Michiel Desmedt replied to the topic 'INDI driver for SV605MC' in the forum. 3 months ago

Hi,

I am confused where to find this 3rd party driver. Does it need to be downloaded separately?
Currently, I only see the SV305 driver, but no SV605MC or 3rd party driver under the CCD dropdown list

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Michiel Desmedt replied to the topic 'Re:Diy indi rotator?' in the forum. 3 months ago

So... Did anyone ever figure out how to make a DIY rotator?
I'm not scared of the mechanics, as an engineer with a 3D printer I can work my way through that, but I am struggling to find arduino firmware or a framework to build arduino firmware from.

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I have been progressively trying to make my rig more autonomous so I can leave it out a whole night unattended, and one of the hurdles I need to overcome is the meridian flip.
My mount is an EQ-5 with Onstep, and I run Astroberry on a RPi4.

It seems like the LX200 driver only allows the mount to go to HA=0, but not past. It just stops tracking once it reaches that point. This means that the criterion in the mount module in Ekos is never reached, so the meridian flip never happens, even when I set a meridian flip at HA=0 or degrees=0. In the indi panel, it's possible to set an offset to stop the mount from tracking BEFORE it reaches HA=0, but this offset does not allow negative values to let the mount go past HA=0.

What I can do, however, is to set 'AutoFlip=on' in the LX200 indi panel, but the issue there is that it doesn't communicate with Ekos at all. That means the mount does not wait until the exposure is done, and it does not check alignment once the flip is performed.

Anyone else with this issue, or someone who has found a way around this issue?

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Hi! I am having the same issue. What did you mean with 'a different version of the mount FW'? I checked and the focuser is enabled in OnStep

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I recently noticed the space on my Astroberry was running out really fast. I thought it was just because FITS files are big, but as it turns out, there was something else using most of the disk space: the logs.
There were a few logs that were a few GB big EACH (Daemon.log, messages.log etc.). Last week I just deleted those and emptied the trash, which worked.
This week however, I had to do it again, and the log files did not show up in the Trash bin. As a consequence, there was no freed up space available on my Astroberry, and my session was cut short because the system ran out of memory, also crashing PHD2.

I have two questions regarding this issue:
1) How can I get the freed up space back?
2) What is spamming the log files?

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I finally received my camera, and it seems to work with Astroberry!

I was wondering about the step where you mention in the 'mount' tab, the tracking should be 'on'. Why is that? Doesn't the Star adventurer track by itself when set to the right tracking speed? Or is the tracking supposed to be turned off, and will Ekos just 'push' the tracker along?

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Is there a reason to use PHD2 and Ekos rather than just Ekos?
I still don't understand how all different tools can work together at the same time...

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Im amazed by how helpful people are on this forum!
This write-up convinced me to go buy a guider setup! Thanks!

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Hi!

So, Ive been doing astrophotography with my DSLR and a Star Adventurer for a bit now, and I would like to upgrade to an autoguider setup.
I was thinking about a ZWO ASI120MC-S with a 30mm f4 scope.

Now, my question is: Would this setup work? I have read bad things about connecting the Star Adventurer with Ekos, but I also see a lot of people guiding with the Star Adventurer.

This is my final question before I can order an autoguider setup with confidence :)

Thanks!

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gilesco wrote:
I think he means Australian dollars, and it was meant as an April fool. :)

There is plenty of good second hand stuff out there for well under $500 which still retails as expensive. So, with a bit more sincerity, there are ways to do Astro Photography on a budget and still get good results, I started with basic kit, some second hand, some new, and as funds become available I upgrade everything, I intend to let some of my older stuff go second hand as well, but so far I'm still accumulating.

I don't want to hijack the thread, but in short, the more you spend (wisely), the better the results you're likely to get, and perhaps the fewer problems you might have - especially when it comes to all the issues you can have with guiding, auto-focusing, etc...


Yeah, I know. There are cheap options, but money definitely matters in this hobby. I always try to cheap out any possible way but it usually has (quite) some backlash and sometimes turns out more expensive.


Anyway, it seems like the 120MM/C-S would work. Unfortunately, I have only (rarely) found usb 2.0 options. But even new they're still affordable.
Next up is finding out how to setup my Star Adventurer to communicate with Ekos, but thats for another topic :)

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If that 500 rule is true, I might as well quit (astro)photography right now, because I do not have that kind of budget at all :(

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Ooff, I underestimated the cost of astrophotography again.

I was looking for a guide camera that costs less than 200 euro. I guess the ASI120MC-S would be right in budget, but that's a color version.
Would having a color camera be that big of a problem for guiding? I wouldn't mind having the option to shoot planets as well, for which color is recommended.

Just to make sure: If I get a USB 3.0 camera, there should be no problem at all? Does that also count for other brands?

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Hi!
I made the switch to astroberry a while ago to start autoguiding. I have been saving some money and wanted to buy a guiding setup soon.
The ZWO ASI120MM/MC/... seem like very popular choices, but by the looks of it, they aren't officially supported on linux by ZWO.
Next option on my list is Omegon 1200b M, but the specs also mention it is compatible with windows, not linux.

So my question is: what are the options for a cheap and reliable guide camera?

Any help is much appreciated!

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