SharpCap polar align gone screwy

LewisM · #1 18-01-2018, 10:50 PM

Anyone have weird SharpCap issues previously?

2 days ago, I got SharpCap to get to within mere seconds of the pole. Fantastic (that was on the 3rd run of it).

Tonight, I set up in PRECISELY the same spot, without having changed any of the last settings, nor changed anything on the mount. Checked it roughly with a compass as always, checked it all over again, and started the routine.

Quick plate solve, but it told me my alignment was poor and to change it to the right by a large amount, and up a large amount. Huh? Manually checked everything again prior to making any changes, and I was on the money manually. In the end, I was going to run out of adjustment without moving the tripod! So gave up.

Tried again, this time it refused to plate solve. Restarted and same again.

I am using a Lodestar, and have noticed a distinct poor result in seeing ANYTNING with it, even altering the ASCOM driver settings and the settings in-program. Still not sensitive, yet in PHD I see a plethora of stars.

I checked for driver updates and program updates (I have a paid SharpCap Pro) and nothing. I am about to email Robin Glover to see what he can suggest. I am running Win 7, SharpCap Pro (latest), Lodestar with the dedicated ASCOM driver (and did try prior ASCOM drivers to be sure), and using a converted 8x50 finder (which PHD has not a single problem with - I can even see M78 in the PHD cam window). I have tried 4 second exposures, with no noteable difference, as well as noise reduction, gain at 8X etc etc, and even tried square stars in the driver settings.

Suggestions?

elsler (Mark) · #2 30-01-2018, 10:17 PM

same thing happened to me the other night on a windows 10 tablet ive been testing.The night before polar aligned perfect no problems at all didnt move the mount overnight then next night was way out asking me to go right some ridiculous amount and up also .I ended up going back to my win 7 laptop and it was fine i just put it down to windows 10 and forgot all about it but it seems there might be more to it then did you have any luck finding out what it was ?. I have a ZWO ASI120MM and a converted finder guider and haven't had any problems previously might have to see if i can repeat it again

RB (Andrew) · #3 30-01-2018, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LewisM

Suggestions?

Get a drone.

kinetic (Steve) · #4 30-01-2018, 10:30 PM

It's the supermoon causing it...?

elsler (Mark) · #5 30-01-2018, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kinetic

It's the supermoon causing it...?

I think you might be onto something here

ZeroID (Brent) · #6 31-01-2018, 08:48 AM

I had a weird issue with Sharpcap when it notified me of the latest update on Monday. I started the update but when I came back to it the software had been deleted completely. Had to go to the website and download the latest version again. Seems ok but I only did a quick 10 minute solar view to see if spots were around to image.

Merlin66 (Ken) · #7 05-02-2018, 08:42 AM

I tried SharpCap polar align for the first time last night.

Using a 60mm finder and the DMK51 camera. At 0.5s exposure +/- 12 stars
picked up and fast plate solving - it seems to be very capable; I got within 1arc min but found any further tweaking caused excess movements.

One thing, when I started, the axis was shown above and to the left of the SCP - this to me inferred that the axis was too far East and too high. Trying to make the adjustments (ie Alt lowered, Az to the West) made things much worse!!! I ending up convincing myself that I had to move the SCP indicator, rather than the axis indicator.....
Anyone else have similar experience??

(Ran OK under Win7)

LewisM · #8 05-02-2018, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by elsler

same thing happened to me the other night on a windows 10 tablet ive been testing.The night before polar aligned perfect no problems at all didnt move the mount overnight then next night was way out asking me to go right some ridiculous amount and up also .I ended up going back to my win 7 laptop and it was fine i just put it down to windows 10 and forgot all about it but it seems there might be more to it then did you have any luck finding out what it was ?. I have a ZWO ASI120MM and a converted finder guider and haven't had any problems previously might have to see if i can repeat it again

Interestingly, in Win 10, it won't see my Lodestar at all, so I think the ASCOM driver is not up to date for it (yet PHD and PHD2 see Lodestar and use it no worries). So, basically, SharpSky polar align won't work for me under Win 10.

In Win 7, as I said, it sees it, but with really poor results - the program is somehow hindering the sensitivity of the Lodestar so as to be almost unusable. Looking in PHD near Sigma Octans, it sees more than adequately.

Really frustrated, as I sold my QHY Polemaster so as to use this, thinking it would be more convenient. It's not proving to be at all.

Amaranthus (Barry) · #9 05-02-2018, 01:06 PM

Lewis, have you tried the new Polar drift align in PHD2? I've found it to be incredibly fast and accurate - much more so than traditional DA. IMHO it's a game changer! (There is also a routine for in PHD2 for static polar alignment, which is like the Sharpcap version, only more refined. It seems useful, but I find it less intuitive than PDA).

LewisM · #10 05-02-2018, 04:15 PM

I haven't had a good clear night to try, but it is on the list for sure. If PHD has good control over Lodestar unlike Sharpcap, then it may just be the way to go.

elsler (Mark) · #11 06-02-2018, 07:35 PM

Happened Again the other night might have to stick with windows 7 at the moment might try an load win7 on the tablet see how i go

LewisM · #12 14-02-2018, 08:17 PM

Well, I got it working NICELY with a Lodestar - don't ask me what I had to do as I have forgotten! Some reason it only works well AFTER I connect the Lodestar in PHD2 then disconnect it - almost like it invokes some driver specs? Weird!

Got a polar alignment to within 3 secs the other night (wasn't going to get finer given how coarse the adjustment is on the SXP) - it plate solved approx 80% of the frames (2 sec shot interval), so polar alignment from 2° out (compass alignment) to 3" out took approx 10 mins of fiddling.

The mount then proceeded to be flat line in RA and Dec, with NO guide jog spikes. Makes life SOOOOOOOOO easy