Moderated
Re: First clear night to try out my new G11T, I hope!
Wow.? Great setup.? I'm not used to seeing a Titan RA axis.??
A few things to?consider:
Be sure your knobs holding the tripod sections in place are quite tight.? My C14's weight was slowly collapsing one leg, though I was sure it was tight... and if I had not caught it...yikes.??
You are in a grassy area.? Be sure your tipod feet are on solid?ground, like large flagstones.??
If using an EdgeHD be aware the back focus is ideally 5.75 inches past the rear lens.? There is not much room for a filter wheel or ADC optic.? If you try to extend your camera focal plane out past that, you can end up with a coma problem.? The normal SCTs don't have this particular focal plane issue.? But (Newtonians with) a Baader MPC also have the similar back focus constraint (that one is 55mm).? ?The penalties of "coma free" can come at a price.??
(Where are you located? You hinted at Utah, but....)
Have fun!
Michael
I am all set up and ready to go. For the last week, fires in California and Utah have made seeing anything an exercise in futility.?
Today, the skies have been blue, instead of brown, and the clouds are supposed to be few and far between. If seeing is decent
I hope to get some videos of Jupiter and Saturn. I made two attempts last week and weekend, but even stars directly overhead
were dim. Jupiter looked more like a giant Mars, with huge dust storms. I am hoping tonight will be great viewing and videoing.
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Moderated
Re: First clear night to try out my new G11T, I hope!
Good luck Jeff!
that is a monster scope, hope it goes well
I am all set up and ready to go. For the last week, fires in California and Utah have made seeing anything an exercise in futility.?
Today, the skies have been blue, instead of brown, and the clouds are supposed to be few and far between. If seeing is decent
I hope to get some videos of Jupiter and Saturn. I made two attempts last week and weekend, but even stars directly overhead
were dim. Jupiter looked more like a giant Mars, with huge dust storms. I am hoping tonight will be great viewing and videoing.
-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Moderated
First clear night to try out my new G11T, I hope!
I am all set up and ready to go. For the last week, fires in California and Utah have made seeing anything an exercise in futility.?
Today, the skies have been blue, instead of brown, and the clouds are supposed to be few and far between. If seeing is decent
I hope to get some videos of Jupiter and Saturn. I made two attempts last week and weekend, but even stars directly overhead
were dim. Jupiter looked more like a giant Mars, with huge dust storms. I am hoping tonight will be great viewing and videoing.
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worm turn with MUCH difficulty
I recently took my G11 out of storage after a few years of moving around. I found that the connector at the RA stepping motor was broken and decided to upgrade to a Gemini 2 goto servo system. After removing the motors, I am finding both worms do not turn freely but with very much difficulty. Before installing new servos, should some maintenance be preformed. My thoughts are it has sat too long without use. I was considering the service from Losmandy but it may take a while with the amount of back orders.
Any suggestions would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Tom
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Thanks Paul. Clarified the question.
Luis
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Hi Luis,
You can't use Gemini power for your ST-8XE. The camera requires a number of voltages that are not available at the Gemini power connector, such as +12v and -12v, as well as +5v and a ground. Gemini only supplies +12 and ground.
Regards,
? ? -Paul
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On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 06:52 PM, Luis Barneo wrote:
No. My question is not about autoguider connections, is about the electrical power supply. The box has two power connections. One "in", for electrical power supply of 12 V to the box. Next to it there is the "out" connection to supply power to devices. ST-8XE connect through a cable din 5 pins. The true question is if a male cable din 4 pin can fit in a female din? of 5 pins.
Luis
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No. My question is not about autoguider connections, is about the electrical power supply. The box has two power connections. One "in", for electrical power supply of 12 V to the box. Next to it there is the "out" connection to supply power to devices. ST-8XE connect through a cable din 5 pins. The true question is if a male cable din 4 pin can fit in a female din? of 5 pins.
Luis
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Re: Gear lash adjustments on my G11t
I have certainly had mounts with far more play than what I have now on my C11T. I have only recently gotten into autoguiding. Since I have been using my SCT¡¯s with long focal length, even with a reducer, any
kind of wind, vibration, or mount instability, has a big impact of guiding. I even try to keep positive thoughts in my head just in case that could mess with my round stars. I appreciate your feedback, Henk. I really?
know how well my mount performs, for photography, until the moon goes away, the fires in the western United States die down, and I get a chance to go to my favorite dark site. Have a great week, Henk.
Jeff
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The guider port has six pins, Pin 1 isn¡¯t connected, Pin 2 is common. ? I assume you want to connect the camera as a guide camera?? In which case the guider port is the one you want to use. ? Be aware of the warnings in the manual (section 8.6) about the voltage level differences between the early G1 (with RJ45 motor ports) and the later ones with DIN motor ports. ? David
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From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Luis Barneo
Sent: 26 August 2020 20:59
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Losmandy_users_io] cable din 4 pin ? Is it possible to connect SBIG ST-8XE? directly to outside port of the box? Gemini 1 throuht a cable din 4 pin or 5 pin? The inside power of the camera has 5 pins, the outside port of the Gemini has 4 pins.
Luis
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Is it possible to connect SBIG ST-8XE? directly to outside port of the box? Gemini 1 throuht a cable din 4 pin or 5 pin? The inside power of the camera has 5 pins, the outside port of the Gemini has 4 pins.
Luis
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Re: simple servo motor control
JoAnn,
Hi. There is a nice video on using Arduino to control a dc motor+encoder. Since you don't need acceleration and position control all you need is to control speed that makes it pretty simple to do.
To use your existing you'd need to couple the Arduino with a motor driver board as shown in the video, which is pretty cheap on Ebay. Add software and a case.
There are Arduino libraries for speed/position control and multiple project pages such as:
I've worked with encoders but purely to build a tester for them using the (leading or trailing edge) Capture function of raw PICs (I don't Arduino myself being old fashioned). A lot of my friends with other brand mounts have had motor/encoder problems I got tired ad hoc testing of them. So I built a test rig. Gave me an excuse to work with encoders.
I suspect the Arduino community is probably a better place to ask than this gang, by the way. Google is your friend. That is how I found these two links.
I do have a couple of the older Hurst unipolar (not what I think you want) steppers used in the old 492 Digital Drive (non-goto). But then you'd have to rip out your existing motor and gearbox. You're idea of using the Arduino (with a motor driver circuit? - cheap on Ebay, see the video and project pages), keeping your existing motor and gearbox, is the smart way to go if you can deal with the code.
Regards,
Mark Christensen
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Re: simple servo motor control
update: I have found an original stepper motor from a group member. Thanks!?
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Hi Ron.??
I think you have the concepts.??
Another useful thing is: you can work on testing this in the daytime.??
Keep your scope and finder scopes optics fronts covered up so the sunlight won't overheat anything and you won't by accident get blinded.? Then just do your GoTos pointing at the sun, as if you were doing solar imaging.
Then you can practice Park and Unpark to your heart's content, while you are not operating in the dark!
Once you confirm you can Park at horizontal, and successfully unpark and repoint at the sun, you should be?good to go for nighttime operation.? ?
I think you can set your preferred Park at Custom orientation, set that as horizontal, and using Gemini.net you can always just park there.? (I just have never tried this myself.)
Very best, Michael
Hi Michael
This is exactly the flow I thought that I needed to take
thanks so much for confirming:
Power up first then
power up Gemini2 in horizontal parked position , Unpark , goto, align (or synch ?)? on hand control, then repeat addition same obj goto align ( or synch ? ) on Gemini.net
but unfortunately this is the reason I posted the question because Its not yet worked out for me
but now I know that its gotta be operator error? ... working on it
Thanks again
Ron
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Re: No meridian flip while tracking?
I am getting reliable meridian flips with my Titan and Gemini 2.? I use Maxim DL, but with ACP.? ACP is controlling the flip in my case.? I have never tried imaging with Maxim stand alone, so can't help you there.
Michel
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Hi Michael
This is exactly the flow I thought that I needed to take
thanks so much for confirming:
Power up gemini.net first then
power up Gemini2 in horizontal parked position , Unpark , goto, align (or synch ?)? on hand control, then repeat addition same obj goto align ( or synch ? ) on Gemini.net
but unfortunately this is the reason I posted the question because Its not yet worked out for me
but now I know that its gotta be operator error? ... working on it
Thanks again
Ron
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Hi Ron
For DSO targets like you showed (and wow, that is a demanding focal length) it would be easier than that:
- cold start from CWD each night - press "start sequence" from SGP - go to bed :)
i simplified that a bit, but basically that's what I do each night.
You just start and end each night from CWD position (SGP will park it in CWD position when it's done imaging)
you cold start because you do not need to build a model, plate solving handles everything for you
When I first heard about this, it sounded like magic, but it turns out it works, and it IS kinda magical :) there are many others here who work similarly with SGP, NINA, and other similar packages
Brian
Ah yes Now Im Starting to understand the utility of SGP and NINA which I have not seriously imaged with as ?SharpCap is so easy, hard to stop Yes, my setup is fixed ? So are you saying that from my horizontal Home Position, ?I could power on Gemini2, then using SGP can do a direct goto by plate solve? ? Ron ? Hi Ron Yes, unless (or until?) you move to more sophisticated DSO type software (think sequence generator pro, NINA, etc.) plate solve probably won't help you with your gotos Are you tearing down and setting up every night, or do you have a fixed setup you just start up each night? ? HI Brian ? That doesn¡¯t sound very easy ? Hutech IDAS LPF Imaging live stacking via SharpCapPro Ive not yet seen the utility of plate solving ¡ Im waiting for such insight from my gurus ? Prime focus 10 inch Orion RC 2000mm fl f/8? ASI 1600mm Guide 80mm 400mm fl ?f/5? ASI 533mc Only ?53 lb counterweight ? PEMPRO, PHD2 ? heres a recent result , no flats, no darks, slight out of collimation but stars are roundish ?( just hate the bloat with sharpening) 100sec x 81 frames ? ? Thanks again for your insight and suggestions Ron ? ? ? ? Can you describe your imaging setup?? The easiest to do is cold start and plate solve every night. It depends on your setup.? ? Wow guys thanks so much for your attention ? ?so again i¡¯m using a Gemini 2 my goal is to keep the model And go directly to the target In Easiest Manner with as less start up procedures possible ? ?I was hoping to turn on from the parked horizontal position, do a go to from the park position , align, and go to Target In other words all beginning initially? from the park position - impossible? ? Want to easily get back to re-imaging the same object the night before and since I moved to park would presume all I Gotta do is turn on and go back to the target ? ? ? ?so you¡¯re telling me I have two options: ? ? ? ?1).? park @ CWD, Turn off Gemini,?? then move the scope manually to the horizontal position so I can close the roof Then to Awaken I would Firstmanually move to CWD and then turn on Gemini , warm restart,? go to and sink on first target ? 2 ). hand control command move the scope the Home position (which is horizontal )turn her off close the roof.? Then to awaken first? manually position to CWD then power up Gemini Warm restart go to sync ? All of this seems so tedious - the model is there !? ? I suppose even after parking Yet leaving power on then unpark I still have to do a CWD warm restart and then go to align? ? What about the sleep mode? ? ?I can¡¯t just turn her on and go directly to the target rather than beginning always at CWD? ? Ron ? ? ? ?
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-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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Ah yes Now Im Starting to understand the utility of SGP and NINA which I have not seriously imaged with as ?SharpCap is so easy, hard to stop Yes, my setup is fixed ? So are you saying that from my horizontal Home Position, ?I could power on Gemini2, then using SGP can do a direct goto by plate solve? ? Ron
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From: Brian ValenteSent: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 7:30 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Restarting Gemini2 ? Hi Ron Yes, unless (or until?) you move to more sophisticated DSO type software (think sequence generator pro, NINA, etc.) plate solve probably won't help you with your gotos Are you tearing down and setting up every night, or do you have a fixed setup you just start up each night? ? HI Brian ? That doesn¡¯t sound very easy ? Hutech IDAS LPF Imaging live stacking via SharpCapPro Ive not yet seen the utility of plate solving ¡ Im waiting for such insight from my gurus ? Prime focus 10 inch Orion RC 2000mm fl f/8? ASI 1600mm Guide 80mm 400mm fl ?f/5? ASI 533mc Only ?53 lb counterweight ? PEMPRO, PHD2 ? heres a recent result , no flats, no darks, slight out of collimation but stars are roundish ?( just hate the bloat with sharpening) 100sec x 81 frames ? ? Thanks again for your insight and suggestions Ron ? ? ? ? Can you describe your imaging setup?? The easiest to do is cold start and plate solve every night. It depends on your setup.? ? Wow guys thanks so much for your attention ? ?so again i¡¯m using a Gemini 2 my goal is to keep the model And go directly to the target In Easiest Manner with as less start up procedures possible ? ?I was hoping to turn on from the parked horizontal position, do a go to from the park position , align, and go to Target In other words all beginning initially? from the park position - impossible? ? Want to easily get back to re-imaging the same object the night before and since I moved to park would presume all I Gotta do is turn on and go back to the target ? ? ? ?so you¡¯re telling me I have two options: ? ? ? ?1).? park @ CWD, Turn off Gemini,?? then move the scope manually to the horizontal position so I can close the roof Then to Awaken I would Firstmanually move to CWD and then turn on Gemini , warm restart,? go to and sink on first target ? 2 ). hand control command move the scope the Home position (which is horizontal )turn her off close the roof.? Then to awaken first? manually position to CWD then power up Gemini Warm restart go to sync ? All of this seems so tedious - the model is there !? ? I suppose even after parking Yet leaving power on then unpark I still have to do a CWD warm restart and then go to align? ? What about the sleep mode? ? ?I can¡¯t just turn her on and go directly to the target rather than beginning always at CWD? ? Ron ? ? ? ?
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Hi Ron
Yes, unless (or until?) you move to more sophisticated DSO type software (think sequence generator pro, NINA, etc.) plate solve probably won't help you with your gotos
Are you tearing down and setting up every night, or do you have a fixed setup you just start up each night?
HI Brian ? That doesn¡¯t sound very easy ? Hutech IDAS LPF Imaging live stacking via SharpCapPro Ive not yet seen the utility of plate solving ¡ Im waiting for such insight from my gurus ? Prime focus 10 inch Orion RC 2000mm fl f/8? ASI 1600mm Guide 80mm 400mm fl ?f/5? ASI 533mc Only ?53 lb counterweight ? PEMPRO, PHD2 ? heres a recent result , no flats, no darks, slight out of collimation but stars are roundish ?( just hate the bloat with sharpening) 100sec x 81 frames ? ? Thanks again for your insight and suggestions Ron ? ? ? ? Can you describe your imaging setup?? The easiest to do is cold start and plate solve every night. It depends on your setup.? ? Wow guys thanks so much for your attention ? ?so again i¡¯m using a Gemini 2 my goal is to keep the model And go directly to the target In Easiest Manner with as less start up procedures possible ? ?I was hoping to turn on from the parked horizontal position, do a go to from the park position , align, and go to Target In other words all beginning initially? from the park position - impossible? ? Want to easily get back to re-imaging the same object the night before and since I moved to park would presume all I Gotta do is turn on and go back to the target ? ? ? ?so you¡¯re telling me I have two options: ? ? ? ?1).? park @ CWD, Turn off Gemini,?? then move the scope manually to the horizontal position so I can close the roof Then to Awaken I would Firstmanually move to CWD and then turn on Gemini , warm restart,? go to and sink on first target ? 2 ). hand control command move the scope the Home position (which is horizontal )turn her off close the roof.? Then to awaken first? manually position to CWD then power up Gemini Warm restart go to sync ? All of this seems so tedious - the model is there !? ? I suppose even after parking Yet leaving power on then unpark I still have to do a CWD warm restart and then go to align? ? What about the sleep mode? ? ?I can¡¯t just turn her on and go directly to the target rather than beginning always at CWD? ? Ron ? ? ? ?
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-- Brian?
Brian Valente portfolio
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HI Brian ? That doesn¡¯t sound very easy ? Hutech IDAS LPF Imaging live stacking via SharpCapPro Ive not yet seen the utility of plate solving ¡ Im waiting for such insight from my gurus ? Prime focus 10 inch Orion RC 2000mm fl f/8? ASI 1600mm Guide 80mm 400mm fl ?f/5? ASI 533mc Only ?53 lb counterweight ? PEMPRO, PHD2 ? heres a recent result , no flats, no darks, slight out of collimation but stars are roundish ?( just hate the bloat with sharpening) 100sec x 81 frames ? ? Thanks again for your insight and suggestions Ron ? ? ?
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From: Brian ValenteSent: Tuesday, August 25, 2020 6:36 PM To: [email protected]Subject: Re: [Losmandy_users_io] Restarting Gemini2 ? Can you describe your imaging setup?? The easiest to do is cold start and plate solve every night. It depends on your setup.? ? Wow guys thanks so much for your attention ? ?so again i¡¯m using a Gemini 2 my goal is to keep the model And go directly to the target In Easiest Manner with as less start up procedures possible ? ?I was hoping to turn on from the parked horizontal position, do a go to from the park position , align, and go to Target In other words all beginning initially? from the park position - impossible? ? Want to easily get back to re-imaging the same object the night before and since I moved to park would presume all I Gotta do is turn on and go back to the target ? ? ? ?so you¡¯re telling me I have two options: ? ? ? ?1).? park @ CWD, Turn off Gemini,?? then move the scope manually to the horizontal position so I can close the roof Then to Awaken I would Firstmanually move to CWD and then turn on Gemini , warm restart,? go to and sink on first target ? 2 ). hand control command move the scope the Home position (which is horizontal )turn her off close the roof.? Then to awaken first? manually position to CWD then power up Gemini Warm restart go to sync ? All of this seems so tedious - the model is there !? ? I suppose even after parking Yet leaving power on then unpark I still have to do a CWD warm restart and then go to align? ? What about the sleep mode? ? ?I can¡¯t just turn her on and go directly to the target rather than beginning always at CWD? ? Ron ? ? ? ?
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Hi Ron,
Of your options, #1 will surely work...but not what you want ideally.
Your #2 option is wrong...here's how you should be doing that:?
Do start at CWD from Cold Bout and align, build your model etc.?
When you go to Park the mount:
Do: slew to the horizontal.??
Do not?: turn off Gemini after you slew to the horizontal position.??
You must tell Gemini: Park.? Then select:? Park at Current Position.?? Then...turn off the power.
When you reboot Gemini, use Warm Boot and skip any alignment. It already should remember it's alignment from the Warm Boot information.
Try that....it should?work for you!
Also if you have Gemini.net on your PC there is a drop down selection for Park at Current Position.? ?That is a nice way to do it!
Let us know!!!
Best, Michael
Wow guys thanks so much for your attention
?so again i¡¯m using a Gemini 2 my goal is to keep the model And go directly to the target In Easiest Manner with as less start up procedures possible
?I was hoping to turn on from the parked horizontal position, do a go to from the park position , align, and go to Target In other words all beginning initially? from the park position - impossible?
Want to easily get back to re-imaging the same object the night before and since I moved to park would presume all I Gotta do is turn on and go back to the target
?
?so you¡¯re telling me I have two options:
?
?1).? park @ CWD, Turn off Gemini,?? then move the scope manually to the horizontal position so I can close the roof Then to Awaken I would Firstmanually move to CWD and then turn on Gemini , warm restart,? go to and sink on first target
2 ). hand control command move the scope the Home position (which is horizontal )turn her off close the roof.? Then to awaken first? manually position to CWD then power up Gemini Warm restart go to sync
All of this seems so tedious - the model is there !?
I suppose even after parking Yet leaving power on then unpark I still have to do a CWD warm restart and then go to align?
What about the sleep mode?
?I can¡¯t just turn her on and go directly to the target rather than beginning always at CWD?
Ron
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Michael Herman
jeff marston
Luis Barneo
Paul Kanevsky
David C. Partridge
Ron