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Hmm, i use the same versions of Sequence, when checkout the log file it sais that the autofocus rutine is using readout mode -1 Do you guys have the same? It also sais the line under "error During making exposure (maxim)" Maybe there is some settings in maxim?

Are you using the latest stable version or a beta? /Daniel

I have the exactly same problem, any news? I have a Atik 460EX, everything works fine exept the autofocus, stops when it requesting readout mode, even when the checkbox under the ccd settings is set to "do not use readout mode" /Daniel

Update - Spot ON! Dead center on my first test slews, M33, M31, M27, M76... all spot on. Now on to the next task - Focusing. This might even conclude that my problems with unreliable connections was indeed the (most likely) active USB-cables. I will do some further testing, i know know that it isn't anything with the mount itself, after all (and good help from you guys) it is spot on and tracking well! /Daniel

Thank you so much

Thanks for the heads up, I will have another go at this. And my settings for CdC and autoslew seems correct as well? (Earlier submitted screenshots)

Yes, the observatory is fixed, and according to the first align i did (4 stars) i am 0.9 x1.2 arc minutes polar aligned. Well, according to the manual, you should do a manual align in Autoslew before making a auto point in Sequence? at least i have reading something regarding that, or should the auto point be able to align even with no star aligned or synched? The settings in sequence is the same as when i did the 40-star auto point that pinpoint did solve. As I understand, the mount should be pointing fairly good before making a auto point, the images is getting the mounts pointing coordinate in its fits header, which pinpoint is reading, and if that image is more than half a plate from the coordinates, it fails? /Daniel

Well, the first plate solve i did, with 40 stars, solved nice and fast (5minutes perhaps) , but that auto point was made with a manual four-star align before the auto point. When i then applied that 40 star auto point, made the mistake to clear that initial four-star align, and then calculated the 40 star auto point. I believe that might was the cause that my pointing was way off (5-ish degrees), hence my question of the epoch settings. So i decided to do a completely new align, i Cleared all pointing settings in Autoslew, made a manual 1-star align in Autoslew, and then continued in sequence with the (way too big grid) 96 star auto point. The auto point routine with all slews, obstacle limits and image acquisition with Maxim Dl 5 pro went very good. But the plate solve was not, way too off i presume (see above log file) - I think I need to do a larger initial align (4-5 star) before the auto point and then apply the new auto point on top of the initial align /Daniel

I also did a visual plate solve, got this log: 356 image stars found. (doing spiral search...) 694 catalog stars found. The time limit for plate solving has expired. 686 catalog stars found. The time limit for plate solving has expired. 665 catalog stars found. Failed to solve plate, possibly due to input plate scale being too far off. And these are the epoch settings for Autoslew and Cdc, these are right huh? /Daniel

Thanks for the tip, how ever, i also tried a 5 star on the east hemisphere with the same result - no plate solved. Next time, i will try to do a manual pointing file with more than one star before doing a auto point. /Daniel

Ok, the slewing/dec axis freeze problem seems to have been solved with the standard USB-cable, so far so good. I accidentally made a 96 star sky model, it took a 40-ish minutes to complete but it was a good run, it achieved it without any problem at all, even the pictures pointing north was good, no trailing visible. This plate solve didn't go well though, not a single picture solved - Do i need to sync to a couple more stars before i begin with the auto point? Was the offset to high? /Daniel

Well, i assume it's all about eliminating things that can cause problems I decided to do a second run with auto point, this time with auto slew reseted before syncing one star, and then go for a 40 star auto point. When checking the pointing to several stars and bright messier objects, i got communication errors with the camera during download as well, so i threw away the second active deltaco usb-cable and run a standard 2m cable to the mount hub. Will test this more during the night! I double checked the clutches and they where both loosened up, what is normal power consumption with a DDM85? i cary such a small load that i had to mill down the 4,5kg weight to 2-ish kg... a 102mm APO with camera and fw is mounted at this point.

might have made an error when calculating the pox-file Before calculating the new pox, I reset the old configuration, this still have to be active for autoslew to calculate the new pointing error after reading the manual...

Well, i think a 5m cable is enough, so i will try that first, it looks like it was the cables after all, i have now completed a 40 star auto point grid with 40/40 succeeded plate solves, the polar error is now 4,5 arc minutes x 2,7 arc minutes, that will do for further tests. I am how ever seeing very strange behavior when pointing north... already after 5sec exposure @ 700mm i see very long star trails, but in the south, i can´t see any trailing at all, and the pointing seems to be very off, even after a 40 star successful plate solve... I am using CdC, is there perhaps any other settings i am missing? J2000 etc.?

I run a laptop (HP elitebook) via an adapter... Might try that anyway. I have just tried what Nigel said, unplug everything, flush the comports in regedit, uninstalled old software and drivers, reboot and begun with only the mount. I had a minor glitch when checking the balance, how ever, this could be a software hickup as well, the mount run back and forth for 10min with just that hickup. Next up, PId under a good twenty minutes, running very well, nice curves and i started to add the fw, worked good and changed filters during PID as normal, next up, camera, as good as the fw. Next to try is the USB_Focuser that i have huge problems with earlier this year... Will report back. What i did changed was an Active, 7m long deltaco prime usb cable, to an regular 2m, that might be the problem as well (although the deltaco cable is brand new) /Daniel

I have a arduino serial driver (CH340) running, and a old EQ direct cable driver. However, the mount have frozen from day 1. I will try to run only the mount. /Daniel

Hi, i am having some strange behavior regarding USB and/or power. First of all, i am having trouble with the DEC axis freezing during balancing and PID tuning, i have tried different Usb cables, active/regular cables, gold plated, both with and without USB-hub, same behavior envy time, so i wan´t to exclude the cable-issue. -the worst case is when i am slewing at high speed in the dec-axis and having i freeze-up during the slew - it keeps slewing until Autoslew starts responding again, with near-crash experience, luckily, i am at the observatory and can stop the mount manually (holding the axis, stopping the camera/fw crashing in the pier) - I don´t know how good this is for the mount (can it cause hardware faults?) The second issue i am having (might be the cause to the freezes?) is that i am having is following; I have connected the 12v power cable to the mount via a power-distribution box witch also the galv cable is connected to, this box is also connected to a voltage meter so i can see what voltage the power supply is distributing. When i shut down the power to the mount, i can still read the voltage, witch is about 2.7 volts. The Usb cables are connected to the computer (the COM-cable directly to one of my computers USB ports and the mounts HUB-cable connected directly to another port on my computer, no hubs. - Am i seeing the voltage of the connected USB- accessories? Is this normal? Is there any current leaks? The power cable to the mount is connected to the power box with the brown wire to 12v+ and the black to neg- The galv cable is connected to the power box with brown and grey to 12v+ and the yellow/green and black to neg- -should the green/yellow cable also be grounded to the pier? I have uploaded a clip of the DEC axis freezing while balancing on youtube - 30sec in to the clip, you can see the freeze. /Daniel

Sounds like a very good idea, and as a total newbee on ASA mounta, i read everything i can get a hold off!

Thanks a lot, why isn't this on ASA's download page? Very good PDF! /Daniel

I have been fiddling, searching the net, doing my own math etc... still can't see what the "Focuser tolerance" is referring to - CFZ? step size? How ever - under the "Autofocus" tab in Sequence, there is a few settings i can't get my head around, specifically the Coarse and Fine focus steps. In the explanation box that appears for two seconds when hovering the mouse over the box, it said that the typically value (in mm) is around 1mm for a f5 telescope with a 10 micron CCD to produce a 20 HFD. I use a f7 telescope with a 4,5 micron ccd, in my head this will be; for a f7 i divide the 1mm f5 value by 5, and multiplies by 7 - this gives the f7 1,4mm for the 10 micron setup. 1,4/10 micron multiplied by 4,5 gives 0,63mm - am i thinking right or am i taking short-cuts? /Daniel

Thanks for the report! Really hoping for the new software supports the "old" mounts! /Daniel

I'll third? that! /Daniel

Hi, is the focus tolerance that you can define in Sequence under "Hardware" the mechanical smallest movement of the focuser? I have been searching the manual but couldn't find anything. /Daniel

That sounds good, i am almost ready to fire my first shot here from Sweden. Got my losmandy plate yesterday /Daniel

Will doublecheck that again, my first thought was bad mounting (vixen dovetail) and a sloppy mirror, in conjunction with to short slew settle, but i will take a closer look at the PID when facing around 30deg N and 35Deg Dec... /Daniel