I have found that bad polar alignment can affect orthogonality measurements as the star drifts while phd tries to measure dec movement. Also large PE can affect that as RA drifts during the measurements too. I’d try a better polar alignment and try again, and then do a guiding assistant run to measure PE.?

As for the mount slewing while guiding, you got me, someone else will likely chime in but i have no clue other than some button acting up on your hand controller or something but, if the mount is guiding, pressing on a button will not send the mount slewing so, who knows?

Lastly, maybe post the logs to phd and gemini.net to better see what’s going on

good luck

jonathan

Hello Gemini I.? I realize I may also have an MI-250 problem, so I've cross-posted this.??

I've been working through all the growing pains of a new imager.? I think I'm close to getting useable data, but a couple of things stopped me last night.? I got a warning from PHD2 during calibration as well as a repeated error message.??

Every few minutes during guiding "practice" and when trying to take a modest 15 second image, I'd get this message: "Guiding stopped: the scope started slewing."? My mount was not slewing.? I have a theory, but some old posts here and in the MI-250 forum make me think it's not right.

The warning I got during my guiding calibration runs: "The RA and Declination angles computed in the calibration are questionable.? Normally, these angles will be nearly perpendicular,.." (the rest of the message is cut off).? PHD2 reports RA orthogonality error is 65.8, which I don't believe, even though I have no idea what the units are.? I have a photo of the message, if that will help.

Can someone help me with this???

On Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 01:34 PM, DaleN wrote:

Many thanks to all who have responded! Things are indeed looking like we need some professional help, and Michael Herman is local-ish!

Will send a final update after we're operational!

Thanks!

Dale

?Dale,?

Mike is the best! I think he'll have you back up and running in a jiffy no problems. But a bit of.lick can't hurt!

Cheers/Chip?


--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

? ?Astrospheric Weather for Imagers - Click on my sig!

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Many thanks to all who have responded! Things are indeed looking like we need some professional help, and Michael Herman is local-ish!

Will send a final update after we're operational!

Thanks!

Dale

And the original battery is difficult to obtain although I did buy two via Amazon.

-W.

There I go again fat finger typing. ? CR2032 is correct SMD type, not CR2302

sigh.?
--
Brendan

Hi Dale. ?

the battery for that PCB is a SMD (Surface mount type) CR2032 battery and holder with side positive clip (positive is towards the top of the PCB. ?That’s if it’s defiantly that version PCB as in the Picture. ? ?It’s unusual to remove it. ?No idea why.?

Later Gemini1s used a CR2354 (thru hole ) battery and holder ?it is slightly bigger and has far greater capacity ? ?But this is a thru hole pins (with top of holder is a spring finger clip) ?for positive ?(+ve). ? You can modify your PCB and fit one of these to the earlier version (SMD Battery holder types). ?it will just fit but you need to drill holes and run leads to the original battery pads (and glue down the holder). ? But because of this top finger design I’d not recommend this holder. ?Why? ??

There is battery another ?similar dimensions to CR2354 called CR2450. ? They share the same thru hole pin spacing but the holder is slightly larger by 1mm. ? The CR2450 has greater battery capacity over the CR2354 and CR2932 ?

Oh I should say you cannot fit a larger SMD type holder (ie a CR2354 SMD Battery holder) as the pads are all wrong position ? ?So are thru hole battery holders. ?

But as said you can run small wires to the old pads ?

There is also another thru hole battery holder use on G2s called CR2450 and it to has side positive clip (like the SMD version) and is thru hole as well with same pin spacing as the CR2354.

I have modified old SMD G1 PCB like you have shown. ?You can just fit this type of holder CR2450, glue it down and run ?new pads to the older existing SMD pads ? ?It takes a little work but this battery will last close to 3 yrs on a G1 vs around 10months the to 1 yr for the CR2032 battery type ?

Why fit the CR2450 holder? ? It has a side positive clip so replacing batteries puts less stress on the holder if it’s glued down ? ?As said I do this to older SMD battery holders as it’s just sensible and give far more battery backup capacity ?

You can do it or send to your local repairer, . ? ?As for why the holder was removed? ?They do get damaged?

Don’t, fuss about the 39k resistor mod it’s only needed if the CMOS battery Idraw is 20micro amps or more I’ve only see one needed it ? This was a very early G1!

So either fit a new CR2302 SMD battery holder and battery ? ?Or modify using the holders and batteries I mentioned. ?But you need accurate work it’s a close fit and don’t drill thru any tracks or wrong place.?

Any more info needed fire away

cheers


--
Brendan

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Hi all, figured I should join and post to this group rather than the Gemini-2 now:

My club has recently obtained a G11 with Gemini-1 board shown here:?

We noticed it is completely missing the battery holder (and obviously battery), and the on/off switch is bad. After checking the board for other obvious issues, we jumped the switch and applied power, where the Hand Controller came to life, causing a big sigh of relief.

I do not have a photo of the board at hand, so do not know if the battery mods mentioned here??have been performed, or are even still relevant?

1. Can anyone point me to a proper battery holder to repair the board with, and which battery is currently suggested for use?
2. Are the battery mods above still appropriate?
3. Any other mods/issues we should be aware of to bring this board back into service?
4. The firmware is Level 4.something (don't recall without the HC at hand). What is the latest/bestest revision that ca/should be applied here?
5. Can anyone think of a reason the battery holder would have been removed?

Thanks in advance for any info you can provide! I am posting separately on the Losmandy users forum r.e. G11 tuneups.

Dale Nelson

I will add these two settings to the notes on spreadsheet if not already there. Thank you Paul

That was exactly the problem, Paul.
I had checked the "Flip using Go-To" but not the "Report pier side" box.
My GM811G HD is working great again.
I wasted a lot of time over one unchecked box.

I'll try and ask sooner if I have a problem next time.
But my mount has been so flawless, it's hard to point a finger at it for me.
I always figure it's me first. (well, besides Windoze and their incessant updates.)

Thank You Gentlemen! I really appreciate the help!

Gratefully,
Sonny

Of course, it's supposed to be cloudy tonight.... LOL!

Thank You Paul!
I sure appreciate the help.

OK, found it.
Will continue my Daytime flip attempts.

it’s part of the telescope settings screen, Sonny. I’ll post a screen shot when I get back to the computer.

Regards,

? ?-Paul

Hi Paul, Thank You for checking in on me.
OK, just going by what I saw when trying to sign on.
At least I did get here, so I'm happy.

I've been trying to find the screen you are showing, but no luck.
Can you please direct me to it so I can check?
I bet that is the switch that needs flipped.

Thank You.

Hi Edward, sorry for the necro post.

For me, I've resorted to stopping the sequence in NINA, then going to my Gemini virtual hand control on screen.
I initiate a Park at Counterweight Down. Then re-begin the sequence in NINA. That usually results in NINA Slewing to the target, but on the other side of the meridian.

Alternately, I can initiate a meridian flip with the Func button on the virtual hand controller. (third item down on the Func button.)

My mount is running the Gemini II version 5.12 I believe.

Where this fails me is if I am before the post meridian by some degree. (Sorry, I'm not well enough versed to now the degrees or technical terms.)

Anyway, that is how I have managed to manually force a flip. (And of course, be awake as well.)

On Wed, Feb 14, 2024 at 02:09 PM, Sonny Edmonds wrote:

I've discovered I'm not a member of any group except for the Gemini II group, which I find odd.

Sonny, you were never a member of Gemini-II users group, at least not under the same login you're using here (this is the Gemini user group, primarily focused on Gemini-1). You may want to join that group if you're using Gemini-2, you'll find more about that controller there.

One thing you may want to try is to set the ASCOM driver setting to use goto to flip the mount:

Regards,

? ?-Paul

Thank You Edward!
I've discovered I'm not a member of any group except for the Gemini II group, which I find odd.
So maybe that explains why this lost lamb is bleating in the wrong pasture. Maybe I got dropped for lack of posting? I don't know.
I'm just thrilled to have gotten your reply to my post.

As recommended, I have set my Limits to my particular equipment.
Western Safety limit: 101.4 (Yours was 101.3 if I remember correctly)
Eastern Safety Limit: 99.26 (I don't recall yours.)
These are set to avoid crashes, per recommendations in my Gemini II hand controller, and saved as my default.

I did use most of Cuiv the lazy Geeks you tube tutorials to set up my NINA in my mount computer.
Even though many of the tutorials refer to older versions of NINA releases. My currant version is 2.3.2.9001, I picked and did my best to apply the knowledge imparted there.

At one point I ferreted out where another user posted his limit settings. I tried them out of desperation and Glory Be, they worked for my GM811G HD. I was ecstatic.
I was waking to a parked mount with a date file full of all my images from my 8 filters....
Then, Windows shoved an Update into my computer and basically shot holes through my drivers that weren't Windows issued/approved.
I had to completely redo my laptop for my mount and have restored everything to working order EXCEPT?NINA's Automated Meridian Flip. So frustrating!

So that is what I've been trying to do for months and months now, but I'm missing something.
And I can't find the post that had the settings that worked, for a few folks.
And I have yet to hit on what I'm doing wrong, or have set wrong.

Sonny, did you find the spreadsheet in the Losmandy group that i uploaded to go with the presentation? ?It lists the other parameters you might need to set.

does a MF happen when you goto a target from gemini controller when you are on the “wrong” side of meridian (no NINA)

My gear is in storage so i have not tested with the most recent NINA. I last ran imaging at end of Nov23.

I'm fighting with NINA and Meridian flips again. I'm posting in hopes that someone might be able to help me out.
At one point I copied in a fellow Gemini II members settings and POOF! Everything was working great! I could finally pick an object and my GM811G HD would follow NINA controlling it and run all night collecting images.
Windows did one of its infamous updates and broke my drivers and other Non-Windoze programs (Which is about every Astro App there is.), by the time I got my laptop fixed, I could no longer do meridian flips. Long story short.

So I've been trying and trying to fix this again... for months now. I'm really close, really close.
I've gone through over and over. I have my limits set to MY equipment's settings, which happen to be very close to Edward's. (We both happen to be running 5" refractor telescopes as well.)
I've spent days now doing test Meridian Flip runs with NINA. Picking an object near the Meridian, loading it into a test target set in NINA's sequencer I've dumbed down to run in Daylight, so it isn't trying to plate solve or do other automatic operations involving my cameras. (They're capped)

It goes into a normal Automated Meridian flip, walks through the steps, even ends out like normal. Then continues the sequence.
Trouble is: The Mount never does the flip. It just sits there until it limits out. Which was the old problem, until... I started using the limit setting I found here. Which I cannot find again. About all I can recall was the posters name was David, I think. But he had posted the limit settings he found that worked.
So I've been trying to duplicate the past successes. Without any success.

I've run the ASCOM diagnostics. I've downloaded the latest driver for Gemini (1.1.23)

One other "clue" When the Automatic Merian Flip fails, if I stop NINA's sequencer, Use the Gemini virtual controller to Park the mount at CWD, then restart the sequence in NINA, it comes up from the Eastward side and will continue the sequence until it is completed.

On Wed, Jan 24, 2024 at 02:31 PM, Noxinox wrote:

I have same question and struggle with my gemini.
Which value should i need to add in western goto limit on Gemini I ??

/g/Gemini_ASCOM_Driver/message/5389