I started work on porting my
MoonPanoramaMaker
software from ASCOM to INDI. Since it's written in Python, I use the PyIndi package. Basically, I need two functions: slewing to a RA/DEC position, and a pulse guide operation in N/S/E/W for small coordinate adjustments. I managed to get the first one right. But I'm trying in vane to get pulse guiding working. To illustrate what I'm doing, please have a look at the following example code:
# get coordinate object
telescope_radec = None
while not telescope_radec:
time.sleep(0.5)
telescope_radec = device.getNumber("EQUATORIAL_EOD_COORD")
# get pulse guide objects
telescope_guideNS = None
while not telescope_guideNS:
time.sleep(0.5)
telescope_guideNS = device.getNumber("TELESCOPE_TIMED_GUIDE_NS")
# wait until the scope has finished moving
while telescope_radec.s == PyIndi.IPS_BUSY:
time.sleep(0.2)
# Stationary state reached, store measured position.
ra_before = telescope_radec[0].value
de_before = telescope_radec[1].value
# Issue an INDI "move north" instruction and wait a short time.
print("Move north 10000 milliseconds.")
telescope_guideNS[0].value = 10000.
telescope_guideNS[1].value = 0
indiclient.sendNewNumber(telescope_guideNS)
time.sleep(1.)
# wait until the scope has finished moving
while telescope_radec.s == PyIndi.IPS_BUSY:
time.sleep(0.2)
# Stationary state reached, store measured position.
ra_after = telescope_radec[0].value
de_after = telescope_radec[1].value
print("The telescope has moved north by "+str(3600*(de_after-de_before)) + "arc seconds.")
I look up the telescope position before the pulse guide operation, then do a pulse guide with some number of milliseconds (10000 in this case, but the result is the same for smaller values), and finally check the position again. Then I print out by how much the telescope moved during the pulse guide. The result is always zero.
I tried the same with the Ekos interface to the Telescope Simulator (see attachment). There I enter a pulse guide north by 10000 milliseconds (see the yellow light which indicates that the operation is underway), but the declination coordinate does not change.
Is there any way to get the pulse guide working? And how can I change the pulse guide speed?