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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Where am I going wrong ( Indi / Ekos ) work flow

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Team

Help needed pls . 
 
So frustrating being so close but still not quite there.( I bet its operator error !!!) 

Celestron CGEM/ DX , C11 , ZWO 294MCpro, 60mm finder , loadstar guide cam .R Pi 4 , 8 gb and 128Gb Micro Sd  

Work flow 
Set up system and use Nexstar to do 2 star align , then when " Ready " appears on the screen plug in the Pi and log in to Astroberry server . Start the Ekos set up with my equipment profile and then individually focus both cameras. ( At this point choosing the individual cameras work and the individual scopes work etc ), so all good .

Stop both cameras 

Chose an object an object and slew to via Kstars which align to the limits set , all good after a few iterations the object is dead centre , result .
Note the mount is tracking I guess both by the Nexstar AND Ekos says its tracking also ?
Go to "guide" and chose guide camera AND guide scope  I Hit Capture/ guide and get a text box pop up   "Both guide camera and main camera are the same camera do you want to continue ? " I say YES  The images pop in at the set duration's from the guide camera and guide scope and it tries to calibrate but fails every time  , it does RA out ( the first ? ) , but when it moves to RA in the position just seems to continue to move in the same direction and  never Centres ? Calibration fails as it was " Unable to centre 
Questions ,
Should I have bothered doing the initial 2 star Nexstar alignment at the beginning ?
Why does EKOS think my two cameras are the same when I go to the guide section ?
Why does the RA calibration fail ( backlash ? ? can you change the settings to make it more aggressive , or is there a problem with the Celestron Driver)  
The guide section in EKOS does not say its guiding , BUT the mount section does say its tracking , is it getting this information form the mount ( Nexstar).

I am so close to getting things up and running ( whilst sitting in the warm ), Just need a little help to get things over the line .

Sorry if this is a bit long winded , but if there is someone out here also using Nexstar via the port on the hand control some advice would be great.   

Duncan
 
2 years 11 months ago #70286

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Yes, Celestron mounts need this.Can you show a screenshot of the Ekos configuration screen?Probably Ekos expects the focal length and pixel size of the guide cam and not of the main imaging cam.Guiding is not tracking!!!!
2 years 11 months ago #70287

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Thanks for the super quick reply .

Will post a screen shot of the EKOS config screen hen I am home form work , I took a screen shot of the error msg last night as well .

Individually both camera's work fine , and before giving up last night I took 30 x 30sec images of M82  ( the tracking was good enough for round stars !!) 

Guiding is the only thing I seem to fall over on , the align / plate solve using the main scope / main camera was impressive and quick, this software has so much promise  it may even prise me away form Sharpcap !!!

Duncan
2 years 11 months ago #70288

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Duncan, I'm also wondering what you're doing for polar alignment? Celestron mounts are funny in that they don't like to do anything until star aligned, so good to see you're at least doing a 2 star to start. But then I would recommend polar alignment within EKOS, or use the All Star Polar Alignment routine within the hand controller to polar align. After this is complete, you might need to redo your initial star alignment now that you're polar aligned, then jump into EKOS to start everything up.

I used an AVX for some time, and this was my process for EKOS. Have you input the guide scope and main scope into the equipment profile with their proper focal lengths?
2 years 11 months ago #70296

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Duncan, you don't need to do a 2 star align. Most folks do a "quick align" with the HC before moving to Ekos control (which pretty much does nothing....in place alignment for time in HC). Afterwards, do a drift align or other polar align method (your choice) in Ekos. This will save time. If you continue to struggle with Ekos guiding, you might try PHD2 guiding to see if you can break through there. If so, then look closer at your guiding setup parameters to see if you've got something askew. Good luck....
2 years 11 months ago #70297

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As other said, probably you dont need to first perform a 2-stars align and then connect stellarmate.
I have rpi-stellarmate always connected to the NexStar.
A year ago I did a two-star calibration. I have already set the time and location from a previous session (time is maintained between uses by the RTC of the Nexstar).
Now, to start, I just press "next" several times and when I get to the calibration step, I select 'last calibration'.
Then I perform an ALIGN with KStars/EKOS and I am ready for polar align with EKOS.
Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Joaquin.
2 years 11 months ago #70298

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Guys 

Great to get such a quick response , When I hit the wall last night I took the attached Snip of the page to show the error message , and to show that Ekos was using the guide cam and the guide scope .

I know the main camera and scope worked and had the correct FL etc as I used them to do the align sequence on M82 and after a couple of  iterations it was dead center .

Then I opened the guide routine and things ground to a halt . Like most of us ( I guess ) I have to put my setup away each night ( morning ) so to check the actual data behind ekos for the guide camera / scope and the main camera /scope  will have to wait for the  weekend  but Wouter has given me a steer on where I might have things wrong .

Interesting that my set up of the Cgem dx was good enough to get round stars from the C11 at F10  for 30 secs .

DuncanGuys 

Great to get such a quick response , When I hit the wall last night I took the attached Snip of the page to show the error message , and to show that Ekos was using the guide cam and the guide scope .

I know the main camera and scope worked and had the correct FL etc as I used them to do the align sequence on M82 and after a couple of  iterations it was dead center .

Then I opened the guide routine and things ground to a halt . Like most of us ( I guess ) I have to put my setup away each night ( morning ) so to check the actual data behind ekos for the guide camera / scope and the main camera /scope  will have to wait for the  weekend  but Wouter has given me a steer on where I might have things wrong .

Interesting that my set up of the Cgem dx was good enough to get round stars from the C11 at F10  for 30 secs .

Duncan  
2 years 11 months ago #70301
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Check the Capture module where you configure your image sequence and make certain the primary camera is set.
2 years 11 months ago #70303

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Guys

Well after an hour of not being able to connect to my mount ( Indi set up didn't check the correct port ( 0) ) finally all snapped in to life . 

Same work flow as above but this time faultless operation , focus , align , track ,image ,etc etc . 

Major result and I even did a small dance around the kitchen ( honestly ).

Great piece of soft ware , only issues that remain are not software related but :-

1     R Pi 4 WIFI , weak so picked up a 5dB improver , which is ok when the areil is on the laptop side of the mount , when slewing to somewhere that means the scope obstructs the areil , signal drops and communication slows to a               crawl .

2     Reflections form the C11 Corrector plate create a light disc in the centre of the image the size and density of which is proportional to the image duration and focal length.

Thanks to all for your suggestions , and to the creators for such a good product .

Duncan   
2 years 11 months ago #70412

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