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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Driver documentation clarification.

  • Posts: 26
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Thank you Magnus! That's exactly the kind of feedback i was joping for :)
Jasem, thanks for you reply too, I guess by best in class you mean from a driver's features perspective? 
It's actually quite funny people come back to me now as yerterday for the first time in more than 2 months (!) I managed to get a really good guiding session with my old heq5! I bought it second hand from someone I didn't knew and i found clues which made me believe i hemihht have have taken great care of it. It. So in the end it took 10 weeks to fot together and correctly tune the new bearings, belt and worm gear! I'm still looking quite avidly at g11g losmandy but don't feel trapped anymore:)

BTW, Jasem thanks for the amazing work and for releasing indi under a free license!
2 years 5 months ago #76567

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I use an iOptron GEM45 with the iOptronV3 driver and it doesn't need any alignment to be fully utilized from Ekos.
2 years 5 months ago #76582

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I have a CEM120 and never use the hand controller for anything after setting the meridian flip correctly.
2 years 5 months ago #76590

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I take it all iOptron mounts that have USB connection from Mount --> PC do not need any alignments, correct? So perhaps only older mounts that do not have the mount USB port need the handset alignment first?
2 years 5 months ago #76597

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Interesting, with my Celestron CGX, I do a polar-alignment with the polar scope, then just select "last-alignment", even though the telescope has moved since the last alignment. Then I got to plate-solving about three locations in the sky with the setting set to "Sync", after that I typically slew to my target with the setting changed from "Sync" to "Slew to Target" and it usually gets to within  a few arc-seconds on the first slew.
I don't want to spend too much time out in the cold, doing a two star align with four calibration stars, as it is pretty time consuming and would require me to attach a finder scope, which I'm yet to ever use with my current scope.
2 years 5 months ago #76599

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Hi!

Maybe this is going slightly off topic but....

When using my (borrowed) CGE-Pro, I can not sync. I do as you with your CGX, choose "last alignment" to make it easy, but after that, Indi control panel just tells me that sync, or update of time for that matter, is not needed since the mount is alrealy aligned. Maybe this is caused by my Nexstar hand control being not updated recently or it might have to do with the mount (??). Is there anything you do in particular with the CGX to make sync possible? And do you use the Nexstar driver? What version of Nexstar HC?

Magnus
2 years 5 months ago #76600

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Ah right - I kind of didn't elaborate the full picture. I run GPSD, I connect INDI after polar alignment and it sync's time and location on the CGX, then I go to mount and check time/location is correct and choose last alignment.
After that I do the process of plate solving.
I use the latest Nexstar HC firmware that you can get teamcelestron.com/ - note this is the bleeding edge, and is usually ahead of what you can get from the normal Celestron site, but anyone can sign up and request access to the firmware files for their equipment.
2 years 5 months ago #76601

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Hi!

I trying to make sense of how I can have my CGPpro time and site updated by Ekos. However, if I connect Ekos before searching for home (HC says: searching for home sensors, then asking about time - which is correct, Daylight saving - which is correct, and time zone - which is correct) and then last align - if I do this, mount goes haywire after first or second slew.... 
If I do the whole align process (search home sensors, check time, check daylight saving, check time zone, then last align) BEFORE connecting Ekos, all is fine. Except, of course, time, which is slightly off. Doesn't matter much but a little bit. 

Do you do something differently? Oh and this time I did with recently updated HC. 

magnus
2 years 5 months ago #76783

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Mount goes "haywire", what does it do? Completely slew to wrong places?

I may be, by chance, often restarting INDI after choosing Last Align, but this is not due to a problem with the CGX, but more often due to the fact that I've disconnected and reconnected the cameras while connecting them to an OTG on my tablet to check that the imaging and guide cameras are par-focal through the OAG via ASICAP.
2 years 5 months ago #76793

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Hi!

Haywire: last night, the scope seemed to point to Cygnus, all looking fairly OK (I had not yet aligned in Ekos), I could not focus because the mount seemingly did not track - hence no stars but trails. I slewed a short distance, to see if that made a difference. THis caused the mount to perform what it called a meridian flip - meaning that in crazy speed driving the scope all the way into the mount, pointing down into the ground. I turned the mount off, manually put all in place (nothing broken, thank God), turned on, performed all the steps with the HC, and after that, connected to Indi, and then it worked flawlessly until midnight, when I turned all off. 

Magnus
2 years 5 months ago #76796

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That does not sound good!

Perhaps after choosing last align, try just disconnect the Celestron driver and connect it again.

I did once have something similar when trying out the Polar Align routine in Ekos, and have since never used it again (would like to, but I felt it might be too dangerous as my mount is quite a distance from where I run Kstars, so wouldn't like to experience that while unattended again).

I have iOptron on my wishlish for the future, I've only experienced the Celestron CGX mount, so it seems I may have learnt, without knowing it, the methods to avoid all these issues. I tend to follow a runbook during set up (it has around 100 steps in it), but I get good results following it now.
2 years 5 months ago #76797

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I use an iOptron CEM60 with and have never done a star/sky alignment with the mount.  I use EKOS to get a good polar alignment, and then I use plate solving to get accurate positioning.  It takes on average about 20 seconds to get the object centered accurately. Its not clear to me if EKOS send the mount sync information as subsequent goto's seem to be reasonably accurate, but it doesn't really matter if you use plate solving. 

So don't worry about sky alignmnet: You can polar align in 5 to 10 minutes and use plate solving to center the object.  In my observatory I can be imaging within minutes, and even when I'm out in the field, from setup to imaging is about 30 minutes -- much much better and must faster than it used to be.  Kudos to the developers!

jmh
 
The following user(s) said Thank You: Giles, Alexandre Chapellon
2 years 5 months ago #76800

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