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Re: APCC GPS Error
Ray Gralak
Hi David,
UpdateLocation. Index and length must refer to a location within the string. Parameter name: Length.That means there was an error parsing the response from the device. It could be that the data received was corrupted, or in an unrecognized format. If the error persists, it could be device's response is not in a standard format, or maybe the wrong baud rate is selected. -Ray Gralak Author of PEMPro Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): https://www.astro-physics.com/apcc-pro Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver -----Original Message-----
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
I like the gearbox noise! Don Anderson
On Sunday, January 3, 2021, 12:04:45 p.m. MST, Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...> wrote:
Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them. I think you are mixing apples and oranges. Massive heatsinks are not required on our CP controllers.
Microstepper servos need current to hold position, otherwise the rotor falls back to one of the magnetic positions. All AC servo motors have this requirement. DC servos do not need to hold position and current falls to zero when not moving. Dc servos also have large gear reductions so they can operate at very low current levels and still produce plenty of torque at the worm shaft. Typical gear reduction of a Dc servo is around 60:1, whereas AC servos such as used on the Mach2 have reduction ratio of 2:1 or thereabouts.
Dc servos require very expensive gearboxes and expensive DC servomotors, otherwise the periodic error gets ragged and massive. They also make audible noise that people don't like. For the Mach2 we decided to use AC servos with belt drive so that we could apply the savings to add the very expensive Renishaw absolute encoders. With DC, the cost would have put us out of contention with competitive mounts. Plus people would have ragged about the slewing noise.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff B <mnebula946@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 12:04 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Hanging case for GTOCP4? Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them.
Ignorant but curious, since absolute encoders know where they are all the time, can a model be built by manually pointing the scope, without any goto commands?
Jeff
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Jeff B
Great and informative explanations Roland and thanks. Jeff
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APCC GPS Error
David Fabrizio
All, Thank you
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Roland Christen
Oh, and one more thing, at normal tracking, the current consumption is 0.7 amps at 24 volts, so just under 17 watts being sent to the CP controller, of which most goes directly to the motors and around 3 watts is being dissipated in the CP5 control box. So no large heatsinks required, just a bit of air circulation on the case.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 1:04 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Hanging case for GTOCP4? Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them. I think you are mixing apples and oranges. Massive heatsinks are not required on our CP controllers.
Microstepper servos need current to hold position, otherwise the rotor falls back to one of the magnetic positions. All AC servo motors have this requirement. DC servos do not need to hold position and current falls to zero when not moving. Dc servos also have large gear reductions so they can operate at very low current levels and still produce plenty of torque at the worm shaft. Typical gear reduction of a Dc servo is around 60:1, whereas AC servos such as used on the Mach2 have reduction ratio of 2:1 or thereabouts.
Dc servos require very expensive gearboxes and expensive DC servomotors, otherwise the periodic error gets ragged and massive. They also make audible noise that people don't like. For the Mach2 we decided to use AC servos with belt drive so that we could apply the savings to add the very expensive Renishaw absolute encoders. With DC, the cost would have put us out of contention with competitive mounts. Plus people would have ragged about the slewing noise.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff B <mnebula946@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 12:04 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Hanging case for GTOCP4? Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them.
Ignorant but curious, since absolute encoders know where they are all the time, can a model be built by manually pointing the scope, without any goto commands?
Jeff
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Roland Christen
Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them. I think you are mixing apples and oranges. Massive heatsinks are not required on our CP controllers.
Microstepper servos need current to hold position, otherwise the rotor falls back to one of the magnetic positions. All AC servo motors have this requirement. DC servos do not need to hold position and current falls to zero when not moving. Dc servos also have large gear reductions so they can operate at very low current levels and still produce plenty of torque at the worm shaft. Typical gear reduction of a Dc servo is around 60:1, whereas AC servos such as used on the Mach2 have reduction ratio of 2:1 or thereabouts.
Dc servos require very expensive gearboxes and expensive DC servomotors, otherwise the periodic error gets ragged and massive. They also make audible noise that people don't like. For the Mach2 we decided to use AC servos with belt drive so that we could apply the savings to add the very expensive Renishaw absolute encoders. With DC, the cost would have put us out of contention with competitive mounts. Plus people would have ragged about the slewing noise.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff B <mnebula946@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 12:04 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Hanging case for GTOCP4? Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them.
Ignorant but curious, since absolute encoders know where they are all the time, can a model be built by manually pointing the scope, without any goto commands?
Jeff
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Elenillor
Also curious about a hanging case for the CP4. I have the mounting bracket but liked the flexibility of the hanging case for the CP3 before upgrading to the CP4.
Speaking of suggested bags, thanks to the person who suggested the AKONA Dive Weight Bags. I got two for my counter weights over the holidays. They work perfectly for the 6" diameter weights. I put 37 lbs in each bag. John
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Jeff B
Kinda sounds like true class A power amplifier operation in my Hi-Fi hobby. The output devices are always "on", at full current. They run at their hottest with no signal and need a ton of heat sinks and you never enclose them. Ignorant but curious, since absolute encoders know where they are all the time, can a model be built by manually pointing the scope, without any goto commands? Jeff
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Roland Christen
On the CP5 controllers I would advise against putting them inside a cloth bag. The CP3 and CP4 are ok because they do not produce very much current for the two servo motors under normal tracking conditions. The CP5 sends full current to both stepper servos all the time, even when they are not moving, so the drivers are at full power and produce more heat. The case dissipates the heat to the surrounding air just fine, but if they are inside a cloth bag, they will not have any air circulation.
Roland Christen
Astro-Physics Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: Dale Ghent <daleg@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 10:58 am Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Hanging case for GTOCP4? With the mounting bracket, you only have to losen two thumb screws and tip the unit forward to remove it, and the opposite to install it into the bracket. It’s quite quick to do and doesn’t require any tools. The thumb screws are similar to if not the same as the ones which secure the sliding access panels on your Mach1.
/dale
On Jan 3, 2021, at 10:46, Patrick Spencer <patrick.spencer2@...> wrote:
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics
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Re: Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Dale Ghent
With the mounting bracket, you only have to losen two thumb screws and tip the unit forward to remove it, and the opposite to install it into the bracket. It’s quite quick to do and doesn’t require any tools. The thumb screws are similar to if not the same as the ones which secure the sliding access panels on your Mach1. /dale
On Jan 3, 2021, at 10:46, Patrick Spencer <patrick.spencer2@...> wrote:
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Re: Mach2
#Mach2GTO
eckhard.voelcker@...
On Sun, Jan 3, 2021 at 04:58 PM, Allen Ruckle wrote:
The port setting needs to be set to #23,Thank you, Allen. I did not know that the communication was Telnet based. It works with port #23.
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Hanging case for GTOCP4?
Patrick Spencer
Hi everyone,
I recently upgraded from a CP3 to a CP4 for my Mach1. The only thing I miss about the CP3 is the neat hanging case, which made it easy to "grab and go" and allowed me to hang the controller from a knob at the base of the mount. Unfortunately, the CP4 is too large to fit in the CP3 case. I know there's a mounting bracket option, but I like being able to quickly disconnect the control box and take it inside when I'm finished imaging. There are a lot of clever folks in this group, so I was wondering if anyone has come up with a similar hanging pouch/bag solution for the CP4? Thanks, Patrick Spencer
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Re: Mach2
#Mach2GTO
Allen Ruckle
Eckhard, There is a thread a while back that Astro Physics is working with the Sky Safari people to properly support the CP5, and the next update will include those changes. It wasn’t clear if it would be in an update to V6 or when the next version, Sky Safari 7. aruckle
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Mach2
#Mach2GTO
eckhard.voelcker@...
Yesterday I wanted to use the Mach2 for some observations.
I connected the GTOCP5 to an Ethernet hub and fired up SkySafari Pro6 on my Mac. I configured the telescope as “Astro-Physics GTO”, entered the IP address of the GTOCP5 and tried to connect. Unfortunately this did not work.
I remembered reading somewhere that in some cases SkySafari can not initialize the mount properly so I fired up APCC on a PC, set the connection to TCP/IP, entered the IP address of the mount and connected. I then used the AE tab to “Find Home”, checked that the mount was unparked and tracking was sidereal. All looked good. I tried to connect with SkySafari Pro6 again but no success. I then tried to connect with my iPhone and Luminos but also without success. I then configured the GTOCP5 to access my Wifi and tried again. No success. Then I did a port scan of the mount GTOCP5 but only the ports 23 and 80 were open. Do I miss some configuration option? This used to work flawlessly with the GTOCP4. Best regards, Eckhard
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Re: Meridian Limit check boxes in APCC Pro are grayed out
Luca Marinelli
Ray, you are the man! That worked like a charm.
It's as if you wrote this program or something :) Thank you, Luca
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Re: Meridian Limit check boxes in APCC Pro are grayed out
Ray Gralak
Something happened and I am not able to check or uncheck the East Limits and West Limits check boxes inPerhaps "Override ASCOM" is not enabled in the Meridian Delay group box? -Ray Gralak Author of PEMPro Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): https://www.astro-physics.com/apcc-pro Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver -----Original Message-----
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Meridian Limit check boxes in APCC Pro are grayed out
Luca Marinelli
Something happened and I am not able to check or uncheck the East Limits and West Limits check boxes in APCC Pro v1.8.8.11. It doesn't matter if the mount is connected to APCC or not, the boxes are stuck checked.
Has anyone seen this behavior and is there a way to get it back? I want to uncheck East Limits but I can't. Thanks, Luca
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Re: safe way to load the OTA on the MACH2
steve.winston@...
Hey Nick,
The Mach1 does break down into two smaller parts. If you are finding the weight to be too much you might consider splitting it and mounting the RA base on the tripod first and then adding the DEC axis after. Steve
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Re: safe way to load the OTA on the MACH2
Nick Iversen
While we are on this topic is there a good way to get a Mach1 onto the tripod? Carrying the Mach1 requires leaning back in order to maintain balance. But then putting it onto the tripod requires leaning forward. That's a massive loss of balance and one day I'll be too old to do it.
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Re: Lost communications with mount
weihaowang
Hi Ray,
Homepage: http://www.asiaa.sinica.edu.tw/~whwang/ Astrobin gallery:
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