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Re: Mach2 Actual Location error - help!
Wayne Hixson
No more problems last night, but I’m wondering how to correct an erroneous actual mount location like this? I thought by choosing a site that would fix it.
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Mikko Viljamaa
Ray,
The clutches are tight as I have manually rotated the axes to re-park it correctly. No changes there from the day 1 when I received the mount. I have never calibrated the mount to any start or object but always used the SG Pro and it's platesolve (with which I have had issues lately and which made me look closer to what's going on with the mount itself). So to clarify (sorry if I'm repeating myself), today when I get home, I'll adjust manually - clutches engaged and power off - the mount so it's parked to position 3. Then turn the power on and slew the mount using the AP V2 and then park it again and see if it returns correctly to home position. If It doesn't I'll uninstall the AP V2 and reinstall it, making sure that the time / date are correct. If you can think of something else I can try, please let me know. - Mikko
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Ray Gralak
Thanks Ray, this started before Saturday and I don't have a keypad. Just to confirm; what's the correct process toOkay, a couple other possibilities are: 1) The clutches slipped. Check the clutches to be sure they are tight. 2) The mount was recalibrated on a wrong star/object. One way to recover is to park to Park 3 and manually adjust the mount position to the correct Park 3 position. Later, plate solve + RCAL somewhere near the zenith. -Ray Gralak Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): http://www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/accessories/software/apcc/apcc Author of PEMPro V3: https://www.ccdware.com Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver -----Original Message-----
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Mikko Viljamaa
Thanks Ray, this started before Saturday and I don't have a keypad. Just to confirm; what's the correct process to manually move the axes to correct park positions?
- Mikko
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Ray Gralak
Hi Mikko,
I have recently started to have an issue where the mount misses it's normal park-3 position and "over slews" it inThe time changed this weekend in some areas. If you are mixing keypad and computer use, make sure both match time and time zone offset. If the time zone is different it will cause the mount to be "off" by 1 hour in RA. -Ray Gralak Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): http://www.astro-physics.com/index.htm?products/accessories/software/apcc/apcc Author of PEMPro V3: https://www.ccdware.com Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver -----Original Message-----
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Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Mikko Viljamaa
Top of the Morning to all,
I have recently started to have an issue where the mount misses it's normal park-3 position and "over slews" it in both directions. Sometimes as much as an inch (mostly Ra) from the white line. I've tried everything, move it back to correct position with clutches loose, manually without loosing the clutches, with power on and off. Yesterday I was able to make it return correctly once but after the night's session this morning it had parked itself again about an inch off. The coordinates (90/360) and the time at AP V2 seem to be correct, the program I use is SG Pro although I doubt it makes any difference here. The driver is the latest from AP's site. Any ideas what to try next and as it's been a while when something like this has happened to me, what's the correct procedure to fix this? Thanks, Mikko
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Message Recall Failure: Recall: [ap-gto] APCC Pro MGBOX GPS connection
#APCC
Rick Darden
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Re: Keypad Upgrade for Using Mach2
Dominique Durand
Hi, Majr, Rolando, Thank you for this information. So I'm not going to hope for the long-awaited package this week. Far from my observatory with my 1st Mach1 (2011) I work with the Keypad and Skysafari by SkyFI3. In my observatory when I still had my 2nd Mach1 (2018) (sold since November) I sometimes used only the keypad (with skysafari) for visual sessions, but also often APCC standard and driver in particular for photo sessions . I have already upgraded my keypap to pass them in version 4.19.3, that does not concern me to redo it with a new keypad and I have already installed the latest Driver (5.30.08) and the latest version of APCC -Standard while waiting to benefit from the APCC-Pro version. So depending on the situation I could either receive the Mach2 alone, or with a new keypad (Name buttons) with the sotfware 4.19.3, or all together. If it is a few days or a week I prefer to wait until it is Mach2 + Keypad with new software. If there are several weeks of waiting between Mach2 and Keypad, then I think the Mach2 alone will be suitable for me and the Keypad after. I am no longer a young child and the passing nights will be difficult to catch up with. In the meantime I translate the manuals into French .... After APCC and that of Mach1, I almost finished that of Driver version 5.30.07 ... I wish I could start the Mach2 story to make me wait. Regards Dominique
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Message Recall Failure: Recall: [ap-gto] APCC Pro MGBOX GPS connection
#APCC
WWyckoff at AT&T
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Re: Mach2 Actual Location error - help!
Wayne Hixson
Update - I rebooted both computer and CP5 my mount is back in Seattle. Terri, wonder if this was related to your mispointing? Do you remember if your site was correct?
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Mach2 Actual Location error - help!
Wayne Hixson
My mount Actual Location is showing Latitude 0 and longitude 0 even when my site selected is Seattle? Refreshing doesn’t change it
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Re: Keypad Upgrade for Using Mach2
Thanks, I have a keypad that I hope to be able to upgrade to the new version when the mount arrives.
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Woody Schlom
Wayne,
Thanks for the report. That’s way too funny!
Woody
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io
Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 6:47 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: Re: [ap-gto] GTOCP4 Not powering up
Thanks everyone! We figured it out. This was the first time he’d had it out on a bright day.... you can tell where this is going. We went through a lot of the troubleshooting steps and all was fine. Then the clouds rolled in and he noticed he could see the power light, and then the hand controller display. Something I should have asked first. Sorry for bothering everyone! Thanks again for possible future need!
Wayne
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Lawrence Lopez
This has happened to me years ago on a different an AP1200. One other suggestion as I think about it, if the mount looks like it’s getting no power at all, check out the center pin on the power socket in the CPx on the mount. If I remember right, the pin has a slot in it. If that slot has become compressed, it can cause a faulty connection. In that case, take a small, slotted screwdriver and gently widen the slot in the center pin.
On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 10:09 PM Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io <wayneh9026=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote: I’m hoping to get some actual time under clear skies, but ‘I’ll say so far in the exploratory period it’s exceeded expectations. I really appreciate the ability to not get lost. Clutches are a nice refinement on earlier designs. Motors are almost whisper quiet. I think it’s going to do a great job in replacing my Mach1 and 1100, both of which I sold to buy this. I’ll report more as I go.
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Wayne Hixson
I’m hoping to get some actual time under clear skies, but ‘I’ll say so far in the exploratory period it’s exceeded expectations. I really appreciate the ability to not get lost. Clutches are a nice refinement on earlier designs. Motors are almost whisper quiet. I think it’s going to do a great job in replacing my Mach1 and 1100, both of which I sold to buy this. I’ll report more as I go.
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Bill Long
Wayne you really need to get onto that Mach 2 report sir. 🤣
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io <wayneh9026@...>
Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 6:47 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] GTOCP4 Not powering up Thanks everyone! We figured it out. This was the first time he’d had it out on a bright day.... you can tell where this is going. We went through a lot of the troubleshooting steps and all was fine. Then the clouds rolled in and he noticed he
could see the power light, and then the hand controller display. Something I should have asked first. Sorry for bothering everyone! Thanks again for possible future need!
Wayne
On Mar 8, 2020, at 6:35 PM, Woody Schlom <woody_is@...> wrote:
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Wayne Hixson
Thanks everyone! We figured it out. This was the first time he’d had it out on a bright day.... you can tell where this is going. We went through a lot of the troubleshooting steps and all was fine. Then the clouds rolled in and he noticed he could see the power light, and then the hand controller display. Something I should have asked first. Sorry for bothering everyone! Thanks again for possible future need!
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Wayne
On Mar 8, 2020, at 6:35 PM, Woody Schlom <woody_is@...> wrote:
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Woody Schlom
The OP says it’s a CP4 controller which I understand uses a different power connector. As I recall it’s a HiRose connector on the controller and the power cable has PP connectors on the other end. My experience with HR connectors is that they’re very good so I doubt that’s where the problem is. So your suggestion regarding the split center pin conductor doesn’t apply – even though it’s a good one.
Woody
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of W Hilmo
Sent: Sunday, March 8, 2020 5:13 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: Re: [ap-gto] GTOCP4 Not powering up
I second the suggestion. Even better, try to power it from a fully charged 12v battery.
I had a Pyramid 20 amp power supply fail on me. This was as Oregon Star Party, and I was running the power supply from my motorhome’s AC inverter. The power supply went “click” and started buzzing. At that moment, I had a bunch of equipment fail all at the same time. I always run with a power meter inline, and it showed that the power supply was putting out 20v. That was enough to shut down a bunch of gear. I switched out the Pyramid and went to straight 12v from a spare set of batteries. Fortunately, there was no permanent damage (except for the power supply), and I was able to get everything up and running again.
Since then, I’ve switched from Pyramid to a 30 amp PowerWerx power supply. It is much smaller than the Pyramid, and runs *much* cooler than the Pyramid ever did. I’ve also stopped using any kind of AC power when I’m out in the field. The observatory tent gets its own pair of 75 amp hour AGM batteries in parallel, along with 300 watts of solar charging. And I always run a buck-boost converter between the batteries and the astro gear to keep the voltage regulated at 13.5 volts.
One other suggestion as I think about it, if the mount looks like it’s getting no power at all, check out the center pin on the power socket in the CPx on the mount. If I remember right, the pin has a slot in it. If that slot has become compressed, it can cause a faulty connection. In that case, take a small, slotted screwdriver and gently widen the slot in the center pin.
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Woody Schlom
Even if that power supply has worked in the past, try a different one. I’ve had one Pyramid not only die on me, but almost take a couple of other pieces of equipment with it. Smoke suddenly coming out of a 12v video monitor was the first clue something was wrong.
And when I did a simple test of the PS with a volt meter, it tested fine. But it wasn’t. Never did figure out what the problem was with that PS. But everything worked (and still works to this day) with other power supplies. So that one is gone now. And I’ve also retired my other older Pyramid to emergency spare status.
Woody
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Bill Long
Unplug the power cable, from the box and blow on it, and plug it back in. 🙂
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io <wayneh9026@...>
The person who bought my Mach1 is having trouble. He’s using a Pyramid power supply that has worked before. He set up today but the CP4 light isn’t coming on and the Hand Controller doesn’t start. Looking for troubleshooting tips
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Re: GTOCP4 Not powering up
Joe Zeglinski
With Pyramids, if the P/S gets
overloaded - e.g. short circuit in the cigarette lighter plug, or the screw-on
terminals touching each other when tightened – the supply will shut down its
output for something like 7 minutes after the fault signal is recognized. It
won’t be obvious looking at the mount itself, which appears to still be up &
running. This is a safety factor.
I assume the Mach1 uses Power-Pole connectors, or
else, if the cigarette lighter plug is used, I have had a case where one of the
power leads “inside the plug” had disconnected from its solder/crimp
joint. Also, check the fuse in the screw-on tip of that kind of
plug – which would also lose power to the mount, even if the Pyramid is
fine.
Check the cable to the mount, and others that the
supply may be feeding, in case something else is overloading it. Best to remove
any other devices, and simply first test the mount operation
alone. Joe Z.
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Message Recall Failure: Recall: [ap-gto] APCC Pro MGBOX GPS connection
#APCC
Mike Shade
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