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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Capture & Solve -> Slew to Target...

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Hi,

No sorry. I got hit with two snags:

1. The approach I started with actually created a competing for state in the state model. I have some direction but...
2. My mount is in for warranty work, so I cannot test changing this anymore.

Hopefully, I will have a mount again in a month or so. For now, my hands are tied unfortunately.
6 years 3 months ago #21751

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Sorry to hear about your mount. I hope it gets fixed quickly.

I must say that I'm a bit surprised to see all the problems you seem to have encountered on this project. When I do it by hand (using the "motion" tab in the "mount" tab on the INDI control panel) it works fine. So, all I would need is the same function than the one which is called when I click the Nord/South/East/West buttons on the INDI control panel. From there, it should be quite straightforward.
Of course, I say that and I'll probably realized that it is more complicated than what I think...

I guess I need to start getting into the INDI/Ekos source code one of these days. Maybe that's going to be my fun project for Christmas break...

jf
6 years 3 months ago #21776

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Actually the code is quite nice. My stupidity was to attempt to use AUXCommands within the current celestron_gps driver. This driver's a state model will not work with the monitoring of the AuxCommands for the Alt/Az movement.

The nudging attempted was to determine the RA/DEC deltas and if under 2' to use the AuxCommands to inheritently nudge the mount in the right direction using the alt/az deltas.

The good news is that it seems quite possible to use the Aux commands to nudge the needed Alt/Az deltas, just do not do so in an in appropriate state model.
6 years 3 months ago #21795

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I am afraid that this is not going to work. Since HC is not monitoring AUX commands send by your code it will gradually lose the calibration as time progresses (with each nudge). You can probably mitigate it somewhat by syncing the mount after each nudge - but I am skeptical of the effectiveness of this approach.
6 years 3 months ago #21806

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Hi, agreed. I stopped the approach and I intended to do it out side of the slew. Something you mentioned initially I think as a new client. Work is in the way and I have no mount so I am stuck to continue for a month or so unfortunately.

Cheers!
6 years 3 months ago #21812

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Yes, I would re-sync after each nudge. I know it works not too bad because that's how I do it now, except that it is done by hand. Here is a detailed description of my operating scheme:

1. Do a regular GoTo for the target (or a precise GoTo, doesn't change the rest of the operations)
2. Capture and solve.
3. Sync on the RA/DEC values given by the plate solving (I do this in the INDI control panel)
4. Move the mount (with the North/South/East/West buttons in the INDI control panel) until the coordinates given by Ekos are that of my target.
5. Capture and solve.
6 If coordinates of the new images are close enough to the target, done. Else, repeat from step 3.

I have quite a lot of backlash on my mount, so usually I have to do 2 or 3 iterations of this. But it works great. In just 2 or 3 minutes I can get the target to within 1' of the center, which is plenty good for me.
Now, all I need is a way to do the same with some code, rather than by hand. Should be straightforward for someone familiar with INDI/Ekos. I should have a bit of time over Christmas, so I'll start looking into that.
The only problem I could see is if the multiple sync somehow screw up the alignment model.

Thanks,

jf
6 years 3 months ago #21816

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An the above procedure should work. The problem is if you use AUX commands to do step 4. The HC does not know that you did anything and will get confused after several iterations of this. The solution is to use celestron commands to do the move. And you can do that easily using e.g. python scripting of the indi protocol - which is quite easy and described in the docs. And I am pretty sure that this *will* work quite fine.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jean-Francois Gout
6 years 3 months ago #21817

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Thanks. I'll try that.
6 years 3 months ago #21819

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Just in case anyone is still interested in this, I found something that might help for CGEM users.

There is a slew setting with the hand controller that allows you to change the direction of final approach for each axis. The default for my mount was positive RA and positive DEC. I was having trouble getting the slews under 80 arcmin so I decided to try some experimenting with these. I switched RA to negative and did a 'calibrate mount/ goto calibration'. After this the gotos are much better, down to under 50 and often better. Hope it helps someone :-)
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jerry Black
4 years 6 months ago #43887

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