AM5 latest ASCOM V6.5.15.0323 beta is released for test!

ASIMount@ZWO

A new version of ZWO ASCOM driver v6.5.15.0323 beta is ready for testing!
Change log:

some changes about meridian activity
bug fix with half speed slew
bug fix with 'Park' behavior

zwo-ascom-setup-v65150323.zip

4MB

zombi

I have a software that uses goto ASCOM command to get to a given RA, DEC. The problem is that the mount completes the move to the desired RA, DEC and then it reports back incorrect RA and DEC. How is this possible?
The question is: does the ASIMount driver built a map of the sky when the sync command is used?

biomedchad

ASIMount@ZWO good to see. Let hope this beta solves these issues.

biomedchad

ASIMount@ZWO

What firmware mount versions should this be tested with?

What ascom version?

broscheanu

I am running ASCOM V6.5.15.0323 beta with firmware 1.2.4 beta.

I have no issue performing meridian flips up to 15degrees (60 minutes) past the meridian. 👍️

I do however have an issue when changing the guiding rate from 0.5x sidereal to 0.8x. I have reported this before under firmware 1.2.3 beta thread. I did get a response that ZWO did not have this issue so I would try again.

I havePHD2 calibrated and guiding properly at a guide rate of 0.5x sidereal, set in ASCOM sever advanced page. NINA is controlling everything else.
If I set the guiding rate to 0.8x (or any other rate), PHD2 says I need to perform calibration again. I make sure the guide star is in the center of the frame. I shift+click guide to force calibration. PHD2 says "Looping" but appears frozen. If I click the brain=> camera tab "Calibration step (ms)" shows 10000. That is a 10 seconds calibration pulse! I click Advanced button to the right to calculate it properly and it comes up with 200ms at 0.8x rate. But PHD2 still says "looping" and nothing happens. I have waited longer than 10s and nothing happens. I then click Stop and PHD2 says "waiting for devices". Eventually I can click loop again to see the guide camera picture updates.

If I revert back to 0.5x rate in ASCOM server, then PHD2 restores the pre-existing calibration and resumes guiding without a problem. I really want to use a faster guiding rate, to send shorter guide pulses, to increase the loop frequency and improve the rms error. I guess I'm going to reinstall PHD2 and try again from scratch.

Part 2:
After uninstalling, deleting the old profiles and starting with a fresh version, PHD2 now picks up the 0.9x guiding rate automatically, and calculates the guiding pulse correctly at 250ms. It's daytime now so I cant perform a calibration. I will follow up after dark.

Zzzz

broscheanu We have received your feedback. Please provide the Log of ASCOM when the problem occurred. We need to confirm some information from the Log. Log file is located at “C:\Users<username>\Documents\ASCOM”.

tempus

broscheanu Will the mount guide better at 0.8X than 0.5X?

broscheanu

broscheanu
I can confirm that after reinstalling PHD2 I can now guide at 0.9x guiding rate, and calibration completes without a problem. So this issue was not related to ASCOM server or AM5 firmware, but my own PHD2 installation.
Everything is good on my end now.
I can also confirm that setting the lower limit to 1 degree in advanced tab, prevents the scope from slewing any lower than 1 degree, when using the hand controller. So this feature works as expected for me.

tempus

biomedchad I would guess 1.2.4.
Maybe ZWO will confirm???

broscheanu

Zzzz
Thanks, but no need. It turns out it was my PHD2 installation, and I was able to fix the issue myself.

broscheanu

tempus

I can't give you a definite answer. But the people at PHD2 recommend 0.5x sidereal or greater. The theory is the frequency of the guiding correction, is based on guide cam exposure rate + guide pulse width. For a harmonic drive mount, like the AM5 faster updates on average provide lower rms. If you guide at 0.8x vs 0.5x your guide pulses are narrowed by 60%. Instead of 100ms you get 60ms pulses, not much but its something. I have found that I get good guiding at guide cam exposures rates below 1s, specifically I use either 0.75s or 0.5s. Even with multiple star guiding, when you lower the exposure rate, atmospheric conditions (seeing) will introduce erroneous shifts in star positionss. So while you keep a lower exposure rate (1s vs 0.75s), you can get more frequent guide updates if you use a higher guiding rate.

tempus

broscheanu Do you consider that your mount is difficult to guide? Is this something that is suggested for all AM5?

Zzzz

broscheanu Ok！Have a great experience.

broscheanu

[unknown]
No, the AM5 is not difficult to guide. With the default 0.5x sidereal rate, good polar alignment, and 1s exposures, I can consistently get 0.75" rms. At 0.5 seconds exposures, given the seeing is good, I can get 0.45" rms, which produces more stars and sharper detail in the main camera image. I wanted to increase the guide rate from 0.5x to something higher like 0.8x or 0.9x because the guiding (PHD2+AM5) will spend less time performing corrections, in between exposures. This allows more corrections over time, in other words, an increase in correction frequency for the same guide cam exposure time.
This is my 2 cents, and not a recommendation to anyone. Try it out for your setup and see if it helps you get lower rms.

zombi

What button Clear Align Data do ?

Is it possible to disable Align Data collection with sky map building when the sync command is used ?

ASIMount@ZWO

zombi
Hi zombi,
This buttom is set to delete/clear the multi-star alignment data.
You can click it and then start another multi-star alignment.

taewoo

If I want control using python. How to use it?

zombi

ASIMount@ZWO

Thank you for reply.

I am using only ASIMount ASCOM driver on PC (I do not use asiair nor Asi mount on Android)

During polar alignment and setup preparation I am using a lot of sync command to mount -
Is this process interfere to the future GoTo command ?

Walf@ZWO

zombi The point is whether the mount was moved，if not，no interfere.