Questio regarding CP-4
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Pawel Lancucki
Hi Roland et al @ AP
I have a question regarding CP-4 - it has home switch inputs. How it is intended to operate? Will I have an AP driver / ASCOM accessible "home now" command which would slew the mount to the known ALT-AZ coordinates, than use time and site info to calculate correct RA/DEC and get the CP-4 drive synced back to the sky? Will the mount be auto-homed after power up? Will the home coordinates be set by the user or by factory only? Second question - how will the limit/home switches be implemented? Will there be retrofit kits offered to exisiting mounts? When and at what price? I have just teared down Mach-1 from my balcony observatory and now I am considering moving it to a remote site. And the decision is to keep my Mach-1 or sell it and get Software Bisque mount with hardware homing capability. BTW AP1100 is still my workhouse in my back garden RoR obs. CS Pawel Lancucki
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We will provide more information shortly.
Clear Skies,
Marj Christen Astro-Physics, Inc 11250 Forest Hills Rd Machesney Park, IL 61115 Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847 www.astro-physics.com
From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...]
Hi Roland et al @ AP
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The limit/home switch inputs for the GTOCP4 will be available initially for 3600 mounts with this option. They will need a new cable.
We plan to make this option available for 1100 and 1600 mounts later this year. We will provide information at that time.
We do not have hardware home and limit switches for the Mach1. However, we do have a new upcoming software home/limits feature in APCC that we plan to release soon that can be used with all AP mounts that can use APCC. We have been so busy preparing for the GTOCP4 that we have not quite finished the documentation, but is will be coming soon.
Clear Skies,
Marj Christen Astro-Physics, Inc 11250 Forest Hills Rd Machesney Park, IL 61115 Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847 www.astro-physics.com
From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...]
Hi Roland et al @ AP
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Marj Would it be possible to retrofit-equip home/limit switch capability on 900/1200 mounts upgraded with the CP-4 utilizing possibly some type of magnetic reed or optical switch affixed to the RA & Dec axis? Don
On Mar 2, 2016, at 3:42 AM, Marj marj@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:
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Mike C
I have thought about putting limits on my AP1200. I found that I could sense the position of a strong magnet placed inside my AP1200 rotating base (right through the mount wall) with a hall effect sensor right along side it. I need to take another look for opportune fasteners to mount sensors on. The winning solution would require no permanent mods to the mount.
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 5:12 AM, Don Anderson jockey_ca@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:
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Pawel Lancucki
Hi Marj
Thank you for response. A bit pity, as this puts Mach-1 behind MyT in terms of suitability for fully robotic use. I know most "mount lost" problems are due to human errors, but - that happens and mount capable of "one button" recovery has distinct advantage - especially if located on a remote mountain in African desert... CS Pawel Lancucki
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Marj, I too would love to see an external solution that allows the AP900GTO and AP1200GTO owners to benefit from the entirety of the CP4 and APCC. Stuart
On Wed, Mar 2, 2016 at 9:12 AM, Don Anderson jockey_ca@... [ap-gto] <ap-gto@...> wrote:
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Stuart Heggie
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Roland Christen
There will be a homing feature for all mounts based on the internal gear angle which is independent of all user inputs. The software is not quite finished yet, and will be available for all mounts when it is fully tested. It is one of the many things we are developing for our mounts. The concept has been developed and tested, but the user interface is not ready.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Rolando Sent from AOL Mobile Mail
-----Original Message-----
From: 'Pawel T. Lancucki' pawel.lancucki@... [ap-gto] To: ap-gto Sent: Wed, Mar 2, 2016 11:52 PM Subject: [ap-gto] Re: Questio regarding CP-4 Hi Marj Thank you for response. A bit pity, as this puts Mach-1 behind MyT in terms of suitability for fully robotic use. I know most "mount lost" problems are due to human errors, but - that happens and mount capable of "one button" recovery has distinct advantage - especially if located on a remote mountain in African desert... CS Pawel Lancucki
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We do not have any plans at this time. It might be possible to use an inclinometer.
An upcoming release of APCC will have software home and limits for all mounts using APCC.
Clear Skies,
Marj Christen Astro-Physics, Inc 11250 Forest Hills Rd Machesney Park, IL 61115 Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847 www.astro-physics.com
From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...]
Marj Would it be possible to retrofit-equip home/limit switch capability on 900/1200 mounts upgraded with the CP-4 utilizing possibly some type of magnetic reed or optical switch affixed to the RA & Dec axis? Don
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Pawel Lancucki
> There will be a homing feature for all
mounts based on the internal gear angle which is independent of all user
inputs. The software is not quite finished yet, and will be available for
all > mounts when it is fully tested. It is one of the many things we
are developing for our mounts. The concept has been developed and tested,
but the user interface is not ready.
> > Rolando Hi Roland That will be a great feature, I am looking forward for some news on that. Best Regards Pawel Lancucki
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