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Weird behavior


GeorgeCarey

Question

My last pointing model was made in July last year and has worked perfectly. When I switch on and go to an object it is spot on.

Tonight for some reason it is way off.

 

I told it to point at M31 and it went somewhere near the horizon.

I switched off and started again, but it goes to the same wrong place.

I tried Capella which is near the zenith and it went to Orion.

 

Homefind works as normal.

The correct pointing model is being loaded.

The computer clock reads the correct time.

Cartes du Ciel, the planetarium software I use, is using the correct time and location.

 

 

Capella is at altitude 80 degrees now, which is what Autoslew says, even though it is pointing in the wrong place.

 

My brain is frazzled and I cannot think what to check.

 

Any ideas?

 

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Hi George,

 

Do you have a working  backup of your Autoslew configuration directory?

I had a similar problem some time ago, and the solution was to wipe out the Autoslew configuration directory and to replace it by a known working backup.

It was corrupted for an unknown reason.

 

By the way, to all ASA mount users, it is wise to make a backup of your Autoslew configuration directory once you think it is working correctly.

Accidents or corruptions are something that happens, in particular with Windows.

 

Best regards.

 

Bernard

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Hello Bernard,

I don't have a back up - something I clearly should have done.

Thinking about the problem: if Autoslew had a corrupt Homeposition, perhaps off by 90 degrees, then it could produce this problem.

Tomorrow I will align on the Moon (if the sky is clear) by hand, and set and save a new Homeposition.

 

Then switch off and try again.

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Thanks Christer.

It looks like the Homeposition value was corrupted. After the homefind which is almost at the zenith, Autoslew displayed this:

 

homefind.jpg

 

 

Altitude 37 degrees and DEC -2 51 was clearly wrong.

 

I pointed the scope at the Sun (with solar filter!), synced on the Sun and set a new homeposition.

It seems to slew to sensible places now.

 

Before switching off I saved the new parameters,

switched on again and the mount seems OK. It could find the Sun with no problems.

 

Strange that only the one setting was corrupted - everything else seems fine.

 

I have made a full backup - as Bernard suggested!

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Hi George,

 

I've seen this behaviour with a new DDM85A with absolute encoders. When all is well you just turn the system on and it knows where it is.

 

For no apparent reason mine suddenly forgot. The solution in my case was to clear the config, turn everything off and then re-start. After that it all was OK again - strange! I have no idea what had happened, but the 'fix' is easy.

 

Mark

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I've had similar problems with the corrupted Homeposition coordinates lately. Only 2 times so far but the latest almost made the scope to hit the pier.... not good.

 

I had to set the Homeposition again and now everything is working fine. The problem is of course that using automated Homing (after the photo session) is not fully reliable anymore...

 

Jay 

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Hi Mike,

 

Can some kind person tell me how to make a backup of the Autoslew configuration directory referred to above?.... I can't seem to spot this directory anywhere on my hard drive

You can copy the following folder "C:\ProgramData\ASA\Autoslew" as a whole (and keep a backup somewhere that you can restore at any time).

 

Best regards and happy year 2017.

 

Bernard

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