Re: Platesolving not as accurate
Thank you Chip. Do you recall which setting?
On Sunday, May 11, 2025, 11:41 PM, Chip Louie via groups.io <chiplouie@...> wrote: On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 10:38 AM, Art Trail wrote:
Hello all, I just recently upgraded to the latest Gemini.net driver, as well as turned on RA/DEC 4x Step Res. I am at L6.12 on the G2
On my very next session, I was not able to accurately plate solve. The target would stay to the right, just at the edge of the FOV. NINA (PS3) would stop solving at 1' .08" or 0.52" which I thought odd that it was basically solving at 1' +/- .08".
I checked my time and it is correct and set for UTC. I did not turn off the 4x Step Res option, but plan to try that tomorrow (Monday) night when it is clear again. Is this possibly the cause? Or, am I missing something more obvious. I used to be able to solve down to a few seconds, with the target perfectly centered.
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Thanks!
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Art
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This is not a Gemini 2 issues so much as one of your apps is pushing setting data or pulling setting data from elsewhere in the system.? Several other N.I.N.A. users here have reported various issues after updating their Gemini 2 L6 system which was resolved after fixing their settings.? So it is most likely that you have a configuration issue with one or more of your PC apps.?
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--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
On Mon, May 12, 2025 at 07:57 AM, Kurt Aichele wrote:
I don¡¯t want to hijack this thread, but how do you check battery voltage directly on the hand controller, as Paul said can be done? TIA.?
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The HC will display a warning if the battery is running low when starting up. Yellow warning if it should be replaced soon, and red if it needs to be replaced now:
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Re: Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
I don¡¯t want to hijack this thread, but how do you check battery voltage directly on the hand controller, as Paul said can be done? TIA.?
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Re: Gemini-2 L6.12 locked-up
Paul,
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Today I've been investigating the Bad Checksum and Exception errors, which I posted earlier.
As I got another MeLE Quieter 4C for my another Gemini-2, I setup the exactly the same configuration as before.? This time the Gemini-2 unit and mini-PC were different, but the same Ethernet cable.??Under the same environment, where TheSkyX, SGPro and PHD2 were connected to the unit and running, I got a lot of communications error after the first stage.? However after I power cycled the unit several times, strangely the errors were gone. ? When I looked into the ASCOM.Gemini Telescope .NET log file, there were a lot of Bad Checksum and Exception errors during the period when the communications errors occurred.? This was very intermittent at that time, and there were no errors, very stable for many hours.
So I became confused.? After all I asked ChatGPT about Bad Checksum, in particular, relating to the direct Ethernet connection.? ChatGPT suggested to use a cross-over cable instead of a standard one, which I have used after I introduced mini-PCs.? So I took a cross-over cable, which was used to connect Gemini-2 to ThinkPad X230/X270 in the past.? Until this evening I carried out the test for 5 hours.? According to the log, there were no errors.? I don't know this is exactly the cause or not.? I will test this configuration under the real sky if the weather becomes cooperative.
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Best regards,
masami
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Re: DEC: Heavy Duty TR alarm - G11
On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 09:40 PM, Trevor wrote:
Checked the manual can't find anything re setting alarm thresholds, thanks
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You can only access it using the UI through a web browser.??
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--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 10:38 AM, Art Trail wrote:
Hello all, I just recently upgraded to the latest Gemini.net driver, as well as turned on RA/DEC 4x Step Res. I am at L6.12 on the G2
On my very next session, I was not able to accurately plate solve. The target would stay to the right, just at the edge of the FOV. NINA (PS3) would stop solving at 1' .08" or 0.52" which I thought odd that it was basically solving at 1' +/- .08".
I checked my time and it is correct and set for UTC. I did not turn off the 4x Step Res option, but plan to try that tomorrow (Monday) night when it is clear again. Is this possibly the cause? Or, am I missing something more obvious. I used to be able to solve down to a few seconds, with the target perfectly centered.
?
Thanks!
?
Art
?
This is not a Gemini 2 issues so much as one of your apps is pushing setting data or pulling setting data from elsewhere in the system.? Several other N.I.N.A. users here have reported various issues after updating their Gemini 2 L6 system which was resolved after fixing their settings.? So it is most likely that you have a configuration issue with one or more of your PC apps.?
?
--
Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?
Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA?
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Re: DEC: Heavy Duty TR alarm - G11
Checked the manual can't find anything re setting alarm thresholds, thanks
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Re: Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
As Paul said. ? This is only on older ARM processors that have not been made for a long time. ?The problem is/was an internal microcode hard bug. ? ?As said fixed by mfgr, your G2 will have a newer ARM unaffected by this issue.?
My best guess is you either have not pressed ¡°set¡± in Timezone/time/date page or you didn¡¯t set the date format correctly. ? ?It is
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Also best to try use a name in your posts as it¡¯s just forum etiquette.
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Get back on this happy to help?
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cheers
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Brendan
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
Thanks for your help, Paul.
On Sunday, May 11, 2025, 4:10 PM, Paul Kanevsky <yh@...> wrote: On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 05:04 PM, Art Trail wrote:
How about ¡°flip on goto¡±? Is that a good one to have enabled?
If you're having issues with automated meridian flips, then it might be worth trying. This has no effect on plate solving or pointing accuracy.
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 05:04 PM, Art Trail wrote:
How about ¡°flip on goto¡±? Is that a good one to have enabled?
If you're having issues with automated meridian flips, then it might be worth trying. This has no effect on plate solving or pointing accuracy.
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
Ok. I¡¯ll give it a shot. How about ¡°flip on goto¡±? Is that a good one to have enabled?
On Sunday, May 11, 2025, 3:44 PM, Paul Kanevsky <yh@...> wrote: On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 03:04 PM, Art Trail wrote:
Paul, that is checked. As it used to be. I would think that it should stay that way? Or am I wrong.
"Gemini Calculate Refraction" in also checked. Is that OK?
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Thanks,
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Art
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There's no way for me to tell if that's right or wrong for your setup, as it depends on the mix of software and drivers and all of their individual configurations. Since the error sounds within the bounds of what a J2000 to JNow precession calculation might produce, try unchecking it and see if it solves the problem. "Gemini calculates refraction" is also usually OK, but this will not cause a 1 arcminute error, especially if you're pointing 15-20 degrees above the horizon. That setting also depends on whether your software already calculates refraction in the coordinates sent to Gemini. If that's the case, you'll want to turn off that setting, also.
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 03:04 PM, Art Trail wrote:
Paul, that is checked. As it used to be. I would think that it should stay that way? Or am I wrong.
"Gemini Calculate Refraction" in also checked. Is that OK?
?
Thanks,
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Art
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There's no way for me to tell if that's right or wrong for your setup, as it depends on the mix of software and drivers and all of their individual configurations. Since the error sounds within the bounds of what a J2000 to JNow precession calculation might produce, try unchecking it and see if it solves the problem. "Gemini calculates refraction" is also usually OK, but this will not cause a 1 arcminute error, especially if you're pointing 15-20 degrees above the horizon. That setting also depends on whether your software already calculates refraction in the coordinates sent to Gemini. If that's the case, you'll want to turn off that setting, also.
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
Paul, that is checked. As it used to be. I would think that it should stay that way? Or am I wrong.
"Gemini Calculate Refraction" in also checked. Is that OK?
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Thanks,
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Art
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Re: Platesolving not as accurate
Try the precession setting in Gemini.NET. You may need to change it (check or uncheck):
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On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 01:38 PM, Art Trail wrote:
Hello all, I just recently upgraded to the latest Gemini.net driver, as well as turned on RA/DEC 4x Step Res. I am at L6.12 on the G2
On my very next session, I was not able to accurately plate solve. The target would stay to the right, just at the edge of the FOV. NINA (PS3) would stop solving at 1' .08" or 0.52" which I thought odd that it was basically solving at 1' +/- .08".
I checked my time and it is correct and set for UTC. I did not turn off the 4x Step Res option, but plan to try that tomorrow (Monday) night when it is clear again. Is this possibly the cause? Or, am I missing something more obvious. I used to be able to solve down to a few seconds, with the target perfectly centered.
?
Thanks!
?
Art
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Platesolving not as accurate
Hello all, I just recently upgraded to the latest Gemini.net driver, as well as turned on RA/DEC 4x Step Res. I am at L6.12 on the G2
On my very next session, I was not able to accurately plate solve. The target would stay to the right, just at the edge of the FOV. NINA (PS3) would stop solving at 1' .08" or 0.52" which I thought odd that it was basically solving at 1' +/- .08".
I checked my time and it is correct and set for UTC. I did not turn off the 4x Step Res option, but plan to try that tomorrow (Monday) night when it is clear again. Is this possibly the cause? Or, am I missing something more obvious. I used to be able to solve down to a few seconds, with the target perfectly centered.
?
Thanks!
?
Art
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Re: Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 12:37 PM, Paul Kanevsky wrote:
No damage would occur if you didn't set the date/time, but older Gemini-II units may cause the battery to get discharged very quickly. You can check the voltage of your 3v battery directly in Gemini HC or from Gemini . If is still fresh and maintains the voltage, your time/geo-location settings may be incorrect.
This is the error condition described in the LPC2388 CPU documentation. The moral of the story is turn on your Gemini after replacing the battery, and set the date/time:
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Re: Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
No damage would occur if you didn't set the date/time, but older Gemini-II units may cause the battery to get discharged very quickly. You can check the voltage of your 3v battery directly in Gemini HC or from Gemini . If is still fresh and maintains the voltage, your time/geo-location settings may be incorrect.
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On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 12:21 PM, <roboscope31@...> wrote:
My Gemini2 has version 6.0 firmware. I purchased the HC and Mini controller in summer of 2024. I had set up the unit and things were operating normally. The internal battery did need to be replaced due to low voltage by fall of 2024. I did not use the Gemini 2 for several months, but now even when I have replaced the controller batter with a new one, set the correct UTC time for my location with no time offsets, and confirmed that my coordinates are correct, the Gemini 2 seems to think I am in a different time of day. I read on the Losmandy web page that if you change a low battery and do not correct the time soon after replacing the battery, there could be some internal damage with the new battery drawing power with the wrong date? Seems like this is something Losmandy should put right in front and on top of their main page if this is actually true, but it does not say what kind of damage they are referring to. Not sure that's my case, but I have reset to factory settings and have tried everything I know how to correct the problem but no answer as of yet, looking for some feedback. Thanks.
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Gemini2 does not select solar system Objects
My Gemini2 has version 6.0 firmware. I purchased the HC and Mini controller in summer of 2024. I had set up the unit and things were operating normally. The internal battery did need to be replaced due to low voltage by fall of 2024. I did not use the Gemini 2 for several months, but now even when I have replaced the controller batter with a new one, set the correct UTC time for my location with no time offsets, and confirmed that my coordinates are correct, the Gemini 2 seems to think I am in a different time of day. I read on the Losmandy web page that if you change a low battery and do not correct the time soon after replacing the battery, there could be some internal damage with the new battery drawing power with the wrong date? Seems like this is something Losmandy should put right in front and on top of their main page if this is actually true, but it does not say what kind of damage they are referring to. Not sure that's my case, but I have reset to factory settings and have tried everything I know how to correct the problem but no answer as of yet, looking for some feedback. Thanks.
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On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 10:51 AM, Chip Louie wrote:
I'll try to appreciate the new bootloader on my Gemini 2 controllers.??
It's worth a few weeks wait! Especially considering that we all waited for the new bootloader for many years without knowing that we need it ;)
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On Sun, May 11, 2025 at 11:07 AM, Chip Louie wrote:
Is there a minimum memory speed spec micro SD card for Gemini 2?? Which speed standard and specs do I want to buy to ensure compatibility?? Or is the Gemini 2 old enough that any current micro SD card will be overkill??
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Any modern SD card with normal speed specs would be fine. Gemini isn't doing anything nearly as intensive as storing real-time video or even large images on the SD card. A few configuration settings and logs that are being written to the card are not time-critical. If this takes a few milliseconds longer to read or write these, it isn't going to affect anything. The boot-up speed improvement with the new bootloader is due to a better SD card type detection method used. Old bootloader worked with some cards, and failed with others. The new bootloader works with many more modern SD cards.
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Art Trail
Paul Kanevsky
Chip Louie