However, the current adjustment is critical: if too low, microstepping disappears, if too high, then the movement becomes jerky for some reason.
I didn't understood this. "Current adjustment"... It's "volume"? In "pulse/dir" drive method, use the "volume" always at max (120). In further releases I will disable this volume control when using "pulse/dir" drive method.
I didn't understood this. "Current adjustment"... It's "volume"? In "pulse/dir" drive method, use the "volume" always at max (120). In further releases I will disable this volume control when using "pulse/dir" drive method.
Maciel,
current adjustment is on Pololu module (small pot that controls max current) it has nothing to do with SoundStepper - sorry I wasn't precise enough
While playing with Soundstepper, I noticed arrows on keyboard are not active while tracking. Also, it would be good if we can control the speed of the movement (like, when arrow key is pressed for longer time, acceleration kicks in)?
Why?
The max pulse rate from Soundstepper is 10800 pulses/second.
Or it's having malfunctioning if using more speed than 2K PPS?
Sorry for error - yes the settings were as you described (at max).
I have some issues with noise on my board, when I have a oscilloscope probe attached the motor movement is jerky - I need Schmitt triggers instead of inverters (which I have currently on board (no need for them when signals are coming from LPT port).
However, the settings on the test screen (when I accept the previous telescope position) are shaded and can't be adjusted, and the max speed is defaulted to 2720sps.
I think you should get rid of those dialogue screens (optionally.. they are annoying once the whole thing is properly set up)
Unrelated to SoundStepper, there is a thermal problem with stepper divers - at higher currents, thermal protection on Allegro chip kicks in. So better cooling of driver modules will be necessary.
While playing with Soundstepper, I noticed arrows on keyboard are not active while tracking. Also, it would be good if we can control the speed of the movement (like, when arrow key is pressed for longer time, acceleration kicks in)?
The keyboard arrows are active while tracking, but the Soundstepper window must be in foreground.
Using Shift+UP increase arrows' speed, Shift+Down decrease arrows' speed. Releasing arrow, return to sidereal speed.
You can also use the "Guiding incorporation" feature: X% of guiding speed to be added to the sidereal speed each second. After guiding always "westward" for an amount of time, the Soundstepper adds X% of this guiding speed, integrated over the amount of time, to the sidereal speed, reducing further need of guiding. See "guiding incorporation" in main config window.
...However, the settings on the test screen (when I accept the previous telescope position) are shaded and can't be adjusted, and the max speed is defaulted to 2720sps.
...
I think you should get rid of those dialogue screens (optionally.. they are annoying once the whole thing is properly set up)
About the max speed, I can't reproduce the problem here (see screenshot).
About initial "recover from last saved position" dialog, it's very important if the system crashes. How the Soundstepper will know if the telescope was properly parked?
But I may put in this dialog a 4th button, "check configurations", and make "OK" button bypass config window. What about this?
About the max speed, I can't reproduce the problem here (see screenshot).
Not sure now.. maybe I was using older version of software (too many computers around.. maybe I will need to run SS from memory stick while experimenting
Nope.. see attached.
I can change the speed parameters only if saved settings are discarded.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maciel
About initial "recover from last saved position" dialog, it's very important if the system crashes. How the Soundstepper will know if the telescope was properly parked?
But I may put in this dialog a 4th button, "check configurations", and make "OK" button bypass config window. What about this?
The first dialogue box ("is telescope in the same position?" ) is quite OK.
If accepted, application should start without intermediate dialogue (test screen), but the idea about 4th button on application screen ("check & change parameters") seems better to me - lets try it
I have one more question - I noticed when GoTo, SS sometimes overshoots, then goes back quite a bit, then resumes tracking. I am assuming this is correction between estimated and required amount of slewing? How does SS know what sound card did (how many steps)?
I can change the speed parameters only if saved settings are discarded
You can't change parameters when telescope is not parked. It's intentional. Discard current position (and accept the telescope is parked) is necessary to change settings (and is different from discard settings).
Quote:
Originally Posted by bojan
I have one more question - I noticed when GoTo, SS sometimes overshoots, then goes back quite a bit, then resumes tracking.
When Go-To (by coordinates) this is not expected to happen. But, when using keyboard arrows, yes. It will stop at the point where it was when You released the arrow.
You can't change parameters when telescope is not parked. It's intentional. Discard current position (and accept the telescope is parked) is necessary to change settings (and is different from discard settings).
Ok, this is reasonable...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maciel
When Go-To (by coordinates) this is not expected to happen. But, when using keyboard arrows, yes. It will stop at the point where it was when You released the arrow.
This is what I was talking about.
For example, if I change RA by 1 hour (or whatever large amount), it will overshoot and come back a little, until it stops (or continue tracking).
EDIT:
OK, I may have remembered wrong thing when playing with software.. it is OK, as you wrote.
I just replaced 74HC04 with 74HC14 (Schmitt trigger) in my driver board and now the motor movement is smooth, no noise and no missing pulses at all. Like gliding on oil
Only remaining issue (apart from those little general and not very important comments on SS software) is cooling of the driver module - I will sort it out with heat sinks and couple of thick silicon pads (for better thermal contact).
And, before I forget, it is worth mentioning that I also shorted R4 (10k) resistor on pololu board, marked with blue arrow on image below. This is to remove the missing pulses issue (more details are in data sheet for A4988 chip).
my cheap usb devices arrived from China. I can't see any markings designating the chipset used. They do look a look identical to yours except that one socket is yellow instead of gray. Is there a specific place I can find the chip set? If they are the same as yours, can I copy whatever circuit you finally use?
- 16-bit audio: In earlier "8-bit audio" versions, the volume "120" was only 93% of volume (8-bit PCM audio: -128..0..127). Now it reaches 100% of 16-bit range. Attention: some audio adapters are non-linear at max volume (distortion).
- Floating-point analog positioning: Now there are infinite "microsteps" per step (true analog). In earlier "integer" versions, was 90 microsteps per step. This don't increase accuracy, but increase smoothness in ultra-low-reduction systems.
That looks very good, Marcelo.
BTW, any news about new release of SoundStepper?
I set it up with my EQ6 and Pololu drivers, and it works perfectly, better than Bartel's system (which I still use on my dob mount, and I will as long as the computer running it is alive) .
I'm using the last release (5.0.3.207) in 16 bit mode. In my case I can't see any difference. Probably this change it is more important to the analogic motor control.
Some small bugs are corrected too.
Now I need to study the source code to add some improvements and help SoundStepper's development.
New version
