This is how we do it:

[Rallemikken]

No secret I'm a big Linux/KStars/Ekos fan. Tonight my rig started guiding with a total RMS of 0.11. The figures slowly increased, but never got higher than 0.42. The screenshot is taken halfway in a 3-hour run at Cassiopeia. The scope (Skywatcher 200PDS) is aimed into bortle 3 (I live on the border of 3 and 4) and is pointing almost straight up. And it's minus 12 degrees celsius, the grease in my HEQ5 is stiff and stable!

The internal guider in Ekos have never let me down, but it's a savvy beast to master. I have a flimsy rig, a big newt on a medium mount, and only the finderscope in the findershoe to do the guiding, through a mini 120.  I'm good when I'm below 0.6, but sometimes it's a struggle. I've learned a few lessons during my rather limited time in this game:

1: Have plenty of processor time and bandwidth for the signal from the guide camera. If the cursor, at any time, starts to drag, you are underpowered. Don't expect good guiding if you are low on cpu-cycles.

2: Curb the aggressiveness of the guide signal. In my case especially in RA.  Usually i set it between 40 and 70%. This can be done "on the fly", just hit "Apply"!

3: Play with the time for each correction. Sometimes 2.5 second is best, other times I set it at 1 second. Can also be done on the fly.

4: Give the rig plenty of time to settle after dithering. I use 3 seconds.

5: Under really bad conditions I've found that manually picking a guide star and guiding in single-star mode gives the steadiest rig. Very rare, but try it once, just to learn the routine. When I do this, I pause the capture and restart the guiding.

[AstroMuni]

Thats useful. Thanks. I am a big fan of Ekos too. Could you share your config page. Also useful to know where in the sky do you prefer to calibrate the guiding.

On 09/02/2024 at 22:11, Rallemikken said:

2: Curb the aggressiveness of the guide signal. In my case especially in RA.  Usually i set it between 40 and 70%. This can be done "on the fly", just hit "Apply"!

Is there a reason its only on RA? Anything to do with polar alignment or other factors?

[AstroMuni]

I also realised that you have  what appears to be the primary showing up for guiding purposes. Am I missing something? I have a 30mm guidescope with ASI120 mini attached to it

Edited February 12 by AstroMuni

[Rallemikken]

9 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Is there a reason its only on RA? Anything to do with polar alignment or other factors?

Not sure why. But my guiding is at it's worse when I shoot targets low on the horizon, with any wind attacking the scope from the side. If the wind had it's way, it would turn around the RA-axis. The DEC-axis is 90 degrees opposed, so much more stable.

[Rallemikken]

5 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

I also realised that you have  what appears to be the primary showing up for guiding purposes. Am I missing something?

No. On that occation the focal lenght was actually 1000mm. In the dark I started the wrong profile...   It platesolved OK, so I didn't do anything with it. This perticular part of the UI is the one I never look at. I think the guide RMS is calculated on the basis of the guide scope and camera, and that is the same, no matter what scope I attache on my mount. They all have the same findershoe, that fits the 50x180mm SkyWatcher finderspoe I use.

[Rallemikken]

50 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Also useful to know where in the sky do you prefer to calibrate the guiding.

With my setup, Ekos clear calibration on every slew. So each time I start a session, Ekos does the whole calibration before guiding starts. Takes 1-2 minutes. And I let it settle for a few seconds more before I start the capture. Balance, weight, wind and other factors will vary. If I decide to do big changes during the cature, switch binning or go for single-star mode, I also do a new calibration. As for config, I can do a shot next time I fire it up. I don't correct for erros less than 0.4 arcsecond, and agressiveness lies between 0.4 and 0.8. I dither 3 pixels for every 5 subs, and always gives it at least 2 seconds delay before resuming guiding. The same goes when platesolving. Despite concrete floor and sturdy pier, my newt's need that time to settle. With good PA you shouldn't really need guiding, but it is handy on windy nights, it keeps the target within the frame, despite you have to toss some frames with elongated stars. And guiding opens the door to dithering. A bless for us with old DSLR's.

PS: I keep my box at 16 pixels, as seen in the screenshot, and almost NEVER bin. And I have my guidescope pointing slightly away from the target. Not much, just a little, in my opinion it gives steadier guiding. Far from optomal to guide straight into the Rosette or Orion nebula. Or any star cluster. Should be obvious.

Edited February 12 by Rallemikken