Mount FS2 slew is not working well

Hoi small question

Iam newbie in indi. Iam trying the program now in a dry test
Making pictures works but slewing not as expected it can be that i have wrong setting so who can help me

The problem is that the first slew is working to target but after that not any more. the slew is complete but still the status is slewing in the EKOS summery overview what do i wrong or is there setting wrong hoop some one has a solution. I use the version V1.21 of the FS2.

Hi Calberts, I have an FS2 V1.21, too. Do I understand you correctly, you run the indi_lx200basic driver? That's what I do.

The settings are pretty straight forward, not much you could do wrong there other than port and baud rate. Since your mount moves correctly at first, I think your settings are OK.

Did you ever try the lx200fs2 driver? I know some FS2 will work with one and not the other and other FS2s do it the other way round. I have no idea why that is but it might be worth a try.

In order to examine the problem I connected to my FS2 via lx200basic and lx200fs2. I then ordered the mount to track a new position.

With the lx200basic driver I sent the mount to the position RA: "23h 30m 00s" ( 23.5001 ) DE: " 72° 20' 18\"" ( 72.3384 )
The lx200basic driver sent the commands
CMD <:Sr 23:30:00#> "
CMD <:Sd +72:20:18#> "
to the mount. The mount started slewing and finally reached the position
<23:30:11> " VAL [23.5031] " (distance to target 0.0030)
<+72�20:53> " VAL [72.3481] " (distance to target 0.0097)
At that point the driver stated: "LX200 Basic : "[INFO] Slew is complete. Tracking... "

With the lx200fs2 driver I had sent the mount to the position "23h 35m 53s" ( 23.5981 ) DE: " 72° 56' 26\"" ( 72.9408 )
the lx200fs2 driver sent the commands
CMD <:Sr 23:35.8#> " [<----------- is .8 precise enough?]
CMD <:Sd +72*56#> " [<----------- is this precise enough?]
to the mount. The mount started slewing and finally reached the position
<23:35:10> " VAL [23.5861] " (distance to target 0,0120)
<+72�56:24> " VAL [72.94] " (distance to target 0,0008)
At that point the mount didn't move any further but the driver did not report the slew was complete. That's exactly what calberts reported (slew never finished) and now has been reproduced here.

Is the RA distance (0,0120) too big to be considered on target? It appears to me fs2 driver commands like CMD <:Sr 23:35.8#> are less precise than the lx200basic's CMD <:Sr 23:30:00#>. As a result the average distance to the target position might be greater with the fs2 driver which can lead to the situation that the driver considers the target not reached. That would explain why with the fs2 driver it sometimes takes several slews to make it fail (the first few were lucky enough to be considered on target) while on other occasions the second slew fails already (because the first slew was unluckily too far off target and never finished).

BTW, this is exactly the same symptom that we had been talking about more than 3 years ago!

indilib.org/forum/mounts/790-fs-2-won-t-slew-solved.html#4684

I confirm this problem.

Only when using the virtual mount controller and manually repositioning the mount closer to the destination coordinates (looking at a highly enlarged KStars view) the status of the mount changes from "slewing" to "tracking". From what I see in my logs Herrhausen has precisely described the probable cause.

At present I have no working setup therefore I can only give some speculative thoughts on this:
- in the FS2 configuration menu there is a choice between two different formats for RA/Dec coordinates. Possibly the selected format has an influence on how the FS2 tries to reposition.

@ Herrhausen: did the lx200basic always successfully change to tracking on consecutive slews? (Just wondering?!)

CS
Michael

Thank you so much for weighing in on this subject, Michael! Good to see there are fellow FS2 users out there.

MiHell wrote: At present I have no working setup therefore I can only give some speculative thoughts on this:
- in the FS2 configuration menu there is a choice between two different formats for RA/Dec coordinates. Possibly the selected format has an influence on how the FS2 tries to reposition.

Wow, you might have provided the solution to the whole issue here! I own this controller for many years and either have forgotten about the two formats or never was aware of it. It now appears to me that the indi_lx200fs2 driver needs the FS2 to be set to the xx:xx,x format while the indi_lx200basic driver needs the FS2 to be set to the xx:xx:xx format. I tested the lx200fs2 driver and it now performs perfectly when the fs2 is set to the appropriate format. I did at least 12 slews and they all succeeded.

Since the lx200fs2 driver provides better functionality (Mount Control in the Mount tab doesn't work with the lx200basic driver here) I suggest we all use the former one and set our FS2s to the xx:xx,x format.

MiHell wrote: @ Herrhausen: did the lx200basic always successfully change to tracking on consecutive slews? (Just wondering?!)

Yes, it did. And I hope the lx200fs2 driver will do just that from now on, too! Could you and calberts run a "cold test" with just the fs2 connected to the computer? If these tests are successful we should make sure that the info is provided clearly visible to everybody using a FS2.

Thanks again and CS!

Cool I will check this evening after my work

Chris

It looks like its working, but can't say 100%

Why I running ubuntu on laptop with 3 usb connections
when connect the mouse 40d and fs2 it looks working oke, repeatable.
But added my SX and Onfocus i can have situation that alle connections are green but
FS2 is not working. I suspect know the USB hub 4 poort power USB making its not work.
The idea no is to move to my Windows laptop which use in the field 4 usb and Rs232 and add Duel Boot on it and install umbunto on it.
But any suggestion in relation usb hub troubleshoot in ubuntu are welkom

Chris

calberts wrote: when connect the mouse 40d and fs2 it looks working oke, repeatable.

That's good to hear. I believe the other issues are unrelated to the FS2 driver. Thanks for reporting back!

CS

Any suggestion on the use of USB HUB


Chris

Hi Chris,
I put the answer to Your question on a new thread .

CS
Michael

In a private message user Alfred asked me to put my experience with FS2 and the INDI FS2 driver. I answer here because it may be useful to other FS2 users:

I have version 1.25 EEPROM in the FS2. All versions from 1.19 and above must work OK with the FS2 driver and other basic LX200 drivers.

Previous versions don't support the ACK LX200 command. This was a problem because most LX200 drivers need ACK command in order to check the connection. Because my original FS2 has version 1.18 it didn't work properly with standard LX200 drivers, I programed the first version of FS2 driver for INDI to solve this problem. In this driver you can specify the FS2 version you use and overcome the ACK command for versions below 1.19. However seems Jassem rewrited the driver later in some INDI version upgrade and the functionality to support versions below 1.19 was lost. and instead of sending ACK command it always behave as connection is OK. I don't blame him. He does a great work and I have no time to program and debug the driver any more. This can lead to problems if connectivity is lost and the driver needs to reconnect in order to recover.

Before that, I already bought an replace the FS2 EEPROM chip with a 1.25 version (see www.astro-electronic.de/version.htm)

Looking at the FS2 driver code, it seems it is the same of LX200 generic with some small changes:

- On checking connection, return always OK.
- Check accuracy after slew => No sense for me, but can be related to the coordinates format configuration in the FS2 unit discused in the earlier FS2 thread.
- Park procedure => I never used it.
- Returns fake GPS position

Also take into account the FS2 has a limited set of commands implemented:

The FS2 supports the most important LX200 commands:
:GR, :GD, :Sr, :Sd, :MS, :Q, :Qn, :Qs, :Qe, :Qw, :Mn, :Ms, :Me, :Mw, :RS, :RM, :RC, :RG, :CM, :U, ACK

If any other command is send it can lead to no response at all and the driver can understand there is a communication problem.

If someone have any communication problems with the FS2, It must activate the debug mode and send the output and I may can help.

Hi Ferran,
I have a fs-2 too, with version 1.2.
I was wondering what was the recommended driver for users with fs-2 with eeprom> = 1.19 and came up to your answer.
Reading your reply I'm guessing it's better to choose the lx200 classic in order to use ACK and avoid connection errors, or am i misunderstanding?

Edit:
I think I've found some information that could be useful.
1) In the faq section at astro-electronic website:

40. Is it possible to stop the RA motor over the RS232 port?

Yes, there is a simple trick:
The speed rate 2 must be set to exactly 1.00x.
For stopping the motor, you must first send the :RC# command. This command selects speed rate 2.
Then you must send the :Me# command, and the motor will immediately stop.
If you send a :Q# command, the motor will continue to run.

Note: This trick won't work, if you have changed the tracking speed at the handbox to moon, sun, earth or comet.

Is it already done when parking?

2) At the bottom of the software section at astro-electronic website (I've translated using google translate):

KStars V2.3.0 and INDI V1.0.0

After starting KStars the menu item "Extras" -> "Devices" ->
Select "Device Manager". Open "Telescopes" here,
Select "Astro-Electronic FS-2" and click "Start service". Now
should open a new window "INDI Control Panel - KStars", the
should contain a tab "Astro-Electronic FS-2".

Under "Main control" must first in the right field of the line "Ports"
the interface to which the FS-2 is connected
was, so for example / dev / ttyS0 in case of a serial RS-232
Interface or e.g. / dev / ttyUSB0 if a USB <-> serial adapter is on
USB port will use. By clicking on "Set" the setting
activate.

Now you should connect by clicking on "Connect"
activate and the LED lights green before "Connection".

(If that does not work, the access permission of the
User to be adapted to the interface. Users need
[at least under OpenSuse] belong to the group dialout.)

Once entered via FS-2 handbox the current position of the telescope
is, appears on the KStars sky map at the appropriate location
a crosshair.

Right-clicks on map objects open a menu that marks the point
"Astro-Electronic FS-2" includes, over the commands (panning,
synchronize, etc.) can be sent to the FS-2.

Thanks to Mathias Frankenbach for this article!

30.7.2018, Note by Johannes Scherney: For the use of the INDI driver, the software version V1.26 is mandatory in FS2.

Does anyone know if it is really mandatory that fs-2 has version 1.26? Maybe can be related with all of the problems?

Thank you all guys for the information you have provided in the thread.
Fra