I would be grafeful for advice on how to connect TheSky6 and Maxim DL
simultaneously to my AP1200. I believe that this can be done by
selecting the Tele API driver in TheSky, but am not sure what settings
I should be use in Maxim DL. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks, Richard

Hi Kerry and Don,



Just for your information, it’s not recommended to run PEMPro with the POTH
hub as written in the manual.



Yves



_____

De : ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...] De la part de
dmwmpd
Envoyé : 11 décembre 2008 00:55
À : ap-gto@...
Objet : [ap-gto] Re: Connecting PC to AP1200 - Looking for Advice



Hi Kerry,

You can use the POTH hub (it's a software hub free with ASCOM) to
connect the mount and all your software with a single serial
connection. I don't know if Pulseguide connects through POTH, but
PemPro, TheSky, and MaximDL will all work together with POTH/ASCOM.
You need a special driver for TheSky to work with ASCOM - see the
ASCOM site for the driver and installation instructions.

Don

--- In ap-gto@yahoogroups. <mailto:ap-gto%40yahoogroups.com> com,
"kerrywaz1" <kerry.williams@...>
wrote:

I have an AP1200 soon to be delivered and I was trying to plan

ahead as

far as serial interface cables routed to a permanent remote dome
installation.

I want to connect my PC to the 1200 and let MaxIm DL, TheSky 6 and
PulseGuide send commands to the mount. Can this be done through

some

ASCOM hub and one serial interface from my laptop or do I need

more

than one serial cable running from the laptop to the mount?

Running

additional long cables is a real pain.

Does anyone run these applications with the 1200 simultaneously?

Is

there an ASCOM hub that will work well with the 1200? I am looking

for

experience (lessons learned) and/or sage advice.

Thanks,
Kerry

__________ Information from ESET NOD32 Antivirus, version of virus signature
database 3682 (20081210) __________

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

http://www.eset.com



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hi Kerry,

You can use the POTH hub (it's a software hub free with ASCOM) to
connect the mount and all your software with a single serial
connection. I don't know if Pulseguide connects through POTH, but
PemPro, TheSky, and MaximDL will all work together with POTH/ASCOM.
You need a special driver for TheSky to work with ASCOM - see the
ASCOM site for the driver and installation instructions.

Don

--- In ap-gto@..., "kerrywaz1" <kerry.williams@...>
wrote:

I have an AP1200 soon to be delivered and I was trying to plan

ahead as

far as serial interface cables routed to a permanent remote dome
installation.

I want to connect my PC to the 1200 and let MaxIm DL, TheSky 6 and
PulseGuide send commands to the mount. Can this be done through

some

ASCOM hub and one serial interface from my laptop or do I need

more

than one serial cable running from the laptop to the mount?

Running

additional long cables is a real pain.

Does anyone run these applications with the 1200 simultaneously?

Is

there an ASCOM hub that will work well with the 1200? I am looking

for

experience (lessons learned) and/or sage advice.

Thanks,
Kerry

Thanks, Rick.

I currently have three dedicated USB cables running out to the dome
from my PC. In your experience would using a dedicated USB to serial
converter box with one of those lines interfere or cause havoc with
the other USB lines (i.e., how does the converter box manage the
ports)?

Also, which ASCOM hub is best to use with the AP mounts?

--- Kerry


--- In ap-gto@..., "Rick Wiggins" <rickwiggins@...> wrote:

Hi Kerry,
I operate several remote observatories. I would recommend using a
desktop and not a laptop as your dedicated dome/observatory
computer. Laptops are not designed to run 24/7 and will not last as
long as a desktop.

Also, I would recommend a dedicated USB to serial converter box. I
prefer the Edgeport 4 models as they are extremely robust. AP also
sells a unit. I have not used the AP unit. These units will give

you

4 or 8 serail ports form one USB port. You will need 1 for your
mount (two if you run Pulseguide without using the ASCOM hub), onw
for each Robofocus you have, very likely one to control your dome,
one to interface to a cloud detector, etc. If you are running
robotically, I think you will quickly need 4 or more serial ports.

Thanks, Rick

--- In ap-gto@..., "kerrywaz1" <kerry.williams@>
wrote:

I have an AP1200 soon to be delivered and I was trying to plan

ahead as

far as serial interface cables routed to a permanent remote dome
installation.

I want to connect my PC to the 1200 and let MaxIm DL, TheSky 6

and

PulseGuide send commands to the mount. Can this be done through

some

ASCOM hub and one serial interface from my laptop or do I need

more

than one serial cable running from the laptop to the mount?

Running

additional long cables is a real pain.

Does anyone run these applications with the 1200 simultaneously?

Is

there an ASCOM hub that will work well with the 1200? I am

looking

for

experience (lessons learned) and/or sage advice.

Thanks,
Kerry

Hi Kerry,
I operate several remote observatories. I would recommend using a
desktop and not a laptop as your dedicated dome/observatory
computer. Laptops are not designed to run 24/7 and will not last as
long as a desktop.

Also, I would recommend a dedicated USB to serial converter box. I
prefer the Edgeport 4 models as they are extremely robust. AP also
sells a unit. I have not used the AP unit. These units will give you
4 or 8 serail ports form one USB port. You will need 1 for your
mount (two if you run Pulseguide without using the ASCOM hub), onw
for each Robofocus you have, very likely one to control your dome,
one to interface to a cloud detector, etc. If you are running
robotically, I think you will quickly need 4 or more serial ports.

Thanks, Rick

--- In ap-gto@..., "kerrywaz1" <kerry.williams@...>
wrote:

I have an AP1200 soon to be delivered and I was trying to plan

ahead as

far as serial interface cables routed to a permanent remote dome
installation.

I want to connect my PC to the 1200 and let MaxIm DL, TheSky 6 and
PulseGuide send commands to the mount. Can this be done through

some

ASCOM hub and one serial interface from my laptop or do I need

more

than one serial cable running from the laptop to the mount?

Running

additional long cables is a real pain.

Does anyone run these applications with the 1200 simultaneously?

Is

there an ASCOM hub that will work well with the 1200? I am looking

for

experience (lessons learned) and/or sage advice.

Thanks,
Kerry

I find that I need two serial cables if I want to run The Sky6 and Pulse
guide, or other things at the same time.

I usually only run 1 cable so I turn off The Sky when I need Pulse guide or
PemPro. But Maxim works fine with the Sky on.

I'm sure others can give you more details about how it works thru ASCOM.

Dean

I have an AP1200 soon to be delivered and I was trying to plan ahead as
far as serial interface cables routed to a permanent remote dome
installation.

I want to connect my PC to the 1200 and let MaxIm DL, TheSky 6 and
PulseGuide send commands to the mount. Can this be done through some
ASCOM hub and one serial interface from my laptop or do I need more
than one serial cable running from the laptop to the mount? Running
additional long cables is a real pain.

Does anyone run these applications with the 1200 simultaneously? Is
there an ASCOM hub that will work well with the 1200? I am looking for
experience (lessons learned) and/or sage advice.

Thanks,
Kerry

Hi Steve,



The mount does not keep that information to itself or try to conceal it.
It can be simply retrieved by any software that issues the " :pS# "
command, or that asks the ASCOM driver to poll the mount for the side.
However, the mount does not continuously offer that information just
because it was asked once when the session started. If your software
needs the information for each and every data point, it must ask it anew
for each and every data point.



Mag. 7 skies!



Howard Hedlund

Astro-Physics, Inc.

815-282-1513

________________________________

From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...] On Behalf
Of Steve Reilly
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 3:10 PM
To: ap-gto@...
Subject: [ap-gto] AP and TPoint




In order to try to see all the information I can about my imaging
system, I
ran a fairly long (351 points) model. Patrick Wallace gave the data a
look
and responded as quoted below:

" Steve,


All your problems are because the mount is not telling TPOINT what side
of
the pier the telescope is. This either means you are using the wrong
driver, or because the mount+driver is keeping this information to
itself.

I will have another look later to see what I can kludge.

You will know when you've got it right because on one side of the pier
all
the declinations will get logged as > 90 deg.


Patrick Wallace"


The mount is the AP1200GTO with the GTOCP3, ST10XME, AO8, CFW8,Pyxis 3"
rotator and OGS 12.5" RC. I had ACP opened and connected to the
telescope
with the ASCOM ver. 1.2.5 AP driver. I typically use ACP for automated
imaging. I used CCDSoftV5 and TPoint along with TheSky6 connected via
TeleAPI. Do you see any reason for the driver not reporting the side of
pier information?

Thanks,

Steve

Rolando,

I have an AP 80mm guidescope and a set of rings (actually Losmandy ones) for
it. I haven't used it yet, but I plan to use it and a guide camera with my
AP 155 EDFS on an AP 900 GTO CP3 to (eventually) guide photos taken with a
DLSR. I was planning on attaching the guidescope rings with appropriate
screws and pillow blocks to the main scope rings, which in turn are attached
to the mount via a Losmandy dovetail and then to DOVELM16S.

I may be looking at this wrong, but when I do a "trial setup" on this
(without the cameras), it looks very similar to the lower RHS picture shown
on the AP Product History page, where it talks about the "ASTRO-PHYSICS
HISTORY 155mm f7 Starfire EDFS – 6.1" aperture (155EDFS) with 2.7" Focuser.
"

Am I going about this wrong? Should there be another set of rings directly
attached to the 155 that I then mount the guider rings to?

Thanks,

Hank

In order to try to see all the information I can about my imaging system, I
ran a fairly long (351 points) model. Patrick Wallace gave the data a look
and responded as quoted below:

" Steve,


All your problems are because the mount is not telling TPOINT what side of
the pier the telescope is. This either means you are using the wrong
driver, or because the mount+driver is keeping this information to itself.

I will have another look later to see what I can kludge.

You will know when you've got it right because on one side of the pier all
the declinations will get logged as > 90 deg.


Patrick Wallace"


The mount is the AP1200GTO with the GTOCP3, ST10XME, AO8, CFW8,Pyxis 3"
rotator and OGS 12.5" RC. I had ACP opened and connected to the telescope
with the ASCOM ver. 1.2.5 AP driver. I typically use ACP for automated
imaging. I used CCDSoftV5 and TPoint along with TheSky6 connected via
TeleAPI. Do you see any reason for the driver not reporting the side of
pier information?

Thanks,

Steve

Hi Frank,
Saw your post and since I also have a Le Sueur Astro Pier I thought
you might be able to tell me if I will have problems connecting an
AP1200, Celestron C-14, 5 pound guide scope and 11 pound Televue.
What scope(s)are you using on your pier? Do you image? Is there a
problem with trailing? According to the Pier Design Fundamentals
mentioned in an earlier post, I will need a 10" pier. I also have too
small a cement plug. Mine is only 24 inch diameter, not the 36 inch
recommended there. So unless this is a major problem, I will probably
not rip out my pier and start over. Thanks for your help. Jodi

Jodi,

I'm not familiar with the Le Sueur Astro pier or your particular
configuration (portable or permanent), but just to echo Chris' advice, you
may want to consider that the AP 1200 is usually coupled with a 10 inch
diameter pier (the Standard portable pier or the ATS portable one) when
bought directly from AP... AP supplies an 8" portable pier for the 900...

While I suppose this is true for some piggy-back arrangements as well, for
imaging, some folks seem to have orthogonality/balance/flexure issues with
some tandem/side-by-side arrangements that can be a challenge to work out.

While not a personal endorsement, I've heard that Robin Casady offers some
products in this area that seem well made (actually they look like they
could have been made by AP) and which have used successfully...

http://www.robincasady.com/Astro/.

Good luck,

Hank

You should grab a copy of Mr. Persyk's (excellent) paper on pier
design: http://home.att.net/~dpersyk/Pier_Design.htm

Given your specs and Mr. Persyk's paper, IMHO you should be looking at
a larger diameter pier...

cheers & beers,
Chris

Hi everyone,
I am new to the group, having just purchased a like-new used AP1200
mount. I plan to use it with a C-14 scope that will have a 5 pound
guide scope attached and also a 4" Televue refractor which I want to
mount side-by-side. I have a Le Sueur Astro Pier, the 8 1/4 inch
diameter model. I see on the Le Sueur web site that they make a cap
for the AP1200 which can be welded to my pier. Can anyone tell me if
this combination will work? They indicate that the pier can handle over
1000 pounds unbalanced, which I am definitely under! Thanks, Jodi

Joe, sorry for the late comment. Another great image of this rarely imaged object.

Jim

Thkx Stuart & Ron, now starts getting the print right...joe :)


"May You Go Among The Imperishable Stars"
Joe Mize www.cav-sfo.com
Chiefland Astronomy Village, Fla.

Stuart said it all - WOW indeed! That is a great image and I
appreciate your commitment to getting it right.

Cheers and clears,

Ron

--- In ap-gto@..., "JoeMize" <jmize@...> wrote:

Inspired by Dean Rowe's CBT1 image a few months ago I gave this

puppy a

shot. Because of his warning, it's quite faint, I used ~23hrs

total of

Bin-1 data. Probably as much processing time went into bringing

out all

details possible of this 58arc.min SNR. The nebula streams along

the left

of the image are edges of a much older, larger and fainter SNR, G

116.5

+1.1. As usual, Enjoy...joe :)

12x9" Image and details, http://www.cav-sfo.com/LBN576ccd.html
60% image, 35x26" at 1505K, http://www.cav-sfo.com/LBN576ccdL.jpg

"May You Go Among The Imperishable Stars"
Joe Mize www.cav-sfo.com
Chiefland Astronomy Village, Fla.

Joe, that is a super shot - wow!

Stuart

From: "JoeMize" <jmize@...>
Reply-To: ap-gto@...
To: "SBIG Yahoo" <SBIG@...>,"A-P GTO Yahoo" <ap-gto@...>
Subject: [ap-gto] LBN576 Ancient SNR
Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 15:37:00 -0500

Inspired by Dean Rowe's CBT1 image a few months ago I gave this puppy a
shot. Because of his warning, it's quite faint, I used ~23hrs total of
Bin-1 data. Probably as much processing time went into bringing out all
details possible of this 58arc.min SNR. The nebula streams along the left
of the image are edges of a much older, larger and fainter SNR, G 116.5
+1.1. As usual, Enjoy...joe :)

12x9" Image and details, http://www.cav-sfo.com/LBN576ccd.html
60% image, 35x26" at 1505K, http://www.cav-sfo.com/LBN576ccdL.jpg

"May You Go Among The Imperishable Stars"
Joe Mize www.cav-sfo.com
Chiefland Astronomy Village, Fla.

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the ap-gto
group.

File : /dec-hub-hole-pattern.pdf
Uploaded by : howard4ap <howard@...>
Description : 1200 Declination Hub Hole-pattern

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ap-gto/files/dec-hub-hole-pattern.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles

Regards,

howard4ap <howard@...>

Hi Roland,
Can Howard or someone provide me the mechanical dimensions that I
requested? I can drive out to my observatory to measure them, but a
drawing saves me a day and gas.
Your idea of using a second set of rings is interesting. I like it.

I would use an off axis guider, but with the field flattener, I
don't think I have enough room between that and the camera...do I?
If I used an off axis guider, I could do the same on the FSQ where
there is enoung back focus to insert an off-axis guider. Then, of
course, my main error source is image train flexure which is not a
concern in either scope.

Thanks, RIck

--- In ap-gto@..., chris1011@... wrote:

In a message dated 12/3/08 6:49:44 PM, rickwiggins@... writes:

However; there is a flexure concern with the dovetail plates and
small dovetail receiver

The only way to make a guidescope work is to attach it directly
to the main scope tube assembly. Not to the rings, not to the

mounting plate

but directly to the tube itself. The guide scope must be very light
and it must sit rigidly in its rings. The guide scope rings can be
attached to a separate set of tube rings that are attached to the

main scope

and these rings cannot be attached in any way to the cradle plate,
but must float free. There still may be flexure from the camera and
focuser, so the exposure time may be limited.

Rolando







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]