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HEQ5 Guide Problems

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HEQ5 Guide Problems was created by Damian

I'm having worsening guide problems and would be interested in any ideas about how to deal with them please.HEQ5 Pro mount, Skywatcher 150PDS OTA, ASI183MC Pro main camera, 60mm Altair Guide scope with ASI 120MM-S camera. Kstars 3.6.2The mount has been tuned and is balanced well. There are minimal trailing wires (just one power cable - all other devices are velcro to the mount side). Polar alignment was under 1 arc minute.Last night I had a chance to experiment a little but didn't manage to improve guiding. I'll attach an image of the guide calibration and copy of the logs, which only contain guide activity.



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File Name: log_04-04-21.txt
File Size:459 KB
1 year 1 week ago #91276
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Replied by Val Chevalier on topic HEQ5 Guide Problems

Hi damian,

I also have a HEQ5 pro with a 150PDS, guiding with a 60/240 guide scope and QHY 5II (look at my signature).

Here is my experience, I have used the internal EKOS guiding during 2 years, but I've always have issues with some peaks and weird guiding, specially after the dithering.
I also need to add that I increase the number of steps during calibration, as it seems you did the same thing regarding the picture. Some times, I thought it was caused by a not well balanced system (and I really took care about make the east side a bit heavier) and I often shifted the counterweight a little to get a better guiding . This was OK but I still thought it was not really convenient.

6 months ago, i've given a try with PHD2, and surprisingly, my guiding got way better than with the internal EKOS guiding. And I found out that I don't need anymore to shift slightly the counterweights during the whole session, which makes me buy some useful imaging time. So maybe you could try PHD2 too.

Don't make me wrong, I'd rather use the internal EKOS guiding, as it does not require another software. But for now, I'll get stick with PHD2 which behaves better than EKOS, for my setup. Maybe with another mount it would not be the case.

Valentin
The following user(s) said Thank You: Damian
1 year 1 week ago #91279

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Replied by Damian on topic HEQ5 Guide Problems

Hi Valentin,
Thanks for the speedy reply.
Using internal guiding with 360mm f/l refractor has worked well for months. Since switching to the 750 f/l reflector I'm having these problems.

I did try PHD2 last night. I ran the Guide Assistant which on one run told me:
Try setting RA mi-move to 0.11
Try setting DEC min-move to 0.18
Polar Align > 10 arc min
Measuring Backlash: Mount never established consistent south moves - test failed

So I did make the min-move changes back in EKOS guider, as you saw.

I rebalanced the mount and retried:
PHD2 is not able to make sufficient corrections in RA.
Check for cable snags, try redoing calibration and check for problems with mount mechanics
Could not clear North Backlash - test failed

I have the debug files for that which I'll attach.

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File Name: PHD2_Debug...4112.txt
File Size:2,782 KB
1 year 1 week ago #91280
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