I’m using SGP 2.6.0.24 Beta with PHD2 2.6.4dev1 for imaging, while EQMod 1.28s controls my Avalon M-Uno mount. The mount has an NEQ6 Pro control board in it, so for all intents and purposes, it is an EQ6 mount.
A month ago, a storm damaged some equipment at the observatory, and that included my mount unfortunately. I had to replace the EQ6 control board in it and it was working again. I also replaced the Serial-USB cable with another from Pierro Astro, just in case. The mount was working again and after tweaking EQMod 1.28s settings, it appears to be working well with plate solving and such. The issue is it randomly disconnects from SGP… PHD2 also reports that the “pulseguide failed and may be ineffective”. Last night however, it managed to capture 9 exposures, 4 of which I had to delete because of star elongation. I assume this elongation happened because of SGP not being able to control the mount properly as I never had to delete exposures unless there’s high cloud.
Anyway, SGP reports the error “External disconnect of telescope detected” and PHD2 that the pulseguide failed and may be ineffective. SGP remains with the mount disconnected but PHD2 remains guiding, even performing dithering throughout. SGP however has no more control over the mount so it obviously doesn’t park the mount when the sequence ends as a result. EQMod looks normal - no disconnection and still tracking. I can even park the mount via EQMod without a problem.
This is very odd. Is there anything it could be? My SGP log from last night is here:
The problem begins at timestamp “10/02/17 04:19:44.913”. I basically started the sequence at 01:30 or so but configured it to wait until 04:15 to physically go to the target, centre and image (waiting for the Moon to go away while I sleep!). Thank you!
To add further information, I’m testing this now after having re-installed and re-configured EQMod 1.28s completely from scratch, with the mount connected to a different USB port. In this re-configuration of EQMod, I have not selected anything for “Timeout”, “Retry” or “Baud Rate” (these options are blank). The rest is configured identically.
PHD2 has reported the same error but the mount remains connected in SGP (for now - hopefully it doesn’t disconnect later). The error seemed to happen after dithering. I have dithering set to “Extreme” and sometimes it autofocuses between frames, so the PHD2 error could just be PHD2 trying to re-center the mount after a few minutes of paused guiding. This would be fine as it doesn’t affect guiding at all and implies that PHD2 is still working well with my mount and EQMod.
Fingers crossed SGP doesn’t disconnect the mount. If it does, I may try SGP 2.6.0.23 (non-Beta) but I’m unsure as to what caused the issue and therefore how to attempt to fix it. Remember, the mount control board and mount Serial-USB cable are completely new and I have successfully used SGP, EQMod and PHD2 together for years with this very same mount!
It appears not all EQ6 boards are the same. The mount was running on a brand new EQ6 board when I posted this thread but an old EQ6 board has been put in (several years old) and it’s working fine now.
Anyone know anything about Skywatcher EQ6 boards being different now to a several years ago? I thought “EQ6” was “EQ6” when it came to the control board.
UPDATE 2:
I’m updating this just in case anyone has a similar issue and arrives at this thread. Skywatcher replied to my e-mail and indeed their EQ6 control boards have two generations. The first generation have firmware versions 1.xx and this firmware is not upgradeable. The second generation have firmware versions 2.xx and the firmware is upgradeable via a SynScan hand controller.
It would appear, given my problems, that the old control board that works is a first generation board and the new control board that gives me the problems described in this thread is a second generation board. I have to verify this by checking firmware versions on both with a SynScan hand controller however. I’ve asked Skywatcher if I can download 1.xx firmware and “upgrade” my new (second generation) control board to said older firmware. That might make the new control board usable with my Avalon M-Uno mount.
