I had the same problems with dongle on the PC or even with a 2m USB extension. Switched to a 5m extension and now have solid fixes every time for the last year.
Black cable on the ground though with a black dongle on the end led to standing on it during one session and destroying it. Second dongle is now fitted inside a sturdy white plastic drinks bottle that can withstand my size 12's.
Also works for the mini-PC that I switched to - same problem and solution for me.

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Damian replied to the topic 'HEQ5 Guide Problems' in the forum. 1 year ago

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.

File Attachment:

File Name: PHD2_DebugLog_2023-03-15_024112.txt
File Size: 2,782 KB


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Damian created a new topic ' HEQ5 Guide Problems' in the forum. 1 year ago

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.



File Attachment:

File Name: log_04-04-21.txt
File Size: 459 KB


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Damian replied to the topic 'Guiding - Calibration failing' in the forum. 1 year ago

I have an HEQ5 Pro mount and saw similar if I skipped accurate polar alignment. Did you do that as part of setup?

I also run the box in your guide setup at 32, not 128. Just big enough to cover the guide star.

My trains are set up as below:



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Damian replied to the topic 'Temperature Measurement on ZWO EAF' in the forum. 1 year ago

Thanks Massimo.

I only have one other sensor that provides temperature and that's the number returned in FITS from the camera sensor, so I thought it should be simple.

This is running on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Kstars 3.6.2 if that helps jog anyone's memory.

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Damian created a new topic ' Temperature Measurement on ZWO EAF' in the forum. 1 year ago

I just added a temperature sensor to my ZWO EAF v2. My main camera is a ZWO ASI 183MC Pro and is cooled to -10C.
Last night I used this for the first time and seem to have a number of different takes on the ambient temperature.

All at the same time, my garden thermometer says we started at +3.5C.
The EKOS Focus Panel agreed at +3.5C when I started the evening session, but then never changed. It also ended at +3.5C.
The EKOS Control Panel showed the ambient temperature to be -1.46C
The EKOS Analyze Panel show the ambient temperature to be -2.5C

Is there anything else to do to have the ZWO temperature sensor working apart from connect it ?
I set the Limits option to refocus every 30 minutes but this defeats the object of having the temperature sensor which I'd prefer it refocused at each degree C change.

Thanks

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Damian replied to the topic 'Guiding stopped working - Fixed' in the forum. 1 year ago

Yup - it was optical trains.

Jasem I just saw your video on walking through them and saw you had both cameras guide column set to the mount. That fixed it for me.

Leaving this here to help anybody else that missed it too.

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Damian replied to the topic 'Guiding stopped working' in the forum. 1 year ago

OK it seems to be related to the new feature - Imagetrain. If I modify image train so that 120mm is both secondary camera and guide, and select mount for 183MC then at least it tries. Ends up timing out with the following:

2023-01-17T17:50:56 GUIDE DEC: Scope cannot reach the start point after 21 iterations.
Possible mount or backlash problems...
2023-01-17T17:49:54 DEC drifting reverse...
2023-01-17T17:49:31 DEC drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:49:18 DEC backlash...
2023-01-17T17:49:08 RA drifting reverse...
2023-01-17T17:48:38 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:48:38 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:48:38 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:48:22 Autoguiding aborted.
2023-01-17T17:47:47 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:47:47 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:47:47 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:46:56 GUIDE_RA: Scope cannot reach the start point after 21 iterations. Possible mount or backlash problems...
2023-01-17T17:46:02 RA drifting reverse...
2023-01-17T17:45:35 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:45:35 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:45:35 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:45:17 Autoguiding aborted.
2023-01-17T17:44:46 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:44:46 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:44:46 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:43:42 Autoguiding aborted.
2023-01-17T17:43:19 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:43:19 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:43:19 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:42:52 Autoguiding aborted.
2023-01-17T17:42:17 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:42:17 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:42:17 Auto star selected.
2023-01-17T17:29:44 Autoguiding aborted.
2023-01-17T17:22:53 RA drifting forward...
2023-01-17T17:22:53 Calibration started.
2023-01-17T17:22:53 Auto star selected.

How should I configure imaging train please ? I did read all the docs I could find.

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Damian created a new topic ' Guiding stopped working' in the forum. 1 year ago

Almost certainly something I'm doing wrong but .... reaching out for ideas please.

Guiding was working with this rig/mount/cameras under 3.6.1

Update to 3.6.2 and all works except guiding. I have the guide interface, select the right camera. Capture an image OK. I select guide and the activity indicator spins, the Prep yellow light goes on and a few entries in the log fie:
Autostar selected
Calibration started
RA Drifting forward

No plots appear in the charts and nothing seems to move. The attached logs are provided.

I must be doing something wrong but I can't see it. Shame to lose tonight if I can't fix it.

Rig is a Skywatcher 150PDS / ASI 183MC Pro main and ASI 120MM-S guide, 50mm guide scope, all on a HEQ5 Pro.

File Attachment:

File Name: guidelogs.txt
File Size: 7 KB


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I use a 183MC Pro and 120MM-S together.
I select ZWO CCD for both in the setup.
Then in the image train I select the 183 or 120 for the Primary and Secondary trains.
Only combination that works for me with 2x ZWO.

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