PHD guiding software is like the steering wheel down my pants...

troypiggo (Troy) · #1 13-07-2009, 06:20 PM

... driving me nuts.

Been using PHD since I started. At first, with SPC900NC as guide cam and whatever gear/software I had then, no dramas really. Was a bit of a resource hog, but it worked. I wasn't happy with the resolution/noise - had trouble finding stars to guide with.

Got a DSI II Pro, and it was also good and worked well. For a bit. Now, I'm having no end of trouble with PHD locking/freezing. Wasting so much of my precious few nights under the stars. I'm totally over it and want to use a decent guiding program.

Obviously trawled through threads here. I see Guidemaster, Metaguide, EQAlign, and more. I have installed but haven't used Guidemaster and Metaguide.

Last night I successfully used EQAlign for the first time for drift aligning. But when I went to try to use it to guide, it kept coming up with a message box saying I need to calibrate before it can guide. I tried everything that I thought it was referring to and couldn't get it to work. I have asked a question on the EQAlign forum. But in the meantime...

I came across some threads that mention K3CCDTools does both drift alignment and guiding. I didn't realise this. I have v3 of it, but intended to use it for planetary imaging and to be honest haven't had a chance to play with it yet. How good/easy is the drift alignment and guiding components of it?

What other, better(?), guiding software is around? Preferably free, but if it costs a little and it saves me tearing what little hair I have left out, I'll take it.

Octane (Humayun) · #2 13-07-2009, 07:09 PM

Troy,

I think Paul (1ponders) was going to write an article on how to drift align using K3CCDTools. I could be wrong, though.

Not sure why Push Here Dummy Guiding is giving you so much grief.

Regards,
Humayun

troypiggo (Troy) · #3 13-07-2009, 07:36 PM

I saw the thread about an article coming with CCDTools. It was dated Nov 08 and nothing since. Assumed the article project died. It's more the guiding I need to sort now anyway, not the alignment.

I can use PHD, it's simple enough to actually use. There seems to be a software or hardware clash there somewhere. I've spent hours and nights wasted trying to pin it down and can't.

mithrandir (Andrew) · #4 13-07-2009, 11:03 PM

There has been a lot of discussion recently in the yahoo group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/s...nomy-software/ about PHD problems with DSI cameras. DSIUSB.sys was the culprit in one case and uninstalling and reinstalling Envisage fixed it.

What version of PHD are you using? Craig has loaded most versions of PHD at http://www.stark-labs.com/OldVersions/ and you might find an older or newer version works better.

leinad (Dan) · #5 14-07-2009, 12:10 AM

I use a DSIPro/PHD at present.
Are you using a 2X Barlow? Good enough focus, and correct camera orientation; N/S, parallel E/W ?

Powered on USB Hub, or USB direct ?
Frame chew/buffer reqs seem to cause grief with shared USB over powered HUBS.

PHD tips here:
http://www.stark-labs.com/wiki/doku....ec_calibration

troypiggo (Troy) · #6 14-07-2009, 06:39 AM

Andrew, thanks for the tips of getting PHD/DSI working.

Leinad, I'm using a barlow with the glass removed so it's just a cheap extension tube so the DSI can get focus. Is that what you mean? I do get focus.
I don't know what you mean about "correct camera orientation". North and South lines are always parallel in my world, as are East and West

I've tried it through my powered USB hub and also with the USB plugged straight into the netbook. FTR I has worked in the past through the hub.

I think my original post must have mislead readers. I don't want to waste more time getting PHD working. Even when it did work, I found it too much of a resource hog. I am after recommendations on a better guiding software alternative. Are you all saying PHD is the best and I should stick with it?

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #7 14-07-2009, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octane

Troy,

I think Paul (1ponders) was going to write an article on how to drift align using K3CCDTools. I could be wrong, though.

Regards,
Humayun

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...436#post465436
Sheeny wrote this one up.

jjjnettie (Jeanette) · #8 14-07-2009, 08:27 AM

Lot's of VERY good information on drift aligning. The second link gives you a walk through.
http://www.andysshotglass.com/
http://www.andysshotglass.com/StarTarg.html

pjphilli (Peter) · #9 14-07-2009, 02:50 PM

Hi Troy
I use PHD with a QHY5 imager on a f6 100mm (camera type) Mak.
It always works perfectly apart from the bit of initial fiddling with the parameters to get the smoothest guiding. The use of the real time graphs
with the DEC guiding turned off is a brilliant way to get perfect polar alignment in just a few minutes. I know this does not help you one little bit
- sorry!
Cheers Peter

leinad (Dan) · #10 14-07-2009, 03:03 PM

Yes a 2x barlow Troy. And I do the same as Peter mentioned above.

'camera orientation' as in; we you KP press UP; star moves up when viewing camera on laptop. Visa Versa with KP Down.

danielsun · #11 15-07-2009, 10:58 PM

Hi Troy,
A while back I had severe issues with all my astro programs freezing and jamming including PHD so I got my laptop totally wiped clean and started again from scratch and scince then everything has been running beautifully.
I use PHD for guiding (also via a swann usb hub) with the starshoot cam and if you have trouble finding stars, take a dark frame.
Also upgrade your PHD to v,10.0. The (Enable graph) feature to monitor your guiding acuracy is very handy.

Cheers Daniel.

g__day (Matthew) · #12 15-07-2009, 11:33 PM

The basics colour Meade DSI never guided really well for me, and the USB cable was loose in the DSI cause shorts that lead to PC re-boots once or twice a night. The DSI II mono pro has been much better.

PHD (currently 1.10.6) is very good for me. I'll like to contrast it to MaximDL v4.56 as I ponder MaximDL might learn your mounts backlash better than PHD at present - not sure - I'll fire off Craig Stark a question on this.

Glenhuon (Bill) · #13 16-07-2009, 03:14 AM

I use a DSI 1 for guiding with PHD and it doesn't give me a lot of grief. I did find last time I had to adjust the gain down a bit to get rid of some interference on the screen due to a change in the sky glow, but apart from that it guides rather well. Never tried any of the other programs mentioned, but I should imagine they all need to calibrate to suit the area of sky they are pointing at. The DSI 1 was originally bought as an imaging camera, and it proved to be a total pain to use, very difficult to get sharp focus and very sensitive to changing sky conditions, so it got relegated to guiding only. I used to get conflicts with PHD and DSLR focus when using the old DELL laptop for both functions but bought a newer lappy for imaging and the Dell was only a guider. Been OK since. Could be your machine can't handle both programs running at once.

Cheers
Bill

RobF (Rob) · #14 19-07-2009, 08:05 PM

I tried a bunch of them a while ago just to see, then tried again to see if I could get better tracking than Phd. Guidemaster most intuitive, most control, pretty easy to use. Have to watch it when cal'ing if multiple bright stars in field.

Metaguide has lots of nice features, but I don't find the labellings of the graph axes and other elements of the GUI very intuitive. SCT collimation functions not very exciting for me either. Looks pretty cool running though! - even if I can't get it tracking very easily

AlexN · #15 20-07-2009, 05:58 PM

I have the same troubles with PHD... had them with my DBK31 and with my QHY5... for some reason using 1 second exposures, sometimes it can take 9 ~ 10 seconds to actually register a new frame on the screen, this would, and has, cause problems with guiding... it seems like the computer isn't fast enough to handle what its trying to do, however my laptop is fairly up to date, and I dont see why a 1.6ghz computer with 1gb of ram cant adequately capture 1 frame per second... I just did a test with CCDSoft and with Guidemaster, and they can both take continious 1 second exposures with absolutely no delay.. I'm running windows vista which MAY be a problem, however I dont see why it would be... PHD has never worked flawlessly for me... ever... dont know why, it just hasn't..

I'm going to give guidemaster and CCDSoft a go next night out, and hopefully one of them can provide me better results than PHD...