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To Paul Kanevesky, First image: info screen after resetting defaults Second image: menu screen, going to Mount/Balance Third image: Mount/Balance screen Fourth image: Mount/Balance screen when pushing RA button Ron Abbott
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I am in the process of updating my main/HC firmware to these latest versions. In the past, I have not been able to use the GFU successfully as I always get the "Timeout" message when trying to flash/reboot (Gemini is direct connect via 175' of Cat5e ethernet. Verified IP address is correct. Not sure what else to check.). However, it did update the HC firmware and this time, it looks like the current "NewGem.bin" file is on the SD card (see attachment). On the second attachment under the "Select firmware image", I can see this "NewGem.bin" file as a choice option (couldn't capture the dropdown box with a screenshot). Am I correct that I can select that file (NewGem.bin), hit "Flash Firmware" and that will update the firmware? HC did update to v1.63 upon reboot. Chris
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I updated the G2 and HC firmware and everything thing seems to be working great except for one possible item. Is there a reason that the HC does not retain brightness settings between power-ups? On power-up, the HC comes up with the brightness setting that was previously saved. However, after starting the mount (cold start, warm start, etc.) when it gets to the four-button home screen it briefly shows the saved brightness but then quickly goes to full brightness. I can then go to the HC settings menu, lower the brightness, and store the settings. It will remember this lower brightness until the next power-up of the G2. As long as you don¡¯t power down the G2, you can unplug and re-plug the HC into the main controller and it will come up at the saved lower brightness level. This behavior was seen with HC 1.62 and now is also seen in HC 1.63 The other observation is that the ASCOM driver always reports 100% brightness when you query the G2 settings, even though it may be at a lower brightness. You can use the ASCOM driver to change the HC brightness, but it immediately returns to showing 100% after you apply the change. Regards, Bill From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Rene Goerlich Sent: Sunday, October 13, 2024 8:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Gemini-II_io] Does "Allow Speeding Up" button still work? Looks like an inconsistency, but reflects the complexity of a Distributed System. The Classical HC has a socket on the main board, so this setting is stored on the main board and affects the main board's firmware behavior immediately. Store Settings stores the Graphic HC settings on its local eeprom. You can connect another HC with its own settings anytime... Ren¨¦ Am 13.10.24 um 15:29 schrieb WayBack: By design, the Menu->HC->[Store Settings] button makes the current selections persist into future powered cycles. Conversely, the Menu->HC->Mode->[selections] are set to persist even if the user does not select this choice. This inconsistency appears unintentional, considering the purpose of the Store Settings feature.
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Wanted - Gemini 2 Level 6 firmware upgrade kit
12
This is my first time posting here. I am looking for a Gemini 2 Level 6 firmware upgrade kit. I have been advised by Losmandy that they are no longer stocking the firmware upgrade kit. So I am hoping I can find one "used" instead of having to send my Gemini 2 system to Losmandy in the USA for Factory Upgrade Service. If not the whole kit, I would also be happy with at least 1) the Pic programmer adapter to match the Gemini 2 pins, 2) the microSD card #1 with programming software and step-by-step instructions, and 3) the microSD card #2 with complete L6 firmware already installed and ready to go. I can source the required PICKit3 programmer from elsewhere. Since I live in Canada, the cost of sending my Gemini 2 to Losmandy in the USA for Factory Upgrade Service is substantial, given I would have to pay for shipping both ways and in the end I will pay in $CAN...
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I'm a long time Gemini 1 user and I remember using the double button press on the Gemini 2 color HC for visual before I fell in with a bad crowd and started imaging with ASIAIR long before the L6 Beta or even Covid. So while I was playing with the Gemini 2 HC I realized that I could no longer do the opposite key hold down to speed up. This led to exploring the menus which I thought I had memorized but it appears that the option to Allow Speeding Up is somehow inactive in L6.02/03 on both of my Gemini 2 mini HCs. Is it me or did that option go away even though it is still present? -- Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware Astrospheric - South Pasadena, CA
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To Paul Kanevsky
Paul Sorry the 4th image didn't attach. I'm having a hard time trying to attach images using my phone. I'll try again tonight using my desktop computer. Brief description of mount/balance screen when pushing hc ra button: very briefly (couldn't catch the it with my camera) the RA pwm flashes a orange bar to the left, and the numbers briefly flash +28 & +6. To reiterate, the mount tracks, does gotos and parks, but will NOT move using the hc buttons. This is going on 2 weeks now and I still have a malfunctioning control. I'm tearing my hair!! Ron Abbott
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L6 update questions before beginning
9
Hello all. It has been a while since I have looked into L6 so I apologize if I am behind the curve. I just want to confirm that I am following the correct path to do this correctly. I have the following link for instructions and downloads: https://gemini-2.com/gfu.html Is that correct? It seems to me that I remember the need for a pic programmer to upgrade an L5 G2 to L6? Was I mistaken, or is this just not needed any more? Thanks! Art Trail Broken Arrow, OK, USA
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Correct L6 files
3
Are these the correct L6 files to download and install? /g/Gemini-II/files/Gemini%20Firmware%20L6.02 G2 PIC Servo code v30.zip gemhc161.zip HGM_Gem602.zip Thanks! Art
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I have been imaging my G11 (with L6 upgrade) with NINA for almost two years with no issues. I have been running the Nightly version of NINA, but it recently updated to ver. 3.1 HF2. Two nights ago it started having issues. I can setup my imaging sequence, scope slews and centers on object, then images fine until it's supposed to do a Meridian Flip. The Meridian Flip dialog opens in NINA, but scope never flips. I then stop the sequence and try to manually do a Slew and Center in NINA, it does nothing. G11 keeps tracking until it hits the Western Limit I have set at 96.39. Interesting fact: I can tell it to Park from NINA and it does this just fine. It has now done this two nights in a row. I stopped and restarted NINA and the mini PC (Mele Q3) a few times. It does the same thing. Sequence runs until Meridian Flip, then will not flip. I did see an ASCOM error, but did not wright it down. I did reinstall ASCOM platform 6.6SP2. Did not fix the issue. G11 works fine from the hand controller. And NINA controls the mount fine up to the point it needs a Meridian Flip. Then issues begin. So it seems to be some communication issue between NINA and the G11. Or perhaps a issue with the Mini PC ? I'm not sure where to begin to trouble shoot this issue. Image train: C11 Edge HD, ASI1600 MM, PLL Esatto 2 LP focuser, Pegasus PPB Advance hub Mount: G11 with L6 upgrade.
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Well, I went back down to my observatory last night to see if could get my Gemini 2 controller working, based on your input. Alas, still no joy! Here's the situation as of last night: Gemini will do a go-to to any selected object. It will also park at CWD position. However, it will still NOT move using the buttons on the HC. I tried using both the Visual and All Speeds modes, to no avail. When I hit the button I can hear and feel a "click" in the servo motor. I also tried the increasing the moving speed under the "speed" section of the menu. Nothing worked. I'm stumped! Ron Abbott
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Upgrade issues ASCOM telescope driver
24
Folks, I upgraded from ASCOM Gemini telescope driver V 1.0.84.0 to 1.1.28.0 just after upgrading the ASCOM Platform from 6.6 V 1 to 6.6 V 2. The ASCOM Gemini telescope driver would not load no matter what I tried. I successfully tested the Ethernet link between my Thinkpad and Gemini 2. That worked OK. So I rolled back the ASCOM Gemini telescope driver to the old version and it worked OK except that when I ran Sharpcap 4.1 only the ASI 120 showed up and not the ASI533. Something is off and it all worked OK before including the ZWO focuser which now doesn¡¯t even show up and I get errors for it. Not sure what to try next and I am currently in a dark sky spot in Colorado and heading for Big Bend next week. If I can¡¯t get the system working by the weekend I will have to head back to South Florida and skip Big Bend. Mount is GM811. Any ideas? Thanks, Rick Battle
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What am I missing? Modeling
6
Hey there. I have a new G11 w/Gemini II and it seems like modeling is not even close to working and I don't know why, which usually means I'm missing something. Here's what I'm doing: 1) Place and level tripod aligning to true North (-12.2 degrees magnetic declination) 2) Add Losmandy mount, counterweights, and telescope 3) Balance the scope in RA and DEC 4) Cable everything up, including the GPS (Losmandy, via B&H) 5) Make sure counter-weights are down via bubble level on mount 6) Polar align with iPolar Note: Am slowly locking down Alt/Az and adjusting iteratively to make alignment as good as possible. iPolar is pretty cool. Note: iPolar is mounted with the official Losmandy iPolar adapter. Note: I may try SharpCap since it seems popular here and I'd have one less piece of gear to set up, but I don't think polar alignment is my problem 6) Turn on the Gemini 7) Cold Start 8) Confirm data/time Side note: The time zone is always wrong and requires a power cycle to accept a change, which seems odd, but location is saved properly. If I'm understanding the docs right, the timezone shouldn't matter since all internal calculations are in UTC and the time zone is just for human readable display format. Again, I'm using the GPS which as I understand it should override any saved settings anyway. The HC does confirm the GPS has been queried. Note: I can see Polaris (bortle 4/5) and at this point the scope points right at it, though it is not necessarily visible in the scope. 9) Go to bright star. I choose Polaris. ** The scope slews about 20 degrees to the east pointing quite obviously NOT at Polaris. It does this every single time. I do not try to correct it because it just seems too far off. 10) I try another star: Vega. ** The scope slews in the general vicinity of Vega, but is probably also in the neighborhood of 20 degrees off. Again, every single time. Additional data: I don't think the RA/DEC cables are backwards because the mount slews generally in the right direction I don't think the LAT is positive when it should be negative because I'm using GPS I don't think the battery is bad because it's saving the date, etc. I don't think the polar alignment is off, but my view of the sky is limited so many of the alternative computerized plate solving alignment methods out there don't work well for me because they try to slew to positions that are behind trees. I don't have the LosMandy polar scope because I have neck problems and don't think I'd be able to use it more than once, if that. Power is via the Losmandy 12VDC "cigarette lighter adapter" which is plugged into my Bluetti A70 power station. I have tried it with the 15VDC power brick as well. Am I wrong thinking that the initial slews to the bright stars should be closer than they are? Any and all help is appreciated. At this point I'd give anything for a single GOTO to work. Thanks, GAD
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Help - New Gemini 2 user
4
I recently had to upgrade to Gemini 2 because my old Gemini I got fried. I went through the quick start menu and entered all my particulars (location, time zone, type of mount (MI-250) and set up the moving and slewing and go to speeds, etc. Here is my problem: The control will do a go-to, and will return to the CWD park position, BUT...I cannot seem to make the motion pushbuttons for RA and DEC to work. When I push them, the mount doesn't move. I've gone through the set up procedure according to the manual many times, being careful to follow all the instructions...all with the same result: I cannot move the mount using the manual buttons on the hand controller. Can somebody give me some direction on where I went wrong. I'm at my wit's end, and am in a time crunch, as I was hoping to be able to power-up and be able to do some imaging during the current new moon cycle. Ron Abbott
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Slow (30sec) Beeping?
2
Hi All, This last weekend I had a strange issue where near the meridian flip my G11 mount started to beep once every 30 sec. I tried googling causes and it said possibly the mount limits? I should have been at least ~15 minutes before the limit. After this went on for several minutes the mount eventually reset (saying it¡¯s position was CWD, and disconnecting from my laptop), so I was thinking maybe there was some power issue? After I did my meridian flip and re-synced everything I didn¡¯t have any more beeping. Thanks, Chris
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Minor Planets & Small Objects Comet tracking question.
2
Quick question on using the Minor Planets & Small Objects function before tracking a comet this weekend. In the Gemini Telescope Setup ASCOM menu, do I need to check the "Variable Move/Axis Rate" box or does the Minor Planets & Small Objects feature engage that automatically. Don't want to mess up anything. Thanks, David
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Where can instructions on using the user defined tracking be found? I know that Brian V did a live presentation on this some time back before the final release of L6. I'd like to find this but I was hoping there was also something in writing. Thanks, Steve Walsh
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I bought a used G11 from 2015 (at the earliest) with high torque servos and Gemini II. I just signed up for this group and found some links for the Level 6 conversion. I downloaded the latest GFU and installed Level 6.02 on the Gemini. The system still seems to work AFAICT. The 4x checkboxes are not checked. The info page still shows the servo firmware as v1, while I need v3. I found one document that talks about "the supplied PIC programmer" - who supplies this? If I buy my own, should I buy a PicKit2 or PicKit3? I have a DLink-v2 that works for STM chips, can I use that instead? If I missed a link that has all the information, please let me know. The IO search function is limited and over time everything gets lost in the bitbucket. Thanks in advance for any help!
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Autoguider Input /SBIG Relay box
I still use a SBIG ST-8XME (2006 vintage) self-guiding camera with my G2 (mini) unit. Right now I have a SBIG Relay box between the camera and the G2 unit. I am rerouting some cables in the observatory and was wondering if that relay box is still necessary. Thanks Chris
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G11 "click" and jump at end of slew
6
Several months ago I had my G11 motors tucked in and also upgraded to spring-loaded worm gears. Ever since then when I slew with the hand controller I hear a "click" at the end and the image jumps a bit. Has anyone else seen this behavior? I'm wondering if the springs aren't adjusted tight enough and the worm is riding up on the gear during the slew and then dropping in at the end. Happens on both axes at all speeds except "Centering". I can try to characterize it based upon slew speed if folks think that would matter. Scope is balanced in both axes with about 30lbs of payload. Thanks in advance, Dave
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G11 and 12¡± SCT: What can I expect?
16
Hello, I am new to this site and am planning to purchase a G11 for my 12" Meade SCT (40 lbs). What tracking performance (no auto guiding) can I expect for, say, 30 sec, 60 sec and 120 sec exposures? I would eventually include auto guiding but would like to understand what periodic error I can expect over these short exposure times with the G11 using just tracking. I don't think minor PA errors will be a factor over these short exposures?
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am