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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Strange park position after switching mounts

  • Posts: 910
  • Thank you received: 86
Hello,
I recently acquired a HEQ5 in addition to AZ-GTi.
Whenever I switch from one mount to another I get a strange/wrong parking position.
It should be:
Dec: 90
Alt: 37
I get something like this:
Dec: 20
Alt: 17
Ekos says that the mount is parked. (the mount is indeed oriented in the right way - pointing to Polaris)
So, I have to purge the parking data and set it to default.
Then mount moves by a large amount, I then un-clutch and set it right.
After this the mount works fine from one session to another but only until I switch mounts again. After a mount switch I have to repeat the above procedure.

Is this normal? Where Ekos gets those bogus numbers? Any workaround?
Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
4 years 2 months ago #48420

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  • Posts: 910
  • Thank you received: 86
Switched mounts last night again. Twice. It was a pain to deal with.
Ekos was totally confused.
It's manageable but not easy especially if the control center is away from the scope/mount - you really have to watch what the mount is doing - it sometimes goes wrong and dangerous way below horizon making a 350 degrees circle.
Anyway, I think the way around this would be to have separate SD cards or even separate RPI's for each mount.
Which actually makes sense.
Just reporting.
Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 4 years 1 month ago by maxthebuilder.
4 years 1 month ago #48760

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You cannot use two different mount and keep the same driver name because this name is used for the saved parameters that must be different for each mount.
So change the name in the Device manager, replace "Eqmod Mount" by "Eqmod heq5" and "Eqmod azgti"
4 years 1 month ago #48763

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I wouldn't expect the park position for one mount to apply to another.
Are these mounts using different drivers or the same one?

The park positions are saved in xml files in the .indi folder. The way the mount data is saved seems a bit strane to me, there is a driver_name_config.xml file that has some information, then a ParkData.xml file which has park data for various drivers and a ScopeConfig.xml file which has the telescope data for each mount and configuration. Not sure why three files are needed when all the data is personal to one mount. The ParkData file is only updated when the park position is saved, otherwise the default position is used.

You may find that if you can set up the drivers for the two scopes so that they have different names you will be able to configure the park position separately for the two scopes. I would not trust the numeric park positions, better to slew each mount to the position you want and then select the option to set the current position as the park position. Don't forget to press Save, I usually do.

Some mount drivers have multiple names, all of which use the same code.
I know that the Celestron driver reports strange positions for the park position, at least when used with a GEM. I think that what's happening is that the Slew Alt Az command is used and this treats altitude and azimuth as axis positions, not topographic coordinates.

For day to day use having a separate Pi for each mount seems a good way to go.
4 years 1 month ago #48764

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  • Posts: 910
  • Thank you received: 86
Thank you guys,
Mounts use the same driver - EQMod.
I'll look into this when the time/weather permit.
Thanks!
-- Max S
ZWO AM5. RST-135. AZ-GTI. HEQ5. iOptron SkyTracker.
TPO RC6. FRA400. Rokinon 135 and other lenses.
ZWO ASI2600MC. D5500 modified with UVIR clip-in filter.
ZWO ASI120MM Mini x 2. ZWO 30F4 guider. Orion 50mm guider.
ZWO EAF x 2.
Last edit: 4 years 1 month ago by maxthebuilder.
4 years 1 month ago #48765

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