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First go at PHD - first question!!

swag72

By swag72
in Imaging - Discussion

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swag72

swag72

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So, tonight was the first time I thought I'd have a dummy run of using PHD - So I did the following, but a problem I guess that I'm not sure what to do about.

As it is cold, I have decided that I'd just put the guider scope and QHY5 on the mount and have a look at PHD and see that I could work it. So, connected the camera to the PC and then the camera to the mount. All switched on, fired up PHD and success - I could see some stars. As no scope on, no alignment etc, so not sure if that's the problem or not. I could see about 6 stars on PHD, but they were not being tracked as I could see them moving across the screen. Set the camera to Qguider, and camera detected.

So, do what do I have to do to get it going? Was it not working as there was no scope and alignment? I was expecting to see the star staying in the same place on the screen.

So, can anyone help please?

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Glider

Glider

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You should be able to check it out with a reasonable polar alignment.

Camera on guide scope on mount.

Connect camera to PC running PHD.

Connect camera to ST4 port on mount. In PHD select Mount On-camera.

In PHD select your camera, sounds like this works fine as you saw stars before.

You don't mention clicking on a star to select it and then clicking on the Brain Icon.

In the Brain Icon menu you set up the PHD process. Perhaps leave everything default for first attempt, but it's important that the Force Calibration box is ticked.

Then click the PHD Icon on the main Window to start calibration.

The software should slew the mount left/right/up/down to learn how it needs to respond to it seeing the guide star drift.

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Glider

Glider

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Yeah, as it is calibrating you want the mount to move to the edges of the green box around the guide star in about 25 steps. If it takes more than 60 steps then calibration fails. As Kev says, increase the step size if this is happening. On my 9x50 finderguider I have it up at 2500.

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Ant

Ant

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You also didn't mention anything about connecting PHD to the mount.

Once you've connected the camera - which it sounds like you have, then you need to connect it to the mount (are you using EQMOD?).

Then click on a star and click on guide. You may find it just works - it did for me.

If it doesn't then adjust the calibration steps as suggested.

Cheers

Ant

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swag72

swag72

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I connected the camera to the PC and then connected the camera to the mount using the ST4 cable. I think that is the easiest way to do it?

EQMOD? Off to search about that!

I have the HEQ5 goto Pro, so I have the Syntrak handset - Does that answer the EQMOD question?

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martin_h

martin_h

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Once you have the stars showing on the screen you need to click on one - a green box should then surround it, then click the PHD button and it should then start to callibrate - the cross hairs will turn yellow, when callibrated they will turn green and "Guiding" should appear at the bottom of the screen.

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swag72

swag72

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Hi Ant, I connected the camera to the mount via my ST4 connection, as per the information below when I asked another newbie question!!

Sara,

You're getting close...

Connect the camera to the PC with the USB cable, start up PHD select the camera and now you have a choice.....

IMHO it's easier to connect directly from the ST-4 port on the camera to the ST-4 port on the mount and use the "on camera" seeting to select the mount for guiding. This requires an ST4-ST4 cable which hopefully you got with the camera.

The other method involves using a separate cable (serial) between the PC and the handcontroller.....

Yes when you're not actually guiding you can use the handcontroller to GOTO your target and when ready start PHD to start the guiding process. Hope this helps.

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Glider

Glider

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Because you have the QHY5 camera I assumed you would be using direct connection to the mount ST4 guide port.

It is true that there are several other ways to configure a connection to the mount but since you have an integrated ST4 it is probably the easiest to start with.

The method I use is to go via the mount handset and use EQMOD and it works perfect for me but is a little more involved to set up first time.

Good luck.

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swag72

swag72

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I am going for the simple way at the moment Glider!! I may look at something else at a later stage if it will be better, but for now, KISS - Keep it simple, Stupid!!!!

I do hope that it works! Is there a way for me to check how good the guiding is going to be without connecting the camera? Perhaps a setting on PHD that will tell me if it's good / bad? Or do I just watch the PC screen and if the star stays in the same place that should be OK?

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jgs001

jgs001

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Sara, in PHD, under tools, enable graph, the OSC-Index appears to be the thing to watch... the ideal looks to be about 0.35 (I've no idea exactly what it's telling you though :)...) I'm not sure that without the full loadout, you'll get a proper result though... as the weight etc will be all different.

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jgs001

jgs001

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hmmm... I used a 2xTC and went for 20 minutes, just to see if it would work :)... I figured that if I could hit that, then I'd not have any problems. The basis being if I could hit 20 minutes (2.5 times through the gears) at 1200mm, apart from my inability to setup consistently and correctly, I'd not have any issues at 600mm.

What can you do without guiding ?

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jgs001

jgs001

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I'd go for 3 minutes at 900mm as a start point, in theory, you shouldn't get any duffers unless you kick the mount or something, then 5 minutes, then perhaps try 10, it might burn out some stuff, but adjust the ISO to keep the exposure good, you're looking for tracking accuracy after all.

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Photosbykev

Photosbykev

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If I do stick the camera on the back for a go - How many minutes would you recommend as a good guiding starting point?

If you can get 10 minutes without any telltale star trails in the corners then that will cover most astrophotography requirements. I haven't gone above 5 minutes shooting at f4 iso 1600 on a 600mm lens yet, other than shooting a couple of 10 minute subs to check the accuracy.

I've spent a while this morning knocking up an interconnection diagram that might be of use to some people but I can't upload it from work because of the system security. I'll upload it this evening

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