Date
1 - 20 of 31
Encoders and manual interventions
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ap@CaptivePhotons.com
I have been meaning to ask this for some time but a strange event today prompted me to remember...
I have an AP1100AE. Generally speaking I understand how the encoders work normally, park positions, tracking, etc. But I wonder (and worry) what happens when other "stuff" is going on, notably when working inside as I was today on a new OTA and imaging train when I intervene. Today for example i was generally just stopping tracking and focusing on clouds (the furthest away thing I could find). I had powered up the mount so I could use AP Jog to move around. But I also was frequently unlocking the gears and moving the mount by hand, e.g. pointing straight down as an easier place to change the imaging train. A couple times strange things happened. Here is what I think I know... If the mount is parked, the encoders are ignored. If the mount is not parked, whether or not tracking, the encoders try to keep the mount in the expected place. So if I have tracking off, manually unlock the gears and move the mount 10 degrees, and lock the gears, the mount slowly creeps back to where it thought it should be. As you move it, it makes all these weird little chirping sounds. This has come up with me before when I would go outside and add a dew shield or similar, the weird chirping noises (probably in that case tracking). My question is this: Does it matter? Does moving the mount a bit (e.g. adding a dew shield) while not tracking but not parked do any harm? Is it more appropriate to always park before touching the mount? Did I do any harm by unlocking the gears and moving it while unparked (not tracking)? I know how to reset the mount's position including home, not worried about that (and expected to after today's work). I am really asking whether I am somehow torturing the control system in doing these things? Linwood |
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Roland Christen
The encoders are always trying to keep the axis in the place where it is commanded. It does this at a reasonably slow rate so that the axis is stable when it's being disturbed. So when you unlock the gears the encoders sense the error and run the motors to try to bring the axis back to the commanded position. Of course when the gears are not engaged, the motors cannot turn the axis, so the feedback from the encoders tells the CP controller that the error persists and it keeps turning the motors. When you then engage the gears again the motors can eventually bring the axis back to the commanded position.
If you want to disengage the gears for some reason, do it with power off. I would not play with disengaging the gears routinely because there is a real chance that they may accidentally not disengage enough and the top of the teeth may scrape across each other and cause tooth damage (tooth decay). The safest way to disengage the axes is to loosen the clutches and move the mount around manually. When you are done, place the mount in a known park position and resume from that park.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: ap@... <ap@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Oct 11, 2022 5:53 pm Subject: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions I have been meaning to ask this for some time but a strange event today prompted me to remember...
I have an AP1100AE. Generally speaking I understand how the encoders work normally, park positions, tracking, etc. But I wonder (and worry) what happens when other "stuff" is going on, notably when working inside as I was today on a new OTA and imaging train when I intervene. Today for example i was generally just stopping tracking and focusing on clouds (the furthest away thing I could find). I had powered up the mount so I could use AP Jog to move around. But I also was frequently unlocking the gears and moving the mount by hand, e.g. pointing straight down as an easier place to change the imaging train. A couple times strange things happened. Here is what I think I know... If the mount is parked, the encoders are ignored. If the mount is not parked, whether or not tracking, the encoders try to keep the mount in the expected place. So if I have tracking off, manually unlock the gears and move the mount 10 degrees, and lock the gears, the mount slowly creeps back to where it thought it should be. As you move it, it makes all these weird little chirping sounds. This has come up with me before when I would go outside and add a dew shield or similar, the weird chirping noises (probably in that case tracking). My question is this: Does it matter? Does moving the mount a bit (e.g. adding a dew shield) while not tracking but not parked do any harm? Is it more appropriate to always park before touching the mount? Did I do any harm by unlocking the gears and moving it while unparked (not tracking)? I know how to reset the mount's position including home, not worried about that (and expected to after today's work). I am really asking whether I am somehow torturing the control system in doing these things? Linwood -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Nathan Myhrvold
So I take it from your answer that you recommend jogging the mount to position it in a direction (if needed).
toggle quoted message
Show quoted text
Nathan
Going mobile
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...>
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2022 4:11:28 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions The encoders are always trying to keep the axis in the place where it is commanded. It does this at a reasonably slow rate so that the axis is stable when it's being disturbed. So when you unlock the gears the encoders sense the error and
run the motors to try to bring the axis back to the commanded position. Of course when the gears are not engaged, the motors cannot turn the axis, so the feedback from the encoders tells the CP controller that the error persists and it keeps turning the motors.
When you then engage the gears again the motors can eventually bring the axis back to the commanded position.
If you want to disengage the gears for some reason, do it with power off. I would not play with disengaging the gears routinely because there is a real chance that they may accidentally not disengage enough and the top of the teeth may scrape
across each other and cause tooth damage (tooth decay). The safest way to disengage the axes is to loosen the clutches and move the mount around manually. When you are done, place the mount in a known park position and resume from that park.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: ap@... <ap@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Tue, Oct 11, 2022 5:53 pm Subject: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions I have been meaning to ask this for some time but a strange event today prompted me to remember...
I have an AP1100AE. Generally speaking I understand how the encoders work normally, park positions, tracking, etc. But I wonder (and worry) what happens when other "stuff" is going on, notably when working inside as I was today on a new OTA and imaging train when I intervene. Today for example i was generally just stopping tracking and focusing on clouds (the furthest away thing I could find). I had powered up the mount so I could use AP Jog to move around. But I also was frequently unlocking the gears and moving the mount by hand, e.g. pointing straight down as an easier place to change the imaging train. A couple times strange things happened. Here is what I think I know... If the mount is parked, the encoders are ignored. If the mount is not parked, whether or not tracking, the encoders try to keep the mount in the expected place. So if I have tracking off, manually unlock the gears and move the mount 10 degrees, and lock the gears, the mount slowly creeps back to where it thought it should be. As you move it, it makes all these weird little chirping sounds. This has come up with me before when I would go outside and add a dew shield or similar, the weird chirping noises (probably in that case tracking). My question is this: Does it matter? Does moving the mount a bit (e.g. adding a dew shield) while not tracking but not parked do any harm? Is it more appropriate to always park before touching the mount? Did I do any harm by unlocking the gears and moving it while unparked (not tracking)? I know how to reset the mount's position including home, not worried about that (and expected to after today's work). I am really asking whether I am somehow torturing the control system in doing these things? Linwood -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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ap@CaptivePhotons.com
On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 07:11 PM, Roland Christen wrote:
If you want to disengage the gears for some reason, do it with power off. I would not play with disengaging the gears routinely because there is a real chance that they may accidentally not disengage enough and the top of the teeth may scrape across each other and cause tooth damage (tooth decay).OK, great advice, I think I've done the scrape thing a time or two, not bad; hopefully it takes more than that. How about the issue of working around it, e.g. adding a dew shield, or taking one off, where I'm tugging a bit (gently) on it while it is tracking, no change in gear lock or anything. That makes the feedback noise. Does that do any harm? Or is it just doing its thing of keeping it in place? Linwood |
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Roland Christen
How about the issue of working around it, e.g. adding a dew shield, or taking one off, where I'm tugging a bit (gently) on it while it is tracking, no change in gear lock or anything. That makes the feedback noise. Does that do any harm? That's fine, won't hurt anything. The servo motors arte just trying to fight the disruption, so they will get power from the controllers to try to counter what movement you are doing to the axis.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: ap@... <ap@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Wed, Oct 12, 2022 7:20 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions On Tue, Oct 11, 2022 at 07:11 PM, Roland Christen wrote:
If you want to disengage the gears for some reason, do it with power off. I would not play with disengaging the gears routinely because there is a real chance that they may accidentally not disengage enough and the top of the teeth may scrape across each other and cause tooth damage (tooth decay).OK, great advice, I think I've done the scrape thing a time or two, not bad; hopefully it takes more than that. How about the issue of working around it, e.g. adding a dew shield, or taking one off, where I'm tugging a bit (gently) on it while it is tracking, no change in gear lock or anything. That makes the feedback noise. Does that do any harm? Or is it just doing its thing of keeping it in place? Linwood -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Arvind
Hi Roland, I'd appreciate some clarification on this from you when you get a chance: Before I saw this email thread, with my previous mount -- a 900GTO -- I'd loosen the clutches and initiate a GoTo, and I'd physically move the OTA with my hands and point the scope at the object and then click Align with ASIAIR (unclear if it did Sync or ReCal internally). After this initial manual rough intervention, I could rely on Platesolve for centering objects for the rest of the night for more accurate pointing. This used to be my regular workflow. With my new 1100AE, especially after seeing this thread, I've been religiously powering down my mount, and loosening clutches, before doing anything on the mount such as swapping OTAs or to recover a lost mount to bring it back to CW down position. Then followed by tightening the clutches and powering it back up.. and then unparking it from Park 3. Interestingly, I was going through the 1100 manual [1] where on Page 11, under the section "What If I Get Lost?" the manual actually describes my previous workflow as an easy fix! So, a clarifying question to what you mentioned above (it looks like I might have misinterpreted what you said): for a 1100AE+CP4 mount, is it ok to loosen the clutches and use my hands to move the OTA toward the direction of the object after initiating a GoTo with power on? Would it damage or stress the mount if I were to do this regularly? |
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Bill Long
Loosening the clutch knobs and moving the mount manually is fine. That's why the clutches and knobs are there. Just don't loosen the switch to release the worm.
Bill
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Arvind <base16@...>
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2022 4:04 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions
Hi Roland, I'd appreciate some clarification on this from you when you get a chance:
Before I saw this email thread, with my previous mount -- a 900GTO -- I'd loosen the clutches and initiate a GoTo, and I'd physically move the OTA with my hands and point the scope at the object and then click Align with ASIAIR (unclear if it did Sync
or ReCal internally). After this initial manual rough intervention, I could rely on Platesolve for centering objects for the rest of the night for more accurate pointing.
This used to be my regular workflow.
With my new 1100AE, especially after seeing this thread, I've been religiously powering down my mount, and loosening clutches, before doing anything on the mount such as swapping OTAs or to recover a lost mount to bring it back to CW down position. Then
followed by tightening the clutches and powering it back up.. and then unparking it from Park 3.
Interestingly, I was going through the
1100 manual [1] where on Page 11, under the section "What If I Get Lost?" the manual actually describes my previous workflow as an easy fix!
So, a clarifying question to what you mentioned above (it looks like I might have misinterpreted what you said): for a 1100AE+CP4 mount, is it ok to loosen the clutches and use my hands to move the OTA toward
the direction of the object after initiating a GoTo with power on? Would it damage or stress the mount if I were to do this regularly?
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Hi Arvin’s I’m sure Roland and others will answer your question, but I want to ask about this part: >>> is it ok to loosen the clutches and use my hands to move the OTA toward the direction of the object after initiating a GoTo with power on? Why do you need to take this step? Plate solve should resolve any pointing inaccuracy and if the error is too great a blind solve failover should take care of that? Brian On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 4:05 PM Arvind <base16@...> wrote:
--
Brian Brian Valente astro portfolio https://www.brianvalentephotography.com/astrophotography/ portfolio brianvalentephotography.com |
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Arvind
Thanks, Bill. Hi Brian -- this was a routine task for me with my previous mount (an excellent sample of 900GTO) that I controlled 100% through an ASIAIR. I've since learned about "Unpark from" position with the purchase of the new 1100 because I've been reading (and re-reading) the manuals. In essence, my mount was 'lost' pretty much every session but I basically brute forced my way around it those days with the 900GTO. These days I just unpark with Sky Safari, and I don't need to manually move the scope around like I previously did. But in the future, if I do end up needing to perform this step, I wanted to clarify if the power can be left on with just the clutch released for the AE mount. I got reminded of this because I saw this procedure actually mentioned on the manual on Page 11 (and Page 12, for PC use) under the "What If I Get Lost?" section. Link here: https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf To clarify, when I use APCC+V2 driver where I get to Unpark from X and slew somewhere and sync (I'm mobile and set things up each night so use Sync instead of ReCal), I don't need to do any of this. At least not yet. On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 8:15 PM Brian Valente <bvalente@...> wrote:
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Chris White
The key is that you want to loosen the clutch if you decide to manually push to a location. You want the clutch to slip, and not transfer your force unto the gears. Your push force is amplified greatly especially with larger equipment mounted. As you've noted though, unparking from a location in APCC that matches how you setup is the best way to start the mount off with the right location hints.
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Roland Christen
On the 1100/1600 AE mounts, if you plan to use APCC to establish home and limits using the encoders, then after you release the clutches and rotate the axes to some other orientation you will need to establish new home and limits.
Roland Christen
-----Original Message-----
From: Arvind <base16@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Wed, Dec 21, 2022 6:04 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions
Hi Roland, I'd appreciate some clarification on this from you when you get a chance:
Before I saw this email thread, with my previous mount -- a 900GTO -- I'd loosen the clutches and initiate a GoTo, and I'd physically move the OTA with my hands and point the scope at the object and then click Align with ASIAIR (unclear if it did Sync or ReCal internally). After this initial manual rough intervention, I could rely on Platesolve for centering objects for the rest of the night for more accurate pointing.
This used to be my regular workflow.
With my new 1100AE, especially after seeing this thread, I've been religiously powering down my mount, and loosening clutches, before doing anything on the mount such as swapping OTAs or to recover a lost mount to bring it back to CW down position. Then followed by tightening the clutches and powering it back up.. and then unparking it from Park 3.
Interestingly, I was going through the 1100 manual [1] where on Page 11, under the section "What If I Get Lost?" the manual actually describes my previous workflow as an easy fix!
So, a clarifying question to what you mentioned above (it looks like I might have misinterpreted what you said): for a 1100AE+CP4 mount, is it ok to loosen the clutches and use my hands to move the OTA toward the direction of the object after initiating a GoTo with power on? Would it damage or stress the mount if I were to do this regularly?
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Roland Christen
If you are mobile and basically set up your mount manually each session, then it's fine to start from a known park position (example; Unpark from Park3). All you need to make sure is that you physically move the mount to the correct orientation, using the clutches, before starting your initialization.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: Arvind <base16@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Wed, Dec 21, 2022 10:48 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Thanks, Bill.
Hi Brian -- this was a routine task for me with my previous mount (an excellent sample of 900GTO) that I controlled 100% through an ASIAIR. I've since learned about "Unpark from" position with the purchase of the new 1100 because I've been reading (and re-reading) the manuals. In essence, my mount was 'lost' pretty much every session but I basically brute forced my way around it those days with the 900GTO.
These days I just unpark with Sky Safari, and I don't need to manually move the scope around like I previously did. But in the future, if I do end up needing to perform this step, I wanted to clarify if the power can be left on with just the clutch released for the AE mount. I got reminded of this because I saw this procedure actually mentioned on the manual on Page 11 (and Page 12, for PC use) under the "What If I Get Lost?" section. Link here: https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf
To clarify, when I use APCC+V2 driver where I get to Unpark from X and slew somewhere and sync (I'm mobile and set things up each night so use Sync instead of ReCal), I don't need to do any of this. At least not yet.
On Wed, Dec 21, 2022 at 8:15 PM Brian Valente <bvalente@...> wrote:
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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bob
I’m lost here, all this talk about moving the mount by hand to get to an object, you have goto mounts, why are you going to an object by hand. |
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Arvind
Thanks, Roland, and Chris for the clarification. Understood. Hi skybob -- as referenced earlier, you should only need to do this if your mount gets lost. If you used A-P drivers on MS Windows or used Sky Safari to unpark from a predictable Park position, then this doesn't apply to you. See https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf page 11 and 12 towards the bottom. Except in my case (a: ASIAIR, b: setup/teardown every night -- but I roughly orient it to Park 3 on power up and power down) I've seen the mount send the OTA upside down, CW 90 degrees up at times when asked to go to an object too often. This used to happen so often that the following became my normal routine: power up, Goto with loose clutches, manually center on object, then Align, and then lock the clutches. Goto & tracking would work normally after that point. Given the above workaround, I was actually up and running in a matter of minutes. On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM <skybob727@...> wrote:
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Roland Christen
If ASIAir sends the mount upside down, it is likely that there is some missing piece of information that is being sent to the mount. It is most likely in Right Ascension because that axis needs to know the exact time in hours minutes, seconds, sent in Military format (24 hour format). If ASIAir is sending no time, incorrect local time, or sending am, pm, then that will indeed cause upside down on the RA axis.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Arvind <base16@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Fri, Dec 23, 2022 12:34 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Thanks, Roland, and Chris for the clarification. Understood.
Hi skybob -- as referenced earlier, you should only need to do this if your mount gets lost. If you used A-P drivers on MS Windows or used Sky Safari to unpark from a predictable Park position, then this doesn't apply to you.
See https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf page 11 and 12 towards the bottom.
Except in my case (a: ASIAIR, b: setup/teardown every night -- but I roughly orient it to Park 3 on power up and power down) I've seen the mount send the OTA upside down, CW 90 degrees up at times when asked to go to an object too often. This used to happen so often that the following became my normal routine: power up, Goto with loose clutches, manually center on object, then Align, and then lock the clutches. Goto & tracking would work normally after that point.
Given the above workaround, I was actually up and running in a matter of minutes.
On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM <skybob727@...> wrote:
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Bill Long
Also, the Mach 2 cannot get lost. So most of what's said here applies to the other mounts with encoder kits. Mach 2 can always been homed, no matter what the user did to it. 😎
Does the ASI product not have the unpark from setting defined at all, or is it set to a specific park position by default?
The Indi driver details show it should be set to last parked.
https://www.indilib.org/devices/telescopes/astrophysics/astrophysics-v2.html
So if you ended your night by parking to park 3, tore down the system and brought it inside, then set back up and had the mount back in park 3 position to start, it shouldn't get lost at all. In theory anyhow. If it does get lost, something else is happening.
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Arvind <base16@...>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 10:34 AM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Thanks, Roland, and Chris for the clarification. Understood.
Hi skybob -- as referenced earlier, you should only need to do this if your mount gets lost. If you used A-P drivers on MS Windows or used Sky Safari to unpark from a predictable Park position, then this doesn't apply to you.
See https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf
page 11 and 12 towards the bottom.
Except in my case (a: ASIAIR, b: setup/teardown every night -- but I roughly orient it to Park 3 on power up and power down) I've seen the mount send the OTA upside down, CW 90 degrees up at times when asked to go to an object too often. This used
to happen so often that the following became my normal routine: power up, Goto with loose clutches, manually center on object, then Align, and then lock the clutches. Goto & tracking would work normally after that point.
Given the above workaround, I was actually up and running in a matter of minutes.
On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM <skybob727@...> wrote:
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Bill Long
What the INDI driver is doing at that time, I believe can be answered by the author that is on this list. The ASI product uses INDI as it's driver layer. That's assuming Arvind is using the Astrophysics v2 INDI driver. Which also may not be the case. Not
sure how ZWO presents driver options to users in their interface.
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Roland Christen via groups.io <chris1011@...>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 10:55 AM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions If ASIAir sends the mount upside down, it is likely that there is some missing piece of information that is being sent to the mount. It is most likely in Right Ascension because that axis needs to know the exact time in hours minutes, seconds,
sent in Military format (24 hour format). If ASIAir is sending no time, incorrect local time, or sending am, pm, then that will indeed cause upside down on the RA axis.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Arvind <base16@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Fri, Dec 23, 2022 12:34 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Thanks, Roland, and Chris for the clarification. Understood.
Hi skybob -- as referenced earlier, you should only need to do this if your mount gets lost. If you used A-P drivers on MS Windows or used Sky Safari to unpark from a predictable Park position, then this doesn't apply to you.
See https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf
page 11 and 12 towards the bottom.
Except in my case (a: ASIAIR, b: setup/teardown every night -- but I roughly orient it to Park 3 on power up and power down) I've seen the mount send the OTA upside down, CW 90 degrees up at times when asked to go to an object too often. This used
to happen so often that the following became my normal routine: power up, Goto with loose clutches, manually center on object, then Align, and then lock the clutches. Goto & tracking would work normally after that point.
Given the above workaround, I was actually up and running in a matter of minutes.
On Fri, Dec 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM <skybob727@...> wrote:
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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W Hilmo
Couldn't it also be a sync problem?
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Show quoted text
It is common for automation software to do a sync after plate solving. On a Windows machine, running through either an APCC virtual port, or the ASCOM driver, the sync would be converted to a recalibrate command. The ASIAir probably doesn't do anything special for Astro-Physics mounts, and it's not running ASCOM or APCC. If it did a plate solve and sync while the counterweight was up, even a tiny bit, wouldn't that cause subsequent gotos to send the scope upside down? On 12/23/22 10:55, Roland Christen via
groups.io wrote:
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Roland Christen
If it did a plate solve and sync while the counterweight was up, even a tiny bit, wouldn't that cause subsequent gotos to send the scope upside down? Yes indeed it would cause upside down GoTos.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: W Hilmo <y.groups@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Fri, Dec 23, 2022 3:55 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions
Couldn't it also be a sync problem?
It is common for automation software to do a sync after plate solving. On a Windows machine, running through either an APCC virtual port, or the ASCOM driver, the sync would be converted to a recalibrate command. The ASIAir probably doesn't do anything special for Astro-Physics mounts, and it's not running ASCOM or APCC. If it did a plate solve and sync while the counterweight was up, even a tiny bit, wouldn't that cause subsequent gotos to send the scope upside down? On 12/23/22 10:55, Roland Christen via
groups.io wrote:
If ASIAir sends the mount upside down, it is
likely that there is some missing piece of information that
is being sent to the mount. It is most likely in Right
Ascension because that axis needs to know the exact time in
hours minutes, seconds, sent in Military format (24 hour
format). If ASIAir is sending no time, incorrect local time,
or sending am, pm, then that will indeed cause upside down
on the RA axis.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Arvind <base16@...> To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Sent: Fri, Dec 23, 2022 12:34 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Thanks, Roland, and Chris for
the clarification. Understood.
Hi skybob -- as referenced earlier, you should
only need to do this if your mount gets lost. If you
used A-P drivers on MS Windows or used Sky Safari to
unpark from a predictable Park position, then this
doesn't apply to you.
See https://astro-physics.info/tech_support/mounts/1100gto/1100gto-cp4.pdf
page 11 and 12 towards the bottom.
Except in my case (a: ASIAIR, b:
setup/teardown every night -- but I roughly
orient it to Park 3 on power up and power down)
I've seen the mount send the OTA upside down, CW
90 degrees up at times when asked to go to an
object too often. This used to happen so often
that the following became my normal routine: power
up, Goto with loose clutches, manually center on
object, then Align, and then lock the clutches.
Goto & tracking would work normally after that
point.
Given the above workaround, I was actually up and
running in a matter of minutes.
On Fri,
Dec 23, 2022 at 9:57 AM <skybob727@...>
wrote:
-- Roland Christen Astro-Physics -- Roland Christen Astro-Physics |
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Bill Long
Good call out, Wade. I'm not sure if the driver in use coverts (doubt it) but that's definitely something to check.
This is another strong reason why using APCC and the official ASCOM v2 driver is wise move. These mounts aren't exactly cheap so I would want them running at peak performance and with all of the available safety measures firmly in place.
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of W Hilmo <y.groups@...>
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2022 1:55 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Encoders and manual interventions Couldn't it also be a sync problem?
It is common for automation software to do a sync after plate solving. On a Windows machine, running through either an APCC virtual port, or the ASCOM driver, the sync would be converted to a recalibrate command. The ASIAir probably doesn't do anything special for Astro-Physics mounts, and it's not running ASCOM or APCC. If it did a plate solve and sync while the counterweight was up, even a tiny bit, wouldn't that cause subsequent gotos to send the scope upside down? On 12/23/22 10:55, Roland Christen via groups.io wrote:
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