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Old 02-12-2007, 11:13 AM
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A PHD Question

Hi Guys,

Last night during my imaging run I encountered a very unusual problem, however it may not be that unusual to others, but it has only happened to once.

I chose M42 aligned, set the Guiding to Photo mode with the Gemini, and fired off 15 shots, no problem, all good.

Chose IC 434 aligned and did the same with PHD it told me that it was guiding and all was well, fired off another 10 shots, and then happened to glance at the screen to see how it was going.

PHD, although telling me it was guiding, and the cross hairs were still there had stopped, as if it had frozen, and the normal movement of the little box surrounding the guide star had also stopped, it's normal small movements.

It however still told me that it was guiding, and the usual warning sound was also not heard.

I ended the imaging and checked the results, all 10 images were just star trails, a least as long a one would expect if using a tripod for 1.5 minutes.

Not good i thought, checked the balance, plus the mount in case it may have hit something and stalled, all good then had a go at Eta, did exactly the same as before and all was well again, perfect guiding, stars were pin point.

Could some one please try and explain what may have gone astray.

Thank You.

Leon
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Old 02-12-2007, 11:24 AM
Zuts
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I'm no expert, but it seems that it simply crashed and that the window remained frozen on screen displaying its last output. Usually it pays to check PHD for a few moments after slewing and before starting another imaging run. If i slew a fair distance then i also get it to recalibrate.

I guess all windows boxes can suffer the occasional glitch...

Paul
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Old 02-12-2007, 01:27 PM
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Thanks Paul, yep, it was probably some simple like that, or I forgot to re calibrate when i went to my new object, maybe a bit of age showing up.

Leon
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Old 02-12-2007, 01:51 PM
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dugnsuz (Doug)
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Hi leon,
I was having similar problems last week - PHD crashed or moved along at a snails pace as soon as I plugged in the camera to the laptop.
Fixed when I bought a powered USB2.0 hub.

On a similar topic, I'm using PHD in the simple mode - impatient instructions version!
Does anybody use the settings under the "brain" button - aggresiveness etc?
If so could you share example settings!?
Cheers
Doug
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Old 02-12-2007, 03:24 PM
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Yes, Doug I do the same as you with the Impatient Instructions, It all worked very well until that one occasion, and it is fine now, probably just cracked it because it was so early in the morning.

Leon
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Old 02-12-2007, 08:51 PM
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I've had PHD crash once like that....
If I'm about to start a pretty long run, I restart it - calibration doesn't take too long.....
I've also slewed across the sky and forgotten to re-align PHD - gives you interesting results!
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Old 02-12-2007, 09:02 PM
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Yea, not not wrong Lee, 10 lovely frames of wobbly star trails, 30 minutes wasted imaging time, confusion, and worrying what went wrong.

Leon
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Old 06-12-2007, 11:59 AM
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This is most likely due to comms/timing issue with the camera. If it was a one off event I would not worry - if it is recurrent then...

If, like me, the laptop you use when imaging is your work machine it is good practice to remove all non-essential programs/hardware from the PC (firewall, virus scanner, screen saver and others can all be suspects here) and do a re-start before any imaging run, also it is a good idea to use the exact same sequence for connecting up all your cables and starting you software....

If you have multiple cameras connected to USB ports on your machine it is a good idea (if possible) to connect them such that they use different physical controllers on the PC - some systems can have issues if the imaging camera downloads a frame at the same time as the guide frame. A powered USB hub can help - this is your camera does not have a separate power supply and draws its power from the USB cable and of course make sure you are running the latest drivers for your USB controller(s) and cameras...
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Old 06-12-2007, 12:55 PM
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Thanks John, it was only a one off event to date and has been working well ever since, but i will consider your suggestions and see how it all goes.

Leon
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