PHD2 Pulse Guide Command Failing

[Bob Bach]

A few imaging sessions ago I encountered a problem with my guiding that I can’t seem to resolve (prior to this no problems and excellent guiding).

I began receiving the following error message in PHD2:

“PulseGuide command to mount has failed - guiding is likely to be ineffective”

I hadn’t changed anything in my equipment set up or software parameters. Also I don’t seem to receive the error message as soon as I start guiding but rather after a fairly lengthy period of time (approx. two hours into the last session). I have been unable to trace the source of the problem and have run out of ideas on how to resolve it…I have done the following:

1. Replaced USB cables
2. Replaced USB hub with a new one
3. Reinstalled all drivers (camera and ASCOM)
4. Reinstalled SGP (3.0.2.82) and PHD2 (2.6.5)
5. Changed guide Camera (from lodestar to QHY)

Don’t know if anyone else has encountered this before but any suggestions on how to correct it would be appreciated. Thanks

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_IdLW.zip

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Bob, sorry you’re having trouble.  These errors occur when a pulse guide command isn’t completed in a reasonable amount of time.  To pick one example from your log, a command to move the mount in RA for 152ms still hadn’t completed 2 seconds later.  To track down where this problem is occurring, you’ll probably need to find the log file for the ASCOM driver.  It should show when the command was actually sent to the mount and what result was returned. You can find the timestamps in the PHD2 debug log file by doing a text-scan for “timeout exceeded”.  You can then use those timestamps to search for corresponding entries in the ASCOM driver log.  I don’t know how you’re physically connected to the mount, but perhaps the hand-controller interface or cable at the mount end needs to be examined.

 

Good luck,

Bruce

 

---

From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com [mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob Bach
Sent: Thursday, May 17, 2018 3:46 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding
Subject: [open-phd-guiding] PHD2 Pulse Guide Command Failing

A few imaging sessions ago I encountered a problem with my guiding that I can’t seem to resolve (prior to this no problems and excellent guiding).

I began receiving the following error message in PHD2:

“PulseGuide command to mount has failed - guiding is likely to be ineffective”

I hadn’t changed anything in my equipment set up or software parameters. Also I don’t seem to receive the error message as soon as I start guiding but rather after a fairly lengthy period of time (approx. two hours into the last session). I have been unable to trace the source of the problem and have run out of ideas on how to resolve it…I have done the following:

1.      Replaced USB cables

2.      Replaced USB hub with a new one

3.      Reinstalled all drivers (camera and ASCOM)

4.      Reinstalled SGP (3.0.2.82) and PHD2 (2.6.5)

5.      Changed guide Camera (from lodestar to QHY)

Don’t know if anyone else has encountered this before but any suggestions on how to correct it would be appreciated. Thanks

 

 

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_IdLW.zip

 

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Open PHD Guiding" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to open-phd-guidi...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Bob Bach]

Thanks Bruce....unfortunately I haven't been able to track down the ASCOM log covering the same time period.

Do you happen to know if the guiding accuracy is completely compromised after one of these pulse guide failures occur or does PHD2 continue guiding (I don't know how to properly interpret the log but it looks like it does)?

Thanks,

Bob 

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Bob.  Are you saying you can’t find the correct ASCOM log file or you can’t find any at all?  If it’s the latter, you might want to check on one of the Celestron-specific forums to learn where they’re stored because this problem isn’t likely to just go away.   To answer your question, this isn’t treated as a fatal problem, PHD2 will continue to try to guide.  But if the ASCOM driver or the mount firmware ends up in some weird state, it’s hard to predict what will happen with subsequent guide commands.  In the best-case scenario where nothing gets hung up, you probably won’t see much of an effect on guiding – something like just skipping a guide command.

[Bill McLaughlin]

If you are using a Paramount and TSX this can sometime happen randomly since for some reason "Use directguide" and "Use Pulseguide" can randomly uncheck themselves in the ASCOM driver.

[Bob Bach]

Bruce,
I can’t find any ASCOM logs at all because I didn’t have track checked!! It is now so I will make sure that I have an active log of the next session (I am away right now so it will have to wait for a week or so).

Thanks for looking at this for me....much appreciated.

Bob

[bw_msgboard]

Hi Bob. This sounds right, many of the ASCOM drivers don't do logging by
default (unlike PHD2). These logs are generally pretty understandable and
human-friendly, so we can help you analyze them if needed. We just need to
be able to see both the PHD2 debug and ASCOM logs so we can line up the
timestamps and see what's going on with the driver when these PulseGuide
timeouts are seen by PHD2. It's very likely a hardware issue, perhaps even
a problem with the cable between the hand-controller and the mount.
Obviously, the PHD2 guide commands are going to generate a fairly steady
stream of data traffic to the mount (albeit very small amounts of data), so
it isn't surprising that these commands would be the ones to uncover
intermittent connection problems.

Good luck,
Bruce

-----Original Message-----
From: open-phd...@googlegroups.com
[mailto:open-phd...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Bob Bach
Sent: Saturday, May 19, 2018 8:14 PM
To: Open PHD Guiding