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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Takahashi Temma 2 users

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Hi Guys,

Is there anyone using indi / Kstars / Ekos with a Takahashi Temma 2 mount out there? I'm struggling with getting my NJP synchronized. After I polar align the mount on polaris, I start up indi/Kstars and point my telescope to a bright star like Vega. Since I'm doing this in the late summer / early fall, Vega is on the west side of the meridian. When I do this, two strange things can happen. Either is synchronizes on Vega and when I ask the mount to go to a nearby star like Deneb, it goes in the opposite direction. The other thing that can happen is that I synchronize on Vega and I lose the crosshairs. At first I couldn't figure out what is going on, but then later found that they were on the pointed 180 degrees off. i.e., under the horizon in the green zone in Kstars.

Is there anyone else out there using a Takahashi mount with the Temma 2 controller running into the same problem? I've been struggling with this issue since late September and it still doesn't work. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong. However, before I tried using indi/Kstars/Ekos, I was using Cartes du Ciel with the ASCOM driver for my Takahashi mount and followed the same synchronizaiton/initialization procedure and it worked just fine. I just had to tell the ASCOM driver which side (East or West) the OTA was on when I synchronized on the star that I chose.

Thanks,
-Gene
6 years 3 months ago #21363

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Replied by Pep on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Hi Gene,
did you solved that error syncing?
I've the same trouble. I figure it can be something related to time configuration but i can't solve it....
Thank you
4 years 9 months ago #39807

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Replied by Gene Lauria on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Hi Pepcm,

I actually think I did, and it took a while for me to figure it out. I don't think the problem is with the drivers but with the RPi3. The problem is that it doesn't have a battery to keep its memory. What would happen is that the server (RPi3), had a different time than the client (my PC running Kstars/Ekos). My client has the right time, but the pi didn't. The important thing here is that this only happens when I have the RPi3 configured as a hotspot and not via a network connection. If the RPi3 connects to the internet, it updates its clock and everything works fine. However, I find out that if I leave it in hotspot mode, it keeps its last time setting before it is shut down. For example, in my case, if I had the RPI connected to the internet and didn't use it for a month, and hooked it back up in hotspot mode, that's when I ran into trouble. The Temma driver under indi is a month behind and doesn't synchronize to Kstars/Ekos. The symptoms that I see is that it will not point to an object that is low in the East because it thinks it hasn't risen yet or it will go off in some other direction if the object I'm looking for has flipped the meridian.

The way that I found this was through the "date" command. If I typed it I would find that the RPI3 thinks it's a month or so behind the actual date. You can correct this through setting the date using the "date -s " command. (e.g. if you want to set the date to September 3rd at 13:00 hrs. you type: date -s "03 SEP 2016 13:00:00"). The only problem with this is that for some reason, this really messes up the indiwebmanager service and it screws everything up. I particularly find the indiwebmanager very unreliable and do not use it. Since I need a command window to shut down the RIP3 any way, I don't bother with it and just start my INDI drivers manually or through an alias which stars them for me. I find this to be much more reliable than the indi web manager.

In any event, the way that I have fixed this is to either briefly connect the RPI to the internet from time to time so that it updates its clock automatically and then put it back into hotspot mode, or just use the date -s command. Once I do this, the mount points just fine. There may be a better solution out there, but this one works without fail so that's what I'm using. If there are more experienced users who read this message, they may chime in with a better solution, and that would be great if they did.

I think I once heard that the RPI3 should get it's time synced properly once it connects to the client, but this doesn't happen in my case. If in your case, you are using your RPI3 connected to the internet and verified that it has the right date and your mount still won't point properly, then that's a different problem which would be new to me. In all of this for me though, I think the Temma 2 drivers are working properly. It's just that it took a while for me to figure out that it might not be a driver problem but a problem with the RPI3 itself which it was. I'm not a computer person, so it took a long time for me to figure this out and my wife helped me as well since she is pretty savvy with Linux.

The other thing is that one might ask why I use the RPI3 in hotspot mode and just use the internet. Yes, I can do that from home, but if I take my setup in the field where I won't have internet, I don't want to be fumbling with the settings to get everything to work in the field. If I just leave it in hotspot mode, everything will work when I turn it on.

Sorry if I carried on a bit much here, but this was a long process to finally figure out what was going on. Now, the setup works very reliably. Perhaps there is a way for the RPI3 to get the current time when it communicates with the client which would be great. Maybe someone who knows how all of this stuff works a lot better than I do can offer a better solution.

Clear skies,
-Gene
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Pep
4 years 9 months ago #39869

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Replied by Pep on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Hi Gene,
thank you for your reply.
I'm almost sure that my problem does not come from time unsincronitzation between server and client. My scope is attached permanently to a pier and the raspberry that hosts the server is connected to my local wifi network. I've tried to put all the computers to UTC with zero offset and i still have problems. I think that there must be something in the telescope controller with bad data. I'm going to try to reset it and reinstall ubuntu and indi on the raspberry.
I hope to share a final solution to all of this soon,
thank you again.
4 years 9 months ago #39968

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This was one the reason I opted to include DS3231 with StellarMate by default since keeping time is critical. Why don't you install one to your RPI3 and save some headache? They're pretty cheap and not so difficult to set up.
4 years 9 months ago #39972

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Replied by Pep on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Jasem, thanks for your answer.
Your words have make me ask about whats the relation between mount - RPI (indiserver) - kstars (indiclient).
If i'm not wrong, with the option "kstars updates the mount", the server (RPI) sends its time and date to the mount, but it is the client (Kstars in the laptop) who sends coordinates and can sync the position of the mount based on an object in the kstars map. So there are 3 actors in this game.
Thank you
Pep
4 years 9 months ago #40128

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Replied by giorgio on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Hi Jasem, I use Stellarmate on my own Pi. Can I just connect a DS3231 and startup the Pi? Or do I also need any software configuration in Stellarmate?
4 years 9 months ago #40131

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Replied by giorgio on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

I've got a DS3231 hardware clock from ebay for my own Rpi running Stellarmate and installed on the first 5 pins on the inner row close to the edge. Upon powering up Stellarmate I run the following command to see if the clock was detected:

sudo hwclock -r

It returned a date of something like 1st of January 2000. Then I run this command to synch the hardware clock with the software clock:

sudo hwclock -w

After that, if I now try to compare the two clocks using:

date; sudo hwclock -r

I get:

Sat Jun 22 09:36:13 BST 2019
Sat 22 Jun 2019 09:36:13 AM BST .013205 seconds
Last edit: 4 years 9 months ago by giorgio.
4 years 9 months ago #40386

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Replied by Gene Lauria on topic Takahashi Temma 2 users

Jasem,

I installed the ds3231 module on my RPI3 (running Ubunto MATE). I read how you had to modify some of the boot and config files to let the RPI3 know its there, but the system still doesn't read the hardware clock from the ds3231 when it boots. e.g., when I first got things going, it was on July 1st, but when I came back a few days later on July 3rd, and typed the date command, it still had July 1st. It I typed hdwclk -r, it read the correct date and time on July 3rd. Somehow, the date and time is still not getting loaded into the system during bootup. I can fix the problem pretty quickly by just typing the "hdwclk -s" command and then the system time & date agrees with the ds3231 time & date. I may have missed a step when installing the clock.

-Gene
4 years 8 months ago #40782

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