On 6/29/2019 1:34 PM, 'Mike Shade' mshade@q.com [ap-gto] wrote:

There was a thread recently about setting different guiding than a
guider cable...If anyone can comment that would be appreciated:

AP1600GTO/AP V2 driver/MaximDL ccd V51.8/SKY V6/SBIG STL 6303E/ACP/CDK 17

There are several setting in Maxim to choose from...guider relays, main
relays, telescope, micro-guide, and ASCOM direct. I have been using a
traditional guider cable for years but there was a bit here about ASCOM
guiding. I fiddled around with this some time ago but never had
successful results, likely had the wrong settings

I just did that, so I'll throw out what I learned.

1. Disconnect the ST-4 cable from your guide camera to the mount.

2. In MaxIm's Guide tab -> Settings -> Control Via, choose ASCOM Direct.

3. Below that, next to the grayed-out COM port, click the Setup button to bring up the ASCOM chooser.

4. Choose the appropriate ASCOM driver for your mount.

5. Click the Properties button to check/verify the driver's settings, then close that Dialog.

6. Click the OK button on the Chooser dialog.

7. Slew to a bright star and take a guider image to confirm it's in the FOV.

8. Enter the star's Dec in the MaxIm Guide tab.

9. Click the star's centroid and click Calibrate in MaxIm. You should get the expected L-curve.

10. Take another guider image, click the star's centroid, then click Track in MaxIm. Open the guide error graph to see how well autoguiding is working.

That's it. It worked great for me.

--
Mike

Mike Dodd
Louisa County, Virginia USA
http://astronomy.mdodd.com

On 6/29/2019 1:53 PM, Mike Dodd mike@... [ap-gto] wrote:

4. Choose the appropriate ASCOM driver for your mount.

I noticed after I posted my reply that you're using ACP, as do I. I did NOT select the "ACP ASCOM telescope hub" or whatever it's called. I DID choose "Astro Physics ASCOM driver" or something similar. I am told that MaxIm connects to the mount, so if you want to do that without ACP running, you can't use the ACP ASCOM hub.

Once I made my selection, MaxIm found the mount and calibrated/guided correctly without ACP running.

And.... Even though I have TheSkyX and have connected my AP1200 mount to it, I did NOT choose the SkyX ASCOM driver, if that even appeared in the list. The A-P driver looked like the best choice for Maxim to connect without other programs running, and that proved correct.

--- Mike

The AP driver is the only choice that will work. That SKYX driver is used when you are connecting something in addition to the SKYX to a Paramount.

When using ACP, the correct Guiding Via choice is Ascom Direct. When not using ACP the correct choice, when not using an ST4 cable is Telescope.

Note also that there is an ACP telescope hub that you can connect the SKYX to. I use it along with ACP on an AP1600 that I just got access to about a week ago.

That makes the SKYX a great Planetarium program while allowing you to have ACP controlling things as well. At least this works for me.

Rgrds-Ross

Thanks for the info...I am using Sky 6, NOT SkyX...same apply?



Mike J. Shade: mshade@q.com

Mike J. Shade Photography:

mshadephotography.com



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From: ap-gto@... [mailto:ap-gto@...]
Sent: Saturday, June 29, 2019 12:08 PM
To: ap-gto@...
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Re: ASCOM guiding





The AP driver is the only choice that will work. That SKYX driver is used when you are connecting something in addition to the SKYX to a Paramount.

When using ACP, the correct Guiding Via choice is Ascom Direct. When not using ACP the correct choice, when not using an ST4 cable is Telescope.

Note also that there is an ACP telescope hub that you can connect the SKYX to. I use it along with ACP on an AP1600 that I just got access to about a week ago.

That makes the SKYX a great Planetarium program while allowing you to have ACP controlling things as well. At least this works for me.

Rgrds-Ross

On 6/29/2019 11:40 AM, Mike Dodd mike@... [ap-gto] wrote:



On 6/29/2019 1:53 PM, Mike Dodd mike@... [ap-gto] wrote:

4. Choose the appropriate ASCOM driver for your mount.

I noticed after I posted my reply that you're using ACP, as do I. I did
NOT select the "ACP ASCOM telescope hub" or whatever it's called. I DID
choose "Astro Physics ASCOM driver" or something similar. I am told that
MaxIm connects to the mount, so if you want to do that without ACP
running, you can't use the ACP ASCOM hub.

Once I made my selection, MaxIm found the mount and calibrated/guided
correctly without ACP running.

And.... Even though I have TheSkyX and have connected my AP1200 mount to
it, I did NOT choose the SkyX ASCOM driver, if that even appeared in the
list. The A-P driver looked like the best choice for Maxim to connect
without other programs running, and that proved correct.

--- Mike





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

On 6/29/2019 3:08 PM, Ross Salinger rgsalinger@... [ap-gto] wrote:

Note also that there is an ACP telescope hub that you can connect the
SKYX to. [...] That makes the SKYX a great Planetarium program while
allowing you to have ACP controlling things as well. At least this
works for me.

Absolutely. I had that configuration with Sky6 before 2010 when we moved
to a new house. I plan to do the same thing with SkyX soon in the new observatory.

I only recently got everything playing happily together, so next I'll add SkyX connecting via the ACP telescope hub. It's really nice to SEE where ACP is imaging. :-)

--
Mike

Mike Dodd
Louisa County, Virginia USA
http://astronomy.mdodd.com

On 6/29/2019 5:48 PM, Yves Laroche yves.laroche@... [ap-gto] wrote:

You can also connect TheSkyX directly to the AP ASCOM Driver. This
driver works the same as a hub.

Great news, thanks! I assume ACP will also connect to the mount if SkyX and MaxIm are connected to it with this driver. Yes?

--- Mike

On 6/29/2019 6:04 PM, Yves Laroche yves.laroche@... [ap-gto] wrote:

Of course Mike but don't connect Maxim to the telescope when using ACP
. Bob Denny already mentionned this several years ago.

Ummm.... Two nights ago MaxIm was autoguiding using ASCOM Direct with the A-P GTO Telescope driver while ACP was connected to the mount. Bob told me just last week that MaxIm connects to the mount itself. Am I mising something?

--- Mike

On 6/29/2019 7:10 PM, Yves Laroche yves.laroche@... [ap-gto] wrote:

Normally ACP uses Maxim to autoguide. Maxim is not autoguiding in
standalone mode as you should do if ACP was not present. Unless
something has changed in ACP v8, you should avoid connecting Maxim to
the telescope when using ACP

Let me clarify: I set MaxIm to use ASCOM Direct to guide using "pulse guiding." I chose the "Astro Physics GTO V2 Mount" ASCOM driver. I then calibrated the guider and tested guiding standalone MaxIm.

Next I launched ACP connected the telescope and camera, and started an imaging plan. ACP found a guide star and started guiding as it always does.

At no time did I "connect" to the mount in MaxIm. However, Maxim somehow established a connection to the mount so it can issue guiding corrections via ASCOM.

According to Bob Denny, MaxIm DOES connect to the mount. I don't know this all works, but it DOES work.

--- Mike

Two quick points. I had Bob Denny on the phone literally yesterday and we talked about NOT connecting MaximDL to the AP driver when using ACP. It's also in the "manual". Second, I am positive that he also said to use ASCOM direct when guiding THROUGH MaximDL under ACP control and to use Telescope when not using ACP. I'm sure, though, from experience, that both settings can be made to work when operating stand alone.

That to me is the only mystery - exactly how they differ. I thought that if you used ASCOM direct, then not all of the MDL parameters are being used to calculate what gets sent to the mount driver. The MDL manual isn't very clear on this at all. It's on page 471 and I've read it ten times and I still can't suss out the exact meaning.

Rgrds-Ross

On 6/29/2019 9:49 PM, 'Yves Laroche' yves.laroche@... [ap-gto] wrote:

When connecting MaximDL directly to the telescope driver, some MaxImDL
commands (transmitted to the ASCOM driver) interfere with ACP. When
using ASCOM direct, only commands relative to autoguiding are being sent
to the ASCOM driver so they are not interfering in any ways with ACP.

Thank you for the clarification. I'm using ASCOM Direct in MaxIm only for autoguiding, and not connecting directly to the telescope driver, so I'm happy to hear that will not interfere with ACP.

--- Mike