LX200 guiding problem

[peter brown]

Hi everybody,
I am having a bit of trouble getting my Starshoot auto guider to work. Can someone tell me ...do I have to turn off the PEC and/or the telescopes own autoguider to enable the CCD auto guider to control the telescope?
Many thanks

Peter b

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Peter are you using pHD guider?

[peter brown]

Hi,
Yes I am using PhD guiding, but if it's not showing low SNR it's flashing red on and off apparently saying I've lost the star.
Appreciate your help

Peter B

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

Its been a few years since I've tried to autoguide an LX200 but I'll give it a try.

I gather you can see a star and that it calibrates correctly? That you have the incamera option selected in the mounts menu. Which port do you have the camera plugged into? It should work in the Aux port which from memory is the one i used. I can't remember ever using the Autoguide port

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

Check your USB cable. I have had a lot of trouble with that type of cable getting intermittent connection.

Barry

[tlgerdes (Trevor)]

Have you tried doing a Manual Guide, to see if you can actually control your mount from within PHD?

From the PHD help file -

Manual guiding / mount testing
Want to know if these signals from PHD are actually getting to your mount? Or, need to manually guide your mount or nudge it? In the Tools menu, pull down Manual Guide and a dialog will appear that will let you move the mount at guide speed in any direction. Each time you press the button, a pulse of the same duration specified in the Calibration step size will be sent. Listen to (rather than watch) your mount to determine if the mount is getting the commands from PHD. The idea here is just to figure out if the mount is responding to PHD's signals. You won't be able to see the mount move (it's moving at guide speed) but you may be able to hear it. Other options include watching the motors themselves and attaching a laser pointer to your scope and aiming it at something fairly far away (to amplify your motions).

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by peter brown

do I have to turn off the PEC and/or the telescopes own autoguider to enable the CCD auto guider to control the telescope?

No you do not need to turn off PEC, best to leave it on if it's trained properly. I'm not sure what you mean by "the telescope's own autoguider".

Roger.

[Barrykgerdes]

Hi Peter

Another problem with the LX200 is they sometimes suffer from retrograde motion in the declination drive. If this is severe the guider will get confused.

Barry

[peter brown]

Thanks very much for all your advice. I will give it all a go and see what happens

Many thanks

Peter B

[Lonnie]

Hi Peter
I have had similar problem with my celestron cpc1100 wedge mounted on permenant pier.
If you have any success keep us posted it might help solve my problem also

Originally Posted by peter brown

Thanks very much for all your advice. I will give it all a go and see what happens

Many thanks

Peter B