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Gemini will point in the complete wrong direction

 

I am at a complete loss. I will boot up my gemini II. connect to my pc with the gemini ascom driver, and try to slew to a target to image. Rather than slewing to the correct part of the sky (scope pointing east) it will point west and at the ground. I get no errors, I have changed nothing in my settings. My PC has not changed or updated. This will happen about 50% of the time. I have changed batteries and have checked the power supply.?
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There is no rhym or reason to this. Also when trying to calibrate PHD2 with callibration assist I try to calibrate with the scope on west side of pier point east. Irregardless of what option I select in the calibration assist screen the scope will slew to the west side of the pier (as if it did a meridian flip) and try to calibrate there.?
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I have to turn the mount off, unplug all the connectors, and restart my pc multiple times to fix this problem. Some times it only stops when I turn everything off for hours at a time and reboot.?
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This started happening after my L6 update.
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And to address some thoughts:
My location is accurate with Longitude and Latitude
My location, date/time are all accurate each time I boot up
My location in NINA/PC is accurate and matches my scope.?
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When it starts working it slews appropriately callibrates well, and does a routine perfectly. Unfortunately that is less than 50% of the time.?
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I have no logs as I'm getting no errors.?
 
Edited

For what it¡¯s worth I am in the same boat with Kstars and Indi as the controller.
For now my solution has been to turn on Gemini with the hand controller plugged in, be sure to select Cold Start and then go under Model/More/Reset Model. I do this every time I startup. I¡¯m pretty sure I never had to do this every time when I had level5 (although it was occasional)
I¡¯m happy to provide indi and Kstars logs if that will help but I will need to generate them the next time I setup?
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PS. I¡¯m pretty sure the same can be done from the Gemini web page.?
 

Similar - to a degree --- I noticed that NINA Flat Wizard tool - the slew to zenith always goes to the same side whether E or W side is selected. I also have noticed Three Point Polar Alignment tool rotated in the opposite side than it did previously - still works but the lack of side orientation seems to be common. I don't experience the original post issue of pointing down however - just can't help but feel it could be related. My slews to target have had no issues.
 

Sounds like you may want to:
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  • ?Start in CWD position with Cold Start
  • ?Check that RA and DEC cables are not swapped
  • ?Check that your safety limits have not moved
  • ?Check that your RA and DEC cables are properly seated and don't have a broken contact
  • ?Reset Gemini settings to defaults and then set the correct mount type, location, time, etc.
Regards,
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? -Paul
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On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 08:37 PM, Ryan wrote:

I am at a complete loss. I will boot up my gemini II. connect to my pc with the gemini ascom driver, and try to slew to a target to image. Rather than slewing to the correct part of the sky (scope pointing east) it will point west and at the ground. I get no errors, I have changed nothing in my settings. My PC has not changed or updated. This will happen about 50% of the time. I have changed batteries and have checked the power supply.?
?
There is no rhym or reason to this. Also when trying to calibrate PHD2 with callibration assist I try to calibrate with the scope on west side of pier point east. Irregardless of what option I select in the calibration assist screen the scope will slew to the west side of the pier (as if it did a meridian flip) and try to calibrate there.?
?
I have to turn the mount off, unplug all the connectors, and restart my pc multiple times to fix this problem. Some times it only stops when I turn everything off for hours at a time and reboot.?
?
This started happening after my L6 update.
?
And to address some thoughts:
My location is accurate with Longitude and Latitude
My location, date/time are all accurate each time I boot up
My location in NINA/PC is accurate and matches my scope.?
?
When it starts working it slews appropriately callibrates well, and does a routine perfectly. Unfortunately that is less than 50% of the time.?
?
I have no logs as I'm getting no errors.?
 

I have done all those things. the RA and Dec cables are correct, I always start from CWD, Safety limits are exactly where I left them last.?
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I have not done a factoury reset, but to be honest I ran a routine last night it worked, tonight wiht nothing different it doesn't work. Not sure why that would happen
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cables are fine as well
 

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Also verify your mount type matches what mount you have.? For example you have a G11 and the Gemini 2 thinks you have a G11 not a GM8 etc.??
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--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA?
 

I did all your suggestion's Paul including reseting my Gemini tgo default settings. Unfortunately that actually made it worse.?
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I have checked the battery its fine,?
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I have check cables, and safety limits both are correct
I have check that the cables are seated firmely
I have done a cold start.?
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I may boot up tomorrow and there are no issues, then again I may boot up and not be able to image or observe. If I had logs to share I would, but I get no errors. So I don't know how to show whats going wrong.?
 

I don't know how to quote sorry, Chip I did check and the mount type is set to G11 which is the correct mount for me.?
 

If this issue is random that leads me to believe there is something going wrong with the hand controller or gemini controller. I've been troubleshooting some odd PEC issues lately on a new G11T and along the way I reflashed everything which only caused more random issues. It wasn't until I RESET the SRAM that things went back to normal. In addition I believe I've solved my PEC issues by leaving the hand controller disconnected altogether. I'm just imaging so I can do everything I need to from the web interface and ascom driver.
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The issues I was having with PEC is that it would drift after a few hours... so I'd run pempro, generate a curve, upload it to mount and then have fantastic results for a bit. Later in the night or the next night PEC would start causing more problems then it solved. Leaving the hand controller disconnected seems to have fixed it for the last four nights. All operations and guiding have been fantastic. It merits further investigation.
 

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Ryan,

Please check the MENU->MOUNT->Gearing HC page. There are new "Reversal RA, DEC" check boxes. These allow to use different spur gears, f.i. McLennan, w/o resetting the Mount Type to "Custom Mount". For the standard gear boxes and setups these boxes must not be checked.

Tanya found that a CMOS reset does not clear them. I had them stored in the ephemerides area and they come up with the last value used at shutdown. Please have a look at that page and uncheck the reversal boxes if necessary. The next firmware version will delete them once a CMOS reset is done.

¸é±ð²Ô¨¦





Am 17.01.25 um 04:49 schrieb Ryan via groups.io:

cables are fine as well
 

On Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 06:18 AM, Rene Goerlich wrote:
Please check the MENU->MOUNT->Gearing HC page. There are new "Reversal RA, DEC" check boxes. These allow to use different spur gears, f.i. McLennan, w/o resetting the Mount Type to "Custom Mount". For the standard gear boxes and setups these boxes must not be checked.

Ah, good point, ¸é±ð²Ô¨¦! I didn't think of the gear reversal checkboxes, but that would certainly make sense.
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Regards,
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? -Paul
 

Rene,
Is this what you are referring to?
These boxes were checked so I unchecked them. If this is not what you are referring to then I am a bit lost and could use a picture of the screen you are referring to
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Ryan, those are not the checkboxes. These you should leave checked -- they are to increase the encoder resolution 4x. It looks like you're not using the latest firmware, so your Gearing screen doesn't have the gear reversal checkboxes. In that case, you may want to update to the latest, but the reversal checkboxes are not the problem with your setup, since you don't have them :)
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Regards,
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? ?-Paul
 
Edited

I can go back and check those boxes. I dont mind updating to the latest firmware, but is that likely causing the issue?
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The reason I ask is in my experience updating drivers/firmware usually causes more problems than it helps. I'm happy to do it if it will fix my issue.?
 

On Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 10:20 AM, Ryan wrote:
I can go back and check those boxes. I dont mind updating to the latest firmware, but is that likely causing the issue?
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The reason I ask is in my experience updating drivers/firmware usually causes more problems than it helps. I'm happy to do it if it will fix my issue.?
Can't guarantee that it'll fix things, but it's unlikely to break things. At the very least, I would suggest that you re-update your current version of firmware, if you are reluctant to update to the latest.
 

I'll go ahead and update to the latest, and make sure all settings are correct again. i won't have a clear night for a few days so this will be an ideal time.?
 

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 08:37 PM, Ryan wrote:
This started happening after my L6 update.
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Ryan, did you do the upgrade to L6 yourself, or was this done by Losmandy? You may want to try to redo firmware flashing for both, Gemini and PIC servo controllers if reflashing just Gemini doesn't help.
 

On Fri, Jan 17, 2025 at 07:20 AM, Ryan wrote:
I can go back and check those boxes. I dont mind updating to the latest firmware, but is that likely causing the issue?
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The reason I ask is in my experience updating drivers/firmware usually causes more problems than it helps. I'm happy to do it if it will fix my issue.?
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Ryan,
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I have been using the Gemini 2 L6.1 firmware with v1.6.3 HC firmware since it was released without issue.? It sounds like you have some sort of data corruption and a reflash with the current versions should clear it out.??
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IDK where you are located but if you are in L.A. area I'd be happy to reflash your Gemini-2 and also reprogram the PIC chips if you need additional help.??
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--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA?
 

Paul,
I sent it into Losmandy for them to do it, so I did not do the L6 upgrade.?
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Today I have updated the firmware to 6.1
However, When I go to the mount-gear on my HC there is no reverese dec/RA option??
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I followed all the instructions to update the Firmware found here:https://gemini-2.com/gfu.html with no issues.?
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I have a few hours of clear skies tonight will try again and update you on how it goes.?

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