Firecapture autoguide with Gemini 1 ?
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Firecapture autoguider works just fine with Gemini-1.? You must of course have a working serial cable, ASCOM, and Gemini.net applet working.? PHD2 does not care of any orientation of the autoguide camera, but FireCapture does care. So, here is what you must do: 1. Rotate the planetary video camera so that the mount RA axis moving East West only moves the camera image left-right.? It need not be perfectly lined up but as good as you eyeball it.? ?Just use your hand controller and watch the planet motion ...should be left to right when you press East -West diamond buttons.? 2. In FireCapture, you must go to settings, and turn on the autoguide feature.? This should then have you select the mount, and you'll pick ASCOM and Gemini.net.? that will launch the Gemini.net applet.? You then set that to G (guide mode) [not C for Center mode or S for Slew mode] . 3. You must select a point in the planet...or perhaps it aitosejects the center of mass if the whole planet is in the frame.? I don't recall exactly!?? 4. You may find that FireCapture gets the E-W horizontal or N-S vertical guide dire tions wrong.? In FC there is in the Settings for Autoguide check iced to reverse the E-W and N-S directions.? You may have to get those checked or unchecked until the autoguiding works. 5. Practice using a star. Best of luck, Michael On Fri, Jul 2, 2021, 4:26 AM David Pitre <farmerpitre@...> wrote: I have a G11 with Gemini 1. Does anyone have any experience using Firecapture to autoguide on planets? Is this possible? Anything else needed? |
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Hi David, You have 2 options... here is how to use either way.? Most people use the "pulse guide" method by not using the RJ11 cable at all (option 2 below).? 1. Use a cable that came with your ASI camera to connect the RJ11 autoguider input port on the Gemini-1 to the RJ11 autoguider output port on the ASI camera.? If you choose to use this cable, then (in PHD2) you select the camera as "ASI" and select the mount type as "on camera" meaning on the autoguide camera.? ? 2.? Do not use this cable at all.??If you choose to use no cable, then (in PHD2) you select the camera as "ASI" and select the mount type as "ASCOM" and this will pop up.the mount "chooser" and you select the mount as "Gemini.net".? This option seems to me to work equally well as the wired option....with one fewer cable to worry about snagging.?? _______ In both cases you will need a special narrow 4 pin phone jack to get your laptop PC to talk to the Serial Port (marked "RS232" on the Gemini-1) to your laptop.?? For this purpose I make up a coiled serial port cable...has a 9-pin DB-9 connector to this special 4 pin phone jack for the Gemini-1.?? That cable plugs into a reliable ATEN UC232A USB to serial port device. The ATEN unit appears in your laptop as a Serial Port, and the ASCOM Gemini.net will usually automatically find the already powered on Gemini-1 from the serial port response.? See photo of this cable.?? If you choose to make your own cable, the Gemini-1 manual, attached, gives specs on these serial and autoguider? connections.?? See the attached PDF also for a step by step How-To.?? Have fun, Michael On Wed, Jul 7, 2021, 8:06 PM David Pitre <farmerpitre@...> wrote: So I¡¯m confused on the type of cable. (I have a USB3 cable from my ASI 174 to my laptop) The Gemini 1 controller has a RJ11 port for Autoguide. Do I need an RJ11 to usb to go from that port to my laptop?? |
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I must question my own statement.... "In both cases you will need a special narrow 4 pin phone jack to get your laptop PC to talk to the Serial Port (marked "RS232" on the Gemini-1) to your laptop.? " Maybe you only need the Serial port cable if you choose not to use the RJ11 cable.? ? I always use the Serial port connection and ASCOM and Gemini.net.? I've never tried autoguiding without that already in place.?? Have fun, Michael On Thu, Jul 8, 2021, 3:49 AM Michael Herman via <mherman346=[email protected]> wrote:
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Michael Herman