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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

RST-135 mount - what are the best practices?

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A lot of firmware fixes have been bug fixes. For the 135E there was a fix for DEC excursions that were happening randomly when guiding. But the firmware has been better with every update. There has been work done on a new driver for INDI, which allows you to make a simple sky model with 7 point alignment. That could improve tracking as most imagers only solve a single point. And prior to this new driver, it only allowed one sync point to be stored.
2 years 3 months ago #78347

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Thank you.  I have built homing the mount into my start up routine, and since I’ve starting doing that, I’ve not had issues with cord wrap.  Maybe I need to add homing after starting INDI, too.  Plate solving seems to work great.  Maybe the some of the guiding issues had to do with my polar alignment being off.  I’ve purchased a new MacBook Pro, I’ve had issues with the PoleMaster software failing (it worked fine on my old MacBook Air).  So when I tried this last night, my PA was undoubtedly off.  I have been trying 0.5 and 1.0 second exposures.  I’ll revisit that with better alignment.  Maybe it’s time to try the internal PA routine until the PoleMaster software is sorted.

I was hoping for a clear night but maybe tomorrow… thanks for the suggestions.
 
2 years 3 months ago #78349

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Max,

Thank you for the updated guiding settings and list of the steps you take during setup.  Sounds like I need to add homing the mount from the INDI control panel to my routine.  Plus, I’ll turn off “simulate the pier side”, too.  You mentioned that you don’t use the hand controller.  Is there an operational reason for that other than simplifying the setup?  I’ve already had the mount damage itself once (cord wrap), and I kind of like the extra assurance of having an easy to reach panic button.

Unfortunately, it’s cloudy here tonight, and so I’ll have to try again later.

Thanks again,
Greg
2 years 3 months ago #78350

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Another night of bad weather... crazy winds and a 30°F temperature drop this afternoon (hence the winds).  On the plus side, once the winds die down, I won't need to cool the camera!

When you guys are using INDI (e.g., StellarMate), are you running everything on the Raspberry Pi, or are you using the Pi as an INDI server and then running remotely?  I ask because I have been running KStars/Ekos on my Mac and then connecting to my Raspberry Pi as a server.  I was wondering if the communications delays between the Mac and the Pi might cause some of the issues I'm seeing (perhaps too much time to think since I can't be out trying things).  I'm assuming that the guiding software runs on the client (i.e., the Mac) with input from the server (the 0.5s exposures) and then sends it results to the server (i.e., the Pi).  Note that I do have the Pi hardwired to ethernet (I've learned that the Pi is not the most reliable in terms of WiFi connection...) and the Mac is on WiFi (5GHz, usually 500MBs or faster—strong signal)

I'm hoping for clear skis later this week, but it looks like it may be a few days.

Thanks,
Greg
 
2 years 3 months ago #78392

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I have run almost exactly as you describe (mac client rPi server connected over wired ethernet). Guiding was fine - the guide camera has fairly small files so not too much of a lag on GB ethernet.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Greg Stark
2 years 3 months ago #78393

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Cool, and thanks! I'm running an ASI290mm Mini, and I'm just waiting for the weather to clear so that I can try a new guide scope and updated guiding parameters (last time I tried, the guider kept losing track of the stars—extremely frustrating).
2 years 3 months ago #78394

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I found it worthwhile to tweak the gain and offset on the guide camera to optimize guiding SNR. For the ASI290mm mini with an IR pass filter a gain of 300 seemed to work well. Once the gain and offset are tweaked then doing darks helped further improve although if the offset was set too low dark subtraction gave poor results. With optimized gain, offset, and dark subtraction I get fairly robust tracking of stars.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Greg Stark
2 years 3 months ago #78395

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Thank you!  The ASI290mm mini with an IR pass filter (albeit on a 30mm f/4 guide scope instead of 50mm since I have a shorter focal length main scope) is exactly what I'm using.  I'll try the 290 gain numbers you mentioned.  Now all I need is clear skies!
2 years 3 months ago #78396

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I use RST-135 on RPI 100% since it's my travel mount.
I either use 10" monitor, mouse and keyboard (in the field) or VNC to it (at home).
Tried to use IR pass filter for guiding - didn't see much improvement.
-- 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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2 years 3 months ago #78397

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Last Friday (New Moon) I went to a dark site with RST-135 and almost had a bad trip.
(SM 1.6.1 and KStars 3.5.6 Stable).
KStars kept crashing on plate-solve - after a successful plate-solve KStars would just crash.
I was about to cry since this was my second attempt at dark site / new moon where I was unsuccessfully trying to properly test my new FRA400 refractor (first time was bad weather).

In the end it all went great after I switched from the internal solver to ASTAP (I did try the setup at my Bortle 8 home several times and it did work fine with the internal solver - not sure why it kept crashing at the dark site).
Anyway, RST performed well. FRA400 produced some nice images. I ended up to be happy with both. Great!
Guiding was not outstanding but very good (below 1" RMS total). No spikes. I didn't use a counterweight.

Came home and updated the system to the latest nightly build. Tested with simulators (bad weather) - all is well and now I have the new RST driver!
Also did some improvements with the cable management.
Can't wait for the good weather to return!
-- 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.
Last edit: 2 years 3 months ago by maxthebuilder.
2 years 3 months ago #78530

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