However, where do I see this information on the driver?

The driver has 3 windows. When it first comes up you see only the first window. You can then expand it to see the other two. Just press the >>> on the upper left and the other windows will appear.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...>
To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Sent: Sat, Dec 7, 2019 1:15 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PHD2 Guiding issue on AP1100

I will recheck the settings but I never changed anything unless my computer went haywire. 

I will ask them but they are the ones who asked me about the AP ASCOM driver if its window will display the number of transmit and receive errors it gets on the mount connection.  They wanted me to test that  its window will display the number of transmit and receive errors it gets on the mount connection.  When things are working well those should be zero.  So they want me to connect the mount and both cameras, then just get both cameras looping with relatively short exposure times.  Once these communication problems start to occur, I should see those transmit/receive error counts in the mount driver changing.  They said if I can reproduce the problem this way, then I could disconnect one or the other of the cameras and see if the problem remains.  However, where do I see this information on the driver?

  Does that control window show other signs of errors, missing RA/Dec values, that sort of thing?  Those should tell you right away if there are problems

its window will display the number of transmit and receive errors it gets on the mount connection.  When things are working well, of course, those should be zero.  So you could connect the mount and both cameras, then just get both cameras looping with relatively short exposure times.  Once these communication problems start to occur, you should see those transmit/receive error counts in the mount driver changing.  If you can reproduce the problem this way, then you could disconnect one or the other of the cameras and see if the problem remains

On Sat, Dec 7, 2019 at 2:05 PM uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via Groups.Io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

I would ask on the PHD forum.

Are you sure that you have both RA and Dec guiding active in PHD? Check all your settings.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...>
To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Sent: Sat, Dec 7, 2019 1:00 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PHD2 Guiding issue on AP1100

No- I just started using PHD2 a few months ago and it worked.....until now.  Can you recommend another one to try or should I uninstall and reinstall PHD2?  I was hesitant to do that because I was not sure if the current logs get deleted in case I need to refer to them.

On Sat, Dec 7, 2019 at 1:49 PM uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via Groups.Io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

Yes to the planetarium program and yes to the AP ASCOM driver.  They move as you would expect.  In fact, I can image up to 60s unguided with no problems.  

Your planetarium program and the ASCOM driver use the exact same commands to move the mount as any guiding program. The protocol is the same. So there appears to be no communication issue within the CP controller. I assume that your guider program sends move commands via the ASCOM driver. That is the way PHD normally operates. It's possible that your problem might be within your computer itself, no communication between your guide program and the ASCOM driver perhaps. Do you have any other guide program that you could use?

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...>
To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Sent: Sat, Dec 7, 2019 12:39 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PHD2 Guiding issue on AP1100

Yes to the planetarium program and yes to the AP ASCOM driver.  They move as you would expect.  In fact, I can image up to 60s unguided with no problems.  

On Dec 7, 2019, at 1:35 PM, uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via Groups.Io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:



Thanks, Roland.  I did try the autoguider port and it seemed not to change anything.  I'll try again tonight and may switch to the other serial port and see what happens.  This is just very strange.  Working fine for a long time and then just stops communicating.

Ok, so let me ask again, can you slew or move the mount via your planetarium program? If you can then the mount controller is working. If you cannot move the mount in RA this way then indeed something is wrong inside the controller. You can also try moving the mount via your ASCOM driver. If it responds to button pushes or move commands from the driver, then the controller is fine and you have problems outside of the mount. Do this test and report back.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...>
To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Sent: Sat, Dec 7, 2019 11:50 am
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PHD2 Guiding issue on AP1100

Thanks, Roland.  I did try the autoguider port and it seemed not to change anything.  I'll try again tonight and may switch to the other serial port and see what happens.  This is just very strange.  Working fine for a long time and then just stops communicating.

Bruce

On Sat, Dec 7, 2019 at 12:30 PM uncarollo2 <chris1011@...> via Groups.Io <chris1011=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

If you have a CP4 you have 4 input choices for sending guide data (1 USB, 2 serial and the guider port). It may be that the one you are using has a fault. You can try one of the other inputs. If you have a planetarium program attached to one of the inputs, you can try sending a move command, slew or centering, to verify that the mount is moving. This will tell you whether the mount controller is functioning and that the input you are using for guiding may be faulty.

Rolando

-----Original Message-----
From: Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...>
To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Sent: Fri, Dec 6, 2019 9:14 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] PHD2 Guiding issue on AP1100

Thanks but my guiding has been fine for months.  I should have stated I am in a permanent pier observatory so I do not keep re-calibrating.  Also, I did try to create a new profile but since RA will not respond, it will not create a new calibration curve.  So, I am stuck. 

On Fri, Dec 6, 2019 at 10:06 PM OlivDeso via Groups.Io <olivdeso=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:

Hello

I never faced any guiding issue with the AP1100 so far since years (I have the serial #10) and GTO CP3

But as far as I understand, it is very unlikely that the issue comes from an defective USB cable nor the RS232 cable if everything works well except the AD guiding.

I would rather suspect a PHD or AP Ascom driver wrong setting.

How is PHD calibration ?  -> calibrate once on the ecuador close to the meridian at the begening of your observing session and then slew to the target.

Of course if you have a fixed setup and don't remove your guiding camera, you only have to calibrate PHD once forever.

So first of all review PHD calibration data. A good calibration is really a keep point to get a good guiding.

The verify the AD agressivity and the AD MnMo :

AD agressivity should be higher or equal 50%. 70% is a good starting value for average conditions.

MnMo in the threshold under which PHD will not correct the guiding error : It should be set to a value corresponding to about half of the main camera pixel size. 

But the unit value is pixels of the guide cam, so you have to do so basic maths to calculate it from the main cam pixel sampling.

For instance if your main cam has a sampling of 1" per pixel and you guide cam a sampling of 3". You would like to set the MnMo to 0,5".

So 0.5" is equal to 1/6 of the guide cam sampling -> so you would set the AD MnMo to 1/6 = 0.17

Concerning the DEC, I use to set the MnMo to the double of AD MnMo and agressivity to about 30% -> this is to avoid guiding in 2 directions in DEC which is the second keypoint to get a good guiding.

In the AP driver, verify the guiding speed and maybe the PEM state. try disabling the PEM if enabled.

Example of what I am curently geting right now form a remote EQ8 in Chile (I am in France) : the EQ8 is not as good as the AP1100 in AD tracking (from far) but the tuning principle remains the same.

Look at the graph : you can see that the DEC stays at one side of the axis and then on the target you can also see that the hits are located only at te uper half and well grouped in DEC at least.

The main limit of this EQ8 is the AD

(the star is a little bit saturated and has a triangle shape, but the guiding is good enough for the moment....until we replace the EQ8 by an AP one day)

<1575687507397blob.jpg>

Olivier

Le samedi 7 décembre 2019 à 03:30:52 UTC+1, Bruce Donzanti <donza2735@...> a écrit :

I have been guiding just fine on my AP1100 mount for a few months but the other night RA stopped responding.  I have been chatting with the folks on the PHD forum and they looked at my logs.  They are suspecting a bad USB cable.  I changed the cables on both the guide and image cameras which connect to a powered USB hub on top of my scope which then runs down the pier to my laptop.   I also changed that USB cable as well.  I then cleaned the RS232 cable from the CP4 box which also runs to my laptop.  To see if this was an issue, I removed it and tried the autoguider cable instead.  Anyway, I continue to have the same issue.  So, just asking if you have ever heard of this problem and if I am missing something else to try.

Bruce

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