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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Enforce counter-weight up in eqmod

  • Posts: 4
  • Thank you received: 1
Hi,

Is anybody using the "Enforce counter-weight up" property in eqmod ?
It is supposed to control pier side but it is rather unreliable and hard to use, IMO. The client basically has to guess which pier side the driver would choose and eventually set this property to make the driver use the opposite side. But under certain conditions the driver may ignore this request, see this for details.

I want to change the behavior, but I don't want to break any functionality which is used. This is my idea:

Add new property "Target Pier Side" with values

"Auto" - current behavior, with counterweight down
"West", "East". - enforce given pier side, abort goto if the target is outside of safe range

maybe also rename "Enforce counter-weight up" to "Allow counter-weight up" and use it to extend the safe range 1 hour across meridian. Alternatively this can be given as numeric property.


Any opinions?

References:
github.com/indilib/indi/issues/798
github.com/indilib/indi/pull/550
5 years 2 months ago #33386

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I use this functionality quite a lot as I have a remote observatory and my HEQ5 is balanced slightly biased towards imaging to the west of meridian (east heavy). So I slew to targets still a bit to the east with this on so the mount is on the "wrong" side, guiding works better and I can image longer. It mostly works, but occasionally near the meridian the scope does extra meridian flips before alignment usually fixes it. Forced pier side property would work perfectly for my use, preferably with controllable limit on how far the mount is allowed to go.
5 years 2 months ago #33388

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I have not used this feature yet, but certainly will give it a go next time the need arises. I like the idea proposed on the git forum to pop-up a warning, but if I may expand on the idea. Suppose if the setting was saved in configuration with a condition for # of hours before meridian, then a popup could be implemented as a manual confirmation for safety. Automatic function could be made available but does pose some risk at the user's discretion.
5 years 2 months ago #33497

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jpaana: I have more or less the same experience.

JFYI: I have created experimental pull request which replaces "Enforce counter-weight up" with "Target Pier Side". The safe limit is still hardcoded to 1 hour across meridian.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jarno Paananen
5 years 2 months ago #33508

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Thanks, I'll give this a go, on Friday weather permitting.
5 years 2 months ago #33519

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From fairly light testing it seems to work well, I set target pier side to east (pointing west) and selected a target around 40 minutes east of meridian to schedule and everything worked perfectly through a few alignment steps, scope stayed on the east side without flipping back and forth.
5 years 2 months ago #33582

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