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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Guider calibration is wrong after meridian flip

  • Posts: 437
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Max,

It depends on the mount.

Some handle the meridian and you don't need to reverse directions and others don't and require the software to reverse.

That is where the reverse settings option comes into play (cannot remember exactly what the option is called).

Paul
2 years 10 months ago #71187

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I am talking about guide calibration.
There the mount steps RA forward, RA reverse, DEC forward, DEC reverse.
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 10 months ago #71188

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Max,

Maybe I wasn't clear.

After a Meridian flip the software may need to reverse the RA & Dec directions, but this is entirely dependent on the way the mount handles the flip.

Some require the directions to remain the same and others do not.

There is an INDI setting to determine how it should respond.

Paul
2 years 10 months ago #71194

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Paul,
My mount is a dumb HEQ5. I don't use a hand control only Ekos.
Ekos seems to know what to do but fails for some reason.

-- after the flip it starts calibrating the guider
-- RA forward calibration step goes in the wrong direction - say to the Right (instead of left)
-- RA reverse goes in the correct direction which is Right again! so the RA calibration never completes.
-- if I interrupt/stop and restart calibration - it goes well.
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 10 months ago #71205

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Jasem,
for my other two mounts, on the guider calibration plot:
-- RA calibration goes vertically, say up and then down back to zero
-- DEC goes horizontally, say right and then left back to zero
-- after the flip RA goes in the same direction but DEC direction flips

With HEQ:
-- RA calibration goes horizontally, say right and then left back to zero
-- DEC goes vertically, say up and then down back to zero
-- after the flip RA tries to go in the same direction and fails but after restart the direction flips. DEC direction doesn't flip

I just realized/remembered that I rotated the saddle 90 degrees on the HEQ and then unclutched and rotated the axis 90 degrees back.
Could this be the reason for my issue?

Thanks!

​​​​​​​
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 10 months ago #71206

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Well... I rotated the saddle back to the default/original position.
I can't explain to myself why but now the guide calibration after the flip works correctly.
I only tried once though.
Assuming that my issue is now solved just two questions:
-- why it matters if the saddle rotated 90 degrees?
-- I rotated the saddle more that a year ago and I am certain this configuration worked just fine until sometime in the second half of last year.

Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 10 months ago #71251

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Max,

I'm glad you figured out at least a workaround for your issue.
What do you mean by "rotated the saddle"? Can you add a picture?
Do you literally mean that just the piece of metal that clamps the OTA onto the mount was rotated,
but the mount itself and OTA itself are in the same position (not rotated)?

Also, why did you "rotate the saddle"?

Hy
2 years 10 months ago #71255

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Yes, "the piece of metal that clamps the OTA onto the mount was rotated".
I did this because on HEQ5, one needs to rotate the OTA 90 degrees to horizontal position to be able to use the polar scope, otherwise it's blocked.
I rotated the saddle so that I could use the polar scope when the OTA was pointing to the NCP.
It's just the mechanics. I rotated the saddle and rotated the mount's axis back so that the scope was still facing the NCP.

Of course, now I don't use the polar scope (but I did before).
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
2 years 10 months ago #71259

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Oddly, this just happened to me last night on a CEM120 EC2 mount.
Everything was great before the automated flip.  Then the guider couldn't calibrate because the RA was going in reverse.
I stopped it - and performed a manual calibration and then it worked.  It seemed that when EKOS did the automated calibration, that was when the problem occurred.

Peter

 
Last edit: 2 years 9 months ago by Peter Kennett.
2 years 9 months ago #72124

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It's still doing it to me.
Most of the time. Only on a rare occasion it doesn't.

Tonight I did two flips to test.
One - over north meridian. One - over south meridian.
Both calibrations failed immediately after the flip but were OK on the second attempt.

Let me illustrate.

Before the flip:
 
After the flip:

After the flip. Second attempt:
 
 
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 2 years 6 months ago by maxthebuilder.
2 years 6 months ago #75411
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Can you verify that this doesn’t happen with PhD2, and thus isn’t some issue with the mount?
If you do find out that it may be a software issue, please also send a log where you have at least debug logging for guide, mount, and mount driver.
2 years 6 months ago #75429

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Hy...

My test last night using build from master on Friday Morning does the same thing - I am OnStep mount and have been calibrating normally for long time until new beta - I have a 2 fail / 1 succeed pattern - then I increased the pulse from 1000 to 1500 which did seem to help - calibration AFTER my flip took only 1 try!
Attached logs - hope they help - you can also see from shot here the pattern and some random take-off in DEC that I think I was able to slay by reducing the max arc-sec in guide options - was playing with aggressiveness around .65->.70 which seems good
The good news here is despite some wierd excursions, some declining SNR, the system was able to correct and keep going - those excursions however are worrisome as the moved the target in the frame by a large amount - I would expect guide to cease motion on huge jumps but it looks like it was being driven (see screen shot)
Hy...

My test last night using build from master on Friday Morning does the same thing - I am OnStep mount and have been calibrating normally for long time until new beta - I have a 2 fail / 1 succeed pattern - then I increased the pulse from 1000 to 1500 which did seem to help - calibration AFTER my flip took only 1 try!
Attached logs - hope they help - you can also see from shot here the pattern and some random take-off in DEC that I think I was able to slay by reducing the max arc-sec in guide options - was playing with aggressiveness around .65->.70 which seems good
The good news here is despite some wierd excursions, some declining SNR, the system was able to correct and keep going - those excursions however are worrisome as the moved the target in the frame by a large amount - I would expect guide to cease motion on huge jumps but it looks like it was being driven (see screen shot)
Summary:
No crashes - good
End to end scheduler operation - good
focus at each filter in schedule - good
Align - fine on both sides of flip
Flip - no problems and all other operations in sync
Guide - valiant effort to guide in crappy conditions - good
Guide Calibration  - took multiple tries 2 out of 3 times despite being at same spot in the sky that was successful a short time ago
Guide DEC excursions - if guide start is out of zone or cant be found I was thinking the capture and other operation would abort but that is not the case and (lucky for this thread) I have the captured image of the "move"
    

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2 years 6 months ago #75433
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