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Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
I'm trying to iron out the last couple of gremlins in my setup.
Have tried many options but cant seem to get around this issue.
Basically when I run my scheduled job, it starts, slews, solves and starts guiding.
After the guiding starts the filter changes from Lum to another filter, the offset changes the focus position and throws off the guiding - at this point the autoguiding starts trying to catch the star which just moved and takes some time to settle down, up to 45 seconds sometimes.
Either it will abort because the guiding RMS is too high or it captures junk and moves the frame out of whack.
I've tried delays with the guider, image capture and anywhere else I can try delay but its sketchy at best.
Is there a way to make the guiding start after the filter has been selected and the focus offset happens?
This would seem to solve the issue.
Or am I doing it wrong ?
Have tried many options but cant seem to get around this issue.
Basically when I run my scheduled job, it starts, slews, solves and starts guiding.
After the guiding starts the filter changes from Lum to another filter, the offset changes the focus position and throws off the guiding - at this point the autoguiding starts trying to catch the star which just moved and takes some time to settle down, up to 45 seconds sometimes.
Either it will abort because the guiding RMS is too high or it captures junk and moves the frame out of whack.
I've tried delays with the guider, image capture and anywhere else I can try delay but its sketchy at best.
Is there a way to make the guiding start after the filter has been selected and the focus offset happens?
This would seem to solve the issue.
Or am I doing it wrong ?
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Replied by Euripides on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
How exactly do you set the scheduler?
Those are the exact steps 1,2,3,4. Guiding is the last step, already focused and filter changed.
Those are the exact steps 1,2,3,4. Guiding is the last step, already focused and filter changed.
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Replied by Max on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
That's how I have it, I had it run last night and if it weren't for the clouds it would have been a successful run, I restarted it at about 3am and the rest was fine also until dawn.
The problem is that I use the Luminance filter for the focusing and platesolving. It doesnt change back to the correct filter for the photo sequence until a moment before capture, this throws off the guiding which throws off the capture sequence.
Its not too bad when doing many short exposures as I can throw away the first one but when im doing 600s exposures it sucks to throw away every sub that follows a slew or autofocus.
Sometimes it will abort the jobs altogether and shut down but I've since adjusted the abort options and thats seems to sort itself out now.
Next night ill take a screen recording of exactly what's happening.
Last night wasn't too bad but I still had to throw away some subs but didnt have any total aborts for any unnatural reasons
The problem is that I use the Luminance filter for the focusing and platesolving. It doesnt change back to the correct filter for the photo sequence until a moment before capture, this throws off the guiding which throws off the capture sequence.
Its not too bad when doing many short exposures as I can throw away the first one but when im doing 600s exposures it sucks to throw away every sub that follows a slew or autofocus.
Sometimes it will abort the jobs altogether and shut down but I've since adjusted the abort options and thats seems to sort itself out now.
Next night ill take a screen recording of exactly what's happening.
Last night wasn't too bad but I still had to throw away some subs but didnt have any total aborts for any unnatural reasons
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- Hy Murveit
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Replied by Hy Murveit on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
Max,
I experience a similar thing, which is I get guider drift during autofocus. What I do is set the guider to allow large HFRs without aborting, and then let the guider pulse back to its lock position after focusing. I also set the capture limits option to not start a capture until the guide HFR is less than 1 or 2 arc-seconds, so that this "pulsing back to lock position" does not happening during a capture. In this way, yes there may be a short delay after autofocus (and in your case after changing filters) but it almost always gets back to the "lock position". You probably need to be using SEP MultiStar guiding for this to work well, but you should be using that anyway if you are using the internal guider.
I think the suggestion you had doesn't really solve the problem, because filters may change several times during a job (and similarly autofocus may happen several times), so the system needs to be able to recover from this kind of drift.
Hy
Note: the "Only Start if ..." constraint needs to be part of your capture sequence job. That is, like exposure, gain, filter, count, ... it needs to be saved into the rows of sequence jobs in your capture tab's table.
I experience a similar thing, which is I get guider drift during autofocus. What I do is set the guider to allow large HFRs without aborting, and then let the guider pulse back to its lock position after focusing. I also set the capture limits option to not start a capture until the guide HFR is less than 1 or 2 arc-seconds, so that this "pulsing back to lock position" does not happening during a capture. In this way, yes there may be a short delay after autofocus (and in your case after changing filters) but it almost always gets back to the "lock position". You probably need to be using SEP MultiStar guiding for this to work well, but you should be using that anyway if you are using the internal guider.
I think the suggestion you had doesn't really solve the problem, because filters may change several times during a job (and similarly autofocus may happen several times), so the system needs to be able to recover from this kind of drift.
Hy
Note: the "Only Start if ..." constraint needs to be part of your capture sequence job. That is, like exposure, gain, filter, count, ... it needs to be saved into the rows of sequence jobs in your capture tab's table.
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Replied by Max on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for the detailed reply Hy,
I have a problem with SEP focus where the V curve looks more like a W, I currently have it set to gradient using 80% of the full frame to select stars which seems to work reliably for me.
I actually already have it set like you suggested with the delay but it still can cause issues.
Ill have a bit more of a play with it tonight and see if I can get it working better.
I have a problem with SEP focus where the V curve looks more like a W, I currently have it set to gradient using 80% of the full frame to select stars which seems to work reliably for me.
I actually already have it set like you suggested with the delay but it still can cause issues.
Ill have a bit more of a play with it tonight and see if I can get it working better.
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Replied by Max on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
Oh ! 
In that case yes that's what im using for guiding. I adjusted my delays a bit and im ready to go.
Got a nice run setup for tonight, moved out the OAG prism so just need to focus it up quickly at dusk and ill let the scheduler do its thing.
On a separate topic, the OAG worked great tucked away with "RAW 16 bit" option enabled but the image kept degrading randomly, after a while I found the software was dropping the 120mm guide camera back to 8bit which was very weird/frustrating.
Moving the prism should brighten the image up considerably but just wondering if you knew anything about this topic
Thanks, Max
In that case yes that's what im using for guiding. I adjusted my delays a bit and im ready to go.Got a nice run setup for tonight, moved out the OAG prism so just need to focus it up quickly at dusk and ill let the scheduler do its thing.
On a separate topic, the OAG worked great tucked away with "RAW 16 bit" option enabled but the image kept degrading randomly, after a while I found the software was dropping the 120mm guide camera back to 8bit which was very weird/frustrating.
Moving the prism should brighten the image up considerably but just wondering if you knew anything about this topic
Thanks, Max
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Replied by Max on topic Filter offset changes freak out autoguiding - am I doing something wrong?
No problem about the 8bit, it was working perfect tonight with the OAG prism adjusted.
Well I had that job in there twice as I had the problem with them aborting and missing data on certain filters. The first run was to get my Blue / Lum data as that was what I was missing. The other job was basically a loop on all filters until dawn hit so I made the most out of the time.
Either way I shouldn't need to do this anymore as the jobs aren't aborting anymore with the settings adjusted.
Well im using an old version of Kstars it seems, on Astroberry, I dont think its been updated in the repo ? if that's the correct terminology. I'm quite dangerous with Linux so I try and keep to the basics
I've tried the other options but couldn't get the autofocus working right, I got the particular settings I use now working and just stuck with it, I don't really trust it but it seems to do the job.
I installed Kstars on my Windows 10 pc, connected it to the Pi and was looking through all the new options. Would be very nice to use it with the scope.
I could try setup the Pi as just the INDI server and run Kstars from my PC but I found the wifi connection is hit and miss, I've had problems in the past with guiding doing it like this.
Anyway Ill keep doing some research into it all, the main thing is that the jobs aren't aborting anymore, will try and look into why the focuser on the refractor is moving around so much when the offset is selected.
I had great seeing conditions last night so switched over to my 925 at around 10:30pm for the rest of the night. Had problems getting the internal guider to work so I used PHD, it didn't pause during the focusing but worked fine and I still managed to get some great data.
Well I had that job in there twice as I had the problem with them aborting and missing data on certain filters. The first run was to get my Blue / Lum data as that was what I was missing. The other job was basically a loop on all filters until dawn hit so I made the most out of the time.
Either way I shouldn't need to do this anymore as the jobs aren't aborting anymore with the settings adjusted.
Well im using an old version of Kstars it seems, on Astroberry, I dont think its been updated in the repo ? if that's the correct terminology. I'm quite dangerous with Linux so I try and keep to the basics
I've tried the other options but couldn't get the autofocus working right, I got the particular settings I use now working and just stuck with it, I don't really trust it but it seems to do the job.
I installed Kstars on my Windows 10 pc, connected it to the Pi and was looking through all the new options. Would be very nice to use it with the scope.
I could try setup the Pi as just the INDI server and run Kstars from my PC but I found the wifi connection is hit and miss, I've had problems in the past with guiding doing it like this.
Anyway Ill keep doing some research into it all, the main thing is that the jobs aren't aborting anymore, will try and look into why the focuser on the refractor is moving around so much when the offset is selected.
I had great seeing conditions last night so switched over to my 925 at around 10:30pm for the rest of the night. Had problems getting the internal guider to work so I used PHD, it didn't pause during the focusing but worked fine and I still managed to get some great data.
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