PHD"/RainbowAstro RST 135

[Emanuel Chacim]

Im having problems with using PHD2 and the Rainbow Astro 135 mount. If someone can help, it would be nice.

The setup is the RST 135, Takahashi FSQ 106 ED, Nikon D5300 Modd, Qhyccd mini guider and Qhyccd 5L-II Mono camera.

PHD2 is not doing the calibration and im getting the message "PHD2 Calibration Failure, RA star did not move enough".

Ive tried with the ST4 cable and i got this message; i tried with the USB cable, got the same message.

On the mount`s controller is set to USB and the protocol is set to Rainbow.

The Hubo-i ascom driver is installed and working, i can move the RA and DEC from the ascom app, so the correct port is also selected.

What im not able to do, is use the manual guiding feature on the PHD2. The correct focal length of the guider is 130mm and the camera pixel size is 3.75, and i used the advanced tab to calculate the calibration steps.

So, what am i doing wrong?

 

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_Jyhv.zip

[Ken Self]

Create a new profile using the Wizard. Make sure you enter the correct values. For instance, with the input focal length of 130mm for the QHY camera I'd expect a pixel scale of around 6 arcsec/pixel rather than 1.59. Something has gone awry there. When you create the profile, don't include the AO Simulator. If you want to experiment with different devices, create a new profile or you can mess up the profile you use when imaging.

If you can control the mount through ASCOM that is preferable to using ST4. But in all the runs in the guide log you only use On Camera (ST4). So set up a profile with the ASCOM driver and calibrate.  If you get a good calibration then run the Guiding assistant for a few minutes and accept its recommendations. Any problems then you can come back here with the logs.

[Ken Self]

Just saw that your mount has a new ASCOM driver since 23-Dec. Make sure you are using that one http://www.rainbowastro.com/software-2/

There is also some new firmware

[Emanuel Chacim]

Hey Ken, thanks for helping. Yes, it looks like a complete confusion.

What is strange is that the first time i tried, i used the ST4 cable and it worked. Dont ask me how, i dont know. I just used the same profile as before, for the same camera and my previous mount, the Ioptron Ieq45 pro, and it worked. After that it didnt.

But i just deleted all my profiles within PHD2, and i believe tonight i can try it again, the skies look promising.

I always go through guiding assistant after calibrating to improve guiding, so, if im sucessfull i will try it also.

I will tell you how it went.

Cheers

[Emanuel Chacim]

Hey guys, just want to give some feedback of my last session. Everything went nice and smooth, as you can see on the log file- Thank you very much for the help :)

[Ken Self]

Glad to see its been sorted out. Your guiding is about as good as it can be at that guiding pixel scale. The RMS is down between 0.1 to 0.2 pixels RMS on each axis

[Emanuel Chacim]

Thanks Ken :D

[Patrick Tighe]

Hi Emanuel and Ken, just wondering which steps you all found helpful for correcting this? I think I'm running into a similar issue with the RST-135; I get an error on calibration regarding insufficient star movement (this is using a simulated camera). When I then try manual tracking with 5s pulse durations, I also see no movement, nor do I hear any whirring of the motors. I had similar issues last night using same mount with ZWO 120MM-S. In each case using Hubo-I ASCOM for the mount connection. I've attached logs on this issue. My sincerest apologies in advance, I'm pretty new to astrophotography, have read through the manual and haven't yet found contents to help fix. 

[Emanuel Chacim]

Hello. I was also having the same problem and i reached out to the PHD2 forum masters. Mister Ken was kind enough to solve my problem.

So, in my case, he adviced to use the Hubo-i ascom driver, connect the computer to the mount using only the usb cable, confirming that the correct usb port is selected and on the RST hand controller make sure that the protocol is set to Rainbow. After this, on PHD2, create a complete new profile using this settings, meaning, selecting not "on Camera" , but the Hubo-i ascom driver. And dont use the ST4 cable. In my case it worked flaussly :D

[Ken Self]

You have selected the camera simulator as your camera. Create a new profile with the wizard and select the correct camera driver.