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Old 27-10-2008, 05:55 PM
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peeb61 (Paul)
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Autoguiding through ED80

I am used to autoguiding my LX200GPS with a DSI...this is fine as the orientation of the USB socket has to be in a particular postion....

But now I am ready to image and autoguide with a piggybacked ED80 or Skywatcher 102.

My problem is I cannot reach focus without an extention tube with the DSI attached to the ED80 (or Skywatcher 102). I have read a post within this forum I can reach the acquired focus if I use the 2" Meade 90 deg Diagonal, this is correct as I have tested it and it focusers fine.

If I am using this diagonal as an extension tube to focus then what would the orientation of the DSI have to be, to enable a successful guide? i.e. USB socket pointing to the 9 0' clock or 3 0' clock position?

Many thanks in advance.
Paul

Last edited by peeb61; 27-10-2008 at 06:41 PM.
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  #2  
Old 27-10-2008, 06:26 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Paul,

If you use PHD Guiding, it doesn't matter what orientation your guiding camera is. It works all that out for you.

Regards,
Humayun
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  #3  
Old 27-10-2008, 06:34 PM
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peeb61 (Paul)
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Thanks Humayun for your quick response.
I have tried PHD in the past but had troubles with it...freezing up etc My success has always laid with Meade Envisage but I suppose I should try and work out the issues.

Cheers
Paul
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Old 27-10-2008, 07:02 PM
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Octane (Humayun)
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Paul,

You're welcome.

I originally had a Meade LX90 LNT and tried Envisage to guide using a Meade DSI. It seemed to sometimes work and then at other times just lose the guidestar and go AWOL. I gave that up pretty quickly.

If you're having freezing issues, you may need to update your drivers. Have you got the latest ASCOM drivers?

Regards,
Humayun

Quote:
Originally Posted by peeb61 View Post
Thanks Humayun for your quick response.
I have tried PHD in the past but had troubles with it...freezing up etc My success has always laid with Meade Envisage but I suppose I should try and work out the issues.

Cheers
Paul
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  #5  
Old 27-10-2008, 07:43 PM
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peeb61 (Paul)
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Humayun,
Yes....everything is up to specks including ascom.
I can honestly say envisage has been a godsend as guiding software, I cannot fault it.

I will try PHD at the next opportune and report back here.

Cheers
Paul
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  #6  
Old 28-10-2008, 11:27 AM
TrevorW
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Buy a 80mm extension tube from Bintels that's what I use with my guider in an ED80

Cheers
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Old 28-10-2008, 12:00 PM
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madwayne (Wayne)
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I guide with an ED80/2" diagonal with 1.25" adaptor and a QHY5 mono. I set the little red light on the QHY5 at 3 o'clock and it hums along all night in PHD. One thing I do with PHD is try and leave it active on the desktop so I have my laptop screen with PHD on one half and the other half has Maxim on. I find when PHD gets buried under Stellarium, Stellarium Scope, Maxim DL, EQASCOM etc etc it has little hissy fits and fails.

My focus point for the ED80/QHY5 and diagonal is around 35mm, and 40mm for my reticle. I upgraded the focuser to a 10:1 when I used the ED80 for imaging and it has a "ruler" on it.

I hope my quirky way of doing things helps.

Regards
Wayne
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Old 28-10-2008, 05:39 PM
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peeb61 (Paul)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TrevorW View Post
Buy a 80mm extension tube from Bintels that's what I use with my guider in an ED80

Cheers
Thanks Trevor, I will look into the extension tube, I have been using the 2" tube off my barlow, this has worked quite well focusing my 350D..I will see if it will focus the DSI.

Paul


Quote:
Originally Posted by madwayne View Post
I guide with an ED80/2" diagonal with 1.25" adaptor and a QHY5 mono. I set the little red light on the QHY5 at 3 o'clock and it hums along all night in PHD. One thing I do with PHD is try and leave it active on the desktop so I have my laptop screen with PHD on one half and the other half has Maxim on. I find when PHD gets buried under Stellarium, Stellarium Scope, Maxim DL, EQASCOM etc etc it has little hissy fits and fails.

My focus point for the ED80/QHY5 and diagonal is around 35mm, and 40mm for my reticle. I upgraded the focuser to a 10:1 when I used the ED80 for imaging and it has a "ruler" on it.

I hope my quirky way of doing things helps.

Regards
Wayne
Wayne, that's not a quirky way...that's depth!
Thanks for taking the time to explain how your setup is rigged, I will fiddle with mine.

Paul
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Old 28-10-2008, 05:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Octane View Post
Paul,

If you use PHD Guiding, it doesn't matter what orientation your guiding camera is. It works all that out for you.

Regards,
Humayun
Humayun,
I was wondering if I used PHD Guiding....how do I take dark's? like with the DSI??

Just curious.

Paul

Last edited by peeb61; 04-11-2008 at 06:15 PM.
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Old 28-10-2008, 06:38 PM
centroid (Dave)
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I guided with a DSI and an ED80 for some considerable time, and very successfully.

I made a short extension tube, in order to achieve the necessary back-focus.

The DSI needed to oriented with the USB connector facing to the right, when viewed from the rear.

I did try it with PHD (I normally use AA4),and it worked fine. I've never found the need to take dark frames, with a guide camera.

Dave
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Old 28-10-2008, 06:40 PM
gbeal
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peeb61 View Post
Humayun,
I was wondering if I used PHD Guiding....how do I take dark's with the DSI??

Just curious.

Paul
My PHD ( heck, that makes me sound educated, LOL) has a "Take Dark" option.
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Old 28-10-2008, 08:37 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by centroid View Post
I guided with a DSI and an ED80 for some considerable time, and very successfully.

I made a short extension tube, in order to achieve the necessary back-focus.

The DSI needed to oriented with the USB connector facing to the right, when viewed from the rear.

I did try it with PHD (I normally use AA4),and it worked fine. I've never found the need to take dark frames, with a guide camera.

Dave
Thanks Dave...this is great news...thanks for the info! I found taking the darks gave me 1 sec exposures needed for guiding, I have never needed to expose longer.

Paul

Quote:
Originally Posted by gbeal View Post
My PHD ( heck, that makes me sound educated, LOL) has a "Take Dark" option.
Thanks gbeal....I have fiddled with PHD but never delved deep into the setup...I will dig around more into PHD and work it out.

Paul
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Old 04-11-2008, 06:15 PM
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Just an update on my delemma.
The extension I have works well so I don't need the 2" diagonal to aid in the focus...I'm happy.

PHD works well with my setup and IT takes darks...thanks gbeal!
I will try this out at my next imaging night if the clouds go away.

Paul
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