THen I switched to UX Ori, which needs an MF.
The logs do not report a meridian flip! Pierside is always west.

And what is this strange location "Celestron NexStar HC : "[SCOPE] RA-DEC ( 5:25:52,68:07:07) " the controller keeps reporting throughout the whole session? Neither it's CQ Tauri nor UX Orionis.

Hi!

I do think the lack of meridian flip is because I did not attach the full log, since it is 38 MB. Here is a longer section, starting where the MF begins.

But note:
line 614: here pierside shifts W -> E
line 2081: pierside shifts E->W again

Any ideas what is going on?

I had the idea of trying next time to disable update of mount model, not sync, but do differential slews. Honestly, I am very unsure what that means or if I even can disable update of mount model, but I was thinking that maybe that would be worth testing.

And: mount has largely behaved well until very recently. Something to do with an update.....?

Magnus

line 2081: pierside shifts E->W again
.. and it's exactly the moment where the mess debouches! EKOS wants the mount to slew from (05h 05m 43s) DEC (-03° 45' 10") to RA-DEC( 5:05:45,-3:45:17) on pierside east and 1 second later the controller reports RA-DEC ( 6:15:33,89:14:26) and pierside west. That's impossible. (You're working with a mount model, arn't you? If yes, are you sure it's working?)

I had the idea of trying next time to disable update of mount model, not sync, but do differential slews.
That's not a goo idea, at least right now. We have some problems regarding "differential slews" (-> see here ). Just to test the mount I propose to do some slews on both piersides without a model and with normal "sync" align (i.e. without "differential slewing").

Hi!

Great, thanks!

There is not much of a mount model here, that is, except what the mount brings on itself. When starting from scratch, I do a manual 2 star align. Next time I start, if nothing odd has happened in between, I choose to restore last alignment. Beyond that, it is only plate solve sync that happens. However, I am not at all sure how that interacts with the mount model (more than align it, I guess). It is a CGE-Pro, I am running it through the handcontrol wich is identical to the one used on AVX and CGE and others. Makes sense?

So, when you say to do slews on both piersides without a model, what do you mean precisely? I need to do some alignment when starting it, else it will not start. Anything else I should to do not use a model?

Magnus

When starting from scratch, I do a manual 2 star align.
That's indeed a form of a simple sky model.

So, when you say to do slews on both piersides without a model, what do you mean precisely?
Doing a factory reset and starting from scratch and with "last alignment" (i.e with no alignment). I know it sounds hard, but you can find comments in the web like this: "Every once in a while the hand controller will more or less go crazy and a factory reset will correct this. I wouldn't start to worry about it until you try the factory reset. It shouldn't take you more than a few minutes to re-input all the relevant data into the hand controller." (Cloudy nights: "CGEM DX alignment issue")
BTW, since two months I'm the owner of a CGEM DX and first I had big problems to get the mount running with the HC. I updated the firmware and all was good.

Hi!
So tonight it is clear here and I am experimenting. I did as you suggested, Toni, factory resetted the mount, and then started with "last alignment". So I have not done any alighment with the handcontroller. Then connected it to Ekos and ran a number of plate solves and syncs, all worked well, both sides of the meridian.

Then I imaged for 2.5 hours.... (CQ Tau), and then slewed to UX Ori. And NOW things are weird again. Suddenly, without doing a meridian flip (since UX Ori now was on the same side of the meridian as CQ Tau) I did a plate solve and "Slew to target". And suddently the mount in Kstars is placed on Polaris. I think (I am not sure) this is what happes at line 81382 in the attached log.

I will keep experimenting for some time. Could it be that the area around Orion does something particular to the mount? Or the switch to negative DEC values....?

Btw: I also noted that on the first tab in Ekos, the was a notice on Mount as "meridian flip...."??

Magnus

Hi again!

Here's another one. I moved around, closer and closer to UX Ori, and then finally did a plate solve and sync at UX Ori. Then it happens again - scope seems to be at Polaris. THis time the log says "Pierside U"....

Magnus

And hi again!

I can now confirm that this happens when I platesolve and sync with anything with a negative DEC, regardless of how close to the meridian. I live at 55 degree latitude so there is not so much sky with neg DEC values here, at least not if we take the neighbours houses into account... but there is some sky.

So: how come this is all messed up when there is negative DEC values? What on earth can I do? I wanted to capture spectra of UX Ori for a pro-am project....

Magnus

So: how come this is all messed up when there is negative DEC values? What on earth can I do? I wanted to capture spectra of UX Ori for a pro-am project....
Did you visit nexstarsite.com/Firmware/SE45Firmware.htm already?

Hi!
No I had not seen that... thanks, that is a very precise explanation...

Will upgrade as soon as I am home again.

Magnus

Hi!

And I can now confirm that the problem seems to be solved, after upgrading the handcontroller to the very latest firmware.

Thanks a lot for the help!!!

Magnus

My pleasure! I hope you can now enjoy your hobby to the full again.