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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Re:An alignment issue in KStars via INDI

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Just think about it. If your mount (not the telescope) is not positioned right - you'll have a big problem. The mount needs to be polar aligned. Its head needs to be pointing exactly at the North Celestial Pole (NCP). If it's off by several degrees you'll have a big problem. If you point your telescope at NCP and plate solve - it's not polar alignment.
There's a procedure in Ekos to perform the polar alignment. There you use not the electronic mount controls but mechanical/manual screws to move the mount left/right and up/down.
Так победимъ.
Max
-- 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.
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5 years 3 months ago #32369

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Yes, I know it. My mount is properly aligned and in park position pointing exactly at the NCP. So the problem is only in Kstars or INDI. Why, if I drop all alignment points, and my mount is in the park position (pointing NCP), Kstars shows that my mount is pointing far away from NCP. Look at the attached picture:


If I make plate solve, it updates to NCP.

Спасибо, обязательно ;)
HEQ5 Pro
ZWO ASI 1600MC-cool
Remote telescope on Ubuntu 16 by indiserver
Kstars
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Last edit: 5 years 3 months ago by Vladimir.
5 years 3 months ago #32371
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Looks like your park position is not right..
-- 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.
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5 years 3 months ago #32372

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Double check your time and location
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5 years 3 months ago #32377

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You need to set your park position correctly,
With your mount in the home position, scope up weights down, and everything turned on, right on Polaris on the skymap and go to EQMOD mount and then sync, oncle the crosshairs shows on Polaris then click set as park..job done...
If the mount does move, just undo clutches and manually move back to home position..
Next time you start up it will show crosshairs on Polaris, this is also why your goto’s are all off too... :)
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5 years 3 months ago #32383

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Agreed, getting the park position right is important. More important than polar alignment actually. A bad polar alignment can be overcome with alignment, and can be introduced voluntarily to solve declination backlash issues when guiding.

-Eric

EDIT: time and location are equally important, especially as I read your scope is remote.
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Last edit: 5 years 3 months ago by Eric.
5 years 3 months ago #32389

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"Also, there's some strangeness in how Kstars shows where the mount is pointed to. I hardly move the mount, but it jumps over the half of the sky. More clearly you can see it on this video (in addition recorded all settings):"

Maybe , i suggest, that you have a problem with your local cables - are they catching or even damaged so that the signal is being interfered with.

Or you have a power problem.

Doesn't matter about the NCP,Alignment etc - it should still move relatively smoothly even to the wrong position - IMO

Is everything running locally (Kstars/Ekos/Indi drivers) if not the jumping could be Internet response times - even doing VNC remote to locally run Ksars/Indi set up over bad communications will appear to jump or be erratic but still get to the end point (even if its wrong).

Dont know enough about the Indi Eqmod version but why delete alignment data between sessions, if you are not moving your scope after closedown - I hardly ever did this on my Windows version of Eqmod???

Perhaps you could "park" at a different position , I assume Indi Eqmod allows this as per Windows version, and see if it gives you the same problem - and don't delete the alignment data.

Hope you find a solution. :-)

I know its remote but something's need checking locally :-(
RPI3 Ubuntu 16.04 / AMD desktop Kstars under Ubuntu 16.04 Mounts :azeq6 ,SWAZGoTo

RPI3 Fedora testing out on AMD desktop Fedpra 28 - running kstars 2.9.4 , Indilib 1.7.4 ?????
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5 years 3 months ago #32392

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Power! Good point! I solved two such issues myself in the past: one was that the dew heaters were on the same 12V as the mount, and the other was that a CPL plug was connected on the local mains loop. Both were causing damaging noise onto the serial port communications...

-Eric
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5 years 3 months ago #32394

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Ok, I see, so I need to:
1. Set more precise time and a scope location
2. Correct the park position of the mount manually to match the default park position in Kstars

I thought that Kstars doesn't have default park point. I mean looks like there is some kind of a stepper position, which translated in Kstars as "position towards NCP".
But I expected that the first sync on NPC would overwrite this point. So I make the park position a stepper position when RA and DE Steps are both set to 10000000, so I can easily reset park position at this point, knowing, that this position is pointing to NCP. Looks like I was wrong.
But I still can't understand, can't I really manually set this default park position? It's just a wrong model of my mount in Kstars/INDI. Is it possible to set that "this" stepper position positioned towards NCP? Is there a model of my mount that by default identify (when no alignment has been made at all) that some stepper position of the mount is pointing to the specific place in the sky?
HEQ5 Pro
ZWO ASI 1600MC-cool
Remote telescope on Ubuntu 16 by indiserver
Kstars
Last edit: 5 years 3 months ago by Vladimir.
5 years 3 months ago #32402

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Not sure that power can create a problem, but I will double check this as well.
HEQ5 Pro
ZWO ASI 1600MC-cool
Remote telescope on Ubuntu 16 by indiserver
Kstars
5 years 3 months ago #32404

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I see you have the same mount as I have. If you're interested in the driver-level details of parking/home values in eqmod, I can offer this: github.com/indilib/indi/issues/717. But there have been quite a few interesting posts recently on the subject in the forum.
On the HEQ5, check whether the red power led is blinking while slewing and tracking. If it is, power is probably on the issue list.

-Eric
5 years 3 months ago #32406

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I have a HEQ5 Pro as well and I have had strange alignment/slewing problems lately when I start the session. These are usually fixed by returning the mount to park position and then disconnecting all equipment, stop & start INDI/EKOS again. Usually that does the trick by starting it again from "fresh" park position. I usually start the session with Polemaster polar aligment and I use the mount control to rotate mount and then return it to park position. I'm not sure if that is the reason for the strange slewing problem.

When I did a full restore to my Stellarmate I forgot to change the time zone correctly which caused this method to fail and I was not able to slew the mount to anywhere correctly, so that is one thing to check.
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5 years 3 months ago #32428

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