Altair gpcam slow frame rate

[Jukka Paavilainen]

Hello.

Thought to start new topic on this one.
There seems to be some problem whit altair gpcam drivers. Other people are having this same issue.

Sugested repair on slow frame rate is to copy altair drivers from sharpcap to phd folder. I thought i got it working, but no. It improved frame rate but its still not good. I get like one frame in every 4-8 sec. Seems to work best on 0.5s exposure.

Reversed to 2.6.0dev1, but did not fix anything.
Eny sugestions?

Log's fron previous nights. I had some other problems too:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B24ECy12UBmLa0hqR3hydTJWSEE

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Zukka.  I can't comment on the timing behavior of the Altair camera, maybe Andy can do that.  

 

Your mount performance looks really bad in Declination. 

 

 

You're getting repeated very large sudden excursions in Dec, far larger than anything that can be guided out.  These occur when the Dec motor should be idle, so it's some kind of mechanical issue - something very loose, something pulling on the OTA, etc.  I see that you were making wild changes to the Dec guide algorithms and guide parameters, but that is just going to make things worse.  You simply have to find the mechanical source of these problems and eliminate them - they have nothing to do with PHD2 or guiding.  You might want to read this tutorial, looking especially at the section on "gremlins":

 

http://openphdguiding.org/tutorial-analyzing-phd2-guiding-results/

 

Going forward, please don’t change the names of the log files, combine them, or otherwise edit them.  That just makes things harder for us and often defeats the analysis tools we use.

 

To sort out your problems, I suggest the following:

1.        Restore *all* settings to their default values, including the choices for guide algorithms.  It may be quickest to use the new-profile-wizard to create a new baseline profile.

2.        Make absolutely sure your configuration settings for pixel size, focal length, etc. are correct.

3.        Run the Guiding Assistant for 15-20 minutes, watching especially for these big excursions in Declination.  Until you can eliminate those, you’re probably not going to get usable results.  You should also let the Guiding Assistant measure your Declination backlash.

 

Collect the guiding log and debug log files for the session in which you ran the Guiding Assistant.  To minimize the size of the log files, exit PHD2 after the Guiding Assistant run is finished and collect those log files. If you post those, we can try to help you understand them.  Of course, we can’t do anything to help you find the cause of the big Dec deflections, we don’t have any visibility into that.

 

Good luck,

Bruce

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[Andy Galasso]

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 10:10 PM, bw_msgboard <bw_m...@earthlink.net> wrote:

I can't comment on the timing behavior of the Altair camera, maybe Andy can do that.  

Robin has been handling the Altair camera integration in phd2.  I'll forward the question to him.

Andy

[Jukka Paavilainen]

I thought i had some free movement due dec backslash. But it's not getting eny better, i have had this problem from the end of the last season. Getting pretty frustrated over this one. I have examinated closely the mount and guide scope. There should not be enything wrong. Also there should not be eny differential flexure.

I thought all the movement were happening when the mount is moving, but as looking for last night guide graph for only ra corrections it shows rapid movement in dec when motors are not moving.

In the previous linked folder there is guide graph from last night. If you could look them also and verify my findings about the dec malfunction.

I'am trying to rule out eny software related issue. As i said there should not be enything wrong on my mount by my mesurements. I'am really puzzled about this one. The guide camera was not working properly and when it worked good i did not see these big drops. Could it still be that guiding one way whit good guide camera function the dec will drop but not so suddenly? And phd has time to correct it.

Thank you for your assist.

[steve]

El 06/09/2016 a las 04:10, bw_msgboard escribió:

Hi Zukka.  I can't comment on the timing behavior of the Altair camera, maybe Andy can do that.  

 

Your mount performance looks really bad in Declination. 

 

 

You're getting repeated very large sudden excursions in Dec,

Hi. JTOL. Those spikes look similar to the ones I get when a dither hits the mount, albeit with a quicker recovery. Maybe eliminate that possibility too?
Cheers and clear skies,
Steve

[Jukka Paavilainen]

Thanks for the input! I will look in to that. Phd did read the pier side this time correctly. Something positive.

I dont know why i cant see the corrections on last night phdlog?

Using observatory computer on my phone at the moment. So sorry there might be few extra files. I just dumped all phd log's in there. The one saved 7 a.m. was longest i think.

The camera connection was lost in some point for connection timeout in phd. I used 2.5.0dev1 version of phd, it seemed to work best whit camera. 2.5.0 dont know how to reconnnect to the camera.

[Andy Galasso]

Hi Jukka,

We'd be glad to help assess your mount and guiding performance, but the best path forward will be to follow the recipe Bruce laid out in his earlier post here.   I would also highly recommend using the latest version of phd2 (do not use an old version like 2.5.0dev1).  Robin has confirmed that the latest version of PHD2 has up-to-date Altair camera support and works well with Altair cameras. If it is not working with your camera there could be a connection problem -- check the USB cable (try replacing it), and try using a different USB hub and different USB ports on the hub and the PC.

It will be easiest for us if you just remove all those other logs from the google drive folder and just up load the two files (guide log and debug log) from the session where you ran through Bruce's routine.

Andy

[Jukka Paavilainen]

I'am sorry for taking shortcuts and wasting your time. Did not mean that. Awsome you are so kind to help. I have really limited time to do this corrections and test gear at the moment. 2 children and a job that takes alot of time.

So trying basicly figure this out whit remote controlling obcervatory pc via teamviewer on my smartphone :D.

Its hard to convince my self this is something related my mount. But i need to do mesurements again and check everything that could cause this. And that takes time, whay i dont have.
Grazy life these days, i should move to countryside and enjoy simple things in life :).

Thanks again. I get back to you whit some real data. I just need to get the camera working properly so i can get longer and accurate guiding statics.

Best,
Jukka

[Andy Galasso]

Hi Jukka,

No problem!  We'll be happy to take a look at the data whenever you have a chance to post it... we're not going anywhere.

Good luck,

Andy

[Andy Galasso]

Jukka,

Robin has updated the Altair camera support in PHD2. We recommend updating to the latest dev build available here: PHD2 Development Snapshot Builds.  The update should improve the performance of the camera by avoiding dropped frames that were possible in the earlier versions.

Andy

[Jukka Paavilainen]

The new version of phd works great :)

[Andy Galasso]

great, thanks for the update