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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

PHD Guiding "Settling error" after meridien flip

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Hi!
I got an issue tonight with my guiding in Ekos (version Kstars/Ekos 3.5.2 on Stellarmate) via PHD2, after meridien flip.

Just after the (successfull) flip PHD did a (successfull) calibration and started guiding, and Ekos started the next exposure. But after a few seconds, it received a "setlling failed" error from PHD2 and stopped the exposure. I restarted it manually, it worked. The strange thing is that from then PHD2 was still guiding OK, Ekos was still showing the live guiding curves as usual, but it didn't displayed the guiding progress bar anymore in Analyze window, and didn't sent anymore dithering commands after that:

  
(Sorry for my french :-D)

Unfortunatly I didn't have log to file enabled in Ekos at this moment :-/ But I copy pasted the console logs in order to keep tracking of this issue.

These are the lasts lines displayed in Guiding console. After that it didn't display any new line before I stoped the session 30 minutes later (bad weather invasion...).
2021-04-05T02:06:19 Autoguiding aborted.
2021-04-05T02:06:19 PHD2: Settling failed, aborted.
2021-04-05T02:06:19 PHD2: Settling failed (timed-out waiting for guider to settle).
2021-04-05T02:05:34 Autoguiding started.
2021-04-05T02:05:34 PHD2: Guiding started.
2021-04-05T02:05:33 PHD2: DEC Guide Mode is Set to: Auto
2021-04-05T02:05:33 PHD2: Exposure Time set to: 2.00
2021-04-05T02:05:32 PHD2: Waiting for guiding to settle.
2021-04-05T02:05:31 Calibration completed.
2021-04-05T02:05:31 PHD2: Calibration Complete.
2021-04-05T02:05:31 Unknown PHD2 event: ConfigurationChange
2021-04-05T02:02:55 Calibration started.
2021-04-05T02:02:55 PHD2: Calibrating, timing out in 600s.
2021-04-05T02:02:54 PHD2: Looping Exposures.
2021-04-05T02:02:49 PHD2: Star Selected.
2021-04-05T02:02:49 PHD2: Looping Exposures.
2021-04-05T02:02:49 PHD2: Star Selected.
2021-04-05T02:02:45 PHD2: Looping Exposures.
2021-04-05T02:02:43 PHD2: Calibration is cleared
2021-04-05T02:02:43 Calibration started.
2021-04-05T02:02:43 Calibration is cleared.
2021-04-05T02:02:23 PHD2: Calibration is cleared
2021-04-05T02:02:23 Calibration is cleared.
2021-04-05T02:02:23 Mount is moving. Resetting calibration...
2021-04-05T02:01:56 PHD2: Calibration is cleared
2021-04-05T02:01:56 Calibration is cleared.
2021-04-05T02:01:56 Mount is moving. Resetting calibration...
2021-04-05T02:00:51 PHD2: Guiding Stopped.
2021-04-05T02:00:48 PHD2: Lock Position Lost.
2021-04-05T02:00:48 Autoguiding aborted.
2021-04-05T02:00:48 PHD2: Guiding Stopped.
2021-04-05T02:00:48 Autoguiding started.
2021-04-05T02:00:48 PHD2: Guiding started.
2021-04-05T02:00:47 PHD2: Calibration is cleared
2021-04-05T02:00:47 Autoguiding aborted.
2021-04-05T02:00:47 PHD2: Guiding Stopped.
2021-04-05T02:00:43 Mount is slewing. Aborting guide...
2021-04-05T02:00:43 Calibration is cleared.
2021-04-05T02:00:43 Mount is moving. Resetting calibration...

In imaging console I got this at that time (showing exposure aborted + my manual restart):
2021-04-05T02:06:49 Capturing 180.000-second  image...
2021-04-05T02:06:49 Job requires 180.000-second  images, has 56/300 frames captured and will be processed.
2021-04-05T02:06:49 Ekos will refocus in 1010 seconds, last procedure was 790 seconds ago.
2021-04-05T02:06:19 CCD capture aborted
2021-04-05T02:06:19 Autoguiding stopped. Aborting...

And in PHD2 logs I got this:
Guiding Ends at 2021-04-05 02:00:48
 
Calibration Begins at 2021-04-05 02:02:56
Equipment Profile = Finder-Zwo
Dither = both axes, Dither scale = 0.600, Image noise reduction = none, Guide-frame time lapse = 0, Server enabled
Pixel scale = 2.75 arc-sec/px, Binning = 1, Focal length = 180 mm
Search region = 15 px, Star mass tolerance = 50.0%, Multi-star mode, list size = 12
 Camera = ZWO ASI178MC, gain = 52, full size = 3096 x 2080, have dark, dark dur = 2000, no defect map, pixel size = 2.4 um
Exposure = 2000 ms
Mount = INDI Mount [EQMod Mount], Calibration Step = 2450 ms, Calibration Distance = 25 px, Assume orthogonal axes = no
RA Guide Speed = 7.5 a-s/s, Dec Guide Speed = 7.5 a-s/s
RA = 13.00 hr, Dec = 28.0 deg, Hour angle = 0.07 hr, Pier side = East, Rotator pos = N/A, Alt = 68.8 deg, Az = 182.7 deg
Lock position = 672.796, 1069.456, Star position = 673.020, 1069.549, HFD = 3.69 px
Direction,Step,dx,dy,x,y,Dist
West,0,0.000,0.000,672.718,1069.113,0.000
West,1,0.143,5.087,672.575,1064.026,5.089
 
(....)
 
South,0,-20.270,-1.062,706.283,1073.764,20.298
Calibration complete, mount = INDI Mount [EQMod Mount].
 
Guiding Begins at 2021-04-05 02:05:32
Equipment Profile = Finder-Zwo
Dither = both axes, Dither scale = 0.600, Image noise reduction = none, Guide-frame time lapse = 0, Server enabled
Pixel scale = 2.75 arc-sec/px, Binning = 1, Focal length = 180 mm
Search region = 15 px, Star mass tolerance = 50.0%, Multi-star mode, list size = 12
 Camera = ZWO ASI178MC, gain = 52, full size = 3096 x 2080, have dark, dark dur = 2000, no defect map, pixel size = 2.4 um
Exposure = 2000 ms
Mount = INDI Mount [EQMod Mount], connected, guiding enabled, xAngle = 89.3, xRate = 2.164, yAngle = -0.7, yRate = 2.600, parity = +/-
Norm rates RA = 6.7"/s @ dec 0, Dec = 7.1"/s; ortho.err. = 0.0 deg
X guide algorithm = Hysteresis, Hysteresis = 0.100, Aggression = 0.700, Minimum move = 0.130
Y guide algorithm = Lowpass2, Aggressiveness = 80.000, Minimum move = 0.200
Backlash comp = disabled, pulse = 20 ms
Max RA duration = 2500, Max DEC duration = 2500, DEC guide mode = Auto
RA Guide Speed = 7.5 a-s/s, Dec Guide Speed = 7.5 a-s/s, Cal Dec = 28.0, Last Cal Issue = None, Timestamp = lun. 05 avril 2021 02:05:32 CEST
RA = 13.00 hr, Dec = 28.0 deg, Hour angle = 0.12 hr, Pier side = East, Rotator pos = N/A, Alt = 68.8 deg, Az = 184.3 deg
Lock position = 672.796, 1069.456, Star position = 683.684, 1074.808, HFD = 3.82 px
Frame,Time,mount,dx,dy,RARawDistance,DECRawDistance,RAGuideDistance,DECGuideDistance,RADuration,RADirection,DECDuration,DECDirection,XStep,YStep,StarMass,SNR,ErrorCode
INFO: SETTLING STATE CHANGE, Settling started
1,8.924,"Mount",10.587,5.423,5.552,10.524,3.497,8.420,1616,W,2500,S,,,3693,42.74,0
2,14.059,"Mount",4.518,1.542,1.597,4.501,1.251,3.600,578,W,1385,S,,,3464,41.41,0
3,17.626,"Mount",0.878,0.150,0.161,0.876,0.189,0.701,87,W,270,S,,,3509,41.63,0
4,21.818,"Mount",0.302,-0.199,-0.196,0.305,-0.110,0.000,51,E,0,,,,3428,41.18,0
5,26.473,"Mount",0.309,-0.319,-0.316,0.312,-0.206,0.000,95,E,0,,,,3488,41.48,0
6,31.448,"Mount",0.270,-0.353,-0.350,0.274,-0.235,0.000,109,E,0,,,,3349,40.68,0
7,36.311,"Mount",0.392,-0.282,-0.277,0.396,-0.191,0.000,88,E,0,,,,3309,40.46,0
8,41.686,"Mount",0.601,-0.485,-0.478,0.606,-0.315,0.000,145,E,0,,,,3485,41.46,0
INFO: SETTLING STATE CHANGE, Settling failed
9,46.406,"Mount",0.315,-0.748,-0.745,0.324,-0.491,0.000,227,E,0,,,,3545,41.86,0

And then continuation of usual guiding logs...

What could have caused this?


Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Lucar Rave.
2 years 11 months ago #69721
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  • Posts: 13
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Hi,

I have exactly the same problem.

Did you find a solution ?

Vincent
2 years 3 months ago #78036

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Hi, I dont have this issue since some time, either because I now use scheduler - I do it since a couple of monthes - either since the last Ekos update, not sure :-) There have been too few clear nights, here where I live, these last monthes, to be sure :-/
2 years 3 months ago #78042

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Thank you for your response.
I've installed the latest version and I will test again.
Vincent
2 years 3 months ago #78062

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I had this very issue the other day with the latest INDI build, KStars (which shouldn't matter) and PHD2.

The mount flipped just fine, moved to the target as expected, restarted guiding and then suddenly aborted saying guider failed to settle.

From my past experience using SGP under Windows I remember that the guider settling time was a setting maintained within SGP and passed to PHD2, so I assume it should be the case with Ekos as well.

Having fine through guiding related options, I have only found one settling parameter — the one under the Dithering tab.

Would anyone be able to confirm the logic here? Is the Dithering tab settling parameter used after the flip? And also, whatever the time limit is, what is the exact condition Ekos is waiting for? (I assume it should be waiting for guiding error to "settle" below some threshold for some time)
4 months 4 days ago #97154

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Update: I think I found what looks to be the right guider settling configuration.
It's in the general Ekos options (accessible from either the Setup Ekos tab -> Options... button or from the main KStars Preferences).
In the Ekos section there is the Capture tab, where in the Miscellaneous section there is a parameter called just that: "Guiding settle". Mine was at the default value of 5s, so I have increased it to 15s to see how it works out next time.
4 months 3 days ago #97160

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