Autoguiding doesn't work with FireCapture

mostlyemptyspace

Hi all. I just got the ASI120MC and have been practicing with FireCapture 2.3 beta. I've been able to take video ok, but I've had trouble keeping the planets on the sensor.

I read that I can control my scope by plugging the ST4 cable into the autoguiding port in the camera and my mount. I then went to the Telescope section of the options in FireCapture and tried to initialize my autoguider. I have the Celestron Nexstar 8SE mount. When I chose ASCOM, it said it couldn't initialize. When I tried Camera-internal ST4 port, it initialized and brought up the NSEW arrows on the screen, but when I clicked them, they didn't do anything. Can someone give me some good instructions on how to set this up?

Thanks!

james_screech

If you are using the ST4 port on the camera you don't need to use ascom, use ascom if you are using direct RS232 comms between the computer and the mount.

I've noticed that the autoguiding from FireCapture is not very good, I could never get it working reliably either. Every time I tried it the N/S guiding needed switching between reversed and non-reveresed (one time it needed reversing the next time I ran it it didn't). In the end I gave up and guided manually using the mounts hand controller, it's not that difficult when you get the hang of it. As long as you remember to use a slow speed, I left mine on 4degrees/sec once and Jupiter very swiftly vanished from sight!

james

mostlyemptyspace

The problem is also when I use the hand controller the image jiggles a lot. So as I'm standing there trying my best to keep the thing from drifting out of frame, any movement I make causes the shot to jiggle all over. That's why I was hoping to get some decent autoguiding without having to touch the mount at all.

james_screech

I haven't had that problem as long as I keep hold of the controller and allow plenty of slack in it's cable. Picking up and putting down the controller causes problems you just need to hold it as still as possible and things should be fine.

James

mostlyemptyspace

So I still would like to try auto guiding. Could anyone help me get auto guiding to work between firecapture and the Celestron nexstar 8se mount?

Would it work better to use astro tortilla with the usb cable instead of the cable in the zwo?

Sam@ZWO

I think you can first test by manul click the direction and see how the target moves

mostlyemptyspace

Sam wrote:
I think you can first test by manul click the direction and see how the target moves

I did that and it didn't move at all. The green arrows appeared, but they didn't do anything when I clicked them

tibbe

I have the same problem. Auto-guiding doesn't seem to do anything. Did you solve the problem?