Hi,
First, I want to thank Jasem and all the developers and contributors to this project. It is maturing into a wonderful tool. Well done!
I am encountering a problem with guiding my mount which has been present since version 2.7.6 when I first started using KStars/Ekos up to my current version of 2.8.6. In searching the forum there may be others having problems similar to mine.
The System includes:
Raspberry Pi 3 running Mate 16.04.3 LTS.
Full KStars/Ekos with GSC, drivers, etc. from the PPA.
Astro-Physics 900GTO mount with GTOCP2 control updated to version E Firmware (Chip).
ZWOASI174MM camera as guider.
ZWOASI071MC or Canon XTi (400D) as imager.
Serial RS232 WiFi Adapter (USCONVERTERS.COM) connected to the AP900 mount.
Bluetooth to serial adapter connected to Robofocus.
I VPN to the desktop on the Pi 3 and run a command line utility called socat to set up an ethernet to serial virtual port I call virtcom0 which controls the AP900 mount. I connect the bluetooth adapter to rfcomm0 for the Robofocus. I then run Kstars/Ekos and connect to the AP900 mount, Robofocus, guiding cameras, imaging cameras, etc. I will do a “warm” connect to the mount from the indi driver interface (the mount seems to connect and start already unparked). Slew the telescope in Kstars to a suitable star or to my intended target i.e. M31, M33, etc. for focusing. Run a plate solve (run locally on the Pi) then run the guider calibration. This is where I have the problem. The ASI174MM is set as guider (connected to my 45MM ED Borg guide scope at 300mm focal length). The Control Via is set to the ASI174MM (ST4 port) which has a cable running down to the mount (see attached Ekos screen shot) and the guide rate is set to 0.5 sidereal.
Sometimes (rarely) this works and the calibration succeeds and guiding can begin, however, most of the time it fails with the mount moving rapidly away from the target. I have discovered that it is using a guide rate of 64X and not the 0.5 that it is set for. It seems tied to the slew rate setting in the indi control panel as in the attached screen shot. When I changed that rate as an experiment it tried to guide and calibrate at whatever rate I changed it too. I was unaware that the GTCPO2 control was able to guide at such rates through the ST4 port.
I ran an indoor simulation of this problem using the CCD simulator outputting guide commands through the ASI174MM to the mount ST4 port and was able to replicate the problem and have attached the logs with this post. I can work around this problem by setting the guide rate to 0.5 on the hand controller and then do the calibration and guiding, however, I want to move to a more automated setup without having to be at the scope to correct this.
I am also having an ongoing issue with the mount not always parking in the proper position and it will continue to track after it is parked but this will be debugged in another post later.
Thank you for your help!