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Dither messes up guide exposure
- Peter Sütterlin
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Dither messes up guide exposure was created by Peter Sütterlin
Hi,
after almost a month, I finally had time again to do some observations tonight. So I compiled the latest INDI and kstars from git.
Seeing and guiding was outstanding, but after the first dither guiding went completely berzerk. It took a while until I realized that the guide camera, instead of doing 4.5s exposures, was reading out in second cadence. I could see the counter (in the INDI tab) start at 4.5, but before it reached 3 the frame was read out! And of course guide pulses were sent out at that rate, too, f*****g up the mount (the CEM60EC doesn't like that fast guide pulses and reacts with erratic behavior).
It's absolutely repeatable. I stop the guiding, do one capture, then restart it. It will guide with 4.5s exposures until after the next dither. As soon as that is done/settled, it switches to the 'fast mode'
Anyone seen that before? Ideas?
Now I'm musing whether I should switch back to the old kstars, or disable dither
after almost a month, I finally had time again to do some observations tonight. So I compiled the latest INDI and kstars from git.
Seeing and guiding was outstanding, but after the first dither guiding went completely berzerk. It took a while until I realized that the guide camera, instead of doing 4.5s exposures, was reading out in second cadence. I could see the counter (in the INDI tab) start at 4.5, but before it reached 3 the frame was read out! And of course guide pulses were sent out at that rate, too, f*****g up the mount (the CEM60EC doesn't like that fast guide pulses and reacts with erratic behavior).
It's absolutely repeatable. I stop the guiding, do one capture, then restart it. It will guide with 4.5s exposures until after the next dither. As soon as that is done/settled, it switches to the 'fast mode'
Anyone seen that before? Ideas?
Now I'm musing whether I should switch back to the old kstars, or disable dither
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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- Peter Sütterlin
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Replied by Peter Sütterlin on topic Dither messes up guide exposure
Nothing weird. Settle is set to 2s, dither 5 pixels, threshold 1.25. I switched from PHD2 to internal last year, and get (very!) good guiding with it. Until 3 days ago. And no clue what is suddenly wrong
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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- Peter Sütterlin
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Replied by Peter Sütterlin on topic Dither messes up guide exposure
So I just ran some tests. First same setup as three days ago (git and INDI from June 1). I just set up a fake sequence with 20s exposures and dither every frame. Guiding as usual, internal with multistar and 4.5s exposures.
Like last time, as soon as the dither was finished it started the fast readouts.
I had (of course) debug on this time. What I see isWTF!? Why is it aborting the exposure?
Before the dither this looked like this:Next, I downgraded libasi to an older version. Same error. Then also INDI. First to version 1.9.1-55_g44ceb95c (May 18). Still faulty. I then realized last good observations I did May 11, so I went back to INDI 1.9.1-6_g538ab217 (May 3).
With that one it works again.
So something happened between May 3 and May 18 that kills my guiding after a dither
I'm attaching the logs of the various tries, in case someone can extract more info from them....
Like last time, as soon as the dither was finished it started the fast readouts.
I had (of course) debug on this time. What I see is
[2021-06-04T21:54:09.317 WEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - Capturing frame...
[2021-06-04T21:54:09.362 WEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[DEBUG] Aborting exposure... "
[2021-06-04T21:54:09.709 WEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[INFO] Exposure done, downloading image... "
[2021-06-04T21:54:09.709 WEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[INFO] Download complete. "Before the dither this looked like this:
[2021-06-04T21:52:36.414 WEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - Capturing frame...
[2021-06-04T21:52:36.422 WEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 4.500s "
[2021-06-04T21:52:36.426 WEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[INFO] Taking a 4.5 seconds frame... "
[2021-06-04T21:52:41.629 WEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[INFO] Exposure done, downloading image... "
[2021-06-04T21:52:41.661 WEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI1600MM Pro : "[INFO] Download complete. "With that one it works again.
So something happened between May 3 and May 18 that kills my guiding after a dither
I'm attaching the logs of the various tries, in case someone can extract more info from them....
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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Replied by Peter Sütterlin on topic Dither messes up guide exposure
Yes, I have a dual setup, a 2600 on a 140mm refractor, and the 1600 on a 92mm one, for wide field. I use it for guiding when the 140 is the main scope 
Thanks to USB3 download times are not an issue...
I was checking the git log between the two dates, but nothing caught my attention as an obvious thing to look at. Some hint from the gurus might indeed be needed
Thanks to USB3 download times are not an issue...I was checking the git log between the two dates, but nothing caught my attention as an obvious thing to look at. Some hint from the gurus might indeed be needed
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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- Peter Sütterlin
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Replied by Peter Sütterlin on topic Dither messes up guide exposure
Hej, I thought you enjoy your well-deserved vacation 
So to be clear, yes, it is an INDI issue. At least not a KStars one, as I'm currently running the version I compiled June 1 (3.5.4-2083_g95fdd1b37). It was only after I downgraded INDI to the May 3 version that the problems stopped.
This is always self-compiled versions from git. So if there is a suspicious commit I can always check out versions before and after, and cross-check. But if I have no idea where to start....
I just realize that I might also have to re-check libasi. That one was updated to SDK 1.18 on May 18. I had not tried only downgrading that one to the May 3 version. Will do in an hour or so, when the current sequence is finished ;^>
I had thought about the simulator, too. But I'm not very fluent with it. If I find the time, I'll try it, too.
So to be clear, yes, it is an INDI issue. At least not a KStars one, as I'm currently running the version I compiled June 1 (3.5.4-2083_g95fdd1b37). It was only after I downgraded INDI to the May 3 version that the problems stopped.
This is always self-compiled versions from git. So if there is a suspicious commit I can always check out versions before and after, and cross-check. But if I have no idea where to start....
I just realize that I might also have to re-check libasi. That one was updated to SDK 1.18 on May 18. I had not tried only downgrading that one to the May 3 version. Will do in an hour or so, when the current sequence is finished ;^>
I had thought about the simulator, too. But I'm not very fluent with it. If I find the time, I'll try it, too.
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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- Peter Sütterlin
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Replied by Peter Sütterlin on topic Dither messes up guide exposure
Gee that sounds bad! But no, no video involved here AFAIR(*). And guiding/taking images works flawlessly for hours - if I don't dither 
Yes, I'd like to test some other camera, but ZWO is all I have (4 of them....)
(*) I regularly do use video for the main cam, for initial focus.
Yes, I'd like to test some other camera, but ZWO is all I have (4 of them....)
(*) I regularly do use video for the main cam, for initial focus.
openSUSE Tumbleweed KStars git INDI git
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
GPDX+EQMOD, CEM60EC, ASI2600/1600/290mini+EFW+EAF
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