PHD Guiding help (wont calibrate)

[IvanT]

I think it's talking to the mount ok, I managed to get stellurium to slew the mount, I'll try the manual guide though after that to see if it moves. Given that stellarium slews the mount, should I be able to get eqmod connected (serial to USB convertor) it doesn't seem to want to play ball, throws an activex error during telescope setup?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[IvanT]

I checked again today and think I've got it all sorted.

1) PHD manual guide works for North South East West, I changed the cable. The old cable also seemed to be sending signals to the mount but the tones from the motors sounded very stuttery and didn't seem to last as long as with the new cable. This one threw me as the cable I was using was brand new as supplied with the QHY5. The ST4 cable connects from the Synscan control box's auto-guide port to the QHY5 ST4 port. In PHD the QHY5 is set to use the CMOS QHY5 Camera from the ASCOM v5 Camera list. The scope is set to On Camera.

2) Stellarium can control the scope via the USB -> RS232 -> ST4 cable which is connected into the hand controller's ST4 port.

3) I found that I needed to set the HC to PC Direct mode before I could get EQMod to connect to the virtual COM port I'd assigned to the USB -> RS232 converter.

4) It seems that Stellarium & EQMod require exclusive use of the COM port, i.e. can't have Stellarium & EQMod both connected to the HC at the same time. In addition, Steallarium does not work when the HC is set to PC Direct mode. Anyone else found that? - EDIT - Scratch that, installing StellariumScope sorts it.

Just need a clear night to test if PHD calibration is any better. On that, could someone confirm for me please that ordinarily tracking in DEC is not needed (assuming good drift alignment) and if PHD fails to calibrate in DEC that I can simply go with its recommendation to "Turn off DEC guiding"?

It really is a black art isn't it

Thanks

Edited January 4, 2011 by IvanT

[IvanT]

So, I'd previously said "think I've got everything sorted, just need some stars to check things out". Well I got some stars tonight and everything is working except one small thing, PHD keeps loosing it's guid star after approx 2 mins (ok not a small thing then ). I've not done any PEC yet, does PHD compensate for PEC or should I be doing it separately somewhere? Should I be setting backlash values using the HC or does PHD take care of it during calibration?

I've got EQMOD working & it can slew in all directions as can PHD manual mode so the cable must be ok. Also have Stellarium linking through EQMOD and it can goto selected targets.

Using the QHY5 on the finder scope, I've set PHD to use the settings in the screen shot below. Any settings there that I should change to compensate for the poor tracking? Also, can I capture PEC curve data for EQMOD to analyse using PHD?

As always, I'm greatful for any help/suggestions.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[toriqo]

i've just encountered an issue in PHD. i don't know if it's either my fault or my mount is acting up.

i'm using a nexstar 6se aligned on 2 stars, Polaris and Vega, then switched to Polaris and Deneb.

when i tried calibrating PHD on Deneb, it goes W, E, N, then when it goes S, the star just starts going "up" pretty fast, due to drifting and the auto guiding is ruined.

and this happens for other stars as well. but when i've calibrated PHD on Polaris, everything went smooth.

any idea if i can change PHD's settings, somewhere, so the last direction it uses to be N, instead of S, so i can get rid of the drift?

i should mention the alignment was perfect, bringing everything dead center, when using the mount's GO TO.

the mount is Alt/Az, btw.

thanks,

-F

Edited May 14, 2011 by toriqo

[shaunster]

the mount is Alt/Az, btw.

Thats your problem, it wont be able to guide using an AZ mount due to the way it keeps an object centered

[toriqo]

damn... so... no autoguide for me?

i've heard others saying they've managed to autoguide their nexstar 6se mounts enough to take 5 minutes exposures...

[Psychobilly]

If you mount it on a wedge and use it in EQ mode then it's possible...

If you fancy a bit of DIY... have a look at this thread...

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/125522-nexstar-6se-wedge.html

And some "plans" that I drew up a while back .. they need "Tweaking" for your viewing locations Latitude

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-discussion/125522-nexstar-6se-wedge.html

Peter...

Edited May 14, 2011 by Psychobilly

[toriqo]

yeah, looks like i'm gonna change the mount/scope

thanks,

-F

[Coco]

Same prob for me, turned out to be the ST4 cable.. the blue wire on mine was pulled out of its pin due to me wrongly rooting the damn thing and it straining ... its been playing up for a while.. finaly it packed up and I have got to do something about it..

[giange77]

HI

I use an ASI120mm as guiding cam and i was having the same problem.

I solved.

For me the problem origin was that, when selecting Ascom camera and clicking on Properties, I was initially using image format RAW16 that is not compatible with autoguiding. You need to select RAW8 format to be able to guide. This may be a problem since PHD guiding sets RAW16 format as default so you need to modify it.

Hope this helps

Regards

Gianluca 

[Thalestris24]

5 hours ago, giange77 said:

HI

I use an ASI120mm as guiding cam and i was having the same problem.

I solved.

For me the problem origin was that, when selecting Ascom camera and clicking on Properties, I was initially using image format RAW16 that is not compatible with autoguiding. You need to select RAW8 format to be able to guide. This may be a problem since PHD guiding sets RAW16 format as default so you need to modify it.

Hope this helps

Regards

Gianluca 

Hi GianLuca

That was a very old thread!

Louise

[tom122756]

I couldn't get PHD2 to calibrate. After checking all my cables and the mount I stumbled on the problem. I used my volt meter to check my phone cable. Everything checked out. Then I noticed I was using a reverse phone cable.  If you put the cable ends next to each other the colored wires should match left to right. On a reversed cable you will see right away the colors are opposite each other. If all else fails and PHD2 won't calibrate try checking the phone cable.