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pesa

Beta Tester
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Posts posted by pesa

  1. My observatory is at site with several scopes. We actually have broadband there so no problem with access to my NUC.

    In your case you could either get a Line carrier as suggested or just get an access Point to the nuc in your observatory.

    Come to Think of it, Intel has a small wifi-card you can put in the NUC, might be the best solution if Line carrier does not work. (Both sender and receiver needs to be on the same phase for it to work I Think)

     

    Intel NUC used to have a very annoying bug, you needed to have a screen attached to it. That is fixed now.

    I dont have a screen at all for the nuc but instead use teamviewer from my IPad when I'm at the observatory. Works fine.

     

    Pelle

  2. Hi Mike

    I use teamviewer. It works great.

    My remote observatory is about 30km away and I have no problem at all with controlling it with TW.

    Other things are more likely to be problematic, since USB was invented by the devil (apperently) you are more likely to have that kind misfunction. Like having to unplug/plug-in the camera if maxim looses Connection (common problem for me).

    For you thats no biggie since you just have to walk out in the near garden and handle it. (unless you live in versaille castle)

    I handle it by having a networks switch for camera Power (tellstick, works great). So not a major problem for me unless I try to do a pointing model,then typically maxim hangs when theres 4 stars left.

     

    pelle

  3. Hi

     

    As I wrote above, is that possible ?

    Specifically for me, I have hard to understand tracking error - usually in dec - and I have no servo error reported in autoslew.

     

    Shouldnt ANY pointing error caused by inbalance or Cable drag result in servo error reported?

    Put it this way: could misbalace or Cable tension cause pointing error WITHOUT autoslew reporting servo error?

     

    Setup is extremely ridig, Concrete filled pier that is on solid rock. Tube is N10 so that should be very stiff as well. Secondary is firmly locked.

    Pole error is 1.0'/0.3' rec/dec. Small camera/filter Wheel on ok3Z.

     

    same tracking error with/without MLPT.

     

     

    pelle

  4. Thanks Mark/Christer for your relies.

     

    My trying fix ovals/drops turned out to be akin to stearing a car with the rear view mirror. The tube was astigmatic which led to ovals/drops of different orientation depending on which side of focus I was on. Even a small deviation from ideal focus resulted in ovals/drops. No wonder collimation couldnt fix my problem. 

    Perhaps depending on non-ideal seeing (never below 1.5',often 2.5') and possibly astigmatism Sequence's AutoFocus doesnt work well. The Misfocus then resulting in oval stars.

    ASA has taken back the tube for adjustment without fuss. Kudos for that!

    Now I'm praying for a Quick return since theres really good weather now!

     

    pelle

     

    Edit: I use the latest beta of sequence, 208

  5. I've been zooming in on forum users images taken with 10N/12N.

    All of you have better collimation than me.

     

    Do you get that good collimation only with glatter and eventually tublug?

     

    Sofar I've recentered center marking (was 1.5mm off) I use a perfectly collimated glatter laser and tublug.EXTREMELY CAREFULLY)

    I will also use catseye autocollimator soon.

     

    I would appreciate any tips any of you can give me because I'm nearing desperation.

    Mechanically I Think all is appropriately tight.

    My collimation error is pretty much constant over whole sky and does not depend on mount-error (same error even with 0.5s)

     

    Sharpness isnt spot on either  I know ( an 41cm RC at same location got seeing of ~1.5') that night.

     

    Here is an example, pixelscale is 1.36'/pixel. ASA N10+atik460 bin1, 0.95 wynne

     
    As you see there are 2 errors, all stars are drop formed and the big star at lower right has double diffractions from spider vanes (8).
     
    Any  thought Before I give up and pay someone (anyone interested ? :D ) to travel here and collimate for me?
     
     
    pelle

     

    zoomed errors.jpg

  6. Nigel,

    very dark indeed!

     

    can you give a rough estimate of seeing in terms of possible resolution might have bin? perhaps 1.5" ?

    What is a normal value, 2" (fwhm) ?

     

    At my obs I might get 2 twice a year! 3 is more usual. All numbers are rough esitmates but not far off I think.

    Woluld be interestng to hear what other folks get....Any takers?

     

    pelle

  7. Thanks for the answe Gerald,

     

    my tublug is 2", much better than 1 1/4" ofc

    You mention centering the secondary as seen with a cheshire but do ASA move secondary mirror (not holder ofc) straight down from focuser?

    If you slide the secondary parrallel to its surface (so a laser doesnt hit it in its center) it shoulnt be exactle centered in the cheshire,right?

     

    With the help of the swedish reseller I was able to get a decent collimaion by taking shots with camera in place and then adjusting one screw at a time. Quite effective.

    Later we will try to fine tune it with catseye xlk.

     

    One thing you didnt adress is the extra diffraction spikes you see in the image. Doesnt ASA check both mirrors before shipment?

    As I mentioned I never got the test protocol that you mention in the brochure.

     

    Pelle

  8. Hi

     

    I have an ASA 10N astrograph on an ASA DDM60Pro mount. I received it in this january. I use ASA's 3" wynn Corrector (x0.95) No guiding.

     

    I've never been able to get (even Close to) perfect images with it.

    I've tried with glatter laser from asa (not perfectly collimated collimator!) and TUBLUG.

    Since laser isnt perfectly collimated (and I dont use ANY force when fasten it with screws) its hard to judge when laser hits middle of primarys triangle. Supposedly, thats not critical. Correct?

     

    With Tublug I collimate primary to move triangle to tublug's center, as well as I can judge. Obviously my judgment isnt good enough cause eggs remains

     

    I will try cats Eye later but descriptions how to use it seems to be somewhat dependent on secondary placement so that will be Another difficult excercise (I've read somewhere here on forum that ASA moves secondary down to avoid assymetric vignetting (as they should)

    However it isnt clear to me if they just moved it down or moved it parrallel to seconday Surface, that makes a difference for how to use cats Eye and other Tools like sight tubes, I THINK at least.

     

    As you notice I'm not very knowledgeable when it comes to collimation. I'm not very interested in it but now I have to. This is NOT what I wanted, I bought with a hefty premium for a newtonian precisely so I DIDNT have to figure all this out myself.

     

    Makes me wonder about their quality Control. Also Orion optics can be a bit sloppy from Reading this forum.

    The tubes where described by asa as having tested mirrors with accompanying protocol. I never got any protocol and I strongly suspect my primary is faulty.

     

    Now my question is this, how much of these problems/thoughts do you share?

    My experience is not completely negative tho, I had a focuser thrashed by not being careful when unscrewing Corrector but they sent a new one without hitting me with a charge. Kudos for that.

     

    I have read all threads here I can find about eggs and diffraction patterns but I'd appreciete your feedback about my image as well:

    is the eggs likely caused by bad collimation and is extra fiffraction spikes due to faulty primary?

    Any help/thought is appreciated

    Pelle

     

  9. Come to Think of it, even if mount isnt part of the problem I'd like to know the answer to my original question:

    Is there any situation (no guiding) when you have a good (enough) pointing model when bad shape stars resulted from ex. bad balance WITHOUT autoSlew reporting servo errors?

     

    anyone?

     

    pelle

  10. George,

    I'm not guiding and when I look at images I see that the problem isnt the mount, or at least not only the mount.

    The images are consistent no matter direction (of scope) and vega at 0.001s showed eggshape as well.

    Every image shows eggshapes but direction of trail isnt totally uniform, But Close.

    My scope is ASA 10N astrograph.

    Main mirror is glued and doesnt move. Collimation is made with a tueblug+ glatters 2" laser. I dont Think I can improve upon collimation with those tools at least.

    This makes me wonder if the wynn Corrector (also asa) is defect, has that happened to anyone here?

    Sorry about the irregular capsm dont know why this forum editor does that.

     

     

    Also, anyone have an idea why I get so weird diffraction spikes?

     

    pelle

  11. I have a problem with egg shaped stars wich I thought was collimation error, now I suspect mount but that doesnt seem completely logical either since autoslew doesnt report any position errors.

    Therefor I wonder if bad balance (its far from perfect) cann reult in egg shapes even if autoslew doesnt report any errors?

    pelle

  12. Hi

    When creating pointing files I have had the problem of slew resulting in scope pointing downwards a couple of times so I click on stop to avoid pier collision. I dont fully understand why since I'm pretty sure I did chose correct side of pier when asked, might be wrong though.

     

    However, this is not why I post: why do I ever have to pick correct side of pier??

    I have newish DDM60 with absolute encoders, I normally start with "find home markers" then goto park2 just to make sure software dont misunderstand position.It doesnt.

    Sometimes I start (directly after Power on) with goto park2 just to see if mount knows approximate position. It does. After that I do find home markers.

     

    So at that point there could be absolutely no uncertainty for software about position.

     

    Still I sometimes get the dialog with 2 images, "choose side of pier"

    How can software at that time NOT know which side of pier it is?

     

    Pelle

     

    Edit: Also when slewing sometimes mount makes a meridian flip without asking although I have "ask" checked. Can my mount be faulty?

  13. Hi

     

    I have camera (atik), focuser (lakeside) and filterwheel (SX) attached to computer through the DDM-60's built-in HUB.

     

    Camera freezed sometimes, same with focuser and filter Wheel.

    Atik forum blåmes the hub, "attach to computer directly instead of via hub and you get no problems", its true I get fewer problems that way but at the price of Cable entaglement.

     

    Do any of you recognize having problems with the built-in hub?

     

    Even better would be if someone actually knows whats going on with USB.... Many ppl have problems with hubs in general, why IS that?

    Some hubs works better,true, but once you have a good hub (as I suppose is inside DDM60 Pro) is it really up to programmer (weather using virtual com port or straight USB) to do something special when a hub is attached??

    And for that matter EVERYONE runs usb-hubs wether they are aware of it or not since there is an internal hub in the pc.

    Is it 2 ubs after each other that is the problem? The standard says that you can stack up to 4 hubs.

     

    If anyone can shed the smallest amount of light I'd be grateful

     

    Pelle

  14. Hi again!

    Mark, I forgot to test your sugestion with simulator mode.  I tried both Ascom mount simulator and starting up mount without Power. In both cases same problem, Arrow keys doesnt move yellow circle in TSX. (Theres no slew keys in TSX that I can find)

    Seems my question doesnt belong here after all, must be some problem with Ascom.

     

    "What other problems" you ask... (remember, you asked for it :)

    • Polar adjustment: Observatory is 70km WNW of Stockholm, Stockholm had 2 hours sun in november, about same for nights.
    • Still not 100% sure if I got the PA routine right. My thought is to create the pointing file from home some clear night, then drive there some other night for turning the red nobs.
    • My new ScopeDome has some problems, It can refulse to stop rotate --> I have to drive a long bit if that happens. Probably fixed now but not 100% sure. Cant connect it via remote Power switch either since residual current breaker stops 230V imediedtly. Might be of my making. Everything else with SD ouzes quality including customer support which is increadibly good (support via Skype and teamviewer). I very much recommend them!
    • Sequence generator Pro hangs while downloading images sometimes. This is a really nasty one.
    • I sometimes loose Connection with lakeside focuser, no idea why. If I use LakeSide utils to bypass Ascom it works fine but no autofocus then. Again, a really solid Product, I dont want this to reflect badly on him, His support is also very good.
    • The term "remote observatory" is spot on for me, it feels quite remote every time I have to drive there.
    • This last one is extremely whiny, I know, but here goes. If we decide for restaurant or whatever in advance, sure as HELL that is the one clear evenng that month.

    Pelle

  15. Mark

    • I tried other start-up roitines without involving POTH (I use POTH otherwise since then I can start both dome and mount from it)
    •   first AS (start motors,home find) then start TSX (connect telescope)
    •   first start TSX (connect telescope) then go over to AS (start motors, homefind)
    • No Ascom dialog, scope is configured in TSX
    • In both cases I can select star in TSX, slew, the yellow ring moves to the star (red ring)
    • In neither case does the yellow ring (emblem) move away from red ring when I use the slew Arrows in AS
    • This is driving me nuts! And this is just one of the problems I'm battling.
    •  
    • Any help would be appreciated!

    Pelle

     

    PS, in neither case (nor if I start with POTH) does Ascom dialog appear, that is already

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