main@ap-gto.groups.io

Re: Bad X scale?

Ray Gralak

#71616

Thanks Bryan! I think I'll bump my tolerance by a percent and see what happens. :)Morris, raising the tolerance might be okay if you don't know image scale exactly, but not if the image scale is already known.

When you see "Bad X-scale" that means even though the plate solve was successful, the image scale (and RA/Dec coordinates) were probably wrong. That is, it was a bad solution and should not be included in the model.

-Ray Gralak
Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): https://www.astro-physics.com/apcc-pro
Author of PEMPro V3:  https://www.ccdware.com
Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver

-----Original Message-----
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io] On Behalf Of Mojo Jones
Sent: Saturday, July 11, 2020 10:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Bad X scale?

Thanks Bryan! I think I'll bump my tolerance by a percent and see what happens. :)


On 7/11/2020 10:17 PM, Worsel via groups.io wrote:


	Mojo

	https://ap-gto.groups.io/g/main/message/71258

	Bryan



--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo <http://bridgemojo.com>
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers <http://otastro.org>
Mojo's Blog <http://mojo.whiteoaks.com>

Re: Messier 8: TEC160FL + A-P QUADTCC-TEC160 n+ Mach2Gto Modeling

jypeng@...

#71615

Terri, Eckhard.
I am glad to hear your comments it.
Thank you.
Jian Yuan Peng

Re: Some open cluster goodness.

Dean Jacobsen

#71614

Thanks Terri.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/

Re: Bad X scale?

Mojo Jones

#71613

Thanks Bryan! I think I'll bump my tolerance by a percent and see what happens. :)

Show quoted text

On 7/11/2020 10:17 PM, Worsel via groups.io wrote:

Mojo

https://ap-gto.groups.io/g/main/message/71258

Bryan

--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers
Mojo's Blog

Re: Bad X scale?

Worsel

#71612

Mojo

https://ap-gto.groups.io/g/main/message/71258

Bryan

Bad X scale?

Mojo Jones

#71611

After having good luck with APPM, the Mach1, and the Traveler, I've moved on this week to trying it with the 1100GTO and AP180.

The longer focal length and long moment arms certainly make it less forgiving.

I'm doing a small point map of 23 points. I'm accustomed to them all succeeding with the Mach1/Traveler.

This is my second night to make a point map with the AP180/1100GTO, and two plates failed with a timeout. I'm wondering if these might be explained by being dense Milky Way points, while trying to solve on a somewhat slow and old PC. I'm using the ANSRV local astronomy.net solver.

But two other points didn't exactly "fail," that is, they weren't logged as having failed by APPM. But they did record "Bad X Scale" in the point log, and left yellow in the point diagram, and had no RA/Dec deltas.

I'm still getting pretty good results with pointing and tracking.

Mojo

--
Morris Jones, Monrovia, CA
BridgeMojo
Old Town Sidewalk Astronomers
Mojo's Blog

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Mikko Viljamaa

#71610

No lose wires that I can see.

- Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Mikko Viljamaa

#71609

OK, plugged the RA to Dec (cannot plug Dec to RA as it’s too short) and nothing happens. When I open the gearbox cover I see the gears turning about 180 degrees and that’s all.

Mikko

Re: Messier 8: TEC160FL + A-P QUADTCC-TEC160 n+ Mach2Gto Modeling

Terri Zittritsch

#71608

That is really beautiful Jian Yuan.

Re: Some open cluster goodness.

Terri Zittritsch

#71607

Great shot Dean.

T

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Roland Christen

#71606

try what we suggested - plug the RA cable into the Dec motor.

Rolando

Show quoted text

-----Original Message-----
From: Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Sat, Jul 11, 2020 6:14 am
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

I already tried the second Y cable which I ordered. I can’t believe the cable is the issue unless the brand new Y cable is faulty also.

- Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Mikko Viljamaa

#71605

I already tried the second Y cable which I ordered. I can’t believe the cable is the issue unless the brand new Y cable is faulty also.

- Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Roland Christen

#71604

You have a bad connection to the motor encoder. Could be in the Y cable, could be inside the gearbox, could be a loose wire or broken wire on one of the connectors on the RA part of the cable.

First thing I would do is to connect the RA cable to the Dec gearbox and see if it acts the same way. If so, then the fault is in the cable. If the Dec does not run away using the RA cable, but the RA does, then the fault would be inside the gearbox.

If all else fails and you can't figure anything out then call AP support tomorrow and they will help you do some tests.

Rolando

Show quoted text

-----Original Message-----
From: Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...>
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io
Sent: Fri, Jul 10, 2020 10:24 pm
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Well I changed the power unit first yesterday and that didn’t help. Neither did the power cord and actually at this point the mount even refused to connect. So I had not high hopes when I changed the Y cable but miracles happen and with the new Y cable everything worked fine last night.

This until an hour ago when I tried to start a sequence again only to run into the same problem again. When the mount is connected, the RA axes immediately slews about 20 degrees after which it stops and the yellow light is on.

If I try to open the RA gearbox tomorrow, what exactly should I look for?

- Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Christopher Erickson

#71603

Swap the two Y-cable motor connectors on the motors with each other and see if the problem switches to the DEC motor. Then report back.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Show quoted text

On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 5:49 PM Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> wrote:

Yes previously the slew took longer and was more random. So long that a couple of times I had to cut the power so that the scope won’t hit the tripod. No encoders in Mach1, not at least in mine.

If by a connector you mean the Y cable I already tried another cable. I’m not sure how I could check the connector itself.

Thanks,

Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Mikko Viljamaa

#71602

Yes previously the slew took longer and was more random. So long that a couple of times I had to cut the power so that the scope won’t hit the tripod. No encoders in Mach1, not at least in mine.

If by a connector you mean the Y cable I already tried another cable. I’m not sure how I could check the connector itself.

Thanks,

Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Christopher Erickson

#71601

"...the RA axes immediately slews about 20 degrees after which it stops and the yellow light is on."

New information! (at least to me?)

Sounds like the encoder on the back of the RA motor or a damaged motor cable connector or a bad driver or encoder interface chip in the CP4.

Swap the motor connectors and see if the problem swaps motors.

Virus-free. www.avg.com

Show quoted text

On Fri, Jul 10, 2020 at 5:24 PM Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> wrote:

Well I changed the power unit first yesterday and that didn’t help. Neither did the power cord and actually at this point the mount even refused to connect. So I had not high hopes when I changed the Y cable but miracles happen and with the new Y cable everything worked fine last night.

This until an hour ago when I tried to start a sequence again only to run into the same problem again. When the mount is connected, the RA axes immediately slews about 20 degrees after which it stops and the yellow light is on.

If I try to open the RA gearbox tomorrow, what exactly should I look for?

- Mikko

Re: Mach1 and GTOCP4 Yellow Light

Mikko Viljamaa

#71600

Well I changed the power unit first yesterday and that didn’t help. Neither did the power cord and actually at this point the mount even refused to connect. So I had not high hopes when I changed the Y cable but miracles happen and with the new Y cable everything worked fine last night.

This until an hour ago when I tried to start a sequence again only to run into the same problem again. When the mount is connected, the RA axes immediately slews about 20 degrees after which it stops and the yellow light is on.

If I try to open the RA gearbox tomorrow, what exactly should I look for?

- Mikko

Re: Some open cluster goodness.

Dean Jacobsen

#71599

Thanks for taking a look guys.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/

Re: Some open cluster goodness.

diogenes ofsinope

#71598

Beautiful exploration of a "quiet" corner of the night sky.

Michael

Re: Some open cluster goodness.

Stuart <stuart.j.heggie@...>

#71597

Beautiful job on this Dean! So much in the FOV!

Stuart Heggie

http://www.stuartheggie.com/

Show quoted text

On Fri, 10 Jul 2020 at 18:07, Dean Jacobsen <deanjacobsen@...> wrote:

It has been a little quiet around here lately... probably because of that darn moon.

I love it when I can point my telescope at the Milky Way and take pictures of open clusters.

I took a wide field h-alpha image of the area around Sharpless 2-101 a few weeks ago which also included the open clusters NGC 6883 and NGC 6871. I went back and took a look at a color image I took of this field a couple of years ago and re-processed it to bring out a little more of the red emission nebula that is everywhere in the background.

TheSkyX tells me that there are 7 different open clusters in this field that are contained in its databases.

Here is a link to the Astrobin "fit to window" view. Take a look at 100% resolution view by clicking on the full resolution button in the upper right corner.

https://www.astrobin.com/full/355961/B/

Some of the highlights of this field are:

- NGC 6883, the bright group of stars just to the left of center,
- NGC 6871, the bright group right of center, about half way to the right edge,
- Biurakan 2 and Biurakan 1 are between NGC 6883 and NGC 6871, Biurakan 2 is on the left,
- Dolidze 3 at the upper left corner,
- Dolidze 1 at top center, a little bit down from the bright white star,
- IC 1310 is at center bottom.

There are numerous Barnard and Lynd's Dark Nebula scattered throughout the field that are partially obscured by the multitudes of foreground stars.

I used my trusty AP900 for this one.
--
Dean Jacobsen
http://astrophoto.net/wp/
Image Gallery - http://astrophoto.net/wp/image-gallery/
Astrobin - https://www.astrobin.com/users/deanjacobsen/

--

Stuart
http://www.astrofoto.ca/stuartheggie/