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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Sky Watcher ALT-AZ driver does not work.

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This driver is often buggy.

There was a bug in this update as well, but I was able to work around it by following the steps on the blog.

There are two points.

1. Do not connect automatically (set without connecting to the device)

2. In the driver control panel, delete only the setting name part and set. (Enter the aperture and focal length.)

The operation of the purge button → default button explained in the blog is also performed without connecting to the device.
3 years 1 month ago #66626

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thanks T-Studio ! Tried all this, but still same response. There must be some other issue(s) in connection with the AzEq6.
3 years 1 month ago #66655

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Anybody willing to help out, here ? I assume the problems are due to my AzEq-6 having the latest revision of the MC board (the one with the built in USB port). But since eqmod runs flawlessly, I would think it is something minor, which needs to be changed.
I have set up a test rig and can compile and test any new version of the skywatcherAltAz. I guess, there should be more interest to this than my own, as the AzEq-6 is fairly popluar and what´s the point of having such a mount if you can´t use it in Alt-Az-mode, anyhow ?
Thanks & kind regards
Dirk

For reference, once more the part of the log, where the problems become apparent (driver used is the most recent Skywatcher Alt-Az (vers. 1.2, freshly compiled for githlub):

[2021-01-30T17:20:55.263 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.267 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.269 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.270 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.271 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitMount "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.271 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] CheckIfDCMotor "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.274 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 0 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.275 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Handshake failed. "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.383 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Skywatcher Alt-Az" is disconnected.
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.384 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Skywatcher Alt-Az is disconnected."

and here with the eqmod driver:

[2021-01-30T17:18:47.122 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.124 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.124 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.125 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[COMM] dispatch_command: \":e1\", 4 bytes written "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.127 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[COMM] read_eqmod: \"=030722\", 8 bytes read "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.130 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Successfully connected to EQMod Mount. "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.132 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] EQMod Mount is online. "
3 years 1 month ago #66692

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Just noticed that with the eqmod driver my MC board reports Mount Code 0x22 (not 0x05 as noted at various other places). May this be related to the connection problems I have with the Skywatcher Alt-Az ?
3 years 1 month ago #66742
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Aaahh, to my own disbelieve, I got it working now. Even though I did not exactly know, what I was doing, I made the following changes to the skywatcherAPI.cpp:

added:

bool SkywatcherAPI::IsAZEQMount() const
{
return MountCode == 0x22;
}

this inquiry was completely missing, even though in the skywatcherAPI.h there is an entry "bool IsAZEQMount() const;"; I also used "0x22" as mount code, because this is what my AzEq-6 does respond. Probably because of different MC board version ? Could this be changed in the next revision of the driver, please ?


change to the "Disable EQ mount" lines:

// Disable EQ mounts but AZEQ
if ((MountCode < 0x80) && !IsAZEQMount())
return false;

This code I borrowed from Jean-Lucs modification to make the AZEQs work.

I also added one line in the skywatcherAPI.h:

enum MountType
{
AZEQ6 = 0x22,

Not sure, whether this entry is really required or not, but I just made it, anyhow.

So, after compiling the changed version my mount does connect now:

[2021-01-31T18:00:42.287 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Toggle Debug Level -- Scope Verbose "
[2021-01-31T18:00:50.790 W. Europe Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[INFO] Scan complete. Found 1 port(s). "
[2021-01-31T18:00:56.955 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.093 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.104 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.115 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.126 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitMount "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.135 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] CheckIfDCMotor "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.038 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.050 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Axis 0: 25600.000000 microsteps/degree, 7.111111 microsteps/arcsec "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.061 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.072 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Axis 1: 25600.000000 microsteps/degree, 7.111111 microsteps/arcsec "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.082 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetStepperClockFrequency "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.088 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetStepperClockFrequency "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.094 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetHighSpeedRatio "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.101 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetHighSpeedRatio "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.107 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerWormRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.113 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerWormRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.118 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Encoders before init Axis1 8388608 Axis2 8388608 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.123 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitializeMC "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.129 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Encoders after init Axis1 8388608 Axis2 8388608 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.135 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 1 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.141 W. Europe Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[INFO] Skywatcher Alt-Az is online. "

Quite eager to test it in the field now. Unfortunately, no clear skies right now. :-(
3 years 1 month ago #66747

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@JonCarlton: thanks for pointing out to uncomment the lines regarding guiding in the skywatcherAPIMount.cpp. I would not have found this on my own !

Will report back, once I could live test.
3 years 1 month ago #66757

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just to follow up on my testing: had one night of clear skys last week. The Alt-Az driver did work with my Az-Eq 6 with the limitations described earlier by geehalel:
- solve & slew to target works great
- no syncing
- tracking somewhat choppy
- guiding of no use

regarding the two last points: tracking probably ok for visual observation. While taking pictures it would coarsely change position (couple of arcminutes) every 40 secs or so. Tried to enable guiding: calibration successful, but RMS around 4 arcsecs, which is probably of no good use. My perception was the bad guiding is connected to these coarse changes of position while tracking (guiding in same seeing conditions with eqmod around 0.6 - 0.8 arcsecs). Another issue I noticed is my mount is somewhat backtracking manual slewing (like a very strong backlash compensation). Had no backlash enabled, though (have no options to do so).
3 years 1 month ago #67543

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It seems that the code supporting the AZEQ5 mount that's described in the above post didn't make it to the current stable release of the Skywatcher drivers (v1.9.0)? I tried the alt-az driver v1.3 with my new AZEQ5 in ALT-AZ configuration and get the error message "Mount type not supported. 6"). Looking at skywatcherAPI.h from the master branch, I see there's no enumerated MountType for AZEQ5. skywatcherAPI.cpp from the master branch doesn't have the IsAZEQMount() code. 

Was this an oversight since the AZEQ6 fixes suggested in this thread are in the master branch?

Thanks!
2 years 9 months ago #71736

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What's the code for AZEQ5?
2 years 9 months ago #71739

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@KD6AWA: easiest way to find the code of your mount may be to connect via EQmod. Go to the "Firmware" tab within the EQmod - indi control panel and look-up the value under "Mount Code".
2 years 9 months ago #71742

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Thank you, Jasem and Dirk, for your quick responses to my post. I originally included a quote of Dirk's post #66607 (which is at the end of page 2 of this topic) in my submission but unfortunately it looks like it didn't make it through so some of what I said won't make sense.

Anyway, the Mount Type (also termed Mount Code) is 0x06 as reported in the "Mount type not supported. 6" error message. A minor point to note: this error message only appears when connecting via Ethernet (for the AZ-EQ5 I used the Skywatcher WiFi adapter). A serial connection only returns the CheckIfDCMotor & SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 0 messages that Dirk describes in #66607. Maybe the code for the "Mount type not supported" message doesn't get triggered with failed serial connections but the underlying cause is the same.

#66607 also mentions that Jean-Luc did modify SkywatcherAPI to support his AZ-EQ5 and that's what I'm referring to in the first sentence of my initial post.

Thanks again!
2 years 9 months ago #71750

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