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Does G2 L6 Improve Slewing Accuracy?

 

I have a Losmandy Titan mount, and many months ago I upgraded to L6..... flashed the circuit board/HC with the GFU, and flashed the servo ports with the cable/software.
?
I exclusively use the mount for astrophotography, and only did the upgrade for improving guiding/tracking.? My overall guide error went from typically in the 0.80 - 0.90's", to the 0.50's".? This was a home run.
?
What I also noticed was that my plate solving greatly improved also, and I? noticed that the plotting of calibration step points on the RA/DEC axes during PHD2 calibration, appeared much more accurate.? With several calibration runs, all the step points were on the axes.... that did not used to be the case.
?
My astronomy club has the same mount.? The club only uses the mount for observing..... no astrophotography, and no autoguiding/tracking performed.
?
The slewing accuracy can be fairly spotty.... not consistent, and I've played around with modeling and doing an align/synchronize in various parts of the sky.
?
I looked at the Losmandy page that provides an overview of L6, and it only discusses improvement in guiding/tracking accuracy, which is the aspect that most of us want.
?
With the improvement in encoder resolution with L6, I'm wondering if slewing accuracy of my astro club's Titan mount would be improved if I upgraded to L6?? It seems as though improving encoder resolution would improve the precision/accuracy of any movement of the mount.
?
If you think L6 would improve slewing accuracy, I'm going to go ahead and upgrade the club's mount.
?
Thanks in advance.
?
Dan? ??
 

Hi Dan,
?
L6 not only improved (by 4x) the encoder accuracy, it changed the servo motor control logic, which can help with slews, tracking and guiding. I wouldn't expect the upgrade to make a major difference in pointing accuracy. If there are pointing issues with L5, it's more likely that there are some other issues with the mount or the scope (backlash, flexure, mirror flop, imbalance, polar alignment, time/geo location settings, poor model, etc.)
?
Regardless, an upgrade to L6 should only improve? or, at worst, not change mount accuracy. In my opinion, the upgrade is still worth doing, although I wouldn't expect a major change in pointing.
?
Regards,
?
? ?-Paul
?
On Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 08:26 AM, <dkfcpalfd@...> wrote:

I have a Losmandy Titan mount, and many months ago I upgraded to L6..... flashed the circuit board/HC with the GFU, and flashed the servo ports with the cable/software.
?
I exclusively use the mount for astrophotography, and only did the upgrade for improving guiding/tracking.? My overall guide error went from typically in the 0.80 - 0.90's", to the 0.50's".? This was a home run.
?
What I also noticed was that my plate solving greatly improved also, and I? noticed that the plotting of calibration step points on the RA/DEC axes during PHD2 calibration, appeared much more accurate.? With several calibration runs, all the step points were on the axes.... that did not used to be the case.
?
My astronomy club has the same mount.? The club only uses the mount for observing..... no astrophotography, and no autoguiding/tracking performed.
?
The slewing accuracy can be fairly spotty.... not consistent, and I've played around with modeling and doing an align/synchronize in various parts of the sky.
?
I looked at the Losmandy page that provides an overview of L6, and it only discusses improvement in guiding/tracking accuracy, which is the aspect that most of us want.
?
With the improvement in encoder resolution with L6, I'm wondering if slewing accuracy of my astro club's Titan mount would be improved if I upgraded to L6?? It seems as though improving encoder resolution would improve the precision/accuracy of any movement of the mount.
?
If you think L6 would improve slewing accuracy, I'm going to go ahead and upgrade the club's mount.
?
Thanks in advance.
?
Dan? ??
 

On Mon, Sep 23, 2024 at 05:26 AM, <dkfcpalfd@...> wrote:
I have a Losmandy Titan mount, and many months ago I upgraded to L6..... flashed the circuit board/HC with the GFU, and flashed the servo ports with the cable/software.
?
I exclusively use the mount for astrophotography, and only did the upgrade for improving guiding/tracking.? My overall guide error went from typically in the 0.80 - 0.90's", to the 0.50's".? This was a home run.
?
What I also noticed was that my plate solving greatly improved also, and I? noticed that the plotting of calibration step points on the RA/DEC axes during PHD2 calibration, appeared much more accurate.? With several calibration runs, all the step points were on the axes.... that did not used to be the case.
?
My astronomy club has the same mount.? The club only uses the mount for observing..... no astrophotography, and no autoguiding/tracking performed.
?
The slewing accuracy can be fairly spotty.... not consistent, and I've played around with modeling and doing an align/synchronize in various parts of the sky.
?
I looked at the Losmandy page that provides an overview of L6, and it only discusses improvement in guiding/tracking accuracy, which is the aspect that most of us want.
?
With the improvement in encoder resolution with L6, I'm wondering if slewing accuracy of my astro club's Titan mount would be improved if I upgraded to L6?? It seems as though improving encoder resolution would improve the precision/accuracy of any movement of the mount.
?
If you think L6 would improve slewing accuracy, I'm going to go ahead and upgrade the club's mount.
?
Thanks in advance.
?
Dan? ??
Hi Dan,
?
The L6 firmware IMO makes.little difference for a visual user. But it is well worth the effort to do so as to ensure future compatibility with popular software and future usage.?
?
Assuming the club mount is in good condition mechanically and the mount specs, GPS coordinates and UTC are all set correctly the most likely issue for poor initial GOTO performance is polar alignment and the lack of a good sky model. These mounts are basically foolproof LOL but you have to understand how to set the stage for a successful frustration free night of observation.?
?
I don't know how the club PAs the scope but this is the first thing to do, get it right and initial GOTOs will be close as long as you have wiped the model corrections out by cold starting or manually deleting them.?
?
The other possible issue is misalignment between the optical axis and the mount axes. If the error is off by the same amount on either side of the meridian chances are good this is at least some part of the problem.?
?
HTH
?
--

Chip Louie Chief Daydreamer Imagination Hardware?

Astrospheric Forecast - South Pasadena, CA?
 

I haven't noticed much improvement in guiding. In theory it should, but my local seeing conditions might not allow me to take advantage any improvements the upgrade made. What I noticed rather immediately was that slews and plate solves were incredibly more accurate. From a warm start in the observatory, initial gotos to bright stars I use to check focusing before an imaging session lands the star in the central portion of the camera every time. This had not been the case before. The next part of my process is to go to an object in Cartes du Ciel before I begin framing in NINA. The DSO is always in the center of the fov, though not exactly the frame I want. This, to me, is incredible. It isn't a game changer, but it was a welcome improvement and well worth the small effort to update.?
?
George

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