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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Alignment and mount settling

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Hi!

There was a thread on this earlier in this forum, but I seem not to be able to find it. Anyway, the issue is that during alignment, when slewing to target position, the next image is taken before the mount has settled down. I'm using a Losmandy G-11, and even with the maximum delay of 5000 ms, sometimes the mount has not settled so I get the next image with star trails.

Is there a way to increase the settling down time to perhaps 10 rather than 5 seconds?

Magnus
7 years 3 months ago #13127

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Hi,

The mount settle time can be tuned in the align module. See the attached picture.

Sebastien

7 years 3 months ago #13159
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Hi!

Yes, but I seem only to be able to set it to 5000 ms there. And that is too short when the object is a bit off. Can you set it to more, say 10 000 ms?

Magnus
7 years 3 months ago #13165

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Ok, understood. I did not read your first post carefully.

I checked Kstars/Ekos source code and the maximum value of 5000ms is hardcoded in the ekos/align.ui file. So without any changes in the code you won't be able increase the mount seetle time to a greater value. I have attached a patch for the Kstars Guys.

If you run Kstars on Linux, an other solution would be to use a wrapper script to the solve-field command wich provide additionnal settle time with the sleep command.

Sebastien
7 years 3 months ago #13172
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I can change the maximum value, but the question is why your mount _after_ reporting it finished slewing and is currently tracking still moving after 5 seconds?
7 years 3 months ago #13174

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Hi!

Hrm. Is there a way for me to check this?
Empirically, when the alignment is bad, so the first solve is a few degrees off, then the second aligment image shows trails, even though I have a setting of 5000 in the settlle box.
So either the mount really takes more time to settle, or the next capture is started before the slew/centrering process is finished. Does the mount report to Ekos that it is finished, or how does it work? It's a Losmandy G-11, I have the impression that the driver for this mount is less capable than for example for EQ6.

Or is something else going on here?

This is of course only a real issue when using the scheduler and swiching objects/doing meridian flip, risking a failure of the sequence.

Magnus
7 years 3 months ago #13175

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Hi!

I still have this problem. For a while I suspected it was hardware related (I had a faulty DEC motor) but it is there even after replacing the motor. It seems to be related to the amount of slewing done, in the sense that when there is a big adjustment done after first solve, there are trails in the next capture. So yes, I guess my Losmandy needs more than 5 secs to settle... or, could it be something else?

Magnus
7 years 2 months ago #13810

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Replied by Gary on topic Alignment and mount settling

Just in case there's an issue detecting the slew complete, try turning on the driver debug messages and doing a slew and see if there's a message logged for slew start and slew complete.

If you see those messages (I can't remember if they're in by default or if i added them when I was testing a similar issue with my lx90 and the autostar driver) then set the scope to slew over quite a large area that will take several seconds to complete. Then monitor the debug output and see if it reports back that the scope has completed the slew whilst the scope is still visibly moving.

Won't solve your issue but might help determine if there is some issue with reporting slew complete or not.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
7 years 2 months ago #13813

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Hi!
I've been travlleling, so it's been a while, but now I'm back. I checked this, turned logging on and mount debug. It clearly says "slew complete" in the log window in Indi.

So I tried alignment. Fitst, no problem, no trails. Then I tried next target, and there are trails. The log window of Indi says:
2017-02-01T17:38:47: Slew is complete. Tracking...
2017-02-01T17:38:43: Slewing to RA: 1:34:54 - DEC: 30:45:07

And the image is attached. This one is also far worse than most, often it is just short trails.

So, this is intermittent. I fist did a successful alignment on M1, and there were no problems. Then this at M33 Wha could I play with to understand this better?

Magnus
Last edit: 7 years 1 month ago by Magnus Larsson.
7 years 1 month ago #14209
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You don't have Ekos log?
7 years 1 month ago #14210

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Hi!

Here is an Ekos and a Kstars log for a simple slew. I'll produce a log from aligment as well as soon as there is a clear sky nearby....

Magnus
7 years 1 month ago #14441
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I added one more debug statement in LX200Gemeni driver to see if there is issue with isSlewComplete() function. Should be in PPA tomorrow. This should tells us if slew finishes prematurely.
7 years 1 month ago #14449

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