astrobry

Hi Gerald, Due to a faulty PC in the observatory, I had to fit a new PC and had problems with the ascom driver of my DDM85 mount. Thanks to your solution, it works fine now with the Sky 6.22 and Maxim DL 5 ! Thanks for the great support !! greatly appreciated ! Erik

Hi Mark, That is the solution I am using now. The PC is always on because of all the equipment that stays in service for weather, SQM, allsky and other data collection that is needed. Now I take the mount in service (power on) and reboot the PC.This is how it works now. How this now suddenly appears I do not know.

Hello all, I have been using my ASA DDM85 for about 10 years now and suddenly I have a strange phenomenon. I use my mount all evening with The sky 6, CCD commander and MaximDL. After observing I close all programs and leave my PC on. The power supply of the mount and all peripherals is switched off. I have been working like this for years without any problems. When I switch everything back on the next day and start autoslew, I get an error message from autoslew since a few days: "axis 1 not responding.... please check power and USB connection....". After some trying, the only possibility is to shut down and restart the PC and then the mount does work. The PC is still running on Windows 7, and Autoslew version is 5.2.4.0. Someone has an idea what is causing this, I can of course solve it by the work-around: reboot PC. thanking in advance, Erik.

Hello, I noticed this question now, a year later . depends on which spectroscopy you want to do, all range or mainly H-alpha? I am not a specialist, but I do notice that in certain telescopes with correction lenses some scattering gave at wavelengths of my 2 eurocents. Erik.

Hello, Where can i get the beta-version ? I want to test this version as well... best regards Erik

Hello all, I use the ASA DDM85 mount with CCD-commander, The Sky 6, MaximDL, ASCOM an autoslew. I have a problem that when closing of a observationsession. In CCD comander i select in the setup, the software The Sky 6.0 as mount controllling . In The Sky i set the controlling via the Ascom astroptik driver. I use this method because I can use an automatic calculation of the real coordinates of comets, this can be done there CCD-commander uses the database of comets of the Sky 6.0. As I have done an observedsession and I close the programs, then the PC is completely blocked.(what i clos first is shutting down the ASCOM connection in The Sky, then shutting down MaximDL, next The Sky and last autoslew). After some time (about 1 minute or so) the PC is colpletely blocked. I am obliged to reboot the PC by a hardware reset. The PC is running under window 8. This is not always easy, there are a lot of programms still running on the PC where USB ports are involved, such allsky camera, IP camera and the cloud watcher .. I use my observatory as a remote observatory. So I must give always a hard-reset of the PC to restart afterwards. The Everything start-up again . I do not know exactly what causes it is, but it used before 10micron mount and i didn't had this problem, only what has changed on the system is the replacement of the 10micron by ASA mount. (10 micron was controlled by serial communication) Someone also this experience and what to do? I changed the USB-calbe, also installed a powered USB hub as well, but nothing changed in the positive way. Also i have parking issues as mentioned before in this forum, but i hink this is more an issue for CCD-commander. thanking in advance. Erik

Hi Ian, What you write lookas familiar to me... I had the same experience when i turn the DEC-axis by hand, the resistnace was not equal and somtimes it blocked when i move the axis by hand left/right, several times... When the telescope was on the mount, I had no problems with it. What the current through the motor was, I have no experience with it, I've not analyzed. Later, when observing, I noticed that the results were not good sometimes. tracking was not alway good , about 70% of the images were OK. Sometimes it was so sudden that the mount left his pointing, just went away and then came back to his point. This sometimes several times during a single shot (long exposure) This was not normal!! In the log file I saw that the current was up to about 5Amps and then left his position to go here over and over again, and again to go to hios intitial position. Apparently this is so in the software programmed, i don't know, but it seems to? The power(current) fall back to the acceptable value of about 1.3 amps after this short sweep. After that the current was going up to 5 AMP. Having contacting support of ASA and reported the problem, they have asked me to send for review. Mount came back after service and upgrade,the problem was that the bearing was replaced and DEC-axis problem was resolved. This is now about 6 months ago and mount still works perfectly. Whether you have the same problem, I can hardly say, I suggest you contact ASA-support. I understand that it's not fun when the mount must return to ASA.I must wait about 2 months.... I also had problems with it, I was not happy about it, but have conceded, and afterwards you're happy with it. She is fully serviced. I read that you have a new mount? Then this is and strange phenomenon, my mount is now nearly 4 years old. I suggest to bring this back to the dealer and ask another one. good luck ! Erik

Hi Joaquin, I have my mount back since 2 days, they told me that the bearing of the DEC was the problem and is changed. I must install my moun this weekend, but i see now a problem with the GALV connectors. On the DEC axis is this now a 6-pin connector. Before it was a 4-PIN connector. On the RA axis is this still a 4-pin connector. trange, don't now how to connect my camera, because i use this connector for power of my CCD-camera. I'll try to make some measures to see how the pins now are configured. I don't know why this is changed... but it is a mystery how these connectors GALV on RA and GAKV on DEC) are now connected.

Hi Jay, Thanks for your reply! i checked the log files and i see increasing current, then i see a sort of repositioning of the mount, the current is dropped for a while and then it is increasing again until about 5 AMPS. On 3 dec. i get answer from ASA support and recommended me to send the mount to ASA, what i did on 3 dec. Now i'm waiting until the mount is back. Possible problem is the bearing, but we wait and see... cheers Erik

still no answer or reaction from ASA-support... The mount was checked few days ago from ASA Support. Dietmar Weinzinger

Hi Jay, Hmmmm..., Sounds not so good... I'll check first the logfiltes and then contact ASA-support. Thanks for the tip !! Erik

I notice a strange behavior of the DDM85. When I do an imaging run during the night, I see almost every night that some images failed in tracking. I couldn’t reproduce that phenomenon , by putting the telescope on the same position and see what happens. I thought there is some problem with balance or so. Nothing happens, just perfect tracking, until I yesterday morning during a imaging run, I was just near the telescope while the imaging run was busy for a while, suddenly, I see the DEC axis was leaving his position for few seconds for a couple of degrees then came back to the correct position. Very strange, I don’t know why ? I did'nt touch anything. I use a windows 7 PC 64 bit, with The Sky 6 Pro, CCD-Commander (last version), MaximDL (last version), Ascom Poth, and a FLI Atlas focuser (via ASCOM controlled -via MaximDL) Anybod an idea why this is happen ? thanks for reading, best regards Erik

I did a test again. What i see now is that parking via Autoslew is working fine except the mount parks not low enough. Maybe some settings in autoslew. limits are set to -8°, park position is about -2°. What is notice is that the RA is limited , maybe has another setting a influence as well ? Next: when i give a park command via CCD_Commander. The mount parks on totaly other location, the telescope (and mount) are going to about 45° in direction South. I don't understand, the park position in autoslew is correct and whe ik give the park command (like defined in park position 1) the mount slew to the correct position. any idea ? best regards Erik

Parking mount isn’t working correctly. I Use the mount/telescope/camera with MaximDL /The Sky 6 /pinpoint-full/POTH-ascom and CCDcommander to automate the observatory. I want to use CCDCommander for imaging. There is a action for parking the mount. My park postion is below the horizon because the use of a roll-off observatory. When I give the command in CCDC for ‘parking mount’, nothing happened. When I do a ‘similated park’ (Alt/Az coordinates must be given), the mount goes first with counterweightshaft to East, while it must go to West and telescope goes to horizon in DEC.. Problem is that the telescope hit the wall (my observatory is a little to small for parking the telescope in that direction) and mount stops. I don’t know how I can park the mount via CCDcommander on a correct way because the mount goes to the wrong direction. Has somebody the same problem ? I don’t know why the mount goes first to the wrong direction. The Alt/Az. coordinates seems OK to me. problem with CCD-commander or The Sky ? or a pointing problem below that region where i want to park ? thanks for reading ! Erik

limit question. Is it possible in Autoslew to set 2 different limits ? I ask this because my park position is below the horizon (I have a roll-off observatory). I must set the limits very low, otherwise the mount can’t reach the park-position due the setting of the limits. SO I set now my limits to -6°. This is a risk for me. The limits I want to use when the mount is in run for imaging should be about 25° (otherwise, otherwise, it is possible to hit the walls, ). If not, there may be an additional limit set added in the software to solve this problem. thanks in advance

Hi all, Thanks for the many replies end extra info about this matter. I got received an e-mail from ASA-support regarding the max. current trough the connecotrs/internal wiring.. This completed aal the information i wnat to know about this subject. " The galv wires can stand up to 7A continues current. Most cameras do not need so much current (a standard FLI camera needs about 4,5A with maximum cooling active) The data wires should not be used for currents of much more than 1A. (as the name says – it should be used for Data connection) The FAN connector is normally only used for ASA Astrographs. But of course, with a modified cable it can also be used for other 12V fans (max. 2,5A) " best regards Erik

Hi Robert, Thanks for the info. I found my connectors from manufacturer 'Binder'. I mean with (hard to find' that this connector wasn't available in the electronic-part shops in my area, they are only available when they order this specially for me. you can off course find anything via internet . So i ordered this connectors via internet and i got the different connectors now. Like you mention , the connectors are not the problem but the internal wiring are the limiting factor in terms of power and I want to be correct. I hope ASA read this forum also otherwise I will send another e-mail to the support of ASA. thanks for your input ! best regards Erik

Hello Bernard Thanks for your reply. I'm still interested in the allowed maximum current that can flow through the internal Cabling. My camera has a power current of max.6 AMPS and is splitted over 3 pins of the 6-pins connector. I suppose to reduce the voltage drop across the power-cable of the camera. BTW: The connectors are from Binder-connector (M16 series) and are hard to find and not cheap. So you can do a google-search, so you can see where you can buy them in your area. Or like you mention, from ASA-astrosysteme. best regards, Erik

Hello, I was wondering if there is a internal electrical wiring diagram of the ASA DDM85 mount availabe, particularly of the connectors that are available for customer use like GALV, FAN, DATA... Just to see if i can use these wirings/connectors for my own telescope/camera. I was wondering if i can go trough these wirings for my SBIG STL6303E camera (power supply). Are there other users with the same question or tried this out ? Is there a special cable available for this application ? My telescope has also 3 fan's (12VDC), maybe i can let them work with the same connector 'FAN' and then switch OFF/ON with the autoslew software, provided with a customised cable. What is the maximum power/ampère that can go trough the connectors ? If i check the datasheet of the manufacturer, then the max.current is 5 AMP voor the connector (not for the cable) Is this correct ? best regards, Erik Bryssinck