problem!!!

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Rustang

[teoria_del_big_bang]

But you have no connection to mount from computer do you ?

so you have to select "On Camera" for mount.

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

With the ASI camera selected, On Camera selected and none for aux mount click on connect next to camera - does it go from red to green ?

     TO    

Then click on connect next to Mount, 

Does that go from red to green ?

    TO    

If so then so far all is good and everything is connected.

Steve

Edited August 21, 2020 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Rustang]

I was tryng that out but I'm still having issues with PHD2 doing the manual movements so thought sod it i will just try going straight from the mount to the computer and still having no luck, I'm honestly pulling my hair out, I hate that its just so much computer based stuff I hardly know about just to get the dam thing set up!

[Rustang]

5 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

With the ASI camera selected, On Camera selected and none for aux mount click on connect next to camera - does it go from red to green ?

     TO    

Then click on connect next to Mount, 

Does that go from red to green ?

    TO    

If so then so far all is good and everything is connected.

Steve

Yes all of that was fine but it was when i was trying manually the see if PHD2 is sending corrections to the mount and the mount responding, I'm not sure it is. The mount connects via "on mount" but  how do you check this is definitely sending corrections during the day before i waste lots of evening!? I went through what you said to do earlier and i still cant here any change in the motors when pressing the manual control buttons!

Edited August 21, 2020 by Rustang

[teoria_del_big_bang]

That's what I am not sure about as never tried it with ST-4 cable. I thought you would have to be tracking in sidereal rate with mount (set via handset) for any guiding pulsed to work via the ST-4 cable (but I am not 100%).

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Let me dig my HEQ-5 mount out (not used it for a while as I now have an I-Optron and wire it up.

Steve

[Rustang]

Thanks mate, thanks for sticking by me with this, really appreciate it 👍

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Ok done it.

So sorry to go over everything again but from the top:

Guide camera connected to laptop via usb.

Guide camera connected to mount via ST-4 cable.

Hand set connected to mount.

12V power supply connected to mount.

Thats all you need for the test.

Turn on mount.

Start phd 2

Connect camera then mount as in my previous post.

No need to start PHD looping.

Open Manual guide.

Just for test set guide pulse duration to maximum 5000 ms so the movement is as big as it will go.

Make sure you are in a very quiet room because you will not see any visible movement just hear the stepper motor moving but it is quiet.

click either the east or west button just once. Listen very carefully putting your ear on the mount if necessary and you should hear a tick tick ticking about once a second and will last for 5 seconds.

Keeping the button pressed does nothing you have to click once and then it will move at half the sidereal rate (so very slowly) for 5 seconds whether you keep it pressed or not and you have to wait for it to finish then click again to move another 5 seconds. The north and south do the same for the DEC axis but was even quieter on my mount.

5 seconds is far too long for proper guiding so go through that calibration I said how to do it yesterday near the top of this age.

Steve

[Rustang]

40 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Ok done it.

So sorry to go over everything again but from the top:

Guide camera connected to laptop via usb.

Guide camera connected to mount via ST-4 cable.

Hand set connected to mount.

12V power supply connected to mount.

Thats all you need for the test.

Turn on mount.

Start phd 2

Connect camera then mount as in my previous post.

No need to start PHD looping.

Open Manual guide.

Just for test set guide pulse duration to maximum 5000 ms so the movement is as big as it will go.

Make sure you are in a very quiet room because you will not see any visible movement just hear the stepper motor moving but it is quiet.

click either the east or west button just once. Listen very carefully putting your ear on the mount if necessary and you should hear a tick tick ticking about once a second and will last for 5 seconds.

Keeping the button pressed does nothing you have to click once and then it will move at half the sidereal rate (so very slowly) for 5 seconds whether you keep it pressed or not and you have to wait for it to finish then click again to move another 5 seconds. The north and south do the same for the DEC axis but was even quieter on my mount.

5 seconds is far too long for proper guiding so go through that calibration I said how to do it yesterday near the top of this age.

Steve

Ok thanks Steve, I will give it all another go over the weekend, fingers crossed!! 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

So long as you can successfully connect to guide camera in PHD2 then it will work I am sure it will work.

The camera I was using for test was sat on my dining room table with dust cover still on so does not matter what that is seeing.

If it doesn't work maybe ST-4 cable is faulty but I would very much doubt that would go wrong.

Anyway I will keep my fingers crossed.

Steve

[Rustang]

Just trying this again now and sadly there appears to be no change in sound what so ever. There is a sort of tick tocking sound but this is permanent and doesn't change when pressing any of the direction buttons. Ive hit a wall big time!

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Have you changed the duration to 5000 mS ?

Try stopping the sidereal tracking with the handset then so then the ticking sound should stop and try again.

[Rustang]

Yeah changed to 5000 So try the manual controls with the mount turned on, no sidereal!? If that's the case then no sounds heard that way either!