Skywatcher SynScan version 3.36

[coldknights (Cathy)]

http://www.skywatcher.com/downloads.php?cat=49

[Eden (Brett)]

New Features:
1. User configurable declination offset for a mount(e.g. EQ8) which supports Auto-Home function.
2. Astronomical time-lapse photography.
3. Atmospheric refraction, cone error and non-perpendicular error compensations for better pointing accuracy.
Cone error measured in 3-Star alignment can be used in subsequent 1-Star or 2-Star alignment.
4. Meridian flipping for GOTO can be enforced or disabled.
5. New algorithm for alignment stars filtering to improve alignment quality.
Note: Please download the latest manual for details on the above new features.

Bugs fixed:
1. Occasional irregular approaching at the end of GOTO.
2. New firmware uses J.2000 coordinates for computer communication.
3. Unreliable Auto-Home when the mount is already at home position.
4. Other minor bugs.

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

thanks for the heads up. cone error measurement sounds interesting.

[Philming (Phil)]

If anyone gets a chance to test this new fw, I'd be interested into knowing if the 1 and 3 stars alignment got any better.
It seems to me that anything above 3.27 lacks precision. I usually just do a 1 star alignment, with a star as near as possible to the DSO I want to shoot. With 3.27, the goto will be at the dead center of the DSLR's sensor. With any fw above 3.27, I seem to be always a little off.
So if this has evolved, I'd be interested to know. It's the only thing that keeps me at 3.27 on my EQ6 for now.

[Andy01 (Andy)]

+1 above. EQ6 & v3.27 work well, also interested in user test results from later versions,

Cheers
Andt

[Philming (Phil)]

Happy to see I'm not the only one with this problem...

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

anyone given this a go yet?

[VPAstro (Andrew and Cam)]

I have been using it for about a week now, and find it the same as 3.35 in terms of 3star alignment and polar alignment functions.
Andrew...

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

thanks Andrew and cam, it was the cone error/correction that I've found potentially could be an improvement over 3.35.

cheers

rusty

[VPAstro (Andrew and Cam)]

Hi Rusty,
Yes, I did see that in there after the three star alignment, but I haven't done it as yet. I think it was previously included as the 3rd of the 3star alignment.
Tracking was still good. I was getting 105 second exposures unguided, which was slightly better than what I could do on the 3.35 version.
Andrew

[VPAstro (Andrew and Cam)]

One different thing is that I did throw up a caution after the end of the alignment, saying CAUTION: prev. NPE, CE applied. It looks like it writes values to the CE (cone error) and overwrites them at each 3 star alignment. You can also add values to the non perpendicular error according to the manual.

Andrew

[AndrewJ]

Just for info, has anyone out there tried to use the V3.3 updater on an older Synscan handbox????
I still have Firmware 3.21 loaded on my Hbx, and was going to update to 3.27.
I couldnt get the latest updater to connect in download mode.
I tried the alternate DetectPC2Synscan app and that worked OK.
Then i went and tried the updater again, and on failing, just tried again.
This time it connected ????
I then went back and repeated the process, but using Portmon to sniff what was going on. Ref log below
( I also tried with 2 different cables just to be sure, and its 100% repeatable )
Do others see this behaviour????
as im not sure i want to do a load if the updater is flakey.
( Note, the first send at 115k doesnt actually attempt to send anything, and i think this is what screws it up )

Andrew

ref

0 0.00004582 IRP_MJ_CREATE Options: Open
9 0.00000838 SET_BAUD_RATE Rate: 115200
12 0.00000251 SET_LINE_CONTROL StopBits: 1 Parity: NONE WordLength: 8
13 0.00000084 SET_CHAR EOF:0 ERR:0 BRK:0 EVT:0 XON:11 XOFF:13
14 0.00000251 SET_HANDFLOW Shake:0 Replace:80000000 XonLimit:2048 XoffLimit:512
16 0.00000112 SET_TIMEOUTS RI:30 RM:2 RC:500 WM:2 WC:30
18 0.00000084 IRP_MJ_WRITE Length 0: // *** Note! We send Nothing ??????
72443 0.00000140 IRP_MJ_CLEANUP
72444 0.01567797 IRP_MJ_CLOSE

72445 0.00005364 IRP_MJ_CREATE Options: Open
72454 0.00000838 SET_BAUD_RATE Rate: 9600
72457 0.00000251 SET_LINE_CONTROL StopBits: 1 Parity: NONE WordLength: 8
72458 0.00000112 SET_CHAR EOF:0 ERR:0 BRK:0 EVT:0 XON:11 XOFF:13
72459 0.00000251 SET_HANDFLOW Shake:0 Replace:80000000 XonLimit:2048 XoffLimit:512
72461 0.00000084 SET_TIMEOUTS RI:30 RM:2 RC:500 WM:2 WC:30
72463 0.00001732 IRP_MJ_WRITE Length 1: 49 // *** Send I
// timed out here

// start retry
307681 0.00004554 IRP_MJ_CREATE Options: Open
307690 0.00000838 SET_BAUD_RATE Rate: 115200
307693 0.00000251 SET_LINE_CONTROL StopBits: 1 Parity: NONE WordLength: 8
307694 0.00000112 SET_CHAR EOF:0 ERR:0 BRK:0 EVT:0 XON:11 XOFF:13
307695 0.00000251 SET_HANDFLOW Shake:0 Replace:80000000 XonLimit:2048 XoffLimit:512
307697 0.00000112 SET_TIMEOUTS RI:30 RM:2 RC:500 WM:2 WC:30
307699 0.00001956 IRP_MJ_WRITE Length 1: 49 // *** Send I
307868 0.00000168 IRP_MJ_READ Length 7: 49 03 03 15 03 15 03 // get back this
307869 0.00000168 IRP_MJ_CLEANUP Serial0 SUCCESS
307870 0.01096983 IRP_MJ_CLOSE Serial0 SUCCESS

My HC reports Motor Card 3.03, Std Firmware 3.21, Databases 3.21,
so that lines up with the data i got back.

[slt (Gunther)]

I've been running my AZ-EQ6 with V3.35 pretty much since I bought it in March, primarily in ALT-AZ mode, since the SCP is obscured from where I observe, and frankly because it's simpler to set up for visual observation.

Anyway, I've been having this weird (or so I thought) problem where after a goto to the correct target, the mount would slew away right at the end, as much as 30' in alt. Happened whether I used the HC on it's own, or drove it through SkySafari or Skytools3. Was a bit annoying early on, but after I while I got used to it, and simply corrected the alt (and since Skytools showed me where the mount was in relation to the target it wasn't too onerous).

Last night I had my first session with the upgraded 3.36 HC firmware, and lo and behold, the mount now points to where I tell it. No idea whether there are any improvements in EQ mode, but for the time being I'm happy with what they've done!

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

Originally Posted by slt

I've been running my AZ-EQ6 with V3.35 pretty much since I bought it in March, primarily in ALT-AZ mode, since the SCP is obscured from where I observe, and frankly because it's simpler to set up for visual observation.

Anyway, I've been having this weird (or so I thought) problem where after a goto to the correct target, the mount would slew away right at the end, as much as 30' in alt. Happened whether I used the HC on it's own, or drove it through SkySafari or Skytools3. Was a bit annoying early on, but after I while I got used to it, and simply corrected the alt (and since Skytools showed me where the mount was in relation to the target it wasn't too onerous).

Last night I had my first session with the upgraded 3.36 HC firmware, and lo and behold, the mount now points to where I tell it. No idea whether there are any improvements in EQ mode, but for the time being I'm happy with what they've done!

thanks for the feedback, sounds like it could be a winner - will upgrade next opportunity.

[killswitch (Edison)]

Originally Posted by slt

Anyway, I've been having this weird (or so I thought) problem where after a goto to the correct target, the mount would slew away right at the end, as much as 30' in alt. Happened whether I used the HC on it's own, or drove it through SkySafari or Skytools3. Was a bit annoying early on, but after I while I got used to it, and simply corrected the alt (and since Skytools showed me where the mount was in relation to the target it wasn't too onerous).

Happens to me on Skysafari too, you need to hit GoTo again after it slews away and it should correct itself the second time.

Glad they fixed it.

[coldknights (Cathy)]

Will update the EQ8 sometime next week with 3.36 and give it a try .
Hope it fixes the swing away from target problem !

[big-blue]

I have tried out ver 3.36 with my EQ6 a few times now over the past week and I like it.

I had previously tried Ver3.35 but Polar Alignment (PA) seemed erratic and did not converge on multiple re-tries during a night. (noting I pack my gear away every evening hence start from scratch each time) Also the erratic to-fro slewing at the end of go-to annoyed me too much, so I reverted to the reliable ver3.27 and made-do without PA. Until now. The latest 3.36 seems to give me the reliability of 3.27 plus star-based PA.

I also like the way this new 3.36 release seems to have separated cone error correction from PA. Conceptually, 2-star alignment on the same side of the meridian should provide an accurate figure of PA error, which then becomes the target for the software-assisted PA routine via handbox. Then the 3rd star on the other side of the meridian works out the cone error & consequent correction required, but leaves PA error unaltered. I tested PA using 2 vs 3-star alignment in 3.36, and the results were much more consistent for the reported PA error to correct. Though of course only 3-star provided the additional cone error correction.

I am a visual observer and appreciate accurate go-to to find the faint stuff. Ver 3.36 seems more consistently accurate for go-to, maybe because cone error is better handled.

Once I go thru a full PA routine, I also find tracking to be much better than before. I have left an object tracking in a 20' eyepiece field, and found it still there after 3 hours. Which tells me the ver3.36 PA routine now resolves much more accurately than with the prior ver3.35.

Hopefully it all continues to work as well as the seasons change, and different alignment stars are used...

cheers

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

have uploaded the firmware but still haven't had a proper go at it yet as I have been clouded out.
I did set it up and start to align before the clouds rolled in and it seems to move more 'directly' to an object.
early reports sound fairly promising.

[raymo]

People seem to have different experiences. I found no difference in the
to-fro slewing at the end of go-to between 3.27 and 3.35. It has been
occasional and irregular for me using both versions.
raymo

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

I tried out 3.36 a week or so ago...no to-ing and fro-ing around targets so far. However, with 3.35 my mount only seemed to do it occasionally anyway...not on every target, so maybe I just didn't sample enough targets for it to present itself

Anyone understand the cone error values?