Hi John,
Makes sense and your description of the move from 22000 to 21000 matches what I observed. The "|" end of the arrows in my diagrams marks the starting point ... so for the backlash (+) case, it started at 22k and went below 21k, then reversed and came back up ending at 21k just as you described.
If the skies are clear I'll try it tonight. My backlash is around 45 so I'll try backlash settings of 100 and 200 and see what happens.
-Bret
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Hi John,
Interesting ideas and thoughts! I'd never even thought of trying a -ve backlash. I went out just now and tried some experiments with the backlash and overscan settings in the Ekos AF tab and commanding the focuser to go to different values to observe the motion. Overscan does not support -ve values so the below is for +ve overscan and both +/- backlash:
Overscan (+500), Backlash (0)
21k 22k
<
|
>
21k 22k
|
>
<
Overscan (0), Backlash (+500)
21k 22k
<
|
>
21k 22k
|
>
Overscan (0), Backlash (-500)
21k 22k
<
|
21k 22k
|
>
<
Hopefully the above diagrams don't get munged too bad due to fonts, etc., but it looks like ...
=> A +ve backlash will always finish in the INCREASING (=CCW) direction ... which is what I want. What I'm not sure about is -- Will a +ve backlash that is greater than the actual backlash result in focuser creep? If not, then I think I have a solution! My guess is that Celestron may have intentionally designed the backlash function so that the focuser will always finish pushing the mirror toward the corrector.
=> Overscan may not be ideal for most focusers since it will always result in the initial AF sweep motions ending in one direction and the final motion that goes to the solution ending in the opposite direction. Overscan is what I have been using up to now.
-Bret
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Hi Hades,
Thank you for responding. Unfortunately, the "Celestron SCT" focuser driver does not have a 'Reverse Motion' option and the 'Direction' option does not serve this function -- it only sets the direction if you use the 'relative position' function beneath it ... it does not reverse the direction when using the Ekos autofocusing routine.
-Bret
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Hi John,
Thanks for the quick response ... much appreciated. Do you mean the "Direction" option under the Indi tab (see attached screenshot)? If so, this has no affect when using Ekos autofocus.-- it only effects the direction when I use/set the "relative position" field located right below it.
Are you referring to a different option under the Indi tab?
-Bret
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Hi Folks,
I have an Edge 11" with the Celestron Electronic Focuser attached. For these scopes, my understanding is that focusing should always finish in the CCW direction so that the primary mirror is pushed toward the corrector. When using the Celestron Electronic Focuser, CCW movement occurs when the focuser position value is INCREASING, but the Ekos autofocus routine always finishes in the DECREASING value direction.
Is there an option to reverse the direction of the autofocus routine?
Thank you!
-Bret
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Hi Folks,
I recently purchased an ESATTO and appear to be having the same or a similar problem. I'm running Stars 3.6.4 and get the following message when trying to connect to the focuser ...
2023-05-27T16:07:19: [INFO] Error retrieving data from device, please ensure focuser is powered and the port is correct.
2023-05-27T16:07:19: [ERROR] Serial write error: Timeout error
2023-05-27T16:07:14: [INFO] Trying connecting to /dev/cu.usbserial-210 @ 115200 ...
Any progress on getting this focuser to work on a Mac under Kstars/Ekos/Indi? Has anyone tried using a network connection via the ESATTO WiFi?
Thanks,
-Bret
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Thanks Jasem, Hy! I’ll keep an eye out for when the MacOS build is fixed and give it a try!
-Bret
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Thanks a bunch for finding and fixing the issue, Hy! Glad my log file was able to help.
Very excited to try the fix! What is the easiest way to install/update the fix on a Mac?
-Bret
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Thanks for chiming in ... I was beginning to think this forum wasn't the right place. Last night, I tried an experiment where I deliberately gave the scope a little bump while an imaging session was running to force a realignment while I was present. The result was interesting ... Ekos detected the misalignment and started a re-alignment, but while the re-alignment was underway, I checked the status in the scheduler and found that the job had already been errored out and was stopped! As such, when the re-alignment completed, there was no job to resume ... the scope just sat there. :/
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Hi Folks,I'm running Kstars 3.6.1 and I'm having trouble with the "Verify image position" feature. I currently have Ekos set to verify the image alignment after each frame with a tolerance of 1 arcminute. On the few occasions when this happens, Ekos appears to detect the misalignment and goes through a re-alignment process ... but then just stops rather than resuming the imaging session. Not sure if this is a known issue or if I have some thing set up wrong. Attached is a screenshot from Ekos Analyze window and the end of the log file where Ekos detects the misalignment, re-aligns, and then seems to do nothing after realignment is complete. Happy to send the full long file if anyone is interested.Thanks for taking a look.-Bret
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Hi Steve,
I'm trying the scheduler now, but I must not have it configured correctly ... if/when the guide star is lost, Ekos/PHD2 continues to hunt for the original guide star and eventually lands on some other star causing the framing to be way off from that point. Below are the related settings I could find in the scheduler ... any recommendations?
Thanks!
-Bret
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Hi Steve,
Thanks a bunch for the suggestion. I have not been using the scheduler ... I typically just start the guider and use the Capture tab to initiate my runs. I'll give the scheduler a try ... I never thought to look there!
-Bret
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Hi Folks,
I'm using Ekos with PHD2 guiding and am running into an issue with the guide star being lost. I'm using an OAG and this typically happens after an automated refocus event where due to drift and/or mirror movement the original guide star has moved outside the guide star box and PHD2 can't find it. I've already set the box size to maximum (50 pix) which helped make this less frequent, but did not solve the issue. When this does happen, I get logs like the one below that just keep cycling trying to require the original guide star.
Is there a way to setup the guider module in Ekos so that after a timeout period it will reset and command PHD2 to select a new guide star?
Thanks!
-Bret
<...>
2022-08-16T01:34:43 PHD2: Guiding started.
2022-08-16T01:34:38 PHD2: Star Lost. Trying to reacquire for 60s.
2022-08-16T01:34:31 Autoguiding started.
2022-08-16T01:34:31 PHD2: Guiding started.
2022-08-16T01:34:05 PHD2: Star Lost. Trying to reacquire for 60s.
2022-08-16T01:33:52 Autoguiding started.
2022-08-16T01:33:52 PHD2: Guiding started.
2022-08-16T01:33:46 PHD2: Star Lost. Trying to reacquire for 60s.
2022-08-16T01:33:40 Autoguiding started.
2022-08-16T01:33:40 PHD2: Guiding started.
2022-08-16T01:33:35 PHD2: Star Lost. Trying to reacquire for 60s.
2022-08-16T01:33:16 Autoguiding started.
2022-08-16T01:33:16 PHD2: Guiding started.
2022-08-16T01:32:58 PHD2: Star Lost. Trying to reacquire for 60s.
<...>
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