Corpze

unfortunately it looks like this doens´t work, or maybe I have done something wrong. i set the new park positions at 189 degree az and 1 degree alt and the counterweight bar fazing east - That didn't work, it wan't to slew so that the counterweight bar is facing west. I then choosed to autoslew to set the counterweight bar to west... that didn't work either... well it worked in that way that autoslew actually did flip the mount so the coutnerweight bar pointed at west. Do i have to save and re-open the program to make this take effect or something? /Daniel

Hi, I have a similar problem; My scope is a f3,4 which have a critical focus zone (CFZ) of 27 microns. My sesto senso / Starlight feather touch combo has a resulotion of 0,0007423mm per step (should be 0,7 microns right?) 32000 steps is a full rotation of the starlight focuser, which is 23,7536mm So, in that case, 1mm should be 1347 steps (32000 steps divided with 23,7536mm) What values for Fine and Coarse do i have to have for the auto focus routine to runs optimal? Is Sequence set to assume 100 steps is 1mm?

Hi, I am trying to find the best settings for the autofocus routine in Sequence. My scope is a f3,4 which have a critical focus zone (CFZ) of 27 microns. My sesto senso / Starlight feather touch combo has a resulotion of 0,0007423mm per step (should be 0,7 microns right?) in the Autofocus "tab" in sequence, when i measure the V-slope, i get a value of 0,83mm in the coarse focus box and half that value in the fine focus box. Isn't theese values far to high to be able to pin-point the focus? What is your typical value for a telescope this fast?

Can't help with your specific question, as i haven't tried it myself. But i don't see why it wouldn't work. I was wondering myself if i can make sequence trigger my ASCOM flat field LED panel somehow :/

Hi. I am having problems with my no.2 park position. No 1 (zenith) works fine, but the second one, which i have set to -1.0 degree Alt and 178 degree Az should be pointing south with the counterweight bar towards east. When i slew, it will flip and point south with the counterweight bar pointing west. Has the setting which i can choose how many degrees over the meridian i can track something to do with this? /Daniel

I was just about to write that you could try change regioon format, the same thing happend to me as well. Also, set every program to run as admin. /Daniel

To bad this site got hacked, it was a gold mine! I do not have time to participate to much i am afriad, but i have some videos on my Youtube channel which i can post along with my workflows if someone will revive the site. /Daniel

May I ask how much the upgrade is? The DEC bearing of my DDM85 standard is probably giving up soon, I can feel small uneven resistance when I am turning the axis. I am thinking of returning my mount for service and upgrade. /Daniel

Thanks for all tips and tricks. I think my new computer is set to serve me well. Windows update was run a couple of times before i started to install all the softwares (Ascom, Autoslew, Sequence, Maxim DL, drivers etc.) and after all sofware was installed, i turned Windows update off USB Sleep disabled Energy settings set to not turn off hdd, hibernate pc and such settings. Anything else i might have missed?

Ok, good to know George!

Hi, how have you guys who runs win 10 set up Windows update and how is it working for you? I am thinking of ftdi drivers etc. Have you turned Windows update off completely? /Daniel

Hi, I am wondering which USB GPS works with Autoslew, i have read that AS works with ublox 6 but there is good ones for low prices that uses ublox 8 with both gps and glossnas, but do they work? Those of you who doesn't have the ASA GPS, which one do you use? /Daniel

Hi. I have been running my DDM 85 for almost three years now and I am really starting to enjoy this mount more and more for every day (Night) I am using it.. The MBTF is now over 90%. I am running a 100% automated roll off roof observatory - and I am wondering over a few things. 1. - The Ascom Safety monitor. If i have setup a imaging sequence, and press "start @ time" - sequence will start the sequence IF the Safety monitor says "SAFE" - If it declares "NOT SAFE" - the sequence will be terminated ("Stop" or "Close All"?) - And it will not give it any more try to run the sequence until i manually terminates the sequence and setup another sequence and press "Start @ time" again? It would be awesome if the safety monitor in sequence could listen if the ASCOM driver says "SAFE" and then starts the sequence. 2. - Script, IFTTT or similar. Can sequence output any string, be scripted or similar to trigger an IFTTT? I Have a home automation system (Vera) for my garden lights and it woul'd be great if I could turn off the lights when sequence starts it's imaging session.

sience i rolled back to win7, i am not sure what was wrong, either my pc who didn't support win10 (dell optiplex 960) or just a huge asa driver flaw. How ever, i installed win7 and haven't got any problems at all sience. Besides from that my Atik 460 died on me a few days ago

Yea i had too many wierd errors, it seemed to be best to install Windows 7 again. I have now 100% perfect 5min subs, even through zenit. /Daniel

I could post a few .trg files tonight when i am at home. But - i think the most important thing is to get a good focus star, and how does Sequence chooses the star? /Daniel

Good to know My ear went pointy when he said that he controlled a Direct drive mount... maybe there are alot of different kinds out there?

Hi, i just stumbled upon a one hour presentation of Prism on the Astro Imaging Channel on youtube. At one moment in the presentation given by the authour of the program he sais "i was running a direct drive mount in Chile with this program" To me it sounds worth investigate, i can't find anything on the Internet though. The program is complete, i mean everything. Sky chart, object chooser, weather, dome control, sequencer, editing... 499USD Anyone know more if this supports DDMs? /Daniel

So... Is this possible to implement in SGPro? I really wanna use a better program than Seq. /Daniel

I have been looking into it a bit and the .xls file that you can export is HUGE - i can't even insert it as code on this forum. There is how ever a script example in AStro planner for running a export script to CCD commander, maybe we can start out from that? I have never scripted before but it shouldn't be that difficult? Here is the script code for CCDc; //- Paul Rodman, Jan 2010 //- //- V1.0 25 Jan 2010 //- Initial Release //- V1.1 25 Jan 2010 //- Minor changes (Juan Gonzalez) //- V1.2 8 Feb 2010 //- Modified for V2 //- V1.3 15 Oct 2012 //- Added ability to choose ID, Name, or Both as object identifier //# Name: CCD Commander Export //# URL: //# Author: Paul Rodman //# E-Mail: paul@ilanga.com //# Category: Export|Imaging //# MinVersion: 2.0 //# Keywords: Export, Imaging, CCD Commander function FormatCoordinate(v as double) as string dim s as string s = format(abs(v),"00.000000") s = left(s,2)+"."+mid(s,4) // Force decimal period (.) while left(s,1)="0" and left(s,2)"0." s=mid(s,2) wend if v return s end function sub main() dim tf as APTextFile dim i as integer dim id,sra,sdec as string dim ob as APPlanObject dim nid as integer = Plan().RestoreValue("nid",0) dim dlg as new Dialog dlg.ChoiceParameter("Object Identifier",nid,"ID","Name","Both (ID_Name)") if not dlg.Show("CCD Commander Export") then return nid = dlg.ChoiceParameter("Object Identifier") Plan().SaveValue("nid",nid) // Create output file tf = APTextFile.WriteFile ("export.txt") if tf=nil then return // Output a line for each object for i = 1 to Plan().nObjects ob = Plan().Obj(i) select case nid case 0 id = ob.ID case 1 id = ob.Name else if ob.Name="" then id=ob.ID elseif ob.ID="" then id=ob.Name else id = ob.ID+"_"+ob.Name end if end select id = ReplaceAll(id,",","-") // Replace any commas with hyphens id = ReplaceAll(id,"/","") // Remove the slash sign id = ReplaceAll(id," ","_") // Replace spaces tf.Write id+","+FormatCoordinate(ob.RA)+","+FormatCoordinate(ob.Dec)+chr(13)+chr(10) next tf.Close end sub The .trg file is quite simple and only uses a few lines - i do not know how to write this script though :/ And we have to get the nearby focus star as well... Hmpf /Daniel

Just downloaded the program (no license so i have limited functionality) and after a quick look it looks like i can export as text document and .xls how ever, you can script Astro planner, am looking into it right now. How does XSLT works? i have never used that before?

Hi, i am looking for a program that helps me choose what object to image. I have been looking into Astro Planner (maybe you have a better suggestion?) One feature of Astro Planner is that you can export your list - but can it export to Sequence? The target file in sequence uses a .trg fiel extension and contains this; <?xml version="1.0"?> <clsTarget xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"> <Name /> <ObjRa>00h53m45,6s</ObjRa> <ObjDe>+56d42m26s</ObjDe> <FocRa>00h25m42,0s</FocRa> <FocDe>+61d55m26s</FocDe> <Comment /> </clsTarget> This should not be that hard to script if possible in Astro Planner right? /Daniel

I am following this interesting discussion. I made a 5 itteration PA following the new tutorial, works very well. I have made a shortlist of all the steps for new beginners; How to Polar align your telescope setup with DDM85 (60?) with incremental encoders. Start Autoslew Motor ON Clear config Homefind Start CdC (or other planetarium) Synch on Star Set new home pos Start Sequence Chose autopoint - 3star east PA Load pointingfile in Autoslew Calculate - choose for Polar Align Center a star near meridian (DO NOT SYNCH) Choose Polar adjust Adjust Alt/AZ screws on your mount Repeat this until you are satisfied with your Polar Align After this, you have to reset the config, synch a star, set a new home position and you are good to go to do a pointingfile in sequence. (or manually) - i have also wondered (don't find this info in the manuals) what "save parameter" actually saves in AS? Is it motor parameters and such? Does it save the home position? - the button "view configuration" does not work, maybe not the right part of the forum to discuss, but what is it for? /Daniel

Just a quick update... Seemed to be win 10 that made all fall apart... No problem what so ever with win 7. Same settings, 5 itteration PA and the last one down to 1,2 arcminute in RA and 0,2 arcminute in Dec :-) Running a 45 star pointing file right now. I have documented all for the wiki.

I tried to unistall and reinstall AS several times, i tried to reset all the com-ports and even unistall/reinstalled all the drivers again with no luck. The pc i use, dell Optiplex 960 isn't supported for win10 either. I will go for win7 now :-)