why isn't my mount tracking?

[StuartT]

I'm using my EQ8 with NINA and tonight for some reason it's not tracking. Even 5s exposures are streaked. But NINA and EQMOD reports sidereal tracking! Completely baffling!

What should I be trying? 

[newbie alert]

Is it parked?

Sometime you need to unpark 

[woldsman]

Bad polar alignment!?

[CraigT82]

The reported coordinates on the left suggest the mount is parked? 

[StuartT]

2 hours ago, newbie alert said:

Is it parked?

Sometime you need to unpark 

it's unparked

1 minute ago, woldsman said:

Bad polar alignment!?

Now that's an idea! I have recently set everything up again after the summer break, so maybe I was a long way off. This is a long FL scope, so bad PA could produce streaks... Hmm..

[StuartT]

1 minute ago, CraigT82 said:

The reported coordinates on the left suggest the mount is parked? 

no. It was still in parked position, but not parked. I was running NINA's 3point PA routine

[newbie alert]

11 minutes ago, StuartT said:

it's unparked

Now that's an idea! I have recently set everything up again after the summer break, so maybe I was a long way off. This is a long FL scope, so bad PA could produce streaks... Hmm..

Take it your using eqmod? Was it unparked in both softwares, not sure which takes priority...can you hear the hum from the steppers? Like it is tracking?

Certainly could be pa, certainly drifting in that direction 

Edited August 6, 2022 by newbie alert
Added info

[CraigT82]

PA would have to be really bad to produce streaks when pointing at Polaris, definitely check that! 

[StuartT]

10 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Take it your using eqmod? Was it unparked in both softwares, not sure which takes priority...can you hear the hum from the steppers? Like it is tracking?

Certainly could be pa, certainly drifting in that direction 

yes. EQMOD is being controlled by NINA. I've used this setup for about a year, so I know it works.

My PA must have been a long way out to show trails though. Although I am at FL-2350mm so I guess it's a possibility.

[newbie alert]

48 minutes ago, StuartT said:

yes. EQMOD is being controlled by NINA. I've used this setup for about a year, so I know it works.

My PA must have been a long way out to show trails though. Although I am at FL-2350mm so I guess it's a possibility.

Did you re do the pa? If you had to adjust then that should tell how far out it was.. 

[newbie alert]

59 minutes ago, StuartT said:

yes. EQMOD is being controlled by NINA. I've used this setup for about a year, so I know it works

Software has a dendancy to decide not to work, or other softwares throwing things out..IE like eqmod conflicting with other softwares, and ascom creating havoc

[StuartT]

Ok, I've just re-set everything up. EQMOD and NINA report sidereal tracking, but the RA indicator in EQMOD is moving (1 sec per second) and Az is staying the same. So clearly the mount isn't tracking.

I've no idea what I should look at to fix this

 

[tomato]

Clutch tight on the RA drive?

[newbie alert]

7 minutes ago, StuartT said:

Ok, I've just re-set everything up. EQMOD and NINA report sidereal tracking, but the RA indicator in EQMOD is moving (1 sec per second) and Az is staying the same. So clearly the mount isn't tracking.

I've no idea what I should look at to fix this

 

I've no idea how eqmod works, but ascom tends to stick the boot in every now and then..

I'd bring up the ascom diagnosis, and just make sure the mount is connected in ascom.. then connect as usual in Nina... Best thing is you can do this during the day and not have to wait for nightfall

[StuartT]

2 minutes ago, tomato said:

Clutch tight on the RA drive?

yep

1 minute ago, newbie alert said:

I've no idea how eqmod works, but ascom tends to stick the boot in every now and then..

I'd bring up the ascom diagnosis, and just make sure the mount is connected in ascom.. then connect as usual in Nina... Best thing is you can do this during the day and not have to wait for nightfall

Ok. I've never used ASCOM Diagnostics, but I'll give that a go.

[Anthonyexmouth]

Can you control both axis in EQMOD? 

[StuartT]

19 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

Can you control both axis in EQMOD? 

yes

 

[StuartT]

ok, it now seems to be tracking if I connect only EQMOD, not NINA

[Anthonyexmouth]

48 minutes ago, StuartT said:

ok, it now seems to be tracking if I connect only EQMOD, not NINA

if you haven't got it, grab the demo of APT and see if that will connect and track. 

[StuartT]

56 minutes ago, Anthonyexmouth said:

if you haven't got it, grab the demo of APT and see if that will connect and track. 

Thanks. 

I think I have this fixed now. Somehow when I reconnected NINA it seemed happy to play nicely with EQMOD and track normally. I did some solar (setting to solar tracking) and the sun stayed put.

So hopefully tonight, it will do the same when I do some galaxy-ing

Sometimes things just seem to fix themselves and I never know what I did to bring it about!