Daylight Saving Time reminder.: Page 3

Daylight Saving Time reminder.

stefanastro

w7ay I am confused, what do have to now in my HC? Step by step Please.

w7ay

stefanastro Step by step Please.

Sorry, but you will have to learn how your own Hand Controller works. Most people on this forum do not use your mount.

Just make sure an object that is 15º east of the Meridian shows up in AutoRun as Meridian Flipping in 1 hour and all the times are in sync.

Chen

kareemkaaba

Dantac

Hi I have the CEM40 and ASIAIR+ and I'm having all sorts of issues now its summertime. How do get your set up working?
On the hand controller i can only set DST to Yes or No. Which should i choose and what time should i set, i.e. current time or 1hr behind current time. Also i have a plug in GPS, does that need to be unplugged.

Hoping you can help, as I'm sick to death of these issues

thanks

Kareem

bbasiaga

OK I'm new here having just got my ASI air Plus. I have an old mount - an Orion atlas EQG. I cannot use the handcontroller and the ASI at the same time - the ASI plugs in to the DB9 port via an EQmod cable to control the mount - so no place to plug the hand controller in.

ASI is getting time from m iPad.

What steps should I be taking here? I have no way to shut the DST off in the mount - it is not powered when not in use so I don't think it can remember what i set even if I put the handcontroller on one time. I always have to set the time and date each time I turn the mount on in the days before the ASI air.

I did an imaging run the other day, but it didn't involve a flip so i have no idea if it would be an issue or not.

-Brian

w7ay

bbasiaga it didn't involve a flip so i have no idea if it would be an issue or not.

Try creating an Autorun session (you can do this even indoors in the daytime). Select a target high in the sky (declination about equal to your own latitude) whose RA is an hour or two east of the Meridian. Turn on auto meridian flip in the Autorun setup.

Now start the autorun, and somewhere (usually at the bottom of the Preview window), it should say something like "X minutes before Meridian Flip".

This X should be the same as the diference in time between the target RA and the Meridian. If they are the same, you are all set for the next clear night. If they are not, you need to fix the time discrepancy.

Chen

Dayvu

I have a HEQ5-Wifi, so no hand controller. The HEQ 5 app will not let me turn off DST as there is no option. The mount shows UTC+2 and this is correct for my location here in Europe with summertime(DST).

The ASIAir shows a UTC+1 and is therefore 1 hour behind.

So what do I do now?

I can't really test if everything works because the weather forecast for the next week is very bad.

jirestre

Hi Group,
I have never had problems with meridian flips until now. I haven't imaged since feb/march, but now the time of the MF stated by ASIAIR is one hour later than the actual MF time, so I risk hitting the tripod if left alone.
I have an EQ6R and thought it was the DST setting in the mount was switched to on, so I cleared the dust of the hand controller (it's been ages since I used for the last time) and make sure it was set to OFF (it was on), so I thought my problem was solved, but again when connecting everything the MF time is one hour more.
Mexico is no longer observing DST, but when we did everything was fine, now that we don't the problem kicks in. I could force GMT-5 (the actual offset is GMT-6), but I don't think this is a good way to solve it.
Other thing I saw was the time reported on the ASIAIR mount was 2 hours behind (I know it's normal to be one hour behind), even doing "sync to mount" did not solved the issue.

Any ideas?

Corsair

jirestre

Note: While I have said ASIAIR Plus here - I'm also covering the Pro and the Mini as well.

I think the issue here is the ASIAIR might be calculating the time, date and location (lat, long) based on the device that is being used to run the ASIAIR App.

So, for mounts such as mine - HEQ5 Pro, where an EQMod cable is used to connect the mount from a USB 2.0 port on the ASIAIR Plus to the HC Port on the mount, the ASIAIR Plus is now the "Hand Controller" for the mount and that is controlled by the device you use to run the ASIAIR App.

This means when you use your device running the ASIAIR App to connect to the ASIAIR Plus then the ASIAIR Plus is gathering data from your device and pushing this information to the ASIAIR Plus.. The ASIAIR Plus - when you press Sync to Mount - then pushes this information to the mount.

Make sure the device you are using to run the ASIAIR App has its location information set correctly - time, date, location

When you first turn on the ASIAIR Plus and connect to it with the ASIAIR App - check the lat, long information. Make sure it is right. Then, when you get into it, go to the Mount/Telescope settings and check everything there is correct. See what happens when you press "Sync to Mount".

Test whether or not you need to turn DST off manually for your device running the ASIAIR App. It would be appear for some they don't but for others they do.

Also - double check your settings for your Plan etc after an App update has happened (as well as a firmware update). It could be that setting got changed, or added, that will need to be changed.

w7ay

Corsair So, for mounts such as mine - HEQ5 Pro, where an EQMod cable is used to connect the mount from a USB 2.0 port on the ASIAIR Plus to the HC Port on the mount, the ASIAIR Plus is now the "Hand Controller" for the mount and that is controlled by the device you use to run the ASIAIR App.

Actually very close to the truth.

The details are this:

You can typically separate a mount into two sections. One section is just the mount's two motors (one for RA axis and one for declination axis). These motors only know their angles relative to the mount itself. For example, instead of RA, the motors only knows its own Hour Angle (the angle the mount makes relative to the Meridian), and the declination angle is a fixed amount, independent of the pier side -- i.e., it does not understand how to meridian flip.

The other section of a modern mount (which does not exist back in the 1960s) is a computer that converts RA and Declination angles in the sky to the HA and declination motor angles. This section of the mount makes it a "GOTO mount." For example, the relationship between RA and HA is:

HA = Local Sidereal Time (LST) minus RA.

The RA of a target is a fixed coordinate. LST changes as time passes, so the HA also changes as time passes, As a result, when tracking the target, the mount moves the amount LST changes, or 15 degrees per hour.

If LST is wrong (as in the ASIAIR during Daylight Saving Time) then you will not be pointing at the correct part of the sky.

OK, on to EQMOD. What EQMOD is is some code (a library) in your computer (e.g., ASIAIR) that replaces the second section above. I.e., EQMOD computes HA from RA, etc, and send the motor angles directly to the mount, instead of sending RA. All the time offsets etc are now inside the computer (ASIAIR) and are now consistent. Meridian flips are now also performed by EQMOD instead of by the mount's microprocessor.

BTW, except when using EQMOD, ASIAIR does not know how to perform Meridian Flips. All it does is to issue a GOTO command to the mount when the OTA is on the wrong side of the pier, and the mount executes the Meridian flip. With EQMOD, ASIAIR sends the EQMOD library a GOTO command, and if the OTA is on the wrong pier side, EQMOD then creates a path through the pole to drive the two motors to perform the meridian flip dance.

I have not seen where ZWO has acknowledge using EQMOD code or what they did to it to incorporate into ASIAIR. EQMOD requires the GNU LGPLv2 license, and any modified code has to be be publicly published. If not, it is in violation of intellectual property laws.

Chen

Larry.Cable

I see no way to disable or enable for that matter DST on the AM-5 handset or mount using the Mount app?

Luxo

A while back I noticed that when you first connect ASIAir to the mount and enable it:

the longitude and latitude by default are 0,0 - not those of the device;
date and time are the local time of the device (iPhone/iPad);
the scope is assumed to be parked at the NORTH pole (+90 dec) and whatever it thinks local siderial time is based on the local time.

The latter is a real issue if you're in the southern hemisphere and it was reported as a bug a while back.

But pressing "SYNC TO MOUNT" makes it acquire all of these from the mount - you can test this for yourself by entering values into the mount which are not your actual position/date/time as reported by the iPhone/iPad - and down here it does get the declination correct.

Something I have seen in 2.4.4. is that "SYNC TO MOUNT" appears to have been removed suggesting that when you enable the mount, this has been automated.

But I have yet to test 2.4.4 with a real mount under the stars. Maybe in 2 weeks.

Corsair

Luxo Hmm. I'm still on app - firmware 2.4.3 - 12.55 and the last session I did was during daylight savings time in the Southern Hemisphere (in Kiama - 1 hour south of Wollongong).

I've never had an issue with ASIAIR know where I was, knowing the scope is parked at South pole, knowing the location on the mount, knowing the date on the mount, and knowing the time on the mount is non-DST.

My mount: HEQ5 Pro

When I start the ASIAIR App and the very first screen you see - if you look at the bottom - that's where it shows location information. If that is incorrect, you can tap on the right arrow it will take you to a screen where you can either search for your location or enter it in manually.

If I am using a device that has Internet access (either through my home Wi-Fi, through mobile data, or hot spotting to a device with mobile data) - the first thing I do is launch the app while connected to the Internet. The ASIAIR can then get my location. If I'm doing it manually - I make sure to know my coordinates so I can enter them in.

Once that's done, if I'm not doing it manually (i.e. device currently connected to a network with Internet access and not he ASIAIR Wi-Fi), before I tap "Enter Device" I switch over the ASIAIR Wi-Fi. Once connected I now tap on Enter Device and connect to my ASIAIR Plus 32GB.

Once connected and at the Preview Mode screen - I turn on my Mount.

I then go to Mount Settings and the location and time info under Mount Information is correct. i.e. The Location info is as expected AND the time is one hour earlier than the time at my location (which is shown in the top left of the ASIAIR App). The DST Warning is always shown when it is DST in your area to ensure you check your time in Mount Information is correct.

So, for example, let's say them time at my location is currently 21:00 (i.e. 9pm) Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
This means:

Time on device - Android phone - is 21:00
Time shown in the top left of ASIAIR App is 21:00
Time shown in Mount Information is 20:00 (or 8pm). i.e. the non-Daylight Savings Time.

This is all BEFORE I have done anything and I have not pressed Sync Mount.

If you can - what I would suggest is setup your Mount properly first before you connect to the ASIAIR (if possible - I'm not sure if every mount has this but most should).
i.e. for me, that would involve disconnecting the mount from the ASIAIR, connecting the mount to the Hand Controller that came with my mount, and going through the settings on the Hand Controller to make sure the date is correct, the time is set to non-DST time AND daylight savings time is set to NO.

After you do this power down/shutdown your mount, disconnect the hand controller, turn on the ASIAIR, launch the ASIAIR App on your device, check location is correct at start up screen, connect to ASIAIR Wi-Fi, Enter Device, when at Preview Mode - connect and turn on Mount, go to Mount Settings screen of ASIAIR App, check Mount connected, check Mount Info.

Luxo

There may well be differences between the iOS and Android versions. Something in earlier releases comfirmed ZWO aren’t using a single cross-platform development tool such as Xojo; instead the builds for each are from separate code bases written in C.

This is a classic example of the "man with two watches" problem. If you have only 1 source of information, you accept that as correct, unquestioningly. But here there are two (the phone/tablet, and the mount) each with its own version of date, time, daylight saving offset, latitude, longitude.

I have a feeling as you describe it, the front page of the ASIAir app uses the phone/tablet location. But I'd bet the firmware in that little red box uses those from the mount.

I have a screenshot from 2.3.3 of the mount settings - before sync to mount was pressed - showing the long and lat as 0, 0 and the telescope as being at +90 Dec despite a south latitude, but with the correct local daylight saving time. Once synced the date, time, long and lat, RA and Dec are definitely acquired correctly from the mount. Even if the date /time are set incorrectly in the mount these are what it uses. It’s possible ZWO fixed this mess in 2.4.x

Corsair

Luxo
What's interesting is the text under Location Info on your screenshot:
"Sync to Mount if the location info is inconsistent".

So this tells me that ZWO is aware that location info could be inconsistent between the mount (shown in mount info) and the ASIAIR (shown in location info) and the solution is Sync to Mount.

Funny thing is I've never seen that message. Not when using 2.1-10.74 and not when using 2.4.3-12.55.

So it could've been an issue that came up in app-firmware releases in-between? Or it could even be a bug for specific mounts?

Either way it appears that ZWO knew that it could (and maybe still can? ) occur and knew a way to resolve it.

Larry.Cable

in the absence of GPS, the only way to inform a mount and/or the ASIAir of its location is to provide it, either manually or from the device hosting the app location service... not really sure what the issue is ....

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