Josch

According to Wolfgang my problem was that the pixel size in Sequence was not set to the bin 1 size of the CMOS camera I use. I put it to the correct values and it worked. However the resulting POX file did not improve on the pointing of the mount. I need to further investigate the issue. My old pointing file with a few stars in the East is better than a full pointing of the whole sky.

Unfortunately that did not work. I have sent the images and ini files to Wolfgang Promper at ASA and hope he will be able to get a POX file and tell me what is going to be wrong in my setup. Josch

Thanks Stephan for this tip. I will try it out during the weekend. Josch

I am back with the problem that Seqeunce does not solve my Autopoint files. I have a second DDM85 mount in my backyard in Belgium. After I got the Autopointing file working on my remote installation. I took an all sky pointing in my backyard. The difference to my remote site is that I use an QHY600M in 2x2 binning mode over here, I can solve randomly loaded files in MAXIM DL but Sequence does not want to solve them. I have tried several settings for plate solving using GSC1_1 as the catalogue. In MAXIM I can solve as said several images (I did not tst alll though), but Seqeunce refused to solve a single one. My scope is a C14 Edge HD with reducer to f/7 (2780 mm FL). Any ideas? What should the parameters for the plate solving be? Thanks for any help. Josch

Hi Stephan and Mark, thanks for your replies. Actually I had some worng settings in Sequence and most probably the problem was due to the fact that I choose UCAC4 as catalogue for the Plate solving. It worked with GSC1_1. Hence problem solved. Regards, Josch

Hi, just saw this conversation. Some days ago my scope was collimated and the previous pointing file which was created with Sequence 0.2.1.1 does not get good pointing any more. I made a new poiting session with Sequence and tried to get a Pointing file. I see the bar moving but in the end the POintinng file created just contains "0". THis problem I have on all my WIN10 PCs I tried. Is there a special way of getting the Pointiing file nowadays? The last successful Pointing file is from 3 years ago. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you, Josch

How do you use USB3 cables on USB2 devices like CCD? The B type connector on USB3 is different to the one on USB2. Josch

Hi, is there anybody out there having the problem to lose the CCD once in a while? I am having this problem even though I connect the CCD with MAXIM and make an image nevertheless when the CCD should cool say one h later the connection is lost. I need to disconnect and reconnect and all is fine again. It happens randomly. I have used different USB cables, but that seem not to solve the issue. I have now read the first time about this SIlex item and wonder if this would help. Unfortunatly rather expensive to give it a try. My observatorz is very remote in Chile, so difficult to access. Josch

Hi Nigel, I am running a DDM85 from a remote site in Chile since 2011. If you park the mount and do not power down but only switch off the motors, then there is no need to do a homefind every night before the start of the session. Only if you loose power a homefind using an IP Cam is necessary. No need for aboslute encoders. I run literally every night and am sleeping when the whole system starts and gte data. Of ocurse nothging is fool proof and sometimes the annoying thing is that MAXIM looses connection to the CCD randomly (like last night) and I loose half of the night as I check when getting up in the morning. Josch

Hi there is a user in this forum (Denis Vien.) who seem to use PRISM together with an DDM85. I am not sure though he uses Sequence as well. Josch

Wat is exactly your park position in AS? If you are below the parking below the pole, then this might cause some problems. I had similar problems with AS in the Southern hemisphere. Maybe if you try different park positions to find the one where the problem does not exist will help. Josch

Thanks guys, I will try thi out tomorrow although I have done it before. Anyway thanks for your help. Regards, Josch

Apparently those PDFs are not accessible any more under the link put into Google search. I see a lot of PDFs but those I tried to read are not found. I am fighting with the problem to connect to The Sky V6. Whatever I try it tells met the TeleAPi Failed to create or open the plug-in's registry area. Any idea what could solve this. Actually it worked only once but since then no longer and I do not recall what has been changed. Can anyone tell me where I need to search for the TeleAPi DLL? Just to check whether the DLL is found at the correct spot. Thanks, Josch

Hi Waldemar, I tried astrooptik server, Generic hub and POTH. Either I get a long error message or the one I posted before. None of them worked. I am using The Sky only for some positions of stars I get automatically iva CCDC or for comets which I obsreve for an astrobuddy. Otherwise only for SYNCING. Before going to Sky X I would try Prism. Thank you for your help. Regards, Josch

Hi, I am unable to connect Autoslew, CCDCommander and The Sky V6 Whatever I choose in the TELEAPI of the SKy it tells me Failed to create or open th plug-in's registry area. Depening on the choosen connection it tries to open a 2nd occassion of Autoslew, which of course is also not working. The is no problem via POTH to connect CCDC and Autoslew, but to add The Sky to the suit does not work (even via POTH). It is also the same whether I start The Sky as admin or not. Any idea? Thanks for your help. Regards, Josch

Hi guys, by screening the different replies in the Software section I found the renoval of the license key and how to copy all settings to a new PC. Thanks to those who had poisted this. I could get the mount up and running last night. Now I will tackle the pointing as for many images it is close to perfect but for others 25 arcmin and more off. To get ASCOM to work again was a pain in the neck. Probably the update was to their aniiversay edition as the look and feel is different to my Win10 home desktop. Before the update it was the same. Anyway it was tunring in circles and only after putting an WIn10 image on the new PC and extrcting the necessary files Windows needed to unlock the Net.Framework 3.5 it worked. I will prepare a new pointing model during the next night so that also pointing should be better again. Thanks all of you for your swift help. I should also mention that ASA reacted immediately to my mail sent to them this morning sending me a document explaining how to remove the serial key and to copy the settings from on to another PC. It was the same as already posted in this forum. Regards, Josch

Hi, I am the one running a DDM in Chile doing variable stars. I am using on my DDM85 however Autoslew, CCDCommander and MAXIM. Occasionally also the Sky V6 (e.g. to get info about comet positions which change every night). I also know Prism. Indeed it contains everything you can imaging. It makes it also a bit more complicated. It comes with the NOVA direct drive mounts. We also have one in Chile but presently having problems with the scope. I am impressed about the pointing acuracy of the Nova mount. My DDM85 is really getting a pain in this direction. I need a lot of plate solvings during night and still pointing is somethimes far off. It is getting worse with time I have the feeling. Of course I am not often doing a new all sky model (actually the last one was begin of 2015). I am now installing a nw WIN10 PC. I checked it yesterday with simulator mode and it worked. Tonight WIN10 did a installation and today switching physically the PCs I could not get ASCOm to work. IT took a couple of hours and the help of my son to get it working. But now the DDM85 does not want to do what I want. e.g. homefind. It always stops. I have tested it with a DDM85 from home in Belgium. Now Autoslew has the wrong serial code. Could that be the problem? How to change the serial code? Regards, Josch

I do not use ACP nor guiding, but if guiding always goes in wrong direction of X I would try to check reverse X in MAXIM. Josch

HI, as it seems there might be a problem with AS 5.2.1.9 (which is the only version one can download from the ASA website) and WIN10, where do you get older versions? I am going to prepare a new PC and wanted to try the new AS version. So far I run 5.1.1.6 without problems. Thanks for your help. Josch

Mark, I am impressed about your performance with only 3 stars. However I am sure nobody of you guys is using the DDM85 as I do. I like the speed of the mount and do cycle many stars in a series. I do about 800 slews during a night and have 800 to 1000 images of about 40 variable stars. Hence I need the speed of the mount to move around, but also the precision to get the field centered each time I go to a new field. All is controlled by CCDCOmmander which is the best and easiest automation program for my work. I have used ACP and CCDAutopilot in the past, both are much too complicated to do the same as with CCDC. Anyway in my case pointing precision is important as I always change field every few minutes or even seconds. I never use MLPT. My focallength is 2.7m and the CCD is a FLI ML16803 (very good camera, I only can recommend FLI). However I do like you guys do with the pointing models. Maybe one has to prepare several models throughout the year as the fields move around the sky during a years time. Regards, Josch

Hi, I am also having issues with Pointing. I did a pointing model one year ago and see that pointing deteriorated during the past year. I am still using AS 5.1.1.6 as I have a running system and not many problems, so hesitate to upgrade to the newest AS version. I have seen the video and was impressed about the pointing accuracy. So far whatever I did I am always a few arcmin out of center. Hence I would actually like to know the corect sequence of steps to make a new pointing file with Sequence and use it. So far I always used the previous pointing model and cleared it before I applied the new one and then did a new find new homeposition after puting a star in the center and synch on it. Any help is appreciated. Regards, Josch

I am pretty sure it is Park position 1. But how can you use Sequence for running a full night's session? I use CCDCommander for that. Josch

Hi, if I look at the ASA homepage under downloads for the DDM85, I still see the latest version of AS being 5.1.1.6. This is the version I run since a while (maybe 2y or so). Here on the forum new beta versions seem to be tested (5.2.x). Apparently nothing is released yet at least not at obvious places (ASA homepage). Hence any update would be appreciated (what is the current status of AS, the changes made since 5.1.1.6, release date etc.). I am not frequently looking at this forum so I am not up to date (except I read some posts the past hour). Regards, Josch

Hi Ralph, I am using CCDCommander since several years with great success. I am making about 600-1000 images and respectly about 500 slews a night cycling about 10 targes in time series over many hours and about 30 targets in snapshot mode (2 images each target and filter). I do photometry and CCDC is the easiest to use in this context. I have also used ACP but it is much more complicated (and much more expensive). I observe more than 300 nights a year. CCDC can control all your ASCOM compatible devices, runs subroutines and external programs. It can even cope with position errors which still pop up once in a while during slews. It takes 2 sec to reset the error and CCDC wait 5 sec before another slew takes place. Since this is included in CCDC I have not lost any observing run due to position errors. I always sleep or work during remote operation of my observatory. Regards, Josch

Hi, there seems to be no further action on this. I am not a fan of fora as one needs to look what is new. I am not very often visitng the ASA forum. I liked better the old way of getting e-mails from groups. But anyway, I am doing science (photometry of variable stars) since I use ASA mounts (started in 2009). I have a remote observatory under prinstine skies and average 300+ nights of observatons. I like the ASA mounts although I went true many struggles with them and even had to exchange my remote mount due to problems. Since then it works fine (99.99%). I average 30 stars and 500 observations a night, hence 500+ slews. I do not think any other design than a direct drive mount would be able to do so over years. All is controlled via CCDCommander and I sleep or work most of the time the observatory is in operation. Regards, Josch