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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Mount model

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Replied by Magnus Larsson on topic Mount model

Hi!

I have a Losmandy G11, and I thought that this mount could not benefit from the Mount model in Ekos. Is there a way to upload the model to the mount, or is it jus saved in Ekos?

My understanding is that if it is just preserved in Ekos, then why would the mount type matter?

Yes, as you can hear, I don't really understand what the "Mount model" does. Even now....:/

Magnus
5 years 5 months ago #30817

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Mount model

Hi Magnus,

So I believe you misunderstand. I wrote the Mount Model feature in the align tab specifically because I have a Losmandy G11 and it really benefits from multiple align points. I'm not sure how many the G11 can take, but the more points you get the better the pointing model. I don't always use it, but I like that i have the feature. Ekos does not save any alignment data when it does any plate solve in the alignment module, it simply does plate solves and tells the mount where it is located. What the mount or driver does with that information is up to it.

For the Losmandy G11, it does all the alignment points and modeling internally. There are two commands that the G11 takes, the sync command and the align command. You need to make sure that the Gemini system is getting any additional alginment points from plate solving as an "align" command so that it updates the pointing model instead of shifting the model to do a sync. There is a menu option that you need to change in the hand paddle to make sure it is getting the right command. Once it builds a pointing model, it can retain that model from night to night, or you can replace the model with a new one. You cannot export the model to a computer or transfer a model to the mount as far as I know.

For EQMod, it can also build very complex models, but the model is built in the driver, not in the mount. But again this is not handled in Ekos, it is handled in the INDI driver. Since here the model is built on your computer, you can save and load the model using the INDI control panel. As I have said before, I don't know everything about the EQMod driver so I can't speak more to that.

Thanks,

Rob
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5 years 5 months ago #30824

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Replied by Andrew on topic Re:Mount model

I believe I have encountered what TallFurryMan just referred to as a 'weird loop'. While plate solving, occasionally it struggles to actually make the necessary corrections between iterations of slew to target. It is as if it is cluttered with alignment points in the vicinity. I have to clear the alignment model to recover from that.
I have run the mount model routine before. But I didn't see much benefit, especially if it later struggled to slew to target while plate solving.
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5 years 5 months ago #30826

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Re:Mount model

My recommendation would be to not use "slew to target" but instead to just "sync" when building a model. As I mentioned before, each time I plate solve in a sky location it improves the model because it adds another alignment point. All I do is just plate solve at several locations around the sky and it gets better with each point. I believe you are correct that it is a bad idea for the model to have a bunch of alignment points all clustered closely together. They should be more spread out. You can avoid this by not trying to "slew to target" when building the model. It really doesn't need to get the target in the frame, it just needs a bunch of plate solved points spread around the sky for the alignment. I stopped trying to "slew to target" about 2 years ago, and ever since I think it has worked much better.

Thanks,

Rob
5 years 5 months ago #30831

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Replied by Wouter van Reeven on topic Re:Mount model

Rob, do you have a permanently mounted telescope? Or do you set up and take down your telescope every night? I do the latter and need to do a polar alignment every time I set up my telescope. Setting it up and taking it down means I cannot use a mount model like you do, or I have to rebuild it every time. Do you concur?

Thanks, Wouter
5 years 5 months ago #30838

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Replied by Andrew on topic Re:Mount model

rlancaste: Sorry for the confusion. I did use sync for the mount model. Slew to target is only used while getting to my imaging subject.
5 years 5 months ago #30853

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Replied by Rob Lancaster on topic Re:Mount model


This is a very good question! Obviously building a really good pointing model that you can use from night to night would only work with a permanent setup. Alas, I do not have an observatory or a pier. So yes, I have to build my pointing model fresh every time I observe. I always try to get as many alignment points in there as I can, but of course there is a limited time in an evening. So usually what I try to do is add as many alignment points as I need to until it gets reasonably accurate slews, and then I call it good. Then later I might add more points if i'm still not happy with it. Usually that ends up being a minimum of 3 points, but often somewhere between 5 and 10 points before the night is done.

Thanks,

Rob
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5 years 5 months ago #30855

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