lukepower

Alright gentelmen, I am sort of hard headed when I want to get to something. I was able to compile an AutoIt-script, which basically does the following: Brings Sequencer to focus Hits the "MLPT" button Sets the duration to 120 minutes (now for the test its fine) Hits the start button waits till the "Send to Autoslew" button is enabled, then clicks it This should do the trick. Please note that I have attached a 32 bit and 64 bit version - on my 64 bit windows just the 64bit version works. If anybody has a chance to test it, they're welcome. I'll add the variant where you pass the duration as an argument later. Download: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o1e8gznaf1tlmde/AAA6kXF8VQnaeeZal32uneXya?dl=0

Lluis, Try different usb cables, and usb hubs in case the tuning doesnt help. Do you loose all connected usb devices or just the mount?

Hi guys, Im bringing back an old topic. Right now I am running a total of three ddm mounts remotely in Europe and Namibia, and we need more automation. Sequence is working nice, but its no match if compared to ACP. Regrettably, there is no easy and safe way to make MLPT runs with Sequence for external use. I mean, say you/ACP or whatever want to image a target for two hours. I would need either a scriptable interface, or command line ( like "sequence.exe -mlpt 120") to be called from my scripts. In ACP there is a suitable hook so nothing to change or pay there. For ASA it would be an easy task ( maybe 5 minutes of coding). I would be willing to pay something for it if that helps. Lukas

I found this: http://www.astrosysteme.com/asa-2-0-revolution-auf-der-ame/ Well, one line actually...

Interesting. I agree with Nigel that it seems that there are two directions going on - for permanently mounted systems, most of this would not add much usability (other than the absolute encoders, right). Reminds me a bit what Meade is doing with their latest mounts, also using a dedicated camera for alignment. Damn, at least they could say what happens with the existing customers with existing mounts...

Well... It smells to me like they made a rewrite of the code... At least that would explain why the beta versions are also a little outdated, with most bugs not addressed...

Hm, had a look at their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/astrosysteme/photos/pcb.834511556648037/834511453314714/?type=1&theater The pictures indicate something about ASA 2.0."one full software for the best hardware"... Let's wait and see

Have a look at the diagram Autoslew makes when tuning the PID manually. If the values there are quickly stable, you should be fine. If, afterwards, you still have trouble then it might something mechanical in your OTA...

Hi Daniel, I would (sorry for saying this again) first check carefully the balancing in all positions - especially in those you say you had poor tracking and long settle times. This of course has also to do with the PID values, however in a prefectly balanced system - and no wind - the PIDs should be fine no matter which position you have. Anyhow, you could also try to slew to the bad positions and try to perfect your PID values there - at least that's what I'd try first. Good luck Lukas

Well, for sure a nice new spot. Too bad they - like most others - don't publish the hosting costs

Hi there, due to some circumstances - mostly my decision to stick to the Cassegrain focus - I would like to sell the following accessories which I don't need anymore: ASA 3" Wynne corrector (x 0.95) ASA OK3Z with controller and cables If wanted, newton secondary mirror of about 40cm x 24cm Best regards Lukas

Well, I am happy when: I get no motor errors the tracking runs smoothly and quickly gets to where it should It's all a matter off stiff mechanics (everything which could move, even slightly, makes things worse) and speed. WIth my 120kgs of equipment, I had to relax a few settings, especially the acceleration, to keep things balanced and currents low enough...

Hi Waldemar (and all others), I have been fiddling on this collimation issue now for months. I got a new adapter from ASA which still won't get me to the right focus, so I rebuilt the imaging train, attaching the corrector to the CCD adapter with screws, hopefully eliminating any tilt in there. I also re-aligned my spider with plenty of work (damnit!). Not having a closed tube sometimes matters, I had to work a long time to get it centered: I first of all used my Cassegrain focus with an inserted laser and checked the beam for being central in the tube. It was slightly off, so I fixed if getting it to +/- 0.5mm in the center of the tube. Then I aligned the spider to the laser - another two-men show with such a big scope. Done that, I added the secondary and checked for the beam getting in the dead center of the corrector. Afterwards, I moved to the Newton focus, added the laser, and checked it getting beamed back through the center of the Cassegrain focus. Quite a task here, but it worked. So in theory, I should have my secondary perfectly aligned in respect to the back of the telescope. Having a Cassegrain main mirror (with a hole in the middle) certainly does NOT helps if you want to collimate a Newton... Anyway, this is the result without any work on the main mirror (which I would have to do under the stars, there is no other way): Any ideas and suggestions are welcome. This is definitively an improvement, and I really hope that the remaining coma and deformations are caused by the main mirror at this point...

+1 to Tim, I have (in the meantime) about 120kgs of equipment on my DDM85XL; and of course the corresponding counterweights. It's all about balance: Especially the radial balance on the outer parts of the tube are critical, and little things like a small O-ring may be needed to get good balance. "More or less in balance" is definitively not an option, trust me. You will have to check balance in every position you can think of: Turn off the motors, move the scope by hand to the new position, turn on the motors and let the balance tool run. Fix the balancing, and go on to the next position. You might need to iterate through this several times as you might find things that cause trouble (like a hanging cable, or a focusing motor on one side of the tube, etc). Well worth the efforts

Yes and no: Basically Sequencer is listening, and the driver sends an unsafe event if needed

Heh, it's up to the coder... In my opinion, it has to work when Sequence is working through a plan: It would not make sense to react to weather events if the system is currently idle - at least from a Sequencer's point of view. You want to make sure the scope gets parked and the roof closed when weather turns bad during an imaging run. And, at least in my case, it worked quite well a number of times by now.

Hm, are you actually testing it during a real Sequence run? I mean, do you have Sequence running a plan, or is it just started with no plan active? At least in the log file there should be a mention if the Status monitor went to unsafe or safe...

I developed once an interface for AAGWare's Cloud sensor, and it is working quite well. One good thing to do is to not fire too often a safe/unsafe event, better to wait that the "safe" situation keeps steady for a minute or so before proceeding with giving that result... Other than that.. no idea ....

Yes to both

Not right now

Yes it has

Edit: I just found out that there would be another free sky solving app around called "Elbrus" (http://www.astrosurf.com/pulgar/elbrus/elbrusin.htm). I am gonna give it a try, it seems it is an option in Sequence Generator Pro so it might be a good and free alternative to PinPoint

Hi Corpze, you can either deactivate the limits or lower them - but beware, the limits are here to avoid that your mount/scope hits the pier in certain situations. What comes to mind on your original question is: Did you power cycle your mount and kept Autoslew open at the same time? Usually you'd need to close and restart Autoslew in those situations, or at least let it re-calibrate the motors. I was using my mount with ACP for a while and then switched to Sequencer and had never a real problem with the limits. Lukas

Beautiful Ron! This moon shot is a nice add to your overwhelming collection of deep-sky images.

Well, I dunno if Philipp Keller will ever implement Astrometry.net instead of Pinpoint. I actually treid both, here is what I would say about them: Pinpoint: Very fast if the pointing is halfway correct (say, not off by more then twice the FOV) Doesn't need a lot of resources (basically only the catalogue) Can use it for astrometry in all forms, supported by most software packages Astrometry.net: Relatively slow - well, slower than Pinpoint when the coordinates are not off by alot. If the pointing is completely off, Astrometry.net will give you a good result after some time, whereas Pinpoint will fail Needs quite some data: You have to download their database, which - depending on your FOV and resolution might be quite some GBs of data Is computationally intensive Is free I actually used Astrometry.net for first pointings when my system was far off from where it should have been, otherwise I am just happy with PinPoint. If you are going to do some research in astrometry (comets, asteroids and so on), then IMHO it is well worth the money. Astrometry.net might be a good alternative, as would a similar package from Planewave be. It all depends on the support coming from Sequence.exe to use those tools...