Daniel Schmid

Just in case that you run into troubles with the USB-Connection under Windows 10: It seems that Win10 enables USB energy saving by default. This can be disabled in the system settings. I strongly suggest to do this. We just had a lot of problems at the office with speech recognition because of this setting.

Hi I run everything under windows 10. Had to switch all astronomy programs to run in admin mode in order to communicate with each other. Takes some extra clicks but it seems to work. Without admin i can't connect TheSky X to Autoslew and Sequence opens a new instance of the ACC focuser app and Maxim DL. As long as everything runs as admin it works fine. I just got my DDM60 pro back from ASA (bearing problems). They also did an update on the firmware of the mount. I had some problems with usb resets before under windows 10. This is solved, i never lost connection to the mount again. The best solution would probably be a second PC or laptop running windows 10 to test the asa software with the mount. however, as always with windows there is no guarantee that e.g. usb works on different pc's the same way... Good luck! Dani

Hi Bill Have you tried to set the new home position after a successful sync with your pointing model? Then don't forget to save all settings before quit! Whenever I have such a problem this is the reason for the offset during startup. If it does not work try this: 1. Create new pointing model 2. Save and use on next start 3. Set new home position 4. Save all settings 5. Try to restart Autoslew, do a home find and now you should have your target centered again. Good luck! Dani

I fully agree! The price you pay e.g. for Maxim DL and for SkyX per year/subscription is substantial considering the few patches that are provided. Even if there are some problems that have not been fully solved with the DDM mounts we should not forget that the Autoslew/Sequence "solution" is quite advanced and has some nice features that are unique. The most important topic for me regarding documentation/manuals is a good step by step guide on how to deal with common problems when setting up DDM mounts. A good example is the over current issue that probably most of the DDM customers might have run into (if you read the posts in this forum): Once you get the current stable for 30+ minutes for 3-4 sky positions you think that you have made it but then, with position 5 or 6 the current goes up again for whatever reason. Now things get tricky: it is extremely difficult to further optimize the system in such a state. The over current issue is the most limiting factor and the most difficult thing to solve for every sky position for long exposures in my own experience. Even autoguiding would not protect your exposures if such an error occurs. The so important balancing tool should have a feature to check balance in different positions automatically and provide an integrated report on what to do on which side of the axis in a similar way like the polar alignment tool. (The mount could move around the sky at different speeds and measure currents to calculate this data). I think that this would speed up the final balancing process substantially! This would also be a unique feature that can't be provided with "gear and belt mounts". Sorry for drifting a bit off from the main topic here! From my side this is just the most important wish for one of the next autoslew-updates or the 2.0 software and the manual(s) and should illustrate that not everything is "insufficient" as one might think when reading this forum topic. For most of the other things there is some kind of work around (at least with the latest beta versions) or the problems are minor. For me there is a big difference between nice to have features (e.g. support of FocusMax in Sequence) or essential features (e.g. good balancing/setup tools). I am still convinced that there will be a solution for the major issues in the (near?) future because I have seen major steps forward since I own the mount (2012) with the "autotuning" feature that solved many problems as well as with the introduction/optimization of MLTP. I always liked my ASA mount and can't imagine using another mount anymore! Thanks to Dietmar Weinzinger for clarification/inputs from ASA!

From what I read on the official ASA Website under "Team" they list a Dr. Martin Ploner under "Software" without a photo (maybe someone new to the team?). If you google for that name you find a link to the astronomical institute of the University of Berne, Switzerland. In the News section of astrosysteme.com they mention that they will be presenting the new ASA software for DDM mounts on September 19th at the AME in Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany... There seems to be something going on at ASA ... Dani PS: Let's hope that watever will be comming is at least as good as the autoslew/sequence solution!

I think that we should not mix things up: the fact that some users like to post images frequently (in the appropriate sections, by the way) is completely ok in my opinion. However, it is probably not the primary intention why this forum was created. I fully agree that there is virtually no news about what is going on behind the doors of ASA regarding the promised update/manual even in the beta section. It seems that "a few weeks" means "a few months" for ASA in this forum. Same for orders, at least for my last order from january 2015 (expected delivery time 4-6 weeks) that still did not arrive. The only news that I have seen recently on the website was the note about "ASA 2.0", whatever that means. Just a few words ,at least every month from the ASA team on topics that were discussed by users and maybe about the current progress of the manual/software update(s) would be good for this forum!

Hi At least in case of the 10N the mirror is hold in place by 3 lateral screws (white PE screws) that are only accessible/visible when you remove the mirror cell. This might be different with the 12N but i think that there is a similar way of holding the mirror. I recently removed the mirror cell of my ASA 10N because of bad hysteresis and time flex measurement results and noticed that one of the 3 screws was loose (from transport?). To my comprehension theses screws should just touch the mirror glas but without any tension! The whole procedure to remove the cell, check the screws and put the mirror cell back in place took me about 10 minutes. Eventually you have to collimate again but if you only loosen the traction screws as described in the official ASA collimation manual on the last page you should end up quite close to where you started. In my case, collimation was even better after the procedure than before. Make sure that you put the mirror back into place at the same position as it was (mark position). Keep in mind that the mirror cell with the mirror is quite heavy! I hope this helps! Dani

Chile must be just arround the corner from Jupiter! Impressive animation! Thank's for sharing!

Thanks to all of you for your inputs! Still not clear if the general pointing model is added to MLTP but likely this is not the case. I will disable the pointing model next time and only use the 3-star PA routine. Let's see!

Does anyone know if the performance of MLTP is affected by the general pointing model in use or if MLTP is only using the local pointing measurements? I am quite happy with MLTP with exposures of up to 6 minutes. For longer exposures (10 and more minutes) it seems to be a bit less reliable sometimes but not always. Therefore it would be nice to know if there is a chance of improvement with a larger general pointing model.

Great news! Thanks!

I agree with the previous comments. In this segment it makes no sense to include third party software like Maxim DL or Pinpoint. At the end it is the customer who has to pay for the software anyhow and if you own it already you don't need to buy it again. I don't know a mount that comes with Maxim, however some have pointing and imaging software included (but at a price)... I still think that the prices for the DDM mounts are extremely fair if you think of the precision and quality you get! Dani

Hello Michael If you have the full version of PinPoint you can use Sequence 09 to crreate a new Pointing file. This is extremely convenient. Just sync on one star, then let Sequence do the Autopoint images with as many steps as you wish and solve the images for the pointing model. Use the new Autopoint file to calculate the new configuration and autoslew will do the rest. I never used the center function in maxim again since I use this procedure. clear nights! Dani