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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Celestron AUX 2nd try

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Replied by Kevin on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

I’ve been trying again today with the simulators. It seems like I’m having better success. I remove the slew limits from the AVX, I think these were causing some problems. I also manually inputted the coordinates into the telescope tab in EKOS. The scope slewed to a crazy position after I applied the coordinates. I then just reset the AVX to the home position. I was able to connect, and then plates solve/sync. After doing this I was able to slew and then plate solve and sync to other stars. I was getting occasional crashes in EKOS. The only concern I have is that when I tried to slew to a star near the zenith, the mount was not even close to pointing in the correct direction. This might be because I was using the simulators? It’s been cloudy so I haven’t been able to try anything real.
EKOS really hates plate solving near the pole! I know I’ve seen others warn about this. I used to use a different software that I would start with Polaris and then solve other stars afterwards.
3 years 8 months ago #57444

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Replied by Fabrizio on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

Slewing near zenith may be a problem because of the coordinate computation made into two steps. First target RA/DE is converted into local ALT/AZ, then ALT/AZ is converted into POLAR. The ALT/AZ - POLAR conversion has a singular point at the zenith: here the acceleration of the angular velocity goes to infinite.
3 years 7 months ago #57447

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Replied by Craig Oakley on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

I'm curious if anyone has made any progress using the Celestron AUX driver on an EQ setup?

The device page for the driver states the "driver was tested with NexStar Evolution (Alt/Az) and CPC (EQ) mounts".

I have spent several sessions over the past few weeks with some success. The major problem remaining is the alignment is off; despite initial success with solving and syncing.

My setup consists of a Celestron CGEM mount with the SkyPortal WiFi module. Connecting and controlling the mount works correctly, but pointing accuracy is erratic and inconsistent.

I tried following the recommendations of the driver's author (Jochym) from a previous thread:

Celestron SKYQ Support

This involves activating the alignment system and using the built-in math plugin to sync on stars in a triangle. However, the thread was using the older NexstarEvo driver.

Some interesting things I discovered in my testing:

- Since the driver doesn't know the correct home position and the mount's pointing gets worse over use, I found parking the mount at the start, and then moving the mount to the index marks before unparking, allowed me to set and quickly reset back to the home position (North/Polaris).

- Although I am not using any limits, the driver will stop when slewing left of West. No such problems in the East.

- After syncing on multiple stars, I will eventually get the message: "Alpha matrix is singular and cannot be inverted".

In the meantime, I have been using INDI to image and Celestron's PWI to control the mount.
3 years 7 months ago #58414

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Replied by Giles on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

What method are you using to polar align?
3 years 7 months ago #58417

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Replied by Craig Oakley on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

I am using the All Star polar align utility that comes with the Celestron CPW software; using 6 calibration stars. I have a polemaster but at 360 mm focal length, the all star is close enough.
3 years 7 months ago #58463

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Replied by Kevin on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

I had put some time in on the AUX driver, but it looked like all the info I was getting back was that it was not designed for EQ mounts.

I was able to have some success initially. But it seemed like it was not stable enough to use when actually trying to image. All my tests have been with the simulators during the day. I had more stable results before I was using EKOS/Kstars. Still trying to find an approach that bypasses the alignment process for Celestron mounts. But with a reasonable degree of stability.

I’m fine with using a different process to polar align the mount. Currently I’m using Sharpcap.
3 years 7 months ago #58465

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Replied by Fabrizio on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

Here github.com/fabriziop/indi-3rdparty/tree/celestronaux_eqtrack there a WIP version of celestron AUX driver with the addition a selection button for mount type Altaz or Polar (Mount info Tab).
3 years 7 months ago #58468

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Replied by Jamie on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

Croz have you made any headway with the Celestron AUX driver?

I'm interested in not having to use the handcontroller to do alignments and such. I have a CGEMII and am using the CGEM Celestron INDI driver and all works pretty good.
3 years 1 month ago #67785

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Replied by Kevin on topic Celestron AUX 2nd try

I’ve not been testing the new builds of the aux driver. It was not focused on EQ mounts originally. They have been trying to update it. But last I tried it was still not usable. And I’ve not had to time. Check the new thread out below.

indilib.org/forum/development/8246-indi-...html?start=120#67587
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jamie
3 years 1 month ago #67804

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