Help with EQMod

[rusirius]

Hi,

I've been experimenting with ASCOM and EQMod and although I have everything set up, I can't get the telescope to slew.

I've installed the ASCOM framework and the EQASOM driver. I now get the ASCOM driver option in Cartes du Ciel, Redshift 6 and Stellarium and I can select the EQ5/EQ6 option.

I've purchased a TTL232R and attached a D9 plug to it. I attempted to crimp an RJ45 onto it a couple of times but I couldn't get the wires into the the plug properly so in order to hook up to the HEQ5Pro, I've made a short cable (50cm) with a D9 on one end and an RJ45 on the other. I've installed the TTL232 driver and when I plug in the cable into the USB slot, it presents itself on COM9.

I connected everything up, took a deep breath and loaded up the Ascom Pipe Connection Watcher tool and again I can select the EQ5/EQ6 option and the COM9 port. I can connect to the mount and after a pause, the ASCOM tool Message Centre display shows me:

EQ Modded Mount found at COM9:

9600

Mount version: 010601

DLL Version: 000204

Using 66844RAWormSteps

It looks like I have comes then and the Mount Position display shows me varoius values for RA, Dec etc.

The problem is that the slew controls seem to do nothing. I've increased the rate to max (4) but still nothing. The display shows:

Slewing West...

and then when I click stop:

RA and DEC Motors stopped.

but nothing actually happens. The scope does not move.

Is there something else that I need to do?

PS, I've plugged in my Synscan handset and that still work fine. Phew!

[Starjumper]

Hi Rusirius,

This may seem like a stupid question, but when it is all set up and you are ready to go make sure you unpark otherwise you wont be able to slew.I also have an HEQ5 Pro with ttl to RJ45 so if I can help with anything please just shout or pm me.

John

[beamish]

Can you just check you're not on EQ5/6 simulator ??

Apologies if this appears condescending

Are you slewing via the planetarium s/w ?

Which TTL232R did you get ?

[rusirius]

Thanks for the replies. I will check out the 'Unpark'. I can see a 'Park' but not 'Unpark' so I'm not sure how to do that but will check the docs.

PS, Beamish, not at all condescending. Its a fair point, however I have not used the simmulator so unless its started by default I'm fairly sure I'm talking to the mount. One indicator is that when I disconnect the cable from the mount its shows me that its lost the connection. I'm not slewing via the Planetarium program just yet. Only using ASCOM's Ascom Pipe Connection Watcher tool which is installed as part of the Ascom framework and can be used to configure and test the connection. It brings up the same standard dialogue that the plantarium software does when selecting the Ascom EQ5/EQ6 driver.

[rusirius]

Ok, tried it again tonight ensuring it was unparked. (Clicked Park then Unpark to be sure). Got the same result. I then tried it again from Stellarium using the StellariumScope program and it worked! Also got it to work from Cartes du Ciel. Not sure why the slew controls on the EQMOD Ascom driver do not appear to work.

The only problem now is that it seems to be hitting a point where the driver flashes the word LIMIT and then everything stops so that it doesn't actually get to the object I've selected. I've also noticed that LST (Local Sideral time?) is showing as 03:13 when its actually 19:15 GMT. Since we are not in summer time it should be presumably withn minutes of GMT?

[Parallax]

The easiest way to get over the LIMIT "problem" is to disable LIMITS, for the time being, until you learn how to set them - I have yet to do this.

HTH

Steve

[SteveL]

LST (Local Sidereal time) and GMT are not the same....

You sure EQMOD slew wasnt moving the mount at 1x sidereal (i.e. REALLY REALLY slowly)... seen this before on the EQMOD mail list. What slew rate was/is showing in the EQMOD window?

[Robfal]

The limit function is to prevent the scope hitting the Tripod mount or to slew below the horizon. As already mentioned, disable them intially and see if this enables you to piont where you what to however the 'limit'shouldn't be reached under normal conditions unless you are slewing to a star belpow the horizon. POssible causes are incorrect time or location. The locations has to be set from within the EQMOD driver (click the setup button at top right to open up more options) aswell as within the planetarium software. Also check you are on Northern hemisphere. Other possible problems may be to reverse the RA.

The limits can be changed from within the driver. I'ver not changhed mine as the defaults are pretty good

I hope this helps, EQMOD is fantastic by the way. and very reliable with much better accuracy (particular if you use the N synch with several time as as you slew around)

Rob

[SteveL]

Agreed with EQMOD being fantastic.... the very first time I used my EQ6 (which, by the way, the very first time I had used any EQ mount at all!), I had it 6 star aligned using the rumble pad in <10 mins and I was away. Never looked back! I have no idea how to align the EQ6 with the handset, as I never needed to do it.

Rough polar align using PolarFinder

1 star sync

PoleAlignMax + Maxim for accurate polar alignment

N-star align

and away....

[rusirius]

Parallax. Regarding Limit, Noted. Thanks.

SteveL, I tried all of the slew rates, but I now just go for the top one which is 800. I had wondered whether it was moving *very* slowly but I could see no perceptible movement.

[rusirius]

...however the 'limit'shouldn't be reached under normal conditions unless you are slewing to a star belpow the horizon. POssible causes are incorrect time or location. The locations has to be set from within the EQMOD driver (click the setup button at top right to open up more options) aswell as within the planetarium software. Also check you are on Northern hemisphere. Other possible problems may be to reverse the RA...

Rob

Rob, I was assuming the same and since I'm hitting the limits, the time must be out somewhere. I've set my location in the EQMOD driver and its already set within my planetarium programs.

As I've mentioned above, I don't see anywhere where you can set the mount date and time though except using a GPS...

Is it set automatically from the PC?

Have checked and both RA Reverse and DEC Reverse are unchecked.

[rusirius]

Just used the EqTour program and found that the Slew Control buttons in the driver are now working. Checked likewise for CDC and found them working from within there too but NOT from the Ascom Pipe Connection Watcher. No idea why, but it seems they just don't work from within that particular application for some reason.

Just need to get the time sync sorted and I'm then to take the scope out and try an N-Star align.

[rusirius]

Aaaarrrggh! The clouds have rolled in. That's put paid to the N-Star align test then...