Hi,

had some strange issues with meridian flips in kstars 3.5.0 stable lately.
Running kstars on the desktop (Ubuntu 20.04 - Intel based PC)
Indi driver run on an "old" RPI2 with network ocnnection via ethernet cable. The rpi runs astroberry (latest update). The mount is an AZ-EQ5 in EQ mode with eqmod drivers. Ekos is set to update time and location to mount.

Yesyerday I was testing some old lenses. So I was using a 50mm/f/2.8. Slewing and syncing to different objects went ok. Spot on after platesolve with slew to targett.

Then set it to M31 and started exposures.

Just before Andromeda was at the meridian, a flip started (set to 2 degrees past meridian) and of course failed.


See:

[2020-12-20T19:20:16.693 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Received image 3 out of 60."
[2020-12-20T19:20:16.696 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Capturing 30,000-second image..."
[2020-12-20T19:20:16.700 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI178MM(09174775) : "[INFO] Taking a 30 seconds frame... "
[2020-12-20T19:20:45.424 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - "Meridian flip waiting."
[2020-12-20T19:20:48.029 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI178MM(09174775) : "[INFO] Exposure done, downloading image... "
[2020-12-20T19:20:48.069 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI178MM(09174775) : "[INFO] Download complete. "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.262 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - "FITS" file saved to "/home/paul/Indi/Light/M_31_Light_30_secs_2020-12-20T19-20-50_012.fits"
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.391 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Download Time: 1.65 s, New Download Time Estimate: 1.65 s."
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.410 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Received image 4 out of 60."
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.417 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Meridian flip: slewing to RA= "00h 43m 55s" DEC= " 41° 23' 08\"" Hour Angle "23h 59m 36s"
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.418 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - "Meridian flip started."
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.430 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - "Meridian flip slew started..."
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.467 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Starting Goto RA=0.731837 DE=41.3856 (current RA=0.799848 DE=39.5057) "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.468 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Align: current point is 4 "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.469 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] GOTO ALign Nearest: delta RA = 0.069450, delta DEC = -1.879894 "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.470 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Aligned Eqmod Goto RA=0.801287 DE=39.5057 (target RA=0.731837 DE=41.3856) "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.471 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Setting Eqmod Goto RA=0.801287 DE=39.5057 (target RA=0.731837 DE=41.3856) "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.475 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Slewing mount: RA increment = -251, DE increment = 0 "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.489 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Slewing to RA: 0:43:55 - DEC: 41:23:08 "
[2020-12-20T19:20:50.495 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Align: current point is 1 "
[2020-12-20T19:20:51.522 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Iterative Goto (1): RA diff = 0.03 arcsecs DE diff = 0.04 arcsecs "
[2020-12-20T19:20:51.538 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Telescope slew is complete. Tracking TRACK_SIDEREAL... "
[2020-12-20T19:20:52.421 CET WARN ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Meridian flip failed, pier side not changed
[2020-12-20T19:20:52.421 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - "meridian flip failed, retrying in 4 minutes"
[2020-12-20T19:20:52.423 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - "Meridian flip completed."
[2020-12-20T19:20:52.426 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Telescope completed the meridian flip."
[2020-12-20T19:20:53.413 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Performing post flip re-alignment..."
[2020-12-20T19:20:54.920 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - "Capturing image..."

In Kstars M31 was still showing east of the meridian when this happened. So there seems to be a discrepancy between the time to meridian flip and real position.

I set Kstars to show time of yesterday 20:50 this it how it looks


Later had some problems with the camera and the Kstars crashed. Reconnected and it was still on correct location and tracking. Then the mounts tab showed: meridian flip not active, no object selected.
If I enable "meridian flip" is it not supposed to look at current mount position for the flip time instead of waiting until a mount goto has happened. This behaviour is dangerous for mounts that have no limit past the meridian.


Maybe there is something wrong in my confitg, but I have no clue.

Rgrds;

Paul

Some other users got this issue after 3.5. Could you search the forum and see if your situation matches one of the descriptions?

-Eric

Hi Eric,

it did not look exactly the same as the issues descibed there. (Already looked earlier)
I have been testing today with the mount inside, but of course everythinhg works as expected. What I can't simulate is a goto, and plate-solve + slew to target. At the first slew with that old mount I usualy am around 20' of target. I suspect now the slew/sync mess things up badly. So I tested now wit a goto and then sync to nearby object. Next slew to an object just east of the meridian puts the mount on the wrong pierside. (but not seen on the Kstars map). Then I disabled all align things I could find in eqmod, and tried again. That made the slews normal.
Don't know exactly now how it should be defined in EQMOD. (on the Indi website, the text looks outdated).

Seems I have to wait for a clear evening to test again (if I look at the weather forecast, that could be next year)

Rgrds,

Paul

Someone in another thread (www.indilib.org/forum/ekos/8293-solved-m....html?start=12#64234) posted that he used the SynScan controller to factory reset the mount and that that cleared the issue up.