Quote:
Originally Posted by Robert_T
Hi all,  finally assembled all the software and hardware I think I need for this auto-guiding my LXD75 with autostar.. I've got PHD Guiding software and serial - 232 cable bought 232 to USB adaptor, downloaded the latest ASCOM platforms and read up on and got and loaded the right Meade driver for the LXD75.
Fired everything up, plugged in my phillips webcam... miracle the software recognised it, fired up the mount, miracle it found the right driver and I could select the mount and the program "saw" it...I could even do some looped images and find and focus and select a star to guide on, but that's wher it all started to fall apart  ...while the PhD software clearly recognised the mount I could see no evidence that it actually made it move. There is a manual guide menu option which brings up N, S, E, W buttons but they did nothing. |
Hi Rob,
Have you tried to control your mount from your PC via ASCOM and the USB to serial adapter you have? Were you able to move your mount using directions buttons from any planetary or mount control software besides PHD when the mount is connected to your PC via ASCOM and the adapter?
If you never tried it I would recommend to put PHD aside for a while and make sure first that at least your USB to Serial adapter works and you can control your mount through it. This manual guide option in PHD is very tricky and I personally never saw it working when I used guiding via ASCOM. Everytime I used it it just hanged PHD and never moved my mount.
I guess you'll need to try ASCOM and USB-RS232 adapter first from some planetary software. Try it with
CCD which is free. If it works you can go further with PHD and see what's wrong with it. However if it does not you will at least know that the main issue is with you serial connection to your mount. Sometimes these USB-RS232 adapters does not work properly.
cheers,
Mike