Jump to content

Guiding help


ashworthacca

Recommended Posts

Hi guys, tonight was my first time out with my new QHY5 and PHD Guiding. I got it all connected and focussed but couldn't for the life of me get it to calibrate. I read up on a number of threads and changed a RA setting to 1500 from the default 750 (I can't remember what the setting is called off the top of my head) as advised but calibration always stopped with

"phd guiding RA calibration failed star did not move enough"

Can anyone point me to an idiots guide to guiding with PHD. I'm not even sure if I should be setting tracking in EQMOD for example....I did so that's maybe where I'm going wrong.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you using pulse guiding or relay guiding? EQMod services both but if you are using pulse guiding, you need to set this in the EQMod control panel.

Do you get the impression that the mount is moving at all in answer to the calibration movement commands? You should hear a change in the 'singing' note of the motors if they are changing their sped or direction of movement.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When you hit guide, did you notice if the star actually moved from the crosshairs?

There's a guide in the PHD help section called "impatient instructions"

Make sure you changed calibration step from 750 to 1500 and not Max RA duration.

Ah, I'll have a look at the help section...thanks.

The star never moved from the crosshair at all but it was calibration step and not Max RA duration that I changed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Are you using pulse guiding or relay guiding? EQMod services both but if you are using pulse guiding, you need to set this in the EQMod control panel.

Do you get the impression that the mount is moving at all in answer to the calibration movement commands? You should hear a change in the 'singing' note of the motors if they are changing their sped or direction of movement.

I'm now showing my complete ignorance but how do I know if I'm using pulse or relay guiding?

I definitely didn't get the impression that the guiding was doing anything to the mount at all....there was no change in sound at all and that was one of the thing I was listening for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To make sure that PHD is "talking" to your mount, you can select manual guiding, which will bring up a keypad for NS, EW.

Try this to confirm.

Everything is now all packed away after the clouds came rolling in but I'll give this a go tomorrow.

Your help is truly appreciated...I'll post up tomorrow how I get on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting the pulse guiding v ST4 guiding setting right is fundamental to your success here.

Are you using a cable between your QHY5 and your mount? If so, then you should have the guiding software (mount menu) set to 'On Camera'.

If you are not using a cable then you should select ASCOM under mount menu. Also with this option, you should tick the RA and DEC boxes under ASCOM PulseGuide Settings within the EQMod control panel.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Might also be worth mentioning that this can happen if you accidently choose a hot pixel to try and guide on instead of a star!! - I did that a few months ago - needless to say it didn't work or calibrate. It's well worth using the darks routine in PHD.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Might also be worth mentioning that this can happen if you accidently choose a hot pixel to try and guide on instead of a star!! - I did that a few months ago - needless to say it didn't work or calibrate. It's well worth using the darks routine in PHD.

That was a thought that I has so I did run the darks routine.

This may be a silly question but I assume that I should be sidereal tracking a target before I start guiding calibration??? That's what I've been doing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry, Martin, I'm not a pedant, honest but I didn't want you to search for the wrong term and get further frustrated!

I didn't think that at all.....I posted from my iPhone, didn't quote the post and forgot what you had posted.....my fault and you was right to correct me as I would have been very frustrated looking back and not finding what I wanted to find.

Thanks for the help.

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right I'm back outside and it's still not working. I've connected everything up, powered on the laptop, powered on the mount, started PHD, connected the QHY5, clicked on Mount-On Camera, connected to telescope, taken darks, began looping exposure to get best focus, changed exposure to 2 secs, manually selected star then begin guiding......same error as before.

I haven't done anything with EQMod at all, the software didn't start. I did everything exactly as above.

Am I missing any steps?

Manual guiding doesn't seem to do anything either, press NSE or W but

Nothing happens.

I'm stumped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you haven't got EQMod running, how are you controlling the mount?

It's at time like this that you need to simplify the system. Remove the EQdir adapter and plug in the SynScan hand controller so that EQMod is out of the loop completely.

Check that you have correctly connected the guide cable from the back of the QHY5 directly to the ST4 port on the mount.

Set the mount tracking at sidereal rate. Set the guiding rate to .75x sidereal rate on the hand controller.

Try calibrating again. This will help to narrow down the problem if the calibration fails. However, forget about whether it fails or not, listen to the mount motors -can you hear any change in the rhythm of the 'musical' note that the drive motors make when they are running whilst you carry out the calibration? If you cannot detect an audible change then no movement is being made by the autoguider.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right, many many thanks it's working. Hooray!!!

I started from scratch, opened up TheSky6 and synced a few stars whilst sidereal tracking. Whilst tracking on a star I opened up PHD, connected to camera, then to scope. Took darks then set exposure to 2 secs. Auto choose align star and it calibrated first time.

Many many thanks....all the help is really appreciated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm 20 subs into a 30 5 minute sub test shooting M45. I've took s pic of the graph in PHD and it looks like it's all over the place but each

Sub looks like nice tight stars.

50c3de47-2616-0bd9.jpg

I must admit I only did a very quick

Polar alignment and after syncing a couple of stars near Polaris went straight over to the south and onto M45.

How does this look?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you haven't got EQMod running, how are you controlling the mount?

It's at time like this that you need to simplify the system. Remove the EQdir adapter and plug in the SynScan hand controller so that EQMod is out of the loop completely.

Check that you have correctly connected the guide cable from the back of the QHY5 directly to the ST4 port on the mount.

Set the mount tracking at sidereal rate. Set the guiding rate to .75x sidereal rate on the hand controller.

Try calibrating again. This will help to narrow down the problem if the calibration fails. However, forget about whether it fails or not, listen to the mount motors -can you hear any change in the rhythm of the 'musical' note that the drive motors make when they are running whilst you carry out the calibration? If you cannot detect an audible change then no movement is being made by the autoguider.

Haha, I have never used the hand controller that came with my mount so I'm glad that I got it working before I read your post. Many thanks for taking the time to help me with this.

Regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.