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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Guiding failed after meridian flip

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Hi Peter,

I saw your Facebook post and was the one who asked the questions. Some good tips there. I'll try tonight.

From what you and others have said, the guide module isn't fool-proof after a meridian flip. Perhaps the devs need to look at it for the next release. It needs to be more robust when it fails to find a guide star. Not just give up.

Rene
3 years 11 months ago #52517

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I'm hoping after the sextractor changes by Robert makes it into KStars, we'd have much better luck in detecting stars than before.
3 years 11 months ago #52543

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So the meridian flip failed again last night. This time during alignment. From what I could see the solver failed and just gave up. Surely it should be able to reset itself and try again. There’s far too much manual intervention and monitoring required.

I’ll pull the logs and attach them for anyone who is interested.

Rene
Last edit: 3 years 11 months ago by Rene.
3 years 11 months ago #52611

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Ok here's the log file (attached)

I've had a quick read of it and you should start looking from the following timestamp:
[2020-04-25T02:28:56.092 AUS Eastern Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Telescope completed the meridian flip."

From this point the alignment module kicks in and tries to solve. It attempts to re-align for the rest of the night with no luck. The last "Solver Failed" mesage I can find is at timestamp:

[2020-04-25T02:41:41.729 AUS Eastern Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Astrometry : "[INFO] Solver failed. "

Then the mount/Ekos sits in a never ending loop of aligning until I killed it at 5:00am this morning.

Cheers

Rene
3 years 11 months ago #52614
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This is what is strange, because last night mine was successful again.
Ever since I made sure the "solve and slew" button was set, and that I turned off "Subframe" in the guider, my success rate went way up.

Peter
3 years 11 months ago #52620

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I never take mine off "solve and slew" and I turned off sub-framing. Perhaps it's because I'm running Kstars on a Windows machine instead of from the RPI.

I'm becoming so frustrated with the constant issues. I know the software is free but really it should be able to handle something as simple as move the telescope, take a picture and compare it to a file, then rinse and repeat until successful. Might be time to consider another software package like SGP or Voyager.

Rene
3 years 11 months ago #52623

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I’m in a similar frustration boat, in that every new update breaks something else that worked before.

But I hate using MS Windows and while I put up with it at work, won’t have it in my house. The Mac OSX version works better than the Linux version so once I finish my observatory I will bypass the Linux machine I use as a bridge and direct connect a Mac to my equipment. My new mount (CEM120 EC2) will make that easy with its built in USB ports right at the dovetail plate.
3 years 11 months ago #52627

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Ah the Mac vs Windows battle. As old as time itself.

I find the Linux version slow even on a RPI4 and it's a poor user experience as I have to terminal in and have less real-estate. At the moment I have 2 screens I can spread out on. I'm having a good think about what I'll be using going forward. KStars/Ekos has a lot of potential to it but we need this thing to bullet proof. I'm not staying up all night to monitor the software. It should be stable enough that I can set and forget.
3 years 11 months ago #52628

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No Mac vs Windows fight. I use both.
I just don't use Windows on my own time in my house.
3 years 11 months ago #52629

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Yes, I recommed that you try SGP. It's a well supported, mature, product and I think you will find that the software and support will suit you. You will find plenty of kindred spirits in their forum.
3 years 11 months ago #52641

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I think I'm going to have to. I'm wasting so much time fighting with this software. Tonight is no better.

So far I'm having aligning issue where the alignment module won't plate solve. It get's close to my limit but then fails. Now I'm having issues with the guiding module where the calibration fails. Other people may be having better luck than me but I'm fed up wasting my time.
3 years 11 months ago #52648

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I just checked the logs and the solver just can't get a solution after the meridian flip it keep trying and trying over with multiple timeouts. Did you happen to see the images post the meridian? were they normal? no clouds or some motion knocked the camera to different area in the sky or something like that? At any rate, capture module was trying too many times, and I just adjusted it to also fail in case of solver time out (vs solver failure).
3 years 11 months ago #52652

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