EQ6 Mount with EQMOD in astroberry/EKOS

[wsteel33]

Hi everyone

I am trying to get my EQ6 mount to run using astroberry on RPi.

I am using an EQDirect cable straight to the RPi, bypassing the handset, and EKOS seems to recognise the mount fine.

I can seem to slew the mount using the Handset controls in EKOS but when I give a goto command the EKOS control panel says the mount is slewing but the mount doesn't move and KStars doesnt move the crosshairs.. like it knows the mount isnt moving.

I have had it all working fine with my ES EXOS2 mount but having issues with my EQ6 in EKOS.

I am controlling the RPi using VNC viewer.

Any advice gratefully received.

Cheers

Wayne

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by wsteel33
typo

[malc-c]

Hi Wayne, 

Not used any of this as I tend to use EQMOD / ASCOM under windows, but doing a quick google it seems that EKOS has a set of INDI drivers for SW mounts. Here  It may be that you need this (straw clutching  )

 

[alacant]

Is the mount un-parked?

Send the log if you still have trouble.

Cheers

[wsteel33]

2 hours ago, malc-c said:

Hi Wayne, 

Not used any of this as I tend to use EQMOD / ASCOM under windows, but doing a quick google it seems that EKOS has a set of INDI drivers for SW mounts. Here  It may be that you need this (straw clutching  )

 

Hi Malc-c

Yeah, it works a dream under ASCOM (in windows) with APT but I have hooked a RPi to it to free me from having to attach a laptop everytime I image.

I thought that EKOS (in Astroberry) had the relevant INDI drivers installed as standard as I didnt have to load any for the EXOS2 mount (that had its own teething issues before I got it to work 😀). I may be wrong so I will try this, afterall its not going to harm anything loading drivers that are already there.

Thanks for the help mate.

[wsteel33]

40 minutes ago, alacant said:

Is the mount un-parked?

Send the log if you still have trouble.

Cheers

Hi alacant

Yeah its unparked and it says its tracking (the red tracking button is lit on the mount tab), and the handset simulator seems to work and allows me to slew it, it just doesn't perform gotos.

EKOS says its "slewing" on the first control tab but the scope doesn't actually move and KStars doesnt move the red crosshairs so it seems to "know" its not moving.

I was thinking that maybe I wasn't providing enough power (I read thats a common problem that people overlook) but surely it wouldn't slew on the handset simulator if thats the case.... right?

Weather looks crap here for a while so next chance I get I will copy the log if it doesn't work next time I try and use it.

Thanks for your help 👍

[alacant]

59 minutes ago, wsteel33 said:

next time

Hi

You can test it in daylight. It doesn't matter where the mount is pointing. Plug in your spare eqdir cable and choose a star near the home position.

Edited January 26, 2021 by alacant
Didn't read the original post.

[wsteel33]

4 minutes ago, alacant said:

Hi

You can test it in daylight. It doesn't matter where the mount is pointing. Plug in your spare eqdir cable and choose a star near the home position.

Try with the manual nsew arrow dirección buttons too.

 

Agreed, if it isn't raining this weekend I'm gonna give it a go to see if I can get to the bottom of it. I have just logged into Astroberry and turned on the mount logs in preparation.

Thanks mate... lets see how it goes. 🤞

[alacant]

One other thought. Check that the mount limits are set to something sensible.

[wsteel33]

I think I also read somewhere that the baud rate could affect the operation of the mount.. its currently set to 9600, could I have read that it should be set to 115200.

Apologies if my questions are obvious it's not (yet) a specialist subject.... v. new to controlling with a RPi

[alacant]

17 hours ago, wsteel33 said:

its currently set to 9600

It defaults to 9600. You can change the rate in the indi control panel. There's also a drop down on the initial ekos window, but I've not needed to do so for my -albeit old rusty- eq6.

Cheers

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by alacant

[wsteel33]

Hi Guys..... I think an update is in order.

I had a rain free day today and so managed to have another look at this.

I fired it all up and everything ran like clockwork. 🤨

The only thing I did differently was when I pressed connect I made sure I turned on tracking in the INDI control panel and I manually scanned and connected the USB ports in the INDI control panel before I closed it. I also used a different 12V power supply just in case that was an issue.

Maybe it was the astrophotography gremlins the other day, afterall it was a clear night and I had a chance of getting some useful data.

Would still like to thank you both for your help and advice.... much appreciated 👍😀

Clear skies ⭐

[alacant]

57 minutes ago, wsteel33 said:

gremlins the other day, afterall it was a clear night and I had a chance of getting some useful data.

Clear night you say? Speculate no more. That's exactly why it didn't slew!