Wonky SGP behavior and venting some steam

[kookoo_gr]

This the third time or fifth time, i have lost track at this point that sgp has given me serious trouble at my imaging session and each time has a different issue and also i want to vent some steam. I am trying to image ic 343 and the flame nebula for over a year. I have some L 1x1 data and some RGB 2x2 but i wanted to get more data. I finally got some clear weather and started to image some RGB bin 2x2 data. I set up my gear and i try to slew to IC 343. That's when thing start to go wonky. My mount started to slew and then stop, slew again and stop, this happened four times and i got a message that the mount may not be tracking. I park and unpark the mount and slew with no issues to ic343. I start imaging RGB at bin 2x2. After 1h30m i notice that when a frame starts, sgp pops a message at the bottom of the screen, "Setting x filter" but i see no problems with the images so i don't pay much attention. After the meridian flip sgp tries to plate solve and slew but i get at my images trails and the plate solve fails. I need to start guiding in order for the mount to settle and center the target. I finish the session and i start taking flats. Then i notice that at the filter wheel tab i have the filter set to L even though i am taking flats at the colour filters and also notice the popup message setting x filter. I finish the flats and start trying to set the filter to my RGB filter but i see no changes, also i hear no sound from my filter wheel that the filters are changing even though when i power off/on the wheel i can hear the movement. I shut down the camera close sgp and restart it, connect to my Filter wheel and i change the filters with success. and sgp shows the current filter. Needless to say i have 3 hours of bin 2x2 L data almost no colour data and i am [removed word] that sgp will randomly decide to mess my imaging session, whether it's with focusing, plate solving, downloading and messing imaging data, equipment connection issues and more. Has anyone had any wonky behavior with sgp? I tried NINA but the user interface is clunky for my liking

Sorry for the harsh tone but i also wanted to vent some steam since for year almost every time something will go wrong at my imaging sessions

[SamAndrew]

Hmmm went to use it for the first time in a while on my main imaging PC and it is telling me my licence has expired, and I can't login online despite numerous password resets. Not impressed. losing a night of imaging. They will be getting a very angry email from me!

 

[SamAndrew]

Ah it seems there was an email sent out a while ago with new account information, but it went into my spam and was subsequently deleted 😐

[Skipper Billy]

How about trying NINA???

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

[SamAndrew]

1 hour ago, Skipper Billy said:

How about trying NINA???

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

Certainly considering it now.

[Skipper Billy]

1 hour ago, SamAndrew said:

3 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

How about trying NINA???

https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

Certainly considering it now.

I tried NINA alongside SGP as a trial really. This was influenced by the occasional flakiness of SGP and the change in the SGP business model.

I was very impressed and within 3 weeks I had deleted SGP. NINA is robust, flexible, reliable, easy to set up and use and free - very well written and comprehensive help files etc. In the interests of balance I would list any negatives too but I cant think of any 😉 

[old_eyes]

I too have found NINA to be both flexible and stable. The interface is excellent and it is pretty easy to do the things you need, manually or in automatic sequences. For attended sessions it is fine, and my personal preference.

however, it is less suitable for unattended/remote operation. For that I am persevering with Voyager. Much more complicated, and harder to just make things happen first time. But immensely powerful and capable of full remote operation, with error recovery, interaction with ancillary equipment (observatory etc) etc. So far it has worked well for me, and I am sneaking up on unattended operation, gradually extending what I leave to software. My goal - the ability to go to sleep whilst the rig runs with complete confidence!

[SamAndrew]

3 hours ago, old_eyes said:

however, it is less suitable for unattended/remote operation. For that I am persevering with Voyager. Much more complicated, and harder to just make things happen first time. But immensely powerful and capable of full remote operation, with error recovery, interaction with ancillary equipment (observatory etc) etc. So far it has worked well for me, and I am sneaking up on unattended operation, gradually extending what I leave to software. My goal - the ability to go to sleep whilst the rig runs with complete confidence!

I will download NINA and have a look, certainly better than nothing while I wait to hear back from SGP support about my account! I will also look at Voyager, as eventually SGP will become unusable now that they've stopped updating version 3. 

Yes unattended operation is key for me, I need it to be able to close up the observatory if the weather changes or the sequence fails for some reason. With SGP I at least have confidence the scope will keep going and then park up at the end of the sequence if Teamviewer stops working or the internet drops out.

[old_eyes]

1 hour ago, SamAndrew said:

I will download NINA and have a look, certainly better than nothing while I wait to hear back from SGP support about my account! I will also look at Voyager, as eventually SGP will become unusable now that they've stopped updating version 3. 

Yes unattended operation is key for me, I need it to be able to close up the observatory if the weather changes or the sequence fails for some reason. With SGP I at least have confidence the scope will keep going and then park up at the end of the sequence if Teamviewer stops working or the internet drops out.

NINA will not (yet) close up the observatory at the end of session or if it rains. Voyager will. NINA has no scripting language that I can find. The Voyager one is very sophisticated (at least so far). It also has a web browser interface so you can operate obsy from tablet or phone. 

[Skipper Billy]

4 hours ago, old_eyes said:

NINA will not (yet) close up the observatory at the end of session or if it rains. Voyager will. NINA has no scripting language that I can find. The Voyager one is very sophisticated (at least so far). It also has a web browser interface so you can operate obsy from tablet or phone. 

I understand that all of this is in the next major full release (1.11?) - its already there in the nightly updates if you like living at the bleeding edge 😱

[david_taurus83]

+1 for NINA. Doesn't take long at all to get used to it. Though its not perfect and you need to babysit sometimes. I struggle with meridian flips sometimes.

[old_eyes]

10 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

I understand that all of this is in the next major full release (1.11?) - its already there in the nightly updates if you like living at the bleeding edge 😱

Interesting. With a couple of clear nights every couple of months I would not risk nightly updates! But when a full release has bedded in... I do like the interface!

[Skipper Billy]

43 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

+1 for NINA. Doesn't take long at all to get used to it. Though its not perfect and you need to babysit sometimes. I struggle with meridian flips sometimes.

I too had setup issues with the Meridian flip. It seems I was asking NINA and SiTech to do the same thing and as a result neither did it. Once that was resolved it has performed flawlessly. (I am using 1.10 Beta 3). IE NOT the nightly updates!

[SamAndrew]

Yes I went for the 1.11 build to see the new features. The atlas is interesting and I prefer the framing and mosaic features over SGP. Still waiting to hear from SGP support 😐 getting towards the end of their 2 day SLA.

[david_taurus83]

3 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

I too had setup issues with the Meridian flip. It seems I was asking NINA and SiTech to do the same thing and as a result neither did it. Once that was resolved it has performed flawlessly. (I am using 1.10 Beta 3). IE NOT the nightly updates!

I'm on one of the nightlies. The last couple of occasions it slew to target, centred via platesolving, autofocused and for some bizarre reason then initiated the meridian flip routine even though I was aiming at M81 at about 9pm, a good 3 or 4 hours before its transit! I might join you back on 1.10 as I don't use the advanced sequencer anyway.

[Starflyer]

On 03/02/2021 at 22:04, kookoo_gr said:

This the third time or fifth time, i have lost track at this point that sgp has given me serious trouble at my imaging session and each time has a different issue and also i want to vent some steam. I am trying to image ic 343 and the flame nebula for over a year. I have some L 1x1 data and some RGB 2x2 but i wanted to get more data. I finally got some clear weather and started to image some RGB bin 2x2 data. I set up my gear and i try to slew to IC 343. That's when thing start to go wonky. My mount started to slew and then stop, slew again and stop, this happened four times and i got a message that the mount may not be tracking. I park and unpark the mount and slew with no issues to ic343. I start imaging RGB at bin 2x2. After 1h30m i notice that when a frame starts, sgp pops a message at the bottom of the screen, "Setting x filter" but i see no problems with the images so i don't pay much attention. After the meridian flip sgp tries to plate solve and slew but i get at my images trails and the plate solve fails. I need to start guiding in order for the mount to settle and center the target. I finish the session and i start taking flats. Then i notice that at the filter wheel tab i have the filter set to L even though i am taking flats at the colour filters and also notice the popup message setting x filter. I finish the flats and start trying to set the filter to my RGB filter but i see no changes, also i hear no sound from my filter wheel that the filters are changing even though when i power off/on the wheel i can hear the movement. I shut down the camera close sgp and restart it, connect to my Filter wheel and i change the filters with success. and sgp shows the current filter. Needless to say i have 3 hours of bin 2x2 L data almost no colour data and i am [removed word] that sgp will randomly decide to mess my imaging session, whether it's with focusing, plate solving, downloading and messing imaging data, equipment connection issues and more. Has anyone had any wonky behavior with sgp? I tried NINA but the user interface is clunky for my liking

Sorry for the harsh tone but i also wanted to vent some steam since for year almost every time something will go wrong at my imaging sessions

Back onto the original post, I'd bet your problems are down to USB issues, either a hub or cable problem.  I've had similar problems with SGP dropping connection to my mount and filterwheel and then giving the symptoms you describe.  SGP seems very sensitive to USB problems.

I'm a long term user of SGP, I've had plenty of problems but now everything works smoothly.

I'm on V3 and don't intend to move to V4 and the subscription model. For now it does what I need reliably, but it's in my mind to switch to NINA or Voyager in the future.

[kookoo_gr]

I think this must also be the case because last night i had similar behavior with my mount evem though it's connected directly to my pc and the rotator not working with NINA and SGP

[Starflyer]

8 hours ago, kookoo_gr said:

I think this must also be the case because last night i had similar behavior with my mount evem though it's connected directly to my pc and the rotator not working with NINA and SGP

I moved to Lindy Cromo cables and a Startech industrial hub a couple of years ago and it's been fine since then.

[SamAndrew]

Still no response from SGP support, not sure how they can justify charging what they do if this is what their customer support is like.

[dark knight]

+1 for NINA,  Since its free there is nothing lost if you don't like it, the support network is great too.

[Starflyer]

On 06/02/2021 at 13:31, SamAndrew said:

Still no response from SGP support, not sure how they can justify charging what they do if this is what their customer support is like.

How are you reporting your problems and requesting support from SGP?

Their forum is the best place to ask IMO.

[SamAndrew]

56 minutes ago, Starflyer said:

How are you reporting your problems and requesting support from SGP?

Their forum is the best place to ask IMO.

They did get back to me yesterday so all sorted. Nina has been downloaded now though so I'm going to give that a try anyway, good to have a backup.