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Hi,
I am running TheSkyX PHD2 for Paramount MX, Celestron C14, Lodestar Pro guide camera.
Question 1 Does PHD 2 automatically configure rigs like a Wizard, if so please point to instructions?
Question 2 What settings need to change in the 4 advanced settings tabs in order to run this rig trouble free?
Question 3 Do any of the settings in the 2 algorithm dropdown menus require changing?
Please indicate any changes on the screenshots, happy to arrange a Zoom meetup.
THANK YOU,
JackYou haven’t actually explained what your problem is Jack. What results have you been getting from your attempts to use PhD2 so far? What is the guiding instrument? Have you succeeded in calibrating the system? Have you found suitable guide stars? What happens when you try to guide on them?
In my experience PhD2 either works or it doesn’t work with a system, and if it doesn’t, there’s some fundamental hardware problem that no changes to the default settings will make any difference to.
The first step is to enter the guiding focal length and pixel size. PhD then calculates appropriate increments for the movements. It should then be possible to do a calibration using a star. If that is successful, then it should guide.
Problems are pretty much always problems with the hardware rather than with PhD’s settings.
Hi Jack,
I’m not a PhD2 user but can see there are several tutorials on YouTube for setting up the software and hardware. Have you watched any of those?
I searched for “setting up phD2” in YouTube, have a look there.Peter
David,
I am using a newer computer. The problem is it won’t guide on a star. The star won’t stay on the slit. Guiding instrument is a Lodestar Pro. If by calibrating the system you mean guide assistant it says there are mount backlash issues which it recommended corrections for. As a test when trying to guide on Vega it won’t stay on the slit.
So far it appears to point to a problem with the mount.
JackHello Jack,
I use PHD with my spectrographs.
(Note with PHD even when guiding properly, the star tends to move backwards and forwards across the slit because half the star is hidden when the star is slightly off the slit so it over corrects. There are guiders which work on the split image of the star on the slit but I have not used them)
You say the star wont guide on a star, the star wont stay on the slit.
Do you have the green square round the star with a green cross at the guide position?
Did the training work ok? First time you run (or if you hit shift when you start to guide) the cross is dottted yellow and the star is moved in X and Y to calibrate the guiding. (If the star does not move, there is a problem communicating with the mount and you will get an error message)
Does the star and green square stay near the guide position (centre of green cross) or does it continuously wander off?
If the star is staying around the right position but is moving around the guide position too much try guiding off the slit. Does it work ok then ?
Cheers
RobinWatching how the star moves during the training is a good guide to whether the mount and settings are roughly ok. The star should move immediately in the RA direction in a series of obvious steps and then approximately back to the start position (there should be no backlash in RA if you make sure you slightly off balance the mount.) If there is backlash in Dec you will see PHD making several steps without any movement of the star (you will see a “removing backlash” message) I have lots of Dec backlash in my old eq6 but PHD still copes OK
Robin,
I am using the latest version of PHD2.
Which guiders are you referring to?
Yes green square round star green cross at guide position.
The training appeared to work ok with recommendations which I applied see attached.
The star and green square continuously wonders off the guide position.
I have not tried guiding off the slit, the target star is always on the slit.
Regards,
JackAttachments:
If the main problem is backlash in dec. you could try only guiding in RA. It is one of the options. You may be able to get long enough out of it.
If the star is wandering in RA, and the communications are all working, the possibilities are that the star is not bright enough, so the SNR is too low, or that the errors in the drive are just too large and random to allow guiding to work. I have this issue with my ancient Fullerscopes Mk.IV mount.
If you have the green square and green cross the star has been detected ok and should be actively guiding. Also if the star moved correctly in RA and Dec during the training the mount is responding the the PHD commands.
I have seen this problem before I think. The RA (or Dec) guide corrections may have become inverted somehow (There may be a setting somewhere) so instead of correcting towards the right position it corrects in the opposite direction and the star continues to drift at an accelerating rate away from the guide position. It is connected with the meridian flip I believe. If you train and then guide on the same star does it work correctly ? Does it then not work if you move to a different star on the other side of the meridian ?
What is the orientation of your slit? (I run mine along the Dec direction so any Dec errors due to backlash just move the star up and down the slit a bit)
Is your drift during guiding in both RA and Dec or just in Dec?Which guiders are you referring to?
AstroArt, PRISM, Audela have a specfic function optimised for guiding on a split image which can potentially guide better than PHD2. PHD2 normally just works though so if you are having problems getting PHD2 to work, I would not suggest moving to one of these at this stage.
See also this thread
https://britastro.org/forums/topic/software-for-guiding-on-a-slitI have seen this problem before I think. The RA (or Dec) guide corrections may have become inverted somehow (There may be a setting somewhere) so instead of correcting towards the right position it corrects in the opposite direction and the star continues to drift at an accelerating rate away from the guide position. It is connected with the meridian flip I believe. If you train and then guide on the same star does it work correctly ? Does it then not work if you move to a different star on the other side of the meridian ?
Robin,
A setting in PHD2 or TheSkyX?
I will need a clear night to experiment with this.
JackWhat is the orientation of your slit? (I run mine along the Dec direction so any Dec errors due to backlash just move the star up and down the slit a bit)
Is your drift during guiding in both RA and Dec or just in Dec?
Robin,
Slit orientation is Dec.
Drift during guiding may be RA not along the slit in DEC.
JackIf the main problem is backlash in dec you could try only guiding in RA. It is one of the options. You may be able to get long enough out of it.
David,
Sometimes the mount is running all night.
Sounds like guiding in RA won’t work.
Thanks for the suggestion.
JackHow do I enable blue tab ‘Mr Jack Martin wrote’?
Highlight the text you want to quote with the mouse and click “QUOTE” instead of “REPLY” on the message you are replying to
Robin and David,
I have used the set up wizard in PHD2 to reconfigure the settings for my rig.
Just need a clear night to test the guiding, fingers crossed.
Jack
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