Software issues , ascom platform, alpaca

[newbie alert]

Hi all, losing the will quite rapidly here..

I've had a few issues lately, and some that have been niggling for a while... not too sure if it's all related but it getting really annoying 

I use APT, a bit of NINA,  phd2..

For APT...for a while now I lost the use of my starlight xpress filterwheel, it wasn't too much of a big deal as I could  switch filters with the native software, abit of a hassle but not too drastic.. But then I doing my meridian flips were failing and the scope failed to park on completion of the imaging run..again not too drastic but annoying and started to lose the second  half of the flip worth of subs, due to it not being able to switch filters and couldn't blindsolve( I have some cone error on my sct)..parking was hit and miss.. 75% of the time it wouldn't park, 25% of the time it would, same script ... again annoying but hey ho...Anyways, to cut a long story shorter I started to ask questions on the APT fb site, didn't get that much feedback but one of the mods suggested that it wasn't anything to do with the software as it couldn't link to the drivers if it wasn't showing in the chooser,  fair comment so I redone the drivers and thought that was that...no chance, it still wasn't showing in the chooser but it did list it in the log file.. I thought that was kind of odd so I decided to redo the ascom driver , and run the latest platform.. still didn't change anything, still wouldn't show up in the chooser, so out of frustration I thought I'd try NINA and it connected straight away  didn't even have to.look in the chooser So I asked a few questions on the ascom forum , don't think I got anywhere , as I had to wait for it to become authorised so I had a look about and sure enough there's a guy with the same issues but eqmod a SGP...so I decided to redo everything ascom... but disaster struck and  I dropped my laptop charger  and it wouldn't switch on my astro laptop before I had a chance to test... next disaster is even though I purchased for uklaptopaccessories it looks like it's coming on a slowboat from China... so I decided to load all of softwares/ driver etc onto my new laptop and start a fresh... anyway that ended up frustrating as I had to get everything connected,  phd calibrated etc , I got a decent calibration,  run the guiding assistant  and because it said my pa could have been better i run the drift align tooland left it running while I got some dinner and came out to an error to say the camera hadn't take a image for 3 mins it had been disconnected,  so reconnected and it wouldn't work, had to shut it down and start again.. started again and it then flagged up that the guidespeed had changed since the last calibration,  so redone the calibration and it flags up the axis orthogonal were drastic and could cause guiding issues.. I'd say so..

There's more to come, so stay tuned

[newbie alert]

Part 2 , so I lost that night of imaging and APT couldn't find the path for ps2 or the h18 files in ASTAP but at least I had a couple of exposures to work with so I didn't need to sit out in the cold doing myself no favours as I have covid atm.... Anyway, deleted ascom again and reloaded, but this time I could connect to the filterwheel ( yey) So in my mind, all I had to do was check balance and run the calibration in phd2 and get back to making use of the clear skies that were forecast .... no chance, calibration was better but not like the top image and still flagged up that it could cause guiding errors,  time was ticking on so I decided to do a short run of images  5 mins of exposures... no chance, the scope wouldn't unpark and I must have shut APT down maybe 5x , so i thought id try NINA...It all connected perdectly and again i had the unpark issues and another prompt to say the mounts time in the handset was 2500 and something seconds different than NINA..I worked it out as 37 mins, checked with my phone and all seemed fine I had change the date and time earlier at the start of the evening as it was out time, date and year( could that be the issue? Switched back to APT and this time the track and unpark buttons were working so ran the short imaging run...within 2 exposures( ( 10 mins)  the same issues flagged up that the guidecam hadn't taken a exposure in 180 secs and closed down and the guidespeed had changed since the last calibration...

My thoughts are there's either a bug in phd2 and or ascom , or my firmware needs updating... 

So  any ideas before I throw it all over the fence?

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Frustrating, I know, also been in very similar situations were nothing just seems to work. And yes also felt like throwing it all over into next doors.
I think often when one thing goes wrong that is not easily understood or corrected we then tend to rush to do something just to get some images as clear nights are precious in UK and it all just tends to go belly up.
And, of course, it doesn't help we may be tired as all this happens when everyone else is either tucked up in bed or at least cosy watching TV.

Sometimes, best thing is to pack in for the night and regroup a day or two later.

All I can do is say what I did in these sort of situations.
First I would try to do as much as I can in daylight when I have no need to rush, I would also totally forget about PHD2 and guiding and just try to get a night or two with good PA and unguided subs of 60 or 120 secs, so pick a bright target, such as Orion if you can get on it from your garden. Exposure length unguided obviously depends on your setup. but whatever you can achieve, and even if you cannot get great subs don't worry the aim is to get your rig working reliably, maybe forget getting a final image for a night or two.

So in daylight get everything to connect, reliably, so you can shut down and each time you power up again it all connects without issue.
Often advise is to reload all the drivers, or reload APT, NINA etc, or upgrade Firmware, I always found most times this did nothing for me, I guess sometimes it is needed, but always bear in mind if it was working and you have not upgraded any software then it should not need re-installing (as a rule anyway).

I know there are other issues you are concerned with but please try in daylight to get all equipment (not PHD2 for now) to connect.
Things that might cause issues are USB leads, I had endless issues with these early days, then ordered all new good quality Lindy Cromo line cables (they are not over expensive) and it cured a host of issues I was having, also if any are then suspect throw em away, don't put them to one side otherwise one day they will end up back on your rig and causing intermittent issues.
Don't use long USB cables (up to 2M best, max 3M if you must) and definitely don't use repeater cables (at least till you have it all working reliably)

Another big issue caused me no end of issues was using cheap USB hubs. Usually laptops do not have enough USB ports to connect all equipment directly but I always used to connect what I could without a USB hub to start with when I had issues.
So for instance connect main camera direct to laptop and connect, make sure it connects and then use it to take some darks or flats, ,make sure it works flawlessly.
Then connect the FW to another USB port and get then both working.

Carry on until you run out of ports, if you still have other equipment to connect then maybe disconnect one of the least used items, such as a focusser, and connect all equipment direct to laptop until you are happy all equipment works, all cables are good etc.
Then if you need a USB hub introduce that and see if that causes issues, you may need to try many times as often the issues are intermittent. But, honestly the amount of threads I read in my early days where USB hubs and or cables turned out to be the issues was unbelievable.
In my case my issues were mostly some dodgy cable and a dodgy hub, so not just one thing, which is why it took me so long to diagnose the issue as I would replace a cable and it seemed to work then days later similar issues, and I would start swapping cables and I think the original dodgy cable then ended up back in the loop.

Anyway sorry to go on but that would be my first step and I really cannot stress to use good quality cables and if you use a hub then a good hub not a cheapie from Amazon (not that I am suggesting you are 🙂 ).

Also maybe list all your equipment and how it connects to your laptop. it may help people to help you, and any screen shots of errors.

I hope you can cure your issues soon 🙂 

Steve

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[newbie alert]

Thanks Steve for your reply,, yes I'm also a fan of the lindy cromo and I use a hitecastro hub.. going back a year or so it's all worked flawlessly... apt has always been run on the latest versions and other than a blip with platesolve it's always been great... I've only upgraded to lastest versions of ascom and ascom platform since I've been having issues.. and it's like the more I do so the worst it gets

Been having a think, I'm going to redo the firmware in the mount, another thing I remembered is say 9 months ago I had a issue with phd which hadn't been upgraded for a number of years, it just worked.. so much so I contacted the phd forum and got a direct answer from Bruce that my mount had serious mechanical failure..it couldn't be the software and and the fact that I use stupid sizes pixels( qhy 290) anyway after u disposed of the last version and completely done the new one which was the first with the multi star guiding, I never had another issue until now..

I agree that software shouldn't wear out, but sometime it gets lost and forgets where it's going or whst it should be doing...

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Yes, well software can become an issue, I agree, because you find out later that often major upgrades of one bit of software then requires latest firmware, or an upgrade of APT requires the latest ASCOM platform and so on, so yes sometime you have to bite the bullet and upgrade, often all of the software.

Sounds like cables and hub should not be your issue, but I would never rule them out, unlikely in your case though.

Still I think the first step is in daylight to get everything connecting reliably, maybe do some runs taking flats or darks, moving mount about and so on, in daylight with a pot of tea or coffee (don't turn to alcohol just yet, that may have helped me but never cured any of my issues 😆 )

If any issues post some screen shots, others may post advice, I will IF I can help.

But tackle one bit at a time, if for not other reason I found that if I posted all my issues nobody replied with advice but if I posted one issue then I did, so found it easier (albeit longer) to get one bit working then move on and ask another question about the next issue (which may well be PHD2).

Steve

Edited February 7, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Stuart1971]

8 minutes ago, teoria_del_big_bang said:

Yes, well software can become an issue, I agree, because you find out later that often major upgrades of one bit of software then requires latest firmware, or an upgrade of APT requires the latest ASCOM platform and so on, so yes sometime you have to bite the bullet and upgrade, often all of the software.

Sounds like cables and hub should not be your issue, but I would never rule them out, unlikely in your case though.

Still I think the first step is in daylight to get everything connecting reliably, maybe do some runs taking flats or darks, moving mount about and so on, in daylight with a pot of tea or coffee (don't turn to alcohol just yet, that may have helped me but never cured any of my issues 😆 )

If any issues post some screen shots, others may post advice, I will IF I can help.

But tackle one bit at a time, if for not other reason I found that if I posted all my issues nobody replied with advice but if I posted one issue then I did, so found it easier (albeit longer) to get one bit working then move on and ask another question about the next issue (which may well be PHD2).

Steve

This is actually very good advice, as people tend not to read really long threads that list issues, as by the time you have got to the end, you, well I forget what was at the start…😂, maybe break it down to bullet points and then we can answer one at a time in order….

‘One positive is your amount has a very low backlash and that graph is very good, so if it’s any conciliation check mine here, it’s awful and the 3200 ms of backlash, yet I can still get good round stars….so don’t get too hung up on any of the settings, if the stars are good then just enjoy, PhD2 is a very good tool, but can sometimes give you a headache with all the info…

 

Edited February 7, 2022 by Stuart1971

[newbie alert]

Thanks guys for the info, and we'll done for reading it all until the end 😁

Yes I'm going to tackle one thing at a time starting with the firmware if it needs updating at all... it was odd that the time/date year was all out, not too sure if my mount has a real time clock with a big battery on the board...maybe that needs replacing?

I'm quite confident that the mount ( Ioptron cem 60 )is fine,  it's been awesome from the very beginning easily the best mount I've ever owned 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I wouldn't worry about the time difference I get it every time I connect to NINA (also CEM60) and read on NINA discord forum that others also get it with CEM60 so some sort of bug somewhere but it doesn't seem to give me an issue I click to sync NINA to mount, maybe it will get sorted someday.

Steve 

Edited February 7, 2022 by teoria_del_big_bang

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Just a thought about the error in NINA saying the time / date is different in mount differs from NINA I looked a bit closer at the faults I was getting and actually the time and dates were the same, BUT I had entered an elevation in NINA that corresponded to my actual height in metres but the mount always showed 0. I just changed NINA to  zero metres and last few times I powered up I did not see the error.Whether this has stopped it appearing forever not convinced but we will see.
I am assuming that an error of 116M in elevation is not going to cause much of an issue.

Steve

[newbie alert]

Thanks Steve, I keep that in mind.. I've upgraded some firmware that was out of date, redone phd2 and I think the battery in the mounts realtime clock needs to be renewed , so I m just about to order one just to keep the man in the rocket powered [removed word] topped up.. just waiting some clear skies for a test

[Same old newbie alert]

Hi all, after lots of faff I had to do another account as the original one had me going around in circles... Only wanted to link up a new phone, couldnt remember the old password

Anyway, I redone the software again as the first test had the same issues.. can't think what's causing this.. I've redone all the drivers, re installed PhD, re installed the software for the qhy 290.. everything links up, calibration and dark library redone... So launch everything, and it runs fine.. go back out and PhD flags up that the camera hasn't returned a image for 180 seconds so it's closed it , so reconnect and start guiding and PhD flags up that the guidespeed has changed from be the last calibration, so try to redo the calibration again and it throws up that both axis aren't orthogonal and will cause issues guiding.. no matter how many times I do the calibration the axis aren't orthogonal... So delete it t all again and get a decent calibration... I'm thinking a camera issue, but don't understand why it's flagging up all the calibration issues..

[david_taurus83]

Have you tried removing the Hitec Astro hub from the equation and plug everything direct to your PC/laptop?

[Same old newbie alert]

2 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Have you tried removing the Hitec Astro hub from the equation and plug everything direct to your PC/laptop?

That was going to be my next test but haven't got enough ports unless I ditch the fw and usually I'd also be using a moonlight too

[david_taurus83]

Does it all work until you go to use PHD and the guide camera?

[Same old newbie alert]

18 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Does it all work until you go to use PHD and the guide camera?

It all works for a time, not too sure how long after running the issues start as I've either gone to check on it, or had dinner etc..but the 2 nights it's done it so far I've had to pack up and waste crystal clear imaging nights

Just a thought, the qhy 290 is connected directly to the laptop, it doesn't go-to the hub( hi-tech astro)

Edited February 13, 2022 by Same old newbie alert
Added info