Quote:
Originally Posted by Startrek
Alex
Some of my PHD2 procedures and tips below I set up last year -
PHD2 Set Up and Guiding tips
1/ Try to Polar align to around 1arc minute error on Alt and Az
2/ “Auto select guide star” (recommended by PHD2) or manually select star that’s not too bright or saturated to avoid lost stars
3/ If guiding is poor ( above 2 arc seconds ) utilise the Guiding Assistant
4/ Check and adjust focus of your guide scope and camera to minimise lost stars
5/ Set your guide camera exposure time between 2 and 4 seconds ( Looping ) 2 seconds is a good starting point
6/ The SNR value of the guide star should be between 15.0 and 40.0 to avoid losing the guide star
7/ Don’t over correct settings , under correcting will let you manage your guiding performance better
8/ If Guiding is poor try and keep your min mo above 0.25 in RA and DEC . Don’t go above 0.6. A good starting point for min mo is 0.20 or 0.25
9/ Important- Build a Dark Frame library and a Bad pixel map to provide good calibration and stable guide star. PHD2 will only allow you to use one or the other
10/ The RA Osc value should be between 0.3 to 0.5
If it drops to 0.1 or lower then increase the RA aggressiveness or decrease the hysteresis
If it gets quite high say 0.8 then reduce the RA aggressiveness or increase the hysteresis
11/ Use Ascom Guiding - Laptop direct connect to mount ( preferred by PHD2 Developers) in lieu of ST4 connected guiding via camera to mount
12/ USB 2 cable to camera is not to exceed 5 metres
13/ Try and avoid cabling through a hub even a Powered hub, direct connect to the computer , you will have less issues
14/ Ensure you have the latest driver installed for your guide camera
15/ If guide camera is USB2 make sure you connect into a USB2 port with USB2 cable
If the guide camera is USB3 it most probably will connect with a USB2 cable
16/ Ensure you enter all the correct data for your guide camera into PHD2 brain tabs
17/ Make sure you get good Calibration. Calibrate within 10deg of celestial equator and within an hour of meridian
Once Calibrated save it and reuse it ( go to Brain in guiding tab and tick box “Auto restore Calibration”)
18/ if you lose guide star often , go to Brain in guiding tab and increase “Search region” and increase “ Star mass detection”
Hope this helps
Cheers
Martin
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That is fantastic Martin. Thank you I really appreciate this.
You alert me to things that I have never addressed in the past.
I would like to see your post a sticky.
Alex