I had never tried the Object Search feature in Gemini I but decided to give it a try a few days ago. ?This is the feature where the mount should pan within a specified FOV to locate an object you think is nearby. ?However, when trying it (albeit indoors), the mount never really moved that I could see. ?If I put my ear up to the motors, I could hear them doing something different than sidereal tracking, but no obvious motion. ?It was almost like it was panning using something like guiding rate.

Have others gotten this to work? ?Is there some setting I need to adjust to change the panning speed?

Hi Bill, it should be moving faster than at guiding speed, but it depends on what FOV you select when invoking the function. This is from the manual:

Yes, I’ve read the manual. ?I picked the largest FOV available (2° ??) and let it run for a couple of minutes. ?Absolutely no change in the RA or Dec that I could see. ?Yet you could hear the motors were doing something different until I cancelled.

On Wed, Dec 13, 2023 at 04:09 PM, Bill Tschumy wrote:

Yes, I’ve read the manual. ?I picked the largest FOV available (2° ??) and let it run for a couple of minutes. ?Absolutely no change in the RA or Dec that I could see. ?Yet you could hear the motors were doing something different until I cancelled.

Strange, unless you have the center rate set too low? I don't have access to Gemini-1 to test right now, but I recall that function working as advertised when I did use it.

If you select the HC select “display Ra\Dec” it will display current ….. if you had selected “search FOV”.?

I guess it’ll show the changing values.?

Or connect Gemini ASCOM then do??“FOV search”. ? Again?it displays current Ra/DEC, ?which will change in value as the axes moves ?

I mean 2 degrees isn’t much movement for eyeball mk1 to see?

cheers

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Brendan

I’ve never used the function before, and I use G2 also so, take my comments with some salt attached. The mount moving at center speed is quite hard to see so, not seeing it move is no indication that it isn’t moving, especially considering you say the motors sound differently, implying they’re moving.

My suggestion would be to try this at night, under the stars to see if it actually moves. Alternatively, if stars are not in your near future, try it in daylight with the scope pointed at a target (a distant tree or tower perhaps), be it with a camera or eyepiece, activate the function and see if it moves.?

Again, I don’t know G1 but, with G2 you can see the coordinates where the scope is pointing. Those should be static if the mount is tracking but should change as the search is happening. Maybe that’s another option?

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Bill,

I will try it at night but I’m a bit skeptical of this. ?I watched the RA and Dec setting circles quite carefully for the couple of minutes it was running. ?They didn’t move with respect to the marker lines at all. ?If it was moving over a two degree range, this should have been noticeable.

If the mount responses to Ra and Dec button presses and slews!?

It’ll work!

As FOV search is just micro movements commanding function. ? The mount is more than capable of performing at slew or around .128arc sec positional Resolution in Quadrature.?
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Brendan

So I just got it to work during the day. I saw definite movement on the Dec axis as it was searching the 2? field.

But here's the strange thing. ?When I first powered the mount up it gave a long beep. ?I powered off and back on again and did a cold start without problems. ?I tried using the hand controller to slew somewhere other than the pole to test again and found I couldn't slew with the HC. ?I pushed the correct buttons and nothing happened. ?I checked the slew rate to make sure it hadn't got reset to something strange. ?It was still at 800. ?I powered off and on again and still had the same problem. ?Checked the cables by unplugging and replugging them in. ?Same problem.

Finally I moved the mount by doing Alignment > Goto Bright Star followed by a Synchronize. ?Now the slew buttons on the HC started working.

That is when I did the Object Search test and saw movement. ?So now I'm wondering if the mount was in some strange state when I did the test before. ?I think I previously slewed away from the pole for the test, but I can't be 100% sure. ?I did just try the test without moving from CWD and still saw the movement.

So all I can guess is my mount was in some strange state the first time I tried this. ?Weird.

Bill

Beep is either:
*Autoguider error aa in an Ra +/- signal at the same time?

*A motor was not connected properly and encoder signals were missing?

* A motor stall, or Mount at limit! (The system may think it’s limit when it’s not so re-boot CWD to fix), or

* The usual Boot problems SRAM, power etc

My guess was motor cable or stall but it should give a HC error indication. ? So I’m back to the system thought it was at axes limit for some reason. ?A ?Reboot CWD fixed this and allowed HC presses.?

Time to put it under the stars and put it to use?

cheers?


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Brendan

Brendan's and Paul Kanevsky's recent replies echo my experience and what I think I know about Object Search.? When you're looking through an eye piece, the mount's movement is easy to see.? As I understand it, during an Object Search the mount moves at Centering speed (which can be changed in Mount Parameters, Moving Speeds).

I find Object Search to be a useful tool for visual.