Phd2 + ST4 Mount not moving

[Lupris]

Okay, i have to try that out next time, big thanks!

I'll let u know, once the cable arrives and yeah the clear skies thing

[kens]

From your guide log I can see that you were tracking (or were pointing at the pole) as there was no significant drift in RA. The amount of information available with ST4 guiding is unfortunately very limited. But some of the calibrations do show steady movement in RA. So if you were pointing well away from the pole it may be that the guide rate set in your hand controller was simply too small. This is certainly an issue when using the EQMOD driver. Check the guide rate in the hand controller and make sure it is at least 0.5x sidereal.

Using an EQDIR cable will make it easier to diagnose any problems.

When you get your EQDIR cable start by creating a new profile in PHD2 with the wizard.

Also, read the best practices document: https://openphdguiding.org/phd2-best-practices/

Especially, follow the instructions for using EQ-ASCOM with PHD2 at https://github.com/OpenPHDGuiding/phd2/wiki/EQASCOM-Settings

[Lupris]

But even if it was to small, i should've moved right? but it doesnt

[kens]

During calibration it was moving a tiny amount. Overall just a few pixels so you would not be able to see the movement on the screen. Now its possible that movement was just due to normal periodic error drift but it looked quite linear

[Lupris]

wouldnt i hear the mount moving? i mean its quiet loud, or does it make almost no noise when moving just a few pixels?

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lupris

[kens]

You wont hear a thing when guiding. You'll only hear it moving when you are slewing.

[Lupris]

9 minutes ago, kens said:

You wont hear a thing when guiding. You'll only hear it moving when you are slewing.

Oh okay, so i misunderstood it all the time, good to know. Now i understand, thanks

[teoria_del_big_bang]

On 21/08/2020 at 03:29, Lupris said:

Then it tells me how off my RA and DEC is, but the mount is not moving at all. The star is just moving out of the screen like normally

What bothers me is your statement above in a very early post about the star moving out of the screen like normally. Even without PHD2 running that is not normal if you are in sidereal tracking mode with the mount.

If it is tracking and the mount is aligned with the pole (even if not perfect) then the stars on PHD2 should not move very much at all. The mount itself should be tracking the movement of the earth that makes the stars appear to move. Without PHD 2 working then there will be some small drift over time.

Now I do not want to disagree with @kens last post but certainly on my HEQ5  I can hear actually mine tracking.

It is a very faint sound mind, like a very quiet ticking about once maybe twice per second. I have the Rowan belt mod but if everything around is quiet and I am right next to the mount I can hear the ticking sound. Before the belt mod I could also hear it and it was a bit louder.

So if it is in sidereal rate (i.e. the mount is tracking the star) even before doing anything with PHD2 the Ra on the mount should be moving very slowly and if it is quiet I think you will hear the stepper motor moving if you get close to the mount. Try starting the tracking then stopping the tracking and see if you can hear it.

Unless something is wrong even without starting guiding on PHD2 the stars should look pretty stationary (assuming camera is connected in PHD2). Without guiding they may eventually move over time but for several minutes nothing should really move that is easily visible by eye.

Try starting sidereal rate and stopping it, as well as listening to the mount in a quiet place look at the stars on PHD2, when tracking they should not move, when you stop tracking you should see them move albeit very slowly.

I think you need to confirm that all works first before starting any guiding because if you are in sidereal rate and the stars move on the PHD2 display at any noticeable rate then maybe you have the wrong hemisphere selected in the HEQ5 handset.

Steve 

 

[Merlin66]

I get the impression that it was thought that a PHD guide connection would actually  provide a GOTO type slew.

As we know PHD (and all the guide software) only adds a minor correction to the tracking rate.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 minute ago, Merlin66 said:

I get the impression that it was thought that a PHD guide connection would actually  provide a GOTO type slew.

As we know PHD (and all the guide software) only adds a minor correction to the tracking rate.

Not sure but just thought we need to make sure the mount itself is tracking first, because as you say the mount being properly polar aligned and then in sidereal tracking (for stars and DSOs) should be 99% of keeping the camera on the target and then PHD2 just adds the extra 1% of the tracking if the selected star moves on the guide camera.

So the first thing to understand is that we can take images with reasonable exposures (certainly 30 seconds but usually up to 2 minutes) without even using a guide camera or PHD2 if the mount is polar aligned reasonably well without getting much in the way of star trails. The mount on its own will do the job of tracking without a guide camera.

If this is not true then PHD2 or a guide camera cannot help.

Steve

[Lupris]

I'll try again as soon as the eqdir cable arrives.

A point to mention is, my LAT is 50.06, its set on the mount itself, but if i polar align with sharpcap, it says i have to move it up to around 51.3. Is that normal, because the guide scope is higher than the polar scope in the HEQ5, right?

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lupris

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I have never used sharpcap but I assume the software it uses will take into account the rotation of the guidescope around the Ra axis and account for that. But whatever is not the issue of the scope not moving.

If you want to use NINA with the EQDir cable personally I would remove the ST-4 cable and guide via ASCOM. It is what most people use, supposedly it works better and PHD can gather much more information that other members on SGL can interpret to how your mount is performing.

Have a read of this:

EQASCOM_Guiding

Steve

 

[Lupris]

1 hour ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

I have never used sharpcap but I assume the software it uses will take into account the rotation of the guidescope around the Ra axis and account for that. But whatever is not the issue of the scope not moving.

yes, but i may be a problem later.

I'll take a look into the Guiding.pdf, thanks for that

If i have clear skies before the cable arrives, i'll try it with the st4 cable again

[david_taurus83]

2 hours ago, Lupris said:

I'll try again as soon as the eqdir cable arrives.

A point to mention is, my LAT is 50.06, its set on the mount itself, but if i polar align with sharpcap, it says i have to move it up to around 51.3. Is that normal, because the guide scope is higher than the polar scope in the HEQ5, right?

Sharpcap has no need for your latitude. Are you sure it wasn't tell you to move the mounts latitude adjustment up by 51 minutes or seconds? BTW, if you can get the result to under 1 minute then thats good enough. Sharpcap is very accurate and is the best digital method available imo.

[Lupris]

8 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

Sharpcap has no need for your latitude. Are you sure it wasn't tell you to move the mounts latitude adjustment up by 51 minutes or seconds? BTW, if you can get the result to under 1 minute then thats good enough. Sharpcap is very accurate and is the best digital method available imo.

My polar alignment was 4 secs off, according to sharpcap, "excellent"

[david_taurus83]

5 minutes ago, Lupris said:

My polar alignment was 4 secs off, according to sharpcap, "excellent"

OK. I dont understand what you say "but if i polar align with sharpcap, it says i have to move it up to around 51.3." Sharpcap doesn't use any latitude info?

[Lupris]

Yes, but i looked the scale on the mount and read it. I wrote it wrong, my bad. Sharpcap only said, i have to move the mount up, i was looking at the latitude scale after adjusting and it was at 51.3, thats what i meant. But the "problem" is solved, now i know, that sharpcap does it different

Edited August 22, 2020 by Lupris

[kens]

The markings on the mount are not necessarily highly accurate and even if they were they would also rely on the mount being level. If the software says that's where to move the mount to it is probably right.

[Lupris]

okay, so no problems later, good to know

[Lupris]

Hey, its me again

A quick question, is there something different to control the mount via laptop?  I got the cable to connect the mount with my laptop and this week i finally have clear skies again.

Like how do i start the tracking of the mount? via ascom eqmod?

 

 

 

 

[alacant]

3 hours ago, Lupris said:

tracking of the mount? via ascom eqmod?

Yes.

[Merlin66]

The EQMod control screen shows how...just click unpark and click the star icon to get sidereal tracking.