Setting a custom park?

swag72 · November 25, 2014, 11:06am

As a potentially new user, I am wondering if there is an option to set a custom park position for the scope to park to when a sequence is finished. I need to be able to identify a custom park to be able to close my obs roof.

joelshort · November 25, 2014, 2:11pm

This needs to be done at your mount level, not with SGP. What mount are you using?

BTW, if you list your equipment in your “About Me” section of your profile, when we click on your avatar we’ll be able to see what equipment you are using.

joelshort · November 25, 2014, 2:12pm

Oh, and welcome to SGP!

astromaphilli14 · November 25, 2014, 2:45pm

I know for Celestron you need the v6 drivers of ASCOM, but its still unclear to me how to do that with the newer drivers.

Jared · November 25, 2014, 3:28pm

You should be able to use the script found in this post to set your mount’s park position. Currently we don’t have a button to do this in SGP.

Thanks,
Jared

swag72 · November 25, 2014, 4:04pm

Thanks for the replies - I use an Avalon mount, which is the same ascom drivers as the EQ5/6.

I’ll look into the script - but I’m not a very technical person so I’m not sure how I’ll go with that. Would it be something that would be considered to add to the software? SGPro is being touted as a remote solution, so many folks who use it would surely benefit from this. I know of many people who need to set a custom park to be able to close their obs roof.

EDIT - Sadly the script is now showing / available in the post you link to.

mads0100 · November 25, 2014, 4:32pm

Swag,

I think the going in argument for SGP is that they handle the sequencing and aiming… the drivers handle the rest. Gemini 2 has the custom home position built into the ASCOM driver… I’d pursue it with the manufacturer.

swag72 · November 25, 2014, 4:44pm

OK thanks. I’ll drop Skywatcher a line.

Jared · November 25, 2014, 6:06pm

You may try doing this from a planetarium application. SGP just doesn’t expose a button to set the park position (as we’re running out or real-estate on the telescope control panel). It is likely available in other applications and possibly even the mount’s ASCOM driver.

Thanks,
Jared

astrovienna · November 26, 2014, 2:02am

Mike, just create and run a vbscript. Here is mine (written for me by Chris R - I barely even know what a script is!):

'set c = CreateObject(“ASCOM.Utilities.Chooser”)
'c.DeviceType=“Telescope”
'id = c.Choose(“ASCOM.Celestron.Telescope”)
set scope = CreateObject(“ASCOM.Celestron.Telescope”)
scope.Connected = true

MsgBox "Move the mount to the Park position and press OK to save the position. ", 0, "Set Park Position"
scope.SetPark
Msgbox “Park Position Set”

Any problems, just let me know.

Kevin

Werner · March 15, 2015, 10:51am

Hello ,
can i use this script also for my EQ6?
i have no clou about scripting…its an “black box” 2me

Werner

astrovienna · March 15, 2015, 5:33pm

I don’t know. I know there’s some relationship between Celestron and Synta, but I don’t know if the script will work. I doubt it could hurt to try it, as long as you’re ready to abort the slew when you test it.

Kevin

Werner · March 15, 2015, 5:56pm

Hi Kevin,
ok then i will set the Park after an sequence from EQMod after it…thx

naavis · March 16, 2015, 2:32pm

If you are using EQMOD, you can set the park position and all parking settings in the EQASCOM window.

Werner · March 16, 2015, 8:13pm

Hi naavis,
i set it in the EQAscom …but SGpro will park only in -----2home Position not in my "to the zenith "position…

BarryWilson · March 16, 2015, 8:17pm

I found this too Werner after responding to Swag72 thinking this was the solution, only to find it wasn’t (Sara had tried this too and had the same result).

Anyone found an answer to a custom park using EQASCOM? Does the script quoted above work? I’ve never written a script and wouldn’t know where to start.

Barry

Martin1 · August 20, 2015, 11:20am

Did anyone ever come up with a solution to the park problem?

swag72 · August 20, 2015, 12:23pm

Never found a solution to this using EQMOD Martin.

In EQMOD I allow it to park to it’s home position, then in the morning just tell it to park to roof close. No good if you are pursing automation as a goal. If that’s the case, then I guess that SGP isn’t the answer for you - Shame as it’s good.

Chris · August 20, 2015, 1:24pm

From a quick look it’s possible to set different park positions in EQMOD but their ASCOM Park command only uses the default park at the home position.

However if the ASCOM SetPark command is used EQMOD will use that.
The script I posted used the Celestron driver, this is modified so it is generic:

set c = CreateObject("ASCOM.Utilities.Chooser")
c.DeviceType="Telescope"
id = c.Choose("")
set scope = CreateObject(id)
scope.Connected = true

if scope.CanPark then
  MsgBox "Move scope to the park position and press OK"
  scope.SetPark
  Msgbox "Park position set"
else
  MsgBox "Park not implemented"
end if

Jared, Ken, it may be worth incorporating this in SGP somewhere. If you use Park it wouldn’t be a bad idea to allow it to be set up.

Chris

Paul · August 20, 2015, 1:49pm

FWIW. I control my mount through the POTH hub which seems to have its own defined park position. With the scope in the park position I want I go into setup and click ‘Set Park’ in the scope connection box. SGP always parks to the ‘POTH position’ regardless of the EQMOD park setting.

Paul