Guiding Software

[Startrek (Martin)]

Originally Posted by The_bluester

One thing to try would be to disable the guiding output in PHD2 and then select a star and let it run, see what the mount is doing with no guide inputs over a couple of worm cycles. At least that way you should get a reasonable idea if it is a mount issue or something like PHD2 settings.

Paul,
Isn’t using the Guiding Assistant in PHD2, the same thing ?
Once selected it disables the guiding and records the motion of the mount in relation to the guide Star ( allow a few minutes ) then it gives you a full diagnostic result and recommendations
I used it a couple of times years ago when I had a HEQ5 mount that had a few issues
Cheers
Martin
PS: thankfully I’ve never had to use the Guiding Assistant again as both my EQ6-R pro mounts guide beautifully after a bit of fine tuning ( worm and drive belt adjustments )

[The_bluester (Paul)]

Sort of similar, in the case of guiding assistant though it is really about data collection to get suggested settings for minimum move triggers and backlash compensation. I use "Guiding" with the guide output disabled to simply have a look at how the mount is behaving on it's own, you can calibrate and start guiding then toggle the output on and off at will while PHD2 keeps on recording.


I was chasing guiding issues with my CEM70 and it made it obvious that guiding was actually degrading the performance not improving it so I went looking for why and sorted it out. You could see that the Dec was fairly stable and RA displayed the expected periodic error and all the errors were fairly smooth, but with the guide output turned on it started jumping around like a jack in the box, only to smooth back out again when the guide output was disabled.

[mariner10 (Steve)]

Originally Posted by The_bluester

One thing to try would be to disable the guiding output in PHD2 and then select a star and let it run, see what the mount is doing with no guide inputs over a couple of worm cycles. At least that way you should get a reasonable idea if it is a mount issue or something like PHD2 settings.

Noted, thanks Paul, more things to try.