Getting the best performance from my AM5: Page 8

Getting the best performance from my AM5

RogerioS

w7ay Yes, it's about autoguiding, I would like to know from my AM5 grafic what would be the best setting for autoguiding

What would be the best MAX RA and MAX DEC? I don't know how to interpret the graph information

w7ay

RogerioS What would be the best MAX RA and MAX DEC? I don't know how to interpret the graph information

Read this thread (and another long thread in this forum) fully; there are many ways to find the worst case slope. If you don't have a computer, use ruler and pencil. Horizontal axis is time and vertcal axis is the error.

You can also ask ZWO to help you if you don't know how to guide with their mount.

Chen

RogerioS

w7ay :Thanks

RogerioS

Kevin_A
Hi Kevin, how are you? I followed your guidelines and near to the meridian the RMS was between 0.6 and 1.1, just below west the RMS increased sharply from 1.6 to 2.2.

Regards
Rogerio

Kevin_A

RogerioS did you recalibrate guiding on the other side of the meridean?
Like Chen said… read this thread and if you follow the Phd2 best practices using 35-40 aggressions and the numbers calculated after finding out your worst slope then you should be in the balpark. If your mount still is in the range of 0.7 to 1.2 then try the same settings at 0.5s exposures. Also make sure your guide scope is well foccused and the guide stars are well defined using multi star guiding.

RogerioS

Kevin_A Yes, I recalibrated
Thank you so much for help

w7ay

Kevin_A then try the same settings at 0.5s exposures

Not likely to work well for him, Kevin, since he is using an ASI120MM and that Coke bottle that ZWO passes as a "guide scope."

Chen

RogerioS

w7ay Which guide scope do you recommend? I have a 50mm

Kevin_A

w7ay i sold my coke bottle scope as it was horrible… same as the WO 30mm uniguide. Even the generic 60mm scopes being sold these days aee not good even with the bigger aperture….very fuzzy.

w7ay

RogerioS I have a 50mm

No, you had earlier mentioned that you have a 30mm guide scope

REDCAT 51
ASI294MC PRO
Guider ZWO30F4 (ASI120mm)

You need a guide scope and a guide camera with a large FOV, so you can get at least 12 pin-point (no wings and other aberrations) guide stars consistently. That part has nothing to do with your main OTA.

Chen

RogerioS

w7ay
I have two guides a ZWO30mm and a 50mm that are not in use at the moment. I believe the 50mm will be more efficient

RogerioS

w7ay Which ASI camera is best for the guide scope?

Kevin_A

RogerioS zwo asi120mm mini is budget, asi290mm mini is better but cost more. Those should be fine and not sure you would want to spend even more on a 178. Use the 50mm guide scope at least.

RogerioS

Kevin_A I have a generic 50mm, may be will be better than 30mm ZWO

RogerioS

Kevin_A I think I'll invest in a 174mm

Kevin_A

RogerioS i have two 120mm mini and a 290mm mini. The 174mm may be overkill for your setup as i use mine with 50mm and 60mm guide scopes on 135mm, 300mm and 644mm scopes.

w7ay

RogerioS I think I'll invest in a 174mm

Check the plate scale. I think you will find the ASI174 to be terrible unless it is on an OAG on a large SCT.

Please get a book on astronomy and astrophotography before you spend any more money.

Chen

RogerioS

Kevin_A Thank you Kevin, So I'm going to follow your advice and opt for the 290mm which is much cheaper.

Kevin_A

RogerioS it is a real good camers and smaller pixels. The 174 has big pixels that may be better suited for oag’s or bigger FL scopes. Zwo says the 290 is 30% better guiding over the 120mm mini… but thats just zwo talking. This hobby has a steep learning curve and a good place to start is Cloudy Nights.

w7ay

Kevin_A Zwo says the 290 is 30% better guiding over the 120mm mini…

ASI290MM Mini has been replaced by the ASI220MM Mini, Kevin.

Substantially larger FOV which is a good thing for multi-star centroids, lower Read Noise, and higher QE. Unfortunately, it is sensitive in the near-IR region, so if the guide scope is not close to an APO, you may need a IR-cut filter to go with it to reduce star bloat.

Also need a longish focal length guide scope, but not as bad as the ASI174, though. Other weak point is the shallow well -- so need to pick camera gain carefully for multi-star centroiding.

I got one, but not impressed. So, I am back to the ASI178MM for guiding.

Chen

RogerioS

Kevin_A Thanks Kevin.

Kevin_A

w7ay i bought a few 1.25” svbony uvir cur filters that i use on my 120 and 290mm guide cameras. They just screw on and maybe they improve the contrast a bit and reduce bloat… not sure but cheap enough not to worry. One thing i do notice is that the 290mm always seems to have a bit less contrast compared to the 120mm. It has always bothered me and figure it is due to the pixel size and well depth. I thought about binning it but that just fools the system and gives better fake numbers I think. I am not going to over think things being that this mount is really just a very portable marinally adequate guiding machine… so, I just use it and not expecting miracles. I think that some AM5 mounts run well and some not so well and that some people expect too much sub 0.3 guiding all the time even in turbulent skies. Zwo has opened a can of worms where novice newbie astrophotographers expect greatness right away without understanding all or any of the many variables that can affect guiding. It is ellevated more since each mount is unique to itself and you dont know if it is a good or bad one. At least with worm mounts you can set it mostly to other users numbers and tell if its bad right away… as i found out coming from using iOptron mounts for years.
I still remember that up until just a few years ago, i was estatic just getting less than 0.8rms from my very heavy expensve mount… i was thrilled. Now, people are not satisfied getting 0.7rms from a cheaper fly weight mount. I am happy with 0.7… thrilled actually! Haha

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