Communication problem between PHD2 and Nitecrawler rotator?

[Kevin Quin]

I think my rotator has stopped communicating with PHD2, even though the settings all look correct.  The other night guiding/tracking was perfect until NINA switched to my second target, then it started zigzagging - alternately giving move commands in RA and then Dec.  I suspect the problem is that PHD isn't getting notified that the rotator ran 45 degrees (as instructed) when NINA switched to the new target.  If anyone could see if this shows in the logs, I'd appreciate it.  THe log is here:   https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_UaB9.zip

My alternative theory is that the rotator (Moonlite Nitecrawler) is actually running in reverse from the direction it's supposed to run.  I need to have NINA's reverse setting ON to get the platesolve to work properly, and I suspect that setting isn't' sticky enough.  Sometimes when NINA starts up the sequence the reverse setting is set to OFF.

Thanks for any help.  

Kevin

[Brian Valente]

Kevin

I responded to you in the AP forums as well. the rotator is connected and registering the different angles, but your guiding is not correct. PHD has a reverse option as well, which may be what you need

In other words, if NINA rotator is working correctly, but PHD rotator is not, enable this. 

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Brian 

Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

[Bruce Waddington]

Kevin, if you want to avoid going in circles and wasting a lot of time, please follow the full procedure for determining the correct value of 'Reverse angle' in PHD2:

https://openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Basic_use.htm#Rotator_Selection

Regards,

Bruce

[Kevin Quin]

Thanks Brian and Bruce.  I followed the procedure in the documentation when I first set this up a year ago, and found the only settings that allow both PHD2 and platesolving (to avoid having the rotator continuously "hunt" for the right angle but never find it) to work properly are to leave the PHD2 setting unchecked, the ASCOM setting unchecked, and the NINA setting to ON.  I'll run through the procedure again tonight.  Maybe a software update in one of the apps has changed something?  I'll try to find out.  

[Bruce Waddington]

Yes, the point of the procedure is to do a systematic, bottom-up set of tests to figure out the right setting at each layer in the software "stack".  I seem to recall that NINA might have made a change in this area some time ago but don't hold me to that.  Obviously, there is a solution to be had.

Regards,

Bruce

[Brian Valente]

>>>  I seem to recall that NINA might have made a change in this area some time ago but don't hold me to that.

I recall this as well (having my own rotators and dealing with this). I think Dale is somewhere around here and can correct us if needed

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[Kevin Quin]

IIRC the move from NINA 2 to NINA 3 changed the direction of rotation.  But I've been using NINA 3 for at least a year.  Anyway, I should get some clear spaces between the clouds tonight to try this out.

[Kevin Quin]

After running through the test protocol, it looks like the correct settings are to have the reverse checked in PHD2 and the reverse in NINA set to on.  I could swear I've been running it for the last year with the PHD reverse unchecked.  But I replaced my PC recently, so maybe I got the settings wrong. Anyway, it's working so far.  

Bruce and Brian, thanks for all your help on this!

[Brian Valente]

Glad to hear you got it sorted Kevin, thanks for the update

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[Kevin Quin]

Well, I thought I had this problem solved by keeping Reverse Sign of Angle checked.  But last night the problem reappeared, and it went away when I UNCHECKED Reverse Sign of Angle.  Just like before, the first target I imaged (which didn't require the rotator to run) worked without trouble, but when the rig switched to the second target (which required a 45 degree rotation as well as a meridian flip) the guide star began moving in circles around the set point rather than getting pulled back in.  As soon as I unchecked Reverse Sign of Angle, everything worked fine.

The one thing that I noticed last night was that when NINA started up, the Reverse setting in NINA's rotator settings was OFF rather than ON, which is where it needs to be platesolving to succeed.  This setting for some reason often "unsets' itself, and I have to reset it, which I did last night, as soon as it started up.  But PHD2 doesn't have any interaction with the reverse setting in NINA, does it?

Any idea how to troubleshoot this now?  I don't understand how sometimes Reverse Sign of Angle needs to checked, and other times it needs to be unchecked.  

[Mike Ales]

Kevin,

  I believe the reason things keep changing on you is that you need to get the reverse direction fixed at the Vendor Driver/GUI/Galibration step.
  At least on one of my systems the NINA setting is kind of temporary and the next time I turn power off of everything the Rotator reloads from it's settings information (either in onboard flash or buried in some Windows file/registry depending on Vendor

  Of course sometimes Windows updates like to mess up settings if the vendor saved them in anything that windows might update with a USB update.
  I know Windows only sometimes does USB/COM updates since I check the 'let windows manage power on the USB ports' once in a while and sometimes it is rechecked.

  So start with the vendors GUI/Calibration/Driver setup instructions and get the reverse switch set correctly for your optics.
  Seems like so many times they vendors default are not consistent with the astro related rotator direction that it should be (for refractor from rear of scope, counter clockwise rotation for positive numbers of rotation).

Also get the limits set to avoid cable wrap on the vendors side too while you are in the settings.

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