Simply horrendous seeing conditions tonight with the full moon and high humidity. However I can report success! With the AUX driver using my home-built USB to AUX interface to the 6SE mount and no HC I was able to autoguide using the ST-4 cable and the On-Camera connection. Autoguding with the NexStar driver and the NexStar+ HC seems to be a bit better than using the AUX driver and ST-4 cable, but not having to deal with the intitial alignment on the NexStar+ HC is worth a lot. Alignment on the AUX driver was a little rocky tonight, but I attribute that to being able to barely see the stars at all with the moon washing out everything and condensation dripping from every piece of equipment including me. I'm looking forward to a better seeing night to really test out the AUX driver set-up.

To review my process for setting up: Without EKOS connected, I use the NexStar+ HC to set the OTA to home position. Then I do a polar alignment with the Polemaster that I have attached to the the pier of the 6SE mount, I also use the HC for this polar alignment. Once the polar alignment is done, I turn off the mount power, detach the HC and attach the USB to AUX adapter. After turning on the power I start EKOS and align with Capture and Solve. Then I go to the target of interest and start autoguiding with the ST-4 connection.

One thing that I have learned is that the presence of the HC at the same time as the AUX driver can cause problems. It may be fine to use the HC connected to the Pi witht he HC's USB port but I haven't been able to avoid difficulties with this configuration. My recommendation is to build a USB to AUX adapter or use the Wifi dongle and to air-gap the HC from the AUX driver.

Mike

Read More...