Guiding error at first session

[Pryce]

Hey guys!  So I'm having my  first actual imaging session right now and I wasnt able to get PHD working properly. 

 

I platesolvet to where I needed to be, set looping to 4s and selected my guide star and started guiding.

Unfortunately I get this error

And here is a snapshot of APT in case I did something wrong there

 

So since guising isnt working, I'm just tracking. Luckily I'm still getting some decent data

[rickwayne]

Did PHD calibrate? Can you do a star-cross test?

[Pryce]

2 minutes ago, rickwayne said:

Did PHD calibrate? Can you do a star-cross test?

Both of these things are foreign to me. 

They've not been mentioned in the guides I've seen at least.

[rickwayne]

You should be going left to right in the PHD buttons, right? First "Connect" (the USB symbol), then "Loop" (the circling arrows), then "Auto-select star" (the star, obviously), then "Guide" (the green-background crosshair).

Unless PHD has already been successfully run, it should begin to do a calibration when you click the green Guide button. Basically it issues successive pulses to the mount to displace the image of the star and measures what happens. First it does it in one axis (DEC, I think), then pulses back to the starting point, then does the same thing with the other axis. This lets it map a given pulse length along each axis to the resulting star displacement so that it knows how big a correction to issue when you're guiding and it sees the star move. During the process you'll see status messages like "North step 2" or "Nudge south", the other axis of course will say things like "East step" or "West step", and it should end with "Guiding". Obviously that didn't happen for you!

 The star-cross test is similar, but is more of a diagnostic (it's under the "Tools" menu). It's a simpler operation since it isn't really trying to keep track of the star, it just issues a bunch of pulses to try and draw an "X" with the star.

I don't know anything about APT, so I don't know what kind of toxic interactions might be occurring. I see a "Guide" button there though, could it be fighting with PHD over who gets to issue the guide pulses? I would check the APT docs about that. I know that my suite (KStars/Ekos) has a built-in guider or you can optionally use PHD. Maybe you don't have to run PHD at all?

You did not say specifically but APT is successfully slewing your mount to the target, right? That at least rules out one set of cabling and driver issues.

Note that for guiding with PHD, the best practice is to pick a star within a few degrees of the meridian's intersection with the celestial equator, and let it do its calibration on that first. If your mount can talk to the computer and tell it where it's pointing (sure looks as if yours does), PHD can then adjust the pulse lengths for other parts of the sky. The other really good thing to do is, once you've run your calibration and slewed to your target, go to the Tools menu and select the Guiding Assistant, start that, and let it run for two or three minutes. That will analyze all sorts of useful things and recommend an optimal range for guide exposure, suggest any parameter changes (and  make them for  you if you like), etc., all tailored to your target's part of the sky.

[Pryce]

55 minutes ago, rickwayne said:

I see a "Guide" button there though, could it be fighting with PHD over who gets to issue the guide pulses?

As far as I understand, thats just the setup for which source is used for guiding.  When I click it, a menu for what to use comes up.

Using APT it sucessfully slews to around the target and I platesolve(point craft) to center it.

I will look into these other suggestions the next time I have a clear sky!  I really wish I could have gotten startet at a warmer season 😅  Dealing with problemsolving in negative 5 is a pain😅

Edited December 25, 2020 by Pryce

[michael8554]

https://openphdguiding.org/phd2-best-practices/

https://openphdguiding.org/man/Basic_use.htm

Michael

[Pryce]

I just realized I may have forgotten something.

So I connected the mount in ASCOM Toolbox, but I forgot to have ASCOM itself running - is that relevant or does the drivers run in the background all the time anyways?

[Budgie1]

Now that you've connected with the ASCOM Toolbox, you should just be able to start APT with the mount switched on and it will connected without having to go through the ASCOM Toolbox again. PHD2 will also do the same when you press the Connect All button.

You don't need ASCOM to be running for this.

If PHD2 doesn't run a calibration when you click on the Guiding button the first time then click the Stop button, click the Loop button again then the auto select star and hold down the Shift key at the same time as you press the Guide button and it will ask if you want to run a calibration.

16 hours ago, rickwayne said:

I don't know anything about APT, so I don't know what kind of toxic interactions might be occurring. I see a "Guide" button there though, could it be fighting with PHD over who gets to issue the guide pulses? I would check the APT docs about that. I know that my suite (KStars/Ekos) has a built-in guider or you can optionally use PHD. Maybe you don't have to run PHD at all?

Clicking on the Guide button in APT opens the guide settings and allows you to choose the guide software you want to use, auto dither on/off, dither distance and other guide settings. Once setup APT will connect to PHD2 and and let PHD2 cover the guiding but will issue the dither commands when an image has finished. You will see updates in APT's log when it connects to PHD2 and if it looses the guide star etc.

[Pryce]

On 26/12/2020 at 00:05, Budgie1 said:

If PHD2 doesn't run a calibration when you click on the Guiding button the first time then click the Stop button, click the Loop button again then the auto select star and hold down the Shift key at the same time as you press the Guide button and it will ask if you want to run a calibration.

I tried running a force calibration but I still got the same message!  

I did notice however, that the guide settinfs in APT was set to PHD and not PHD2. I corrected this but I still got the same error.

I've rewatched all the guides I could find and I'm pretty sure I didnt miss anything when installing it all..

I'm very confused about what to do 😧

[Budgie1]

I think I would forget APT's involvement for now and get PHD2 working. Then you can integrate the two.

Could you try guiding with PHD2 and post a screenshot of the whole window, or if that's too large then the bottom right hand corner of the window?

Also, if you click on the brain button and screenshot each tab then that may help as well.

Lastly, how are you connecting the PC/laptop to the mount for guiding? Are you using the USB port on the mount or an EQDIR cable and are you using an ST4 cable from the guide camera to the mount?

[Pryce]

I will post pictures of all the pertinent software and tabs asap. But for now its just set up to take some tracked images.

 

I am using a usb cable to the hand controller port.

And no ST4 from guide cam to mount.  I was told in a guide video that I didnt need one? 

Edited January 4, 2021 by Pryce

[kens]

Please read this: https://openphdguiding.org/getting-help/

I would suggest posting in the PHD2 Forum as this will require analysis of your Debug log to work out what is going on. Follow the instructions to upload the logs to the PHD2 Forum

[Jamgood]

When you connect PHD2 to the mount, what do you have selected? EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6 or On Camera? 

Are you connecting the mount as well as the camera?

Edited January 4, 2021 by Jamgood

[Pryce]

3 hours ago, Jamgood said:

When you connect PHD2 to the mount, what do you have selected? EQMOD ASCOM HEQ5/6 or On Camera? 

Are you connecting the mount as well as the camera?

I just packed down.  But I'm pretty sure it says ASCOM Simulation or something like that. I'll get some screenshots up later today

 

I'm connecting both camera and mount by hitting connect all.

 

[dark knight]

You need to select your mount from the drop down arrow and do the same for your guide camera. Ensure that screen actually matches your equipment, I think Ascom simulation is exactly that, just a simulation to test the software environment.