[Control of mirror covers by external software]

I Use lesvedome for my roof, but it can also controll all kinds of cover.

it is a DIY based on a wellman USB card (K8040 if i remeber) but works super!

 

/Daniel

[New DDM60 owner noob question on initial AutoSlew setup]

Regarding the GPS - Try downloading Ublox GPS software, i needed to coldstart my GPS with that software once before autoslew recognized my ublox.

 

is your settings of where your CW-shaft is pointing correct?

[New DDM60 owner noob question on initial AutoSlew setup]

What GPS are you using?

I have made several videos on how to making sky model and sequences etc. On my Youtube channel: https://youtube.com/c/ExoPhotography1

Maybe one of those will help

 

Regards / Daniel

[Sequence Autopoint PointingError.pox]

Check my videos on my youtube channel, i make a MLPT in every sequence i do.

check one of my older videos ”running a complete sequence”

https://youtube.com/user/Corpzez

 

/Daniel

[Measuring filter offset - How do you do it?]

Hi!

I am wondering how you are measuring the offset between your filter to get good and reliable readings.

I have on two different occasions measured each filter five times, and noted the "final focus position" in the autofocus routine in sequence, and then compared them with my L which is the reference filter.

Even if I take five readings of each filter, and average them out - i still don't get perfect focus compared to L.
This routine takes about 30-45 minutes - can it be the temperature which changes the focus point during this time?
To my knowledge - there isn't any other way to do this right? I know that N.I.N.A has a built in "filter offset" measuring routine.
There would be one way to work around this "problem" - new focus for each filter change... but the only setting in Sequence I have come across is "Focus every XX minutes"

How are you measuring your offset?  

/Daniel
 

[Sequence continue after PARKING TELESCOPE and CLOSE DOME]

Thanks for the heads up!

do you think that if you hadn’t been in a focus routine, everything would have been ok with the shut-down?

[ASA DDM85A]

It should be this one: 

 

[ASA DDM85A]

Have you been looking at mine 😂

(Exo Photography on YouTube)

no sound but I have recorded how I make my autopoint and calculations.

[Ascom 6.5 SP1 good to go?]

Thanks, I Will try it out

[Ascom 6.5 SP1 good to go?]

Anyone running the 6.5 SP1 release together with latest Autoslew and Sequence 2.1.1 or 2.1.3 which can confirm that it works?

/Daniel

[ASA DDM85A]

Have you done a new pointing file? And if, how did you do that? Manual or with Sequence?

 

how many points? How did you calculate the pointing? Have you set a new home find?

[ASA park position]

Sort of on-topic follow up questions...

Is sequence using Park1 position as default when closing a sequence?

I have problems when parking close to 180 degrees S and keeping the CW bar pointing east, I have to set it to 179 degrees.
Even if i set my settings to let the mount pass the meridian with 5 degrees, it won't park my scope at 180 degrees without doing a flip so that the CW bar is pointing west instead.. Anyone know why?

/Daniel
 

[Autoslew - "Ascom slewing" stuck]

The story continues...

I checked the balance again, and in both axis, both in the eastern and western part of the sky, both at 40 degree alt and 75 degree alt.
In all of the places, the balance is just 0,1-0,2 amperes off at most, so the balance is one of the best i have ever pulled off.

I also checked the motor log for autoslew, there is a bit high current, sometimes going up to 4 amps, so there is some issue - BUT, autoslew has during theese days never showed servo error or pointing error, not once! 

This time, it suddenly stopped in the middle of an MLPT, it did the meridian flip as i should, no problem there.

But the same error as the three last nights occured - it sais, in sequence, "ASCOM slewing" - but there is no slew going on.
Both Sequence and Autoslew became non-responding.

I feel more and more confident that this isn't a balance issue, but a software hickup.

Has anyone seen or experienced something like this before?

Have I set some kind of troublesome setting?

The screenshot is from where all stopped for me. I couldn't open sequence to get that in the screenshot as it was non-responding, but the "autoslew" icon was flashing blue, stating a slew is in progress.

/Daniel

[Autoslew - "Ascom slewing" stuck]

Hi!
Tha last two nights, I had priobem with Autoslew crashing (Not responding).
Both times, it has been when the mount is close to make an meridian flip - the first time, it wen't ok, last night, it didn't. I don't know if this has anything at all to do with my mount beeing close to the meridian thoguh.

Sequence sais in the bottom left corner that "Ascom Slewing" - but the mount it not slewing at all.
Autoslew logs is looking ok (a bit to high current but no error), The last 5 minutes in the log before the crash is attatched)

As you can see, the log sais nothing about making a slew at the timestamp 20:31:20, but in sequence it does. One thing i did notice was that the log in sequence usually sais "Pierside" after the slewcommand is sent, but not for the last slew, which failed.

Has anyone an idea what this might be? Autoslew problem? Ascom? Sequence?
I Have not seen this before, and now, two nights in a row.

I do how ever change the RA counterweight to even out the balance ever so slightly three nights ago, but the current looks better now than before???
Can this have something to do anyway?
It is also between -15 and -20 degrees celcius, so a bit cold... but haven't been any problem before.

/Daniel

 

20:26:06.047: Axis 1 slewing to 0.79
20:26:06.072: Axis 2 slewing to 13.10
20:26:08.080: Axis 1 Pos:+000.80° Curr:+03.3A MagAng:+125° PosErr:-02.35arcsec
20:26:09.279: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.48arcsec
20:26:14.380: Axis 1 Pos:+000.82° Curr:+03.4A MagAng:+125° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:15.624: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.0A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.06arcsec
20:26:20.729: Axis 1 Pos:+000.85° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+125° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:21.973: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.1A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:26:27.079: Axis 1 Pos:+000.88° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+126° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:28.318: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.1A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:26:33.418: Axis 1 Pos:+000.90° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+126° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:34.663: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.1A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:39.758: Axis 1 Pos:+000.93° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+126° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:41.007: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.06arcsec
20:26:46.103: Axis 1 Pos:+000.96° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+126° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:47.347: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:26:52.453: Axis 1 Pos:+000.98° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+127° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:26:53.691: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:26:58.787: Axis 1 Pos:+001.01° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+127° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:27:00.030: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:27:05.126: Axis 1 Pos:+001.03° Curr:+03.5A MagAng:+127° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:27:06.366: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:27:11.471: Axis 1 Pos:+001.06° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+128° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:27:12.715: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:27:17.816: Axis 1 Pos:+001.09° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+128° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:27:19.064: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:27:24.165: Axis 1 Pos:+001.11° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+128° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:27:25.403: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:27:30.499: Axis 1 Pos:+001.14° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+128° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:27:31.743: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:27:36.849: Axis 1 Pos:+001.17° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+129° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:27:38.098: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:27:43.198: Axis 1 Pos:+001.19° Curr:+03.6A MagAng:+129° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:27:44.448: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:27:49.548: Axis 1 Pos:+001.22° Curr:+03.7A MagAng:+129° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:27:50.792: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.2A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:27:55.887: Axis 1 Pos:+001.25° Curr:+03.7A MagAng:+130° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:27:57.126: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.06arcsec
20:28:02.227: Axis 1 Pos:+001.27° Curr:+03.7A MagAng:+130° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:03.476: Axis 2 Pos:+013.10° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:28:08.577: Axis 1 Pos:+001.30° Curr:+03.7A MagAng:+130° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:28:09.821: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:28:14.921: Axis 1 Pos:+001.33° Curr:+03.7A MagAng:+131° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:16.161: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:21.261: Axis 1 Pos:+001.35° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+131° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:22.510: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:28:27.605: Axis 1 Pos:+001.38° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+131° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:28.849: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:28:33.950: Axis 1 Pos:+001.41° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+131° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:28:35.194: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:40.294: Axis 1 Pos:+001.43° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+132° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:41.533: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:28:46.629: Axis 1 Pos:+001.46° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+132° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:28:47.878: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:28:52.973: Axis 1 Pos:+001.49° Curr:+03.8A MagAng:+132° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:28:54.213: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:28:59.308: Axis 1 Pos:+001.51° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+133° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:29:00.557: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.06arcsec
20:29:05.658: Axis 1 Pos:+001.54° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+133° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:06.902: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:29:12.008: Axis 1 Pos:+001.57° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+133° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:29:13.246: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.3A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:29:18.346: Axis 1 Pos:+001.59° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+133° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:29:19.591: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:24.687: Axis 1 Pos:+001.62° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+134° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:29:25.926: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:29:31.031: Axis 1 Pos:+001.65° Curr:+03.9A MagAng:+134° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:32.270: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:37.370: Axis 1 Pos:+001.67° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+134° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:29:38.615: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:29:43.715: Axis 1 Pos:+001.70° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+135° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:44.959: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:29:50.060: Axis 1 Pos:+001.72° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+135° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:29:51.304: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:29:56.399: Axis 1 Pos:+001.75° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+135° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:29:57.638: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:30:02.744: Axis 1 Pos:+001.78° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+135° PosErr:+00.06arcsec
20:30:03.982: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:30:09.083: Axis 1 Pos:+001.80° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+136° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:10.327: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:15.427: Axis 1 Pos:+001.83° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+136° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:16.677: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:30:21.777: Axis 1 Pos:+001.86° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+136° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:23.021: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:30:28.127: Axis 1 Pos:+001.88° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+137° PosErr:+00.04arcsec
20:30:29.370: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:34.476: Axis 1 Pos:+001.91° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+137° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:35.715: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.04arcsec
20:30:40.816: Axis 1 Pos:+001.94° Curr:+04.0A MagAng:+137° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:30:42.060: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:30:47.165: Axis 1 Pos:+001.96° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+138° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:30:48.414: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:30:53.515: Axis 1 Pos:+001.99° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+138° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:30:54.759: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:30:59.860: Axis 1 Pos:+002.02° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+138° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:31:01.109: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:31:06.204: Axis 1 Pos:+002.04° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+138° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:31:07.443: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.00arcsec
20:31:12.548: Axis 1 Pos:+002.07° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+139° PosErr:+00.02arcsec
20:31:13.788: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.4A MagAng:+351° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:31:18.883: Axis 1 Pos:+002.10° Curr:+04.1A MagAng:+139° PosErr:-00.02arcsec
20:31:20.087: Axis 2 Pos:+013.11° Curr:+02.5A MagAng:+351° PosErr:+00.02arcsec

 

[Balance issue or bad ball bearing?]

Thanks for your reply.
The scope is a 10" astrograph, maybe 20kgs load total, so the weight is not an issue.
I do might have some radial balancing offset to look into.

Last night went OK though, just made a fine tuning of the balance, changing a small balance weight. and making a new high performance autotune.

I do how ever have a small difference in balance in different positions, i might take the rig down and play more with off set balancing.

I will read the other thread once again

[Balance issue or bad ball bearing?]

I have been struggeling with my DDM 85 with incremental encoders.
I have been balacing the rig to the full extent, the yellow bars are lining up at the "1.6A" view, in almost every position.

But anyway, i get servo error almsot every time during a 5-6 hrs long session.

I have attached the log if anyone care to take a loko at it...

Some questions though - the "position" for each axis, is that Alt/az reported from autoslew? they look somewhat odd to mee as i was photographing the flaming star nebula at roughly 45 degree above horizon at the moment...

/Daniel

Utdrag från motorlogg 2021-01-04.txt

[How to balance a DDM mount - video]

My pleasure, it might help someone

/Daniel

[Focus offset - Measure and setup?]

Thank you for the input, much appreciated!

I did another round of autofocus and this time, I got a totally different result.
I perhaps got my scope a bit better collimated before.
I will also try a third time with new V-slope measurements.

This time it wen't much better and it looks like Ha and O3 is spot on, compared to my reference filter which is L.
RGB is just a hundred of a millimeter off compared to the L so that is good to go.

I will also calculate the distance in steps to have that in hand if i need to try the Maxim DL route.

(Do i need FocusMax plugin for maxim to get that working?)

/Daniel
 

[Focus offset - Measure and setup?]

Hi, I am having some trouble with my focus offset and thought you guys might have som pointers

Equipment: 10" f4 1000mm,  with 3" TSNTRED corrector reducer f3,4 850mm
Astrodon 36mm unmounted filters

So, first of, theese filters are stated to be parfocal, but in my experience, they are somewhat off, either that or it has to do with collimation / altered conditions during the night.

How ever, i took three readings (Autofocus in sequence) and avreged them out per filter, and the autofocus routine says the offset for RGB compared to L is around 0.02 to 0.03mm (if the autofocus routine measures in mm)

The narrowband differs from L like this;
Ha    0.11mm
O3  -0.15mm
S2  -0.13mm

I think theese figures sound a lot to me, specially when astrodon is supposed to be parfocal.

Is there someone here who uses Astrodon, what is your figures?

I do have some more questions i need to get out of my head.
- Can the offset be set as a negative number?
- Is the focus routine measuring in mm? ( at f3.4 is looks like the numbers are to big to hit the CFZ )


Thanks / Daniel

[How to balance a DDM mount - video]

Hi, I have started a youtube video where I cover all sorts of things.
I actually made a video on how to balance a DDM mount, if anyone is interested in watching it
Thought it might be useful for those who are in the market for a direct driven mount as balacing is one of the main questions (to my knowledge).


/Daniel 
You can find the video here: 

 

[Autofocus settings ”new line”?]

Hi, does anyone know what the setting ”make new autofocus after every line” means in sequence?

i want to make a new autofocus when i change filter, not after a certain amount of time, Will this be the right setting?

i can not find anything in the manual.

/Daniel

[Focus with Sesto Senso?]

I have and it works AMAZING!

It is fast as heck, strong as a powerlifter and very exact in its travel.

When i mounted my Sesto on my feathertouch true 3" focuser, it was a breeze to install, and i measured the backlash with a caliper able to emasure 1/100 of a mm, and the backlash was apr. 40 steps where each step is apr. 0.07 microns
I then measured the consistence of the travel and i went back and forth, traveling both 2,3 and 4 cm and the Sesto hit the same 1/100mm each time.

I can only strongly recomend it!

[ASCOM Alpaca - The death of USB problems?]

I have read a bit of the ASCOM Alpaca work that is beeing done, and it looks promising.
The basic idea is that the regular ASCOM platform will be able to talk via an API which is called ASCOM Alpaca, and uses network (wifi, ethernet etc.) interface and is not bound to a specific OS, it will talk cross-platform via the API. (iOS, android, OSX, linux, windows)

The million dollar question is - will ASA jump on this train or stand on the platform waving the train goodbye?

[Windows 10 1903]

Hi,

 

Well P.Keller told me some time ago I should not run any ASA program as admin, I have hade som issue when doing that, no clue why though.

 

Cheers,

//Christer

Hmm, that seems strange as i am 99% sure that i have read some manual PDF that states the program should run in admin mode...

That works for me as i had some problems when i run the program in non-admin mode.

Whatever floats your boat seems to fit in this aspect. 

[Wrong park pos. (counterweight west instead of east)]

What I was told to do was move the scope to a park position opposite to the previous one. So my previous one was CW pointing East and front of scope pointing north. I changed it to CW pointing west and front of scope pointing south then set this as the park position. That was it. Problem solved.

 

Mac

Aha, so your are basically fysically pointing the scope to the wrong opposite position and set those as park position, and then it will slew to the opposite in regards to the newly set park position which will be the right position?