prefetch

no, i believe he means within maximDL. if i recall correctly, in the camera window, under the guide tab there is a check box you can select to reverse the x,y after a flip. (i also use maximDL, autoslew and theskyx.)

so i think i fixed it. i stopped trying to make auto tune work an instead used manual tune and just picked the "small" OTA option and everything just worked so much better. no more occasional squeaks or whines during slewing and after heavy exercise i never once got a slewing error. really weird, but i'll take it.

i switched to a much lighter scope (a 5" refractor) and so i thought i'd have a lot less trouble with my DDM85, but i seem to keep getting snagged by random position errors. my balance is pretty good. i seem to have plenty of power available to the system. i started logging the errors. has anyone seen anything like this? any ideas? 23:20:33.925: Starting Slew to RA 01.85h DE -08.00d EPOCH 0000 23:20:55.454: Interface setting TargetRightAscension to 7.27 False 23:20:55.485: Interface setting TargetDeclination to 0.00 True 23:20:55.516: Interface ForceNextPierSide = pierWest 23:20:55.516: Interface SlewToTargetAsynch 23:20:55.516: Starting Slew to RA 07.27h DE 00.00d EPOCH 0000 23:20:58.610: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:20:58.610: AliveProgresscount stopped at 100 23:20:59.610: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:20:59.610: AliveProgresscount stopped at 101 23:21:00.610: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:00.610: AliveProgresscount stopped at 102 23:21:01.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:01.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 103 23:21:02.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:02.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 104 23:21:03.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:03.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 105 23:21:04.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:04.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 106 23:21:05.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:05.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 107 23:21:06.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:06.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 108 23:21:07.611: To long sleep of main timer, was reset by controltimer 23:21:07.611: AliveProgresscount stopped at 109 23:21:08.127: Axis DE/AL reported the following Problem: Position Error Position Error during slewing autocorrected by ClServo Position Error correction failed 23:21:08.158: Raising Warning DE Axis: Position Error Position Error during slewing autocorrected by ClServo Position Error correction failed

anyone know the cost of the new DDM60 revolution? looked for a price on the website..couldn't find anything.

the short answer is, if you aren't guiding, then yes, MLPT can be useful, even with a 40 star pointing model in a stationary observatory. not sure what you mean by it being tricky if you run automated. do you use a remote desktop viewer? if so, then it's just the same. if not, then yes, i think it'd be very tricky to use the ASA tools.

daniel, i just want to second what john expressed. balancing (and keeping it balanced) the DDM85 is a big deal (and sometimes nightmarish depending on your payload.) i strongly advise you to start with one OTA and see how you like it - see how it works for you. as far as the saddle goes, you can buy them at optcorp.com (who orders them from ASA) and then you can try to rig something to make it work w/ your OTA. my setup is w/ a C14HD and i've ended up drilling plenty of holes to make it mount properly. unless you go all ASA OTA + mount, i think you need to be okay with the possibility that you'll have to get creative in how you mount your system. that's my $.02, YMMV.

i too would love to know how to upgrade to absolute encoders. homefind is a pain, and my mount gets very confused often between sessions.

just chiming in w/ my $.02 - i fully support this thread, and especially love the idea of open source software for ASA. otherwise i worry that someday my super expensive mount will be a paperweight if one day the software stops being updated. if it's open source, everyone wins. the ASA mount and software is fun and challenging, but it's also temperamental and frustrating. (i actually use a OAG because i find myself pulling less hair out of my head than trying to get the mount to give me the elusive 10 minute subs that i hoped it would give me - i know, i know, i could get them if i wasn't using a C14HD...!) and yes, ASA really should, at least weekly (if not daily) be replying to posts on this forum. not sure who their customers really are - maybe they aren't really selling to hobbyists, so they don't care that much about folks like me, but it just would be really nice to have more communication about things. on a positive note, i do love the beta updates that show up every once and a while - that is very nice. please keep those coming ASA!!

welcome to autoslew hell. :-) i dont have any solutions for you. this has happened to me before, and i'm currently having the same problem and i have no idea how to fix it. edit: i think i fixed it. somehow my home position got corrupted. no idea how that happened - i'm confident i didnt reset it myself. anyway, try checking out this thread: http://forum.astrosysteme.com/index.php?/topic/513-incorrect-altitude-and-declination-in-autoslew/?hl=zenith&do=findComment&comment=2820

beautiful!

30 minute frames guided C14HD, DDM85

>I requested tech support a week ago, still no response....

oops - didn't work out last night for running the flexure tests (they take so long!) i got distracted with jupiter. maybe this weekend i'll get to testing that. but i did make some adjustments and got a 10 minute perfect round star image. when it works, it works. black magic i tell ya.

i did some testing a few months back with my C11, and up vs. down did not show any significant difference in flexure. it's a double lift system, mated with 1/4" steel plate, but still it doesn't take much wobble make a difference. i will test it again tonight up vs. down and report back on what i find. and yes, i'm at 146mm on my backfocus, starting at the top end of the flange threads of the reducer. that took A LOT of work to get right, and a bunch of custom adapters from preciseparts.com. thanks for bringing that up, i appreciate any advice or insights. i'll post a report later tonight on flexure up vs. down.

Luc, i very much appreciate the sanity check. i really want to love this DDM85, but it's kind of driving me nuts. maybe it is the cables. it was definitely sub zero last night, and will be again tonight. the 5" flex was a few weeks ago, but i don't remember if it was freezing at the time or not. that could be the difference. perhaps i should look into get sub zero cables for everything. so i've collimated my scope tonight, and it's much nicer. still can't really do 5 minutes without getting little eggs, but i'm getting the hang of maximDL guiding and it seems to work better for me than PHD for guiding. here's a pic of my system: