Virtuelle Handbox und Goto

[Isi]

Ein freundliches Hallo ins Forum,
ich habe da eine Frage bezüglich der virtuellen Handbox in 1.5.3. Gibt es eine Möglichkeit die Handbox zu betätigen, so das die Einstellungen in Ra und Dec. nicht verändert werden. Das benötigt man um das Goto zu optimieren.

[Armando]

Hi Isi,

could you better explain yourself?

Armando

[Isi]

Hallo Armando,
schön mal wieder von Dir zu hören.
Ich arbeite mit Cartes du Ciel 3.10, Ascom SP2 , Handbox 1.5.3 und Fornax 51 mir ist aufgefallen das meine Positionen beim anfahren mit Goto immer die gleiche Abweichung aufweist, auch ständiges syncronisieren  hilft nicht. Ich muß die Montierung manuell bewegen und das Objekt zentrieren ( dann verändern sich die Einträge in RA und DEC nicht !! ) dann funktioniert bei mir das Goto. Wenn man die Möglichkeit hätte die Montierung über die virtuelle Handbox zu bewegen ohne das die Einstellungen in RA und DEC sich verändern würde alles funktionieren.
Kurz : Ist es möglich die Montierung über die virtuelle Handbox so anzusteuern das die Einstellungen in RA und DEC sich nicht verändern.

cs Jörg

[Armando]

Hi Jörg,

I'm not sure I've figured out your issue.

This is a summary of the (Google) translation:
1. Your mount is rightly synced/aligned (and starting coordinates are right) but after any GoTo command you don't find the target centered as expected.
2. If you manually center the target by the hardware handbox (without any new sync) then all subsequent GoTos work as expected.
3. While moving the mount by the hardware handbox (as at point #2) you see no ASCOM coordinate changes.

The reason why you see no ASCOM coordinates changes as soon as you are moving the mount by the hardware handbox is the (finite) low polling rate.
The hardware handbox is pretty useless while mount is being controlled by ASCOM; so I see generally no reason why asking (by PC) the LFEP to tell its position if you're changing the position by the PC itself... 
This is the reason why I:
1. added the "silent" option to reduce traffic as much as possible;
2. set a low polling rate (1/10s) as default value (when silent mode is disabled);
3. added a slider to increase polling rate in case of need.

So if you like to move the mount by the hardware handbox be sure to disable the "silent" mode; if you also prefer less "latency" you can increase polling rate by moving the slider inside the Motion Controls panel.

With Silent mode disabled you can see that if you move the mount by hardware handbox (at default polling rate) you'll see ASCOM coordinates updated as expected within 10s.
So there is no "misalignment" you've to "erase" by a manual movement...
Keep in mind the driver simply sends a GoTo command. It's the controller to move the mount according to (its) current coordinates and target coordinates.
I make an example trying to be clearer:
Let's say you're pointing at RA 01h 00m 00s, Dec +00° 00′ 00″ (so that the hardware handbox displays these coordinates) but ASCOM driver position is wrong (e.g. RA 01h 10m 00s, Dec +00° 00′ 00″).
You then send an ASCOM GoTo command to RA 01h 00m 00s, Dec +00° 00′ 00″. The mount won't move at all...
You'll see ASCOM coordinates will be refreshed (also in silent mode) as the driver "thinks" the mount is slewing because of the GoTo command.

Please let me know if I didn't figure out your issue...

CS
Armando

[Isi]

Hallo Armando,
vielen Dank für Deine Antwort. ich werde das ausprobieren.
Eine andere Frage zur virtuellen Handbox 1.5.3 gibt es dafür eine Gebrauchsanweisung, zum Beispiel für die Funktionen Pad, Silent ?
Wie stelle ich die Abfragerate auf 1/10 ein ?

Gruß Jörg

[Armando]

Hi Jörg,

default polling rate is at 1/(10s) - I mean 0.1Hz...
You can increase it by moving the slider inside the Motion Controls panel.

If I properly understood your issue my previous answer still won't solve it but will convince you that moving the mount by the hardware handbox is not the solution...
The only small issue that you'll fix is about coordinates, reported by ASCOM, not refreshed as you expected at default polling rate...

A possible explanation for inaccurate GoTo apparently solved by just one hardware handbox movement and then a Sync can be backlash. Obviously it's just a temporary fix: as soon as you send a GoTo command to an opposite direction the issue will be again... The only solution to this issue is obviously backlash compensation (that is to be properly tuned).

CS
Armando

[Isi]

Hallo Armando,
Danke für Deine Antwort. Gibt es eine Anleitung für die virtuelle Handbox ??
Was bedeutet Pad und Silent genau ?

Gruß Jörg

[Armando]

Hi Jörg,

Gibt es eine Anleitung für die virtuelle Handbox ??

because of several driver and GUI changes the old documentation/help is to be revisited. It doesn't cover the added features; this is the reason why I removed it from the installer. I don't speak German. This is another reason why I didn't take care of it.
Anyway I tried to make the GUI as much intuitive as possible.
The main lack of documentation is probably about slewing management (meant to reduce pillar collision risks) and tracking speed refinement (that works perfectly, contrarily to IntellyTrack).

Was bedeutet Pad und Silent genau ?

If you don't use the hardware handbox and mount is simply tracking at sidereal speed then RA won't change, Dec won't change. While taking a photo (and guiding) you don't play with Solar/Lunar/Star speed; you don't enable/disable IntellyTrack, King rate or PEC; you don't change LFEP configuration; side of pier doesn't change. Even if LFEP coordinates change after 2h of tracking thanks to guiding (because of a not accurate mount alignment) you're still pointing the same target  The same for the encoder position, focuser position, ...

So why polling LFEP state?
If you play by hardware handbox, mount is also connected by ASCOM and you want to keep LFEP state refreshed, then silent mode is to be disabled.

But You can also keep silent mode always disabled and use low polling rate: as soon as a slewing is detected (so within 10s if you're using the default - low - polling rate) the driver increases polling rate; then, as soon as the slewing end is detected, polling rate is reverted to the initial value.

CS
Armando

P.s. Also the hardware handbox communicates to LFEP MCU to show coordinates by its display. And you can change (by the hardware handbox itself) the hardware handbox polling rate too...