Author Topic: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports  (Read 92559 times)

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #60 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 19:06:28 - CET »
Hi @all,

yesterday I took some photos by using the last beta release.
I tried RA drift compensation. Without drift compensation the mean value of guiding pulses duration on RA (taken negative on RA+) was about 8s (on one worm revolution).
After the 1st RA user rate refinement it was 120ms. 8)

HB is "W"  and ascom driver says "E" , its my issue ?
Yesterday I found still the same issue with the last beta. To test it I had to set reverse rotation on Dec (as expected) and I found that orientation reported by handbox was no more like the one reported by ASCOM.
So I think that setting reverse rotation on Dec makes LFEP returning the opposite orientation (by the handbox).

Probably the command to set PierSide works contrariwise when reverse rotation is enabled...
Improving the driver is starting to become a little irritating: I think LFEP makes what indicated by the documentation and I change the code accordingly. Then I use the mount and I find something not working. Too often I find wrong documentation as the real cause of the issue (or if you prefer, a LFEP firmware bug).
Unfortunately I'm using my mount too seldom and I still have slow motors on my mount to test some features.

Anyway now I need to figure out how to make the hardware handbox showing the same orientation as the one reported by ASCOM.  ::)
Fortunately these issues can be properly managed by ASCOM; or, if you prefer, there is the need to rewrite the LFEP documentation...

CS
Armando

Offline drknoppi

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #61 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 19:38:23 - CET »
Hello Armando,
I would prefer ascom  ;D
Regards
Rainer
LG
Rainer

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #62 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 20:07:51 - CET »
Hi Rainer,

Hello Armando,
I would prefer ascom  ;D
No  :), I meant to say that there are issues that can be considered as LFEP bugs (and so require the driver to properly manage them) or as documentation errors (that still oblige to modify the ASCOM driver).

CS
Armando

Offline drknoppi

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #63 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 22:47:59 - CET »
Hello Armando, thanks for your explanation  :D
Now i understand.
B.t.w. A new question :
What means a drift compensation in detail
Drift in ra / drift in dec / or drift compensation to correct
Alignement problems of polar or azimut axis.
How to do it ?
Best Wishes
Rainer
LG
Rainer

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #64 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 23:12:55 - CET »
Hi Rainer,

Drift in ra / drift in dec / or drift compensation to correct
Alignement problems of polar or azimut axis.

You can see Reset, Refine and Set buttons.
Both Reset and Refine buttons start measuring drift. But Reset also switches to sidereal speed (it resets user rate at sidereal speed); refine keeps current user rate unchanged (drift measurement occurs in this case at current user rate).
When drift measurement is completed you can click on Set button to apply the computed drift compensation...

But when is drift measurement completed?
1. On RA axis only after a worm period has elapsed since the click on Reset/Refine (to take into account the periodic error that could affect drift measurement). So you will see a countdown will start as soon as you'll have clicked on Reset or Refine... At the end of the measurement Set button becomes enabled...

2. On Dec you can click on Set as soon as you think enough time has elapsed since the click on Reset/Refine. So you will see a counter will start as soon as you'll have clicked on Reset/Refine. The counter is just meant to show the time elapsed/used for drift measurement...
Then the driver (on Dec) will take care of the time elapsed between the click on Reset/Refine and the following click on Set to compute the drift and the required user rate to compensate it...

The idea is simple: on RA tracking speed could be wrong; on Dec you can have drift because of a not perfect polar alignment.
So the driver, as soon as you click on Refine or Reset, starts to sum all guiding pulses duration.
After one worm period on RA you would expect 0 as the sum (I assigned negative sign to RA+ pulses and positive sign to RA- pulses). But you'll probably find a positive or negative value because of drift. As soon as you'll have applied the compensation the motor speed will change accordingly and in the next drift refinement you should find a lower (ideally 0) mean value of the duration of the pulses occurred during the refinement period...
On Dec the same happens but without a countdown: ideally Dec motor should not move at all while tracking. But if, after a Reset/Refine click and some minutes you see the sum of the durations shown is still increasing (or decreasing) then there is a significant drift that you can compensate by a click on Set. After the click, Dec  motor will start moving at appropriate constant speed (it should be small) and you should see that the following guiding pulses duration will show a mean value really small (ideally 0)...

I mean to point out that drift compensation requires the use of pulse guiding (i.e. guiding by ASCOM): ST-4 guiding commands (and durations) can't be detected by the driver...

CS
Armando

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #65 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 23:29:46 - CET »
In a few words, since IntellyTrack doens't work, I replaced IntellyTrack by the driver itself.
Even if IntellyTrack worked, the compensation by the driver should be better since it's computed after a measurement taking many minutes...
I made use of UserRate mode that was meant to be used only to track comets/satellites but that can be of help to improve tracking also on common stars moving at sidereal speed...

CS
Armando

Offline drknoppi

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #66 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 23:37:09 - CET »
Hello Armando,
Tomorrow after sleep 5 h i will try to understand.
I think a step by step list would help ?
Good night
Rainer
LG
Rainer

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #67 on: Sunday, 08.12.13 - 23:42:15 - CET »
I think a step by step list would help ?

1. Start guiding by ASCOM
2. Click on Reset (on RA drift panel)
3. Start giving a look at the sum of RA pulses duration (on the same drift panel) and wait for the end of the countdown
4. Click on Set (on RA drift panel)
5. Click later on Refine and start giving a look at the sum... values should be lower then the previous ones and, at the end of the countdown, the sum should be next to zero...

The same happens on Dec but without a countdown. For Dec simply wait some minutes before any click on Set...

CS
Armando

Offline the_lizardking

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #68 on: Monday, 09.12.13 - 13:54:29 - CET »
Guys I would like to test also,... such a shit at the moment it looks like that here:
http://abload.de/img/fotobdav4.jpg

Offline drknoppi

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #69 on: Monday, 09.12.13 - 19:32:38 - CET »
Hi @
the weather here near Berlin  shit to
I hope we can see the sun in  a few day's
CS Rainer
« Last Edit: Tuesday, 10.12.13 - 05:04:49 - CET by drknoppi »
LG
Rainer

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #70 on: Tuesday, 10.12.13 - 00:55:55 - CET »
Hi @all,

meanwhile I'm describing some changes (available only in beta6 release) about flipping.
They are available only if you enable also "confirm" option in the AutoFlip settings panel...

You know that a flip is possible also by passing through the South Pole. And flipping through South Pole is quicker if Dec is negative...
So when a flip is going to start the driver will ask you if you prefer a flip through South Pole or North Pole...
The question is required also when Dec is positive to allow the user to take control of the flip and to exclude a flipping through S Pole followed by a flip through N Pole...

I implemented also another improvement to exclude pillar collision by the flip itself:
when necessary, the flip will make the mount moving only on RA to point to local meridian and THEN it will start to move on Dec too...
In a few words you'll see, when necessary, that moving on Dec (during a flip) occurs only after Telescope is on a vertical plane to have no pillar collisions...

I also preferred to keep flip button always enabled. Now Flip text color is red if the flip is potentially dangerous.
Sometimes the user realizes he can switch to the "dangerous side"  to have all the photos from the same side (i.e. starting with telescope on East side and pointing to East if it's really mechanically possible)...

I hope you'll find flipping working as expected...

CS
Armando

Offline the_lizardking

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #71 on: Tuesday, 10.12.13 - 10:14:36 - CET »
Great Job Armando!

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #72 on: Thursday, 12.12.13 - 13:34:38 - CET »
Hi the_lizardking,

A test can be of help so that I'll upload the code before going on with development. Did you try it?

CS
Armando

Offline drknoppi

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #73 on: Thursday, 12.12.13 - 19:34:48 - CET »
Hello Armando,

what you mean with "guiding"  and drift correction  ?, Guiding speed sid .  with corrections f.e. autoguider
or guiding with sideral speed without any corrections .
Best Wishes Rainer

b.t.w.
fog !  instead blue and clear  sky ; ((((
LG
Rainer

Offline the_lizardking

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #74 on: Thursday, 12.12.13 - 19:46:12 - CET »
Cant do anything here right now,... only fog, snow, wind,... horrible weather since weeks.

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #75 on: Friday, 13.12.13 - 01:06:07 - CET »
Hi Rainer,

what you mean with "guiding"  and drift correction  ?
as already stated drift compensation requires that mount is tracking at user rate and that the autoguiding software is sending pulse guide commands by ASCOM.

CS
Armando

Offline palo974

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #76 on: Saturday, 14.12.13 - 10:10:59 - CET »
Hello,
Yesterday I tested the last update. The clouds wasn't there since a wide.
Usualy, I used to going at 100X for the goto with my CG5 original motors but now i need to fix them donw to 50X.
At 100X, my motor don't work at all, at 50X they work good but it too slow. Between these values motors don't run aconstatilly.
even if the 40V delevery is on.
I didn't change any courants values for the motors.

Did I need to change something?

CS
Patrice

Thanks I move the topic to the LFEP part.
CS
Patrice
« Last Edit: Monday, 16.12.13 - 17:55:07 - CET by palo974 »

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #77 on: Sunday, 15.12.13 - 02:08:12 - CET »
Hi Patrice,

Did I need to change something?
Issues related to motor speed are obviously not related to the ASCOM driver in use: you will find the same speed limitation also by using previous releases or by moving the mount by hardware handbox.
Maybe you're using a too low current value for your motor or your battery is not properly charged (if you're using a battery to power your LFEP).
Keep in mind a too low voltage will make V40 board not working: some days ago I started to think my V40 was faulty (I can hear a louder motor noise while V40 is enabled). Then I realized the battery voltage was well under 12V...  :)
You can also try to set an higher ramp value, if available.
Another cause of the speed issue could be a low temperature so that an higher load torque is required (e.g. because of bad grease or too small worm-worm wheel play).

Clear Skies!
Armando

Offline Armando

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #78 on: Sunday, 15.12.13 - 22:02:11 - CET »
As for drift compensation I used it on RA for my last photo (7x30min frames):
http://galleria.astrocampania.it/albums/DeepSky/nebulose/NGC2237%2020131207%20BENE.jpg

It's at full res (800mm f/4 -  KAF8300 mono CCD) and I think tracking is pretty good so that I'm not sure upgrading motors (to increase GoTo speed) is worth it.  ::)
Every time I disassemble my EQ6 I'm not sure what results will follow...
Anyway I already bought the pulleys kit and the motors. So I think I'll try them as soon as possible...

CS
Armando

Offline the_lizardking

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Re: LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
« Reply #79 on: Tuesday, 17.12.13 - 10:30:25 - CET »
Looks good,... however there is a samll drift but could be related to the alignment maybe.

Grats for the nice picture!

When you say we need to go over ascom, do we only need to work with an ascom camera driver going from camera to lfep or must the lfep be connected to the pc somehow??