#21  
Old 17-06-2020, 09:18 AM
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Sunfish (Ray)
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I also use KStars ecos. So start PHD2 first and connect the camera. However once that is done, Ecos takes over PHD2 and will continue to stop and start as required and dither. I have only used Sharpcap and PHD2 separately as I am too mean to pay for the pro version . Works ok like that.
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  #22  
Old 17-06-2020, 11:05 AM
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Stonius (Markus)
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What Luka said above^


The problem is that the ZWO drivers make you choose *which camera you want *inside the driver itself. The program only sees the one driver, unlike with ASCOM which will differentiate the two cameras in the dropdown.



My Suggestion; trash all your PHD profiles and start again (they only take a few minutes to set up anyway). Don't run any other software. Don't have your imaging camera plugged in, only the guide camera.


Go through and set up your profile/s (click the little divided arrow symbol to check it's looking at the correct camera).


After that, close PHD and try plugging in the imaging camera. Open again, see if the profile connects to the correct camera.
Then try it with your sequencing program (SGP/Voyager) connecting to the imaging camera at the same time.


I had the same issue a week or so back and this is what solved it for me.


Cheers


Markus
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  #23  
Old 19-06-2020, 05:26 AM
N5SE (Sal)
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You also need to disable the USB power saving mode for the Windows 10 computer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqeXGMl5jYc
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  #24  
Old 19-06-2020, 03:12 PM
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Bart
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Great reading, guys. I will try all of these suggestions if I need to as tonight is the night I am going up to the obs to help my brother.



I have asked him to dump all the drivers and clean out the registry and then reinstall only the drivers he needs. I am going to try the step by step approach, one camera at a time and I am taking my USB 3 capable laptop as a spare computer to test the cameras on separately.
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  #25  
Old 19-06-2020, 11:23 PM
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whzzz28 (Nathan)
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Just spent the last few hours working on my ASI1600MM and 290MM.
New PC build, trying SGP for the first time.


Couldn't get the 1600MM to cool. Logs showed a generic error that the cooler would not start.
TEC Change: Failed to set cooler temp! Aborting...



PHD2 worked fine with the 290MM though (via ASCOM drivers).

But due to issues below, I changed to ZWO native in the driver list. The first button to the right of the drop down allows you to select what camera to use. Save the profile and it should stick between reloads. It was rock solid for me.



Back to the ASI1600MM though - I tried it in MaximDL as well. Maxim reported "No cooler support". Odd.
Of note, I was using ASCOM drivers in both SGP and MaximDL. Everything looked fine in settings, gain and offset were set and could be changed etc. But no cooler.
I thought it was a bad camera, but then tried the ASIStudio app (native drivers).
And look - cooler works!


Next i noted that in the ASCOM config window, it was reporting the camera as USB2. ASIStudio was showing USB3.


I eventually ran SGP with native ZWO drivers (I could not test in MaximDL, as i have an old version with no ZWO native drivers).
Apart from being prompted every time I start the camera to select a camera, this worked flawlessly.


So I would say be wary of ZWO via ASCOM right now. Interestingly, my old laptop with ASCOM 6.3 works OK, but this new PC with ASCOM 6.4 fails 100% of the time to set the cooler.
Probably driver issues. A few complaints on coolers on Main Sequence forum for ZWO cameras right now as well.



So, I would suggest to try going all native with no ASCOM use for now. But who knows, maybe its just my machine for some reason.
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  #26  
Old 20-06-2020, 02:45 PM
jahnpahwa (JP)
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Yep, as simple as it sounds, it was simply choosing the right camera in the arrow button when using ZWO driver in PHD.


In summary, this is what worked or me the other night, and my sequence.


Mount 1600mm in OTA, polar align with this using Sharpcap. Sharpcap scans for cameras and this was the only camera available as it was the only one plugged in.


Mount 120mm mini in guide scope, start phd2, use ZWO driver there, select the 120mm mini in the arrow button next to the driver drop down. I have two profiles, one for each guide scope I have (50mm FL difference), so made sure i was in the right profile too.


Start APT. Connect 1600mm using ASCOM driver.



Slew to target. Hit the auto select guide star button in PHD2, hit the begin guide button. Take a 4min test shot with guiding, see that guiding is rubbish, total RMS is 6.5 or so and stars are not crispy. 2.0s exposures on the guider here.



Run a calibration via PHD, it takes about ten minutes, but its worth it. After this, total RMS is below 1 for the rest of the night and my dreams are realized.


Mount and imaging camera are connected direct to pc via usb3 (PC using the skywatcher usb dongle, which hasn't missed a beat yet), guiding cam direct to pc via usb2. Windows 10




Reading this thread makes me think that maybe there is no one answer that will work across all setups, but for me, this was good. I hope it can help someone at some point!
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  #27  
Old 20-06-2020, 04:52 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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JP,
Don’t know if your aware of it , or maybe you do
In regard to Calibration in PHD2 , you don’t have to calibrate each time you use PHD2 ( which can take 10 minutes each time )
Perform a good calibration near the celestial equator and Just before the north meridian and save it ( auto restore Calibration) in the Brain
Ive been using the same PHD2 calibration for nearly a year now without any issue
Cheers
Martin
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  #28  
Old 20-06-2020, 05:37 PM
jahnpahwa (JP)
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Thanks Martin! Yeah, my plan is to keep using that one for that guide set up, and do another one for my longer guidescope, save them to their respective profiles and reuse (so long as performance is good).
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  #29  
Old 20-06-2020, 07:55 PM
Startrek (Martin)
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JP
Yes I have 2 imaging rigs at different locations ( Sydney and South Coast NSW ), so I have 2 profiles and I’ve Calibrated at both locations and saved both in the Brain

Some folk calibrate every time they image ( which I use to do ) but reusing a good calibration is fine , been doing it for a couple of years now

You need to save as much time as possible when nights are clear so “Auto restore Calibration” in PHD2 is a real time saver

Clear Skies
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  #30  
Old 21-06-2020, 09:55 AM
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Well, I can honestly say, I don't know, although it was working when I left.


When I got there it was doing its usual white screen in PHD and not much else. I turned everthing off and run my phone cable(USB C) from the guide cam to the hub and diconnected the 1600 as well. When I booted the PC there was no connection as it turns out the hub will not allow data transfer if not powered. I turned on the hub, the PC connected to the camera and installed the driver.


After a short test of connecting, looping, disconnecting, closing PHD and re-opening, all of which worked, I shut it down and plugged the guide cam back into the 1600 and then the 1600 back into the hub and rebooted. Every test there after worked.


All I can think of is that perhaps the driver has never loaded properly and the sequence with which to turn on and open programs, all of which really should not matter in truth.


So, turn on all telescope power points and wait until everthing has received power, say 10 to 15 seconds. Turn on PC and wait until booted. Open PHD2 and connect guide cam and mount. Start looping exposures so that camera is in use then open imaging software and connect the rest as well as planetarium.


We had previously dumped all drivers and we are using native ZWO drivers.



We will monitor the operation and see how it goes.
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