Hello,
I would like to as if anybody is using a comparable equipment like me?
Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro SyncScan
ZWO ASI 120mm Mono Guiding Camera
Canon 700Da
Skywatcher 80/600
Raspberry PI 4
During the last 3 nights I was trying to get Autoguiding/Dithering with EKOS running. Using PHD2 only Autoguiding worked out nearly of the box. But with EKOS I'm still in the trial and error phase. What I tried until now?
1.) Running KStars/EKOS on a laptop connecting to the RPI remotely. Did not work, too many lost connections. I think the WLAN connection was the problem. The Guiding was done using the ST4 cable over the Guiding camera.
2.) Running KStars/EKOS on the RPI and connecting to the RPI via VNC to avoid any WLAN problems.
Using EQMOD driver to move the telescope, doing a polar alignment and used for Guiding. Using the Internal Guider and PHD2. Nothing worked correctly. When starting the guiding directly in PHD2 the guiding
worked as expected, but after capturing a frame the dithering from EKOS made the PHD2 guiding losing the star. Okay, I understand that this cannot work this way, because PHD2 cannot know in that case that EKOS is manipulating the telescope position. But using PHD2 from EKOS directly always fails during the calibration. Using the Internal Guider does not work during the calibration process (tried SEP multiple stars guiding and nearly all other options).
I'm always getting the error that the telescope could not be moved to the position after 21 trials with the hint for backlash issues. Okay, maybe EKOS is much more sensible for backlashes than PHD2?
Finally, today I was tuning the telescope to remove the backlash in both axes. Yes, there was a minimal backlash. Unfortunately, the weather in Europe is terrible and if there is a cloudless night I'm alway busy trying to get it to run. Beside the Autoguiding also the plate solving does not work. The camera is creating new frames endless times and the telescope is moving, but never reaches a position exact enough (using the default settings). I think everything would work if the telescope could be moved good enough. Maybe all issues are gone next time when I'm trying again??
Or I'm doing something wrong in principal? Maybe there is something to setup in order to use EKOS with this hardware? Maybe, it is better to use the ST4 cable for auto guiding (as recommended in the EKOS guidelines) instead via EQMOD? Maybe, it is better to use another driver, i.e. SkyScan or SkyScan Legacy? If you are using the same hardware, is it working for you? What have you done? Which drivers are you using? Which settings are you using?
Unfortunately, until now I have no log files. I just have found the settings how to configure this. Hopefully, in the next cloudless night this will be helpful. If someone has some experience with my hardware I would be happy to hear if this should be working - just to avoid spending another few nights with more trials to ride a dead horse.
Best regards,
Jürgen