New Astrophotographer needs help

[Enigma_RL]

Hey everyone!

I recently built my first telescope and have absolutely no clue what I am getting myself into. I recently had my first clear night and what can I say... it was a massive disaster. I ran into some issues and don't have any luck solving those so far so I decided to post here hoping some experienced people can help me out. Since my issues are ranging over different sets of equipment I'll list the important parts of what I'm using/having issues with below:

Main Imaging Camera	ASI2600MM-Pro cooled camera
Mount	Skywatcher EQ5 Pro goto
Telescope	William Optics GT81 IV APO
Computer	Primalucelab Eagle 4S
Focusser	ZWO EAF
guidescope	Uniguide 50 mm guidescope

 

So the first issue I had was that I could not connect my Skywatcher EQ5 mount to my Eagle. After some reading online I bought a RJ12  > RS232 and a RS232 > USB cable but I still don't manage to establish a connection to my pc. As far as I know I have installed all ACOM drivers I need. I tried to use the connection port on my SynScan hand controller and the Auto Guiding port on the SynScan control unit. I also tried it with and without the USB2.0 cable connected to my eagle (not sure if that was necessary). Assuming what I read is correct and I need to connect it through EQMod, I still get this error when I try to connect:

With or without the mount connected I wanted to see if I could get PHD2 to work, so with my guidecam connected I launched PHD2 and wanted to see if I could at least see some stars and get it to track. Not knowing if I was in focus, all I saw was a bunch of noise:

I tried to move the camera back and forth to see if something in my image changed, but it did not. Does anyone have any idea how I can eliminate at least most of this noise?

The Eagle 4S has dedicated power ports for my 2 dew heater strips (Astrozap 2 inch and 4 inch). However, when both are connected and in my Eagle control software I can see they have power, the strips don't seem to give any warmth. Does anyone happen to have experience with an Eagle and dew strips?

Lastly I am trying to use Sequence Generate Pro as capture software. During my night out I wasn't able to auto focus (the software was trying but failed). The focusser does work and I can manually control it. This is most likely due to settings though, so I'll have to experiment with this a little more when I have the rest working.

Sorry for the wall of questions, I feel like I'm really stuck and would greatly appreciate any help regarding any of the issues listed above. If you need more info in order to help please let me know and thanks in advance!

Kind regards,
Enigma

[Cosmic Geoff]

When I connected my Skywatcher EQ5 Synscan to a laptop, as well as installing ASCOM and using the USB port at the bottom of the V5 handset, I had to install a Prolific serial driver (available from Skywatcher, IIRC).  This isn't a proper USB so it needs the serial driver.

[Clarkey]

I can't help with your specific queries but my main piece of advice would be to get the whole system connected and running during the day. It is much easier to sit indoors and sort out most of the issues. In many cases you can use simulators to check it is working. For focusing just get it right or at least very close during the day also.

FWIW I spent a few hours yesterday trying to connect my mount to a new computer. Same software, same kit, same drivers - but it would not connect. Eventually after much faffing and internet research I got it sorted. If this had been during imaging time I would have just given up!

These sorts of issues are not unusual in AP. Persevere and you will get there. Once you get your first decent image the previous nightmares will be forgotten.

Good luck.

[Enigma_RL]

2 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

When I connected my Skywatcher EQ5 Synscan to a laptop, as well as installing ASCOM and using the USB port at the bottom of the V5 handset, I had to install a Prolific serial driver (available from Skywatcher, IIRC).  This isn't a proper USB so it needs the serial driver.

Thanks for your reply! I just tried this but didn't work unfortunately. After a lot of reading I decided to order this cable. It seems to work for a lot of people so might as well give it a shot

1 hour ago, Clarkey said:

I can't help with your specific queries but my main piece of advice would be to get the whole system connected and running during the day. It is much easier to sit indoors and sort out most of the issues. In many cases you can use simulators to check it is working. For focusing just get it right or at least very close during the day also.

FWIW I spent a few hours yesterday trying to connect my mount to a new computer. Same software, same kit, same drivers - but it would not connect. Eventually after much faffing and internet research I got it sorted. If this had been during imaging time I would have just given up!

These sorts of issues are not unusual in AP. Persevere and you will get there. Once you get your first decent image the previous nightmares will be forgotten.

Good luck.

Yeah I did as much as I could during daytime and knowing not everything worked correctly I still wanted to take it out for a test run (practicing polar alignment and to see what does work). How would I be able to get my focus close during daytime? Thanks for getting back to me and I'll keep trying until it works!

[Clarkey]

7 hours ago, Enigma_RL said:

How would I be able to get my focus close during daytime?

Just set you camera on a very short exposure loop at focus on something as far away as you can. It does not have to perfect, but at least you will be close when you set up for imaging. You should be able to do this for the guide camera and main imaging camera. 

Thinking about the telescope connection, have you gone into the EQAscom toolbox and registered the mount and set it up using the 'Ascom connect' and 'Driver set up'? You might need to search for the COM port to connect the mount. If the scope is not found you sometimes have to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable.

[Enigma_RL]

3 hours ago, Clarkey said:

Just set you camera on a very short exposure loop at focus on something as far away as you can. It does not have to perfect, but at least you will be close when you set up for imaging. You should be able to do this for the guide camera and main imaging camera. 

Thinking about the telescope connection, have you gone into the EQAscom toolbox and registered the mount and set it up using the 'Ascom connect' and 'Driver set up'? You might need to search for the COM port to connect the mount. If the scope is not found you sometimes have to disconnect and reconnect the USB cable.

That's a good tip, thank you!

I did go into the toolbox, but I'm simply getting errors with every step in the process. I did just find this post on these forums which seems to be my exact issue. Since yesterday I ordered the exact cable recommended I guess I'm just simply going to wait until it arrives and see if it works.

While outside yesterday evening I also managed to solve the guidecam noise issue. It was simply so much out of focus that instead of stretching the signal from stars, it stretched the noise because there was no star signal. At first I thought "well how am I going to focus if I can't see any stars to begin with", but after just trying I managed to get it perfect

Thanks for your attempts to help guys, I really appreciate it! I'll let you all know when the cable has arrived. Finger crossed 🤞

[michael8554]

22 hours ago, Enigma_RL said:

I bought a RJ12  > RS232 and a RS232 > USB cable

To see if that is correctly installed, go to Windows Device Manager

Look for a instance of a COM port, and note the COM Port number for EQMOD and PHD2.

If the COM port has a yellow error icon, the installation isn't complete.

Which Guidecam do you have ?

If it's another ZWO brand camera, then it's all too easy to connect to the ASI2600MM-Pro cooled camera by mistake.

Try during the day, a 1 second daylight exposure should flood the screen in PHD2, then with your hand over the scope aperture the screen should go black.

Can I assume from your expert's setup that this isn't your first rodeo, you are familiar with PHD2 ?

Michael

Edited October 28, 2021 by michael8554

[Enigma_RL]

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

To see if that is correctly installed, go to Windows Device Manager

Look for a instance of a COM port, and note the COM Port number for EQMOD and PHD2.

If the COM port has a yellow error icon, the installation isn't complete.

Yeah I figured it might just be a bad cable, therefore I have now ordered the Lynx Astro EQDIR cable.

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Which Guidecam do you have ?

If it's another ZWO brand camera, then it's all too easy to connect to the ASI2600MM-Pro cooled camera by mistake.

Try during the day, a 1 second daylight exposure should flood the screen in PHD2, then with your hand over the scope aperture the screen should go black.

I'm using the ASI 290MM Mini as guidecam. I'm also sure the 290MM was connected as I double checked from the device list. I did manage to fix the guidecam issue last night though. It was simply so much out of focus that instead of stretching the signal from stars, it stretched the noise because there was no star signal. Earlier that day I tested during the day like you mentioned and I did see it was reacting to light so kind of expected the issue to be focus.

1 hour ago, michael8554 said:

Can I assume from your expert's setup that this isn't your first rodeo, you are familiar with PHD2 ?

Haha it actually is my first rodeo. I'm using PHD2 yeah all though I don't have much experience with it yet. As soon as the Lynx Astro cable arrives I hope to finally be able to start using my rig and software to its full extend

[chewie]

My tuppence worth would be to get the basics setup and running and once your comfortable with that then add in the extras to your setup, laptop/pc talking to and controlling the mount, imaging software talking to your mount/camera and PHD talking to your guide camera/mount at the very least you can then grab a few images to have something to work with for the other 30 cloudy nights of the month. Once you have these up and running you will have a better grasp of what's going on and can then start to work out the extras like the focuser and on mount pc. One other reason for doing that is at some point something will just stop working and having the basic trouble shooting know how to fix it could mean you still get to image instead of fumbling in the dark and end up packing away for the night.

 

[Enigma_RL]

19 hours ago, chewie said:

My tuppence worth would be to get the basics setup and running and once your comfortable with that then add in the extras to your setup, laptop/pc talking to and controlling the mount, imaging software talking to your mount/camera and PHD talking to your guide camera/mount at the very least you can then grab a few images to have something to work with for the other 30 cloudy nights of the month. Once you have these up and running you will have a better grasp of what's going on and can then start to work out the extras like the focuser and on mount pc. One other reason for doing that is at some point something will just stop working and having the basic trouble shooting know how to fix it could mean you still get to image instead of fumbling in the dark and end up packing away for the night.

 

Fair enough, thanks for the advice!