Hello,

Finally, a clear night has occurred and I was ready. Unfortunately, PolarAlign with EKOS failed. This time the issue is with the QHYCCD driver. I can confirm the QHYCCD driver for PoleMaster is aborting Solver. There is a direct correlation between the -1 messages and aborted Solver messages. I will send a portion of INDI session with the error. I aborted the session as I could not set the alignment.

PoleMaster works fine outside of EKOS With PoleMaster QT. Under EKOS the QHYCCD driver immediately throws an error when getting an image.

Oh, FOV is set by the primary scope. However, the FOV website calculates a different FOV because a eyepiece is included. Having individual piece parts does not assist.

Hello,

Finally, a clear night was in my area. I ensured the nightly build was installed on my PI for ZWO and QHY products. All systems were a go. EKOS was communicating well with all of the devices. I went to polar alignment and this error started popping up in KSTARS bar. ERROR GETFRAME -1 with Polemaster. Mutilple errors showed up in the console of PoleMaster.

Now, the kicker... I set up Astrometry to be Offline. I had the PoleMaster to be the tool of choice. Capture to Solving was 3 secs and a beautiful shot of Polaris. 3 minutes later, Solver timed out. Second attempt. Same result. Astro was the plate solver. I am puzzled. What is preventing Plate Solver for Polar Alignment from not resolving. Every Astrometry file is installed on this system. It should find where it is. GPSD is working. INDI is working. But, Polar Alignment is not.

Try giving it an FOV to work from.

Hello,

Thank you for this reply. In this thread, it was said, the FOV is calculated. Ok. EKOS says 88’ x 70’.

I went to the offered FOV calculator and plotted three options specific to my equipment. All where significantly less than the lower limits of FOV in EKOS. I accepted the provided EKOS value

This leaves me with do I pick a band in Astrometry of guess at a FOV? The PoleMaster is fixed and explicitly stated by QHY. This value is not accepted by EKOS. PoleMaster_qt has no problems with the PoleMaster device. If only, PoleMaster_qt and EKOS were aware of each other then polar Alignment is one issue.

I am then thinking about plate solving there after. I think the INDI driver might not be getting updated by Nightly Builds. I saw an error message about 85_camera_qhy.rules the last update. Clear sky events are a long shot for a while. These errors generated during solving with the PoleMaster are the root of the problem, possibly? ERROR getframe -1 is many during the session.

I am looking at ASTAP as an alternative.

Have you made made sure you have the astrometry database library for that FOV installed?

I have the exact same issue and reported on it, too. The PoleMaster would take an image, but then the solver would time out and fail. Polaris beautifully in view, almost dead center.
All databases from the lowest resolution all the way up to ~5' are installed.
The strange thing is that it worked before, but I don't recall when it stopped working. Sometime over the summer. I have been polar aligning with my guide scope since. Works fine, but I want to avoid the possibilty of flexure.

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have ensured that Astrometry zone files are downloaded. Astrometry confirms their presence. I have no missing files. I have install ASTAP. Setting the Pole is my biggest problem. I am going to seek the issue with the package update for QHY. The rules file looks to be part of the problem. I looking for the correlation. At the present, log files appear to be lost lately. I cannot find my logs from last night. I created CCD and INDI logs.

Hello El Corazon,

I noticed errors in INDI with the QHY driver for PoleMaster. I an thinking something is up with either a rule or the driver.

Whatever the issues were, they seem to have been fixed in the latest nightly installation (as of today). PoleMaster is being recognized again, and Polar Alignment routine worked as well. The solver had no problem at all this time. Took 4 s only.
I noticed the update to the 6.0.5 QHY version, that seems to have taken care of it.
Thanks, Jasem!

Hello El Corazon,

Thank you for your report. This is good news. I will check my configuration to see if this specific update was successful. Now for a clear night to come.

Hello,

I went back and reviewed all POLEMASTER.HEX files on my system. I discovered an older version. I then normalize all QHY/FIRMWARE directories with the current version. I then checked to ensure my rules were at the same date. Now, I am back in the saddle again waithng for a clear night.

Hello,

Tonight was a clear night finally. I made sure nightly updates were downloaded and installed. I also made sure all PoleMaster HEX files were normalized. I was expecting a good show.

Well, no show was the answer.

i2019-04-11T17:28:54: [INFO] Exposure aborted.
2019-04-11T17:28:54: [INFO] Exposure aborted.
2019-04-11T17:28:54: [<strong>ERROR] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame error (-1)</strong>
2019-04-11T17:28:54<strong>: [ERROR] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame error (-1)</strong>
2019-04-11T17:27:30: [INFO] World Coordinate System is enabled.
2019-04-11T17:27:30: [INFO] World Coordinate System is enabled.
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] Device configuration applied.
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] USB Traffic updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] Device configuration applied.
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] USB Traffic updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] USB Traffic updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] USB Traffic updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] Speed updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] Speed updated to 0
2019-04-11T17:27:29: [INFO] Gain updated to 1

I attempted to use ASTAP and Astrometry. The issue is not with either apps.

2019-11-24T19:49:06 Starting solver...
2019-11-24T19:49:06 Image received.
2019-11-24T19:49:03 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:49:03 Solver timed out.
2019-11-24T19:46:02 Starting solver...
2019-11-24T19:46:02 Image received.
2019-11-24T19:46:00 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:46:00 Solver timed out.
2019-11-24T19:43:00 Starting solver...
2019-11-24T19:43:00 Image received.
2019-11-24T19:42:58 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:42:58 Clearing mount Alignment Model...
2019-11-24T19:42:58 Warning: Equatorial Grid Lines will not be drawn due to limited resources mode.
2019-11-24T19:42:46 Parking the mount...
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Solver aborted after 0 seconds
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Capture error. Aborting...
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Restarting capture attempt #2
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:40:06 Restarting capture attempt #1
2019-11-24T19:39:02 Capturing image...
2019-11-24T19:39:02 Clearing mount Alignment Model...
2019-11-24T19:39:02 Warning: Equatorial Grid Lines will not be drawn due to limited resources mode.
2019-04-11T12:27:29 World Coordinate System (WCS) is enabled. CCD rotation must be set either manually in the CCD driver or by solving an image before proceeding to capture any further images, otherwise the WCS information may be invalid.
2019-04-11T12:27:28 World Coordinate System (WCS) is enabled. CCD rotation must be set either manually in the CCD driver or by solving an image before proceeding to capture any further images, otherwise the WCS information may be invalid.
2019-04-11T12:27:27 Detected Astrometry.net version 0.78
2019-04-11T12:27:27 Idle.

In both applets, INDI drivers for PoleMaster were firing off ERROR every time it attempted to get an image. I need to see if updates are not overwriting old HEX drivers for QHY. What is baffling is that PoleMaster_QT does not have any problem working with the device.

I set debug level to Alignment and Driver. The error is PoleMaster exclusively.

ERROR 506.271001 sec : [QHY CCD POLEMASTER-00d7] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame error (-1)

Messages preceding this error are not descriptive to point to the error. Below are the calls within the driver. This looks like the PoleMaster is using the QHY5LII-C driver to do its processing. I will check to see if I have an errant QHY5LIIC driver.

DEBUG 628.961326 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|UNLOCKIMAGEQUEUE.CPP|Put| len 12c000
DEBUG 629.290361 sec : [QHY CCD POLEMASTER-00d7] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame Blocking read call.
DEBUG 629.290518 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|IsQHYCCDControlAvailable|START
DEBUG 629.290580 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|IsQHYCCDControlAvailable| CONTROL_ID=8 return value=0
DEBUG 629.290627 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYBASE.H|ExposureRemaining|Not implemented
DEBUG 629.290673 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal| #1 readnum,badframenum,ret 0 0 -1
DEBUG 629.290721 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal| #1 flagquit 0
DEBUG 629.290762 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Enter While Loop
DEBUG 629.290806 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class START
DEBUG 629.290857 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame begin
DEBUG 629.291788 sec : [QHY CCD POLEMASTER-00d7] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame Blocking read call.
DEBUG 629.291828 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame ret=-1 chipoutputsizex * chipoutputsizey * cambits / 8=1228800
DEBUG 629.291931 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|IsQHYCCDControlAvailable|START
DEBUG 629.291980 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|IsQHYCCDControlAvailable| CONTROL_ID=8 return value=0
DEBUG 629.292037 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYBASE.H|ExposureRemaining|Not implemented
DEBUG 629.292081 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal| #1 readnum,badframenum,ret 0 0 -1
DEBUG 629.292128 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal| #1 flagquit 0
DEBUG 629.292175 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Enter While Loop
DEBUG 629.292217 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class START
DEBUG 629.292274 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame begin
DEBUG 629.293015 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class END
DEBUG 629.293145 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|CMOSDLL.CPP|ReadAsyQCamLiveFrame| END SUCCESS
DEBUG 629.294689 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|UNLOCKIMAGEQUEUE.CPP|Put|Get len 12c000
DEBUG 629.294852 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame ret=1228800 chipoutputsizex * chipoutputsizey * cambits / 8=1228800
DEBUG 629.294929 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame ReadAsyQCamLiveFrame success
DEBUG 629.295213 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class START
DEBUG 629.295313 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame begin
DEBUG 629.296468 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame ret=-1 chipoutputsizex * chipoutputsizey * cambits / 8=1228800
DEBUG 629.297686 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class END
DEBUG 629.298505 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|no debayer
DEBUG 629.298808 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|roixsize 1280 roiysize 960 camxbin 1 camybin 1
DEBUG 629.300128 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class START
DEBUG 629.300521 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame begin
DEBUG 629.302062 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHY5LIIBASE.CPP|GetSingleFrame|GetSingleFrame ret=-1 chipoutputsizex * chipoutputsizey * cambits / 8=1228800
DEBUG 629.303194 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class END
DEBUG 629.303339 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal| #2 readnum = 1 badframenum = 0 flagquit = 0
DEBUG 629.303443 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|Call GetSingleFrame in Camera Class END
DEBUG 629.303564 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|ret w h bpp channels 0 1280 960 8 1
DEBUG 629.303746 sec : [QHY CCD QHY5LII-C-61f7e] QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDSingleFrameInternal|END
DEBUG 629.303814 sec : [QHY CCD POLEMASTER-00d7] GetQHYCCDSingleFrame Blocking read call complete.
DEBUG 629.303857 sec : [QHY CCD POLEMASTER-00d7] Download complete.

To recap, the camera equipment within the EKOS profile includes these items.

1. QHY5L II-C
1. PoleMaster
1. ZWO 120M

This leads me to believe that the QHY5II driver is the problem. The RET=-1 seems to suggest that the PoleMaster is working but KSTARS sees the QHY5II driver error out as it is not in use. It is the QHY5II driver throw the exception.

Does Astroberry 2.0 resolve the QHY driver issues better? 2.0 is a flatten and rebuild.