I recently bought a new computer that I am setting up for astro. None of my other equipment has changed. I copied over an equipment profile from my previous version and set up my user profile manually, but ran into a number of problems when I tried an imaging session last night. Not sure if I should post all this in a single topic but here goes:
Every time I tried to slew with SGP, it reported that my scope was parked, yet I had unparked it directly in EQMOD, which I had loaded thru Cartes de Ciel. (low priority).
Every plate solve (ASTAP, enabled) failed. (high priority)
Every attempt to focus failed (Optek driver is installed - high priority).
Log files are here: Dropbox
Another clear night tonight, so hope to get some help shortly. Thanks for any suggestions.
All of the issues I see look EQMOD related to me. EQMOD can be very finickky and you’ll need to configure it such that you either let SGPro sync it or you are using your own internal pointing model, in which case the sync method needs to be changed to offset instead of sync.
Not sure about this. Something external to SGPro may be periodically parking or toggling tracking off for the mount of the driver itself may be doing so after arriving at some kind of trigger (safety limits etc). We have limited insight into “why” a mount reports it is parked or not tracking… SGPro just knows that it isn’t tracking. Additionally, I see in the logs that SGPro recognized the mounts wasn’t tracking and automatically started it:
[10/18/24 19:54:07.649][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Telescope: Sync Slewing to RA/Dec request, but mount is not tracking (and mount not at park), starting...
[10/18/24 19:54:07.768][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Telescope: Slewing to J2000 RA: 20.864225 (20h51m51.21s) Dec: 31.3739361111111 (31°22'26.17")
[10/18/24 19:54:08.776][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Scope reports it is done with synchronous slew, verifying...
[10/18/24 19:54:08.776][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Telescope: Slewing has completed
ASTAP is not failing. All of the ASTAP solves are successful, but the centering process is failing because SGPro cannot sync the mount to the current location. We seem to have a bug here in that this issue is not properly reported / conveyed and I’ve noted that.
[10/18/24 20:01:35.663][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PS;] ASCOM Telescope: Invalid Operation Exception in Sync : SyncToTarget() RaDec sync was rejected.
You’re certain you are using AutoFocus settings that have worked for you in the past? The logs indicate, to my eyes, that there isn’t enough movement in between each step to create the necessary focus curve. You are moving 10 steps currently. Your low HFR seems to be around 2.4. Your max HFR is ~3.4. Your initial HFR reading should be between 5 and 6, but it is 3.4.
This means that you’ll need additional steps to get there.
It may also indocate that there is backlash present and it not accounted for
I would also recommend moving to 9 steps
Note: If your in focus HFR is not ~2.4, none of the other numbers there in my suggestions are accurate either. You’ll want to target an HFR 2.5-3x your in focus HFR at the outer ranges of the focus run.