A question regarding Losmandy Digital Drive, PEC and TVC

[1ponders] (Paul) · #1 16-09-2007, 08:19 PM

I only have th Losmandy Digital Drive system on my G11 and over the past couple of months it has started to have a mind of its own.

I never use the PEC or the TVC as I find I get a worse result using them in conjunction with autoguiding as compared to just autoguiding alone. NP I'm happy to leave them turned off. Unfortunately they have started turning themselves on! And this is becoming a real pain. I will set myself up, get the autoguiding going, start my automated imaging run, head off to do something else only to come back 10 or 20 min later only to find the PEC and the TVC have turned themselves on and the autoguiding is jumping all over the place.

Does the TVC affect just the RA, DEC or Both?

Can anyone explain why these things turn themselves on and how to stop them from doing so. I use K3CCDTools V3 exclusively for autoguiding, and Starmate for my autoguiding interface. I normally autoguide using adjustments of 0.5x sideral.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #2 16-09-2007, 09:11 PM

And now tonight (I thought I'd try something else) I autoguided at 2X sidereal and the damn thing jumped down to 0.5X sidereal on it's own after a while.

Alchemy (Clive) · #3 17-09-2007, 06:14 AM

NASTY... i have NEVER had this happen on mine , i only use the push pull version not gemini. which are you using? with mine as the only input is a hand controller or autoguider which is ONLY putting in guide corrections it cannot affect anything else... try handguiding or having only hand guider connected to isolate any possible program interference if it still happens then. ...... i could be wrong but it sounds as though the motherboard in the unit is suffering to some degree ... as are you no doubt... if you are using gemini does it have a flash upgrade possible, try a new version or reload an older one.

isolate each possibility and test, i will be interested in your progress

i feel your pain.........

cristian abarca · #4 17-09-2007, 07:28 AM

Have you tried this group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Losmandy_users/ . There is also a link to a Gemini users group.

Cristian

[1ponders] (Paul) · #5 17-09-2007, 08:25 AM

I only have the digital drive, not the gemini. My input, as far as I am aware is from the autoguider which connects to the handpaddle port. It is very strange.

I am a member of the yahoo group Christian, but I thought I'd post here first to see if anyone was familiar with the problem.

Robby · #6 17-09-2007, 08:56 AM

Hi Paul,
Very strange indeed. I know from my experience that you can actually control the TVC & PEC buttons via the autoguider port, as the Losmandy uses a funny TDM system for controlling guide movements and button pushes.
I have seen this type of thing during the development of starmate, but since I sorted it out, I have never since had a problem.
Seeing as this is a "new" porblem, then it is possible that the fault is in the mate. Perhaps a loose solder joint, or even a loose joint in the connectors at either end.
Have you tried a different guide cable from the mate to the Losmandy?
Cheers

Robby · #7 17-09-2007, 08:58 AM

Also you will note that as soon as PEC is turned out the guide speed of the Losmandy drops to 0.5x automatically.
Cheers

[1ponders] (Paul) · #8 17-09-2007, 09:04 AM

Yep it does, which is a bit of a pain sometimes. I've got a number of spare cables and I'll give them a try but I recently switched cables anyway as one was giving me trouble.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #9 17-09-2007, 09:09 AM

If I get out tonight I'll swap the Starmate over with the one on the G8 and see if the same thing happens, but from memory (dimming with age) it has been working fine. Also the G11 was fine out at Duckadang.