2600 Duo Guiding Issues

Arthur Hucksake

Dear All.
I upgraded my 2600mc to the Duo, I cannot get it to guide properly. The settings I used on the MC used to give me .9 , the best I can achieve with the Duo, until it all goes wild, is 7.0 or 8.0, then it increases exponentially until it hits 30+. I know I must be missing something silly, please can someone send me a flow chart?

Tech@ZWO

Arthur Hucksake Could you tell me the details of your devices and send me the PHD2 log? BTW, did you add a narrow banding filter?

Arthur Hucksake

Hello, yes, sorry, should have included.
SW Esprit 100....SW AZ-EQ6 GT....Riccardi 0.75 Reducer/Flattener, and/or SW 1.0 Reducer Flattener...ASIAIR Plus. I initially had an Optolong Narrowband filter installed, I swapped this for a Baader Neodymium Filter, then tried to guide without any Filters. I Focussed both Sensors individually and also both sensors as a Main Camera and saw good stars on both attempts. The Guiding starts off sub One Sec, then gradually go wild. I'll dig out the Log right now and attach shortly, thank you for your help on this, and sorry to add to a busy day.

Arthur Hucksake

phd2-guidelog-2024-07-30-220023.txt

90kB

Tech@ZWO

Arthur Hucksake Thank you for your log. There is no calibration data in the log, did you clear the calibration data and recalibrate to try?
Also, do you notice how does the guide star look? using narrowband filters with narrower bandwidths (such as 3nm) significantly reduces the amount of light received by the guide camera. In such cases, having too few or too dim guide stars can lead to poor guiding performance.

Arthur Hucksake

I have just swapped my Riccardi 0.75 Reducer from my image train back to the SW 1.0 Original and i'm now able to dial it in. I'm assuming the Riccardi lowers the Imaging Circle to far too much. I miss read the Specs for it's I.C, it appears it's "up to" 42mm, i'll measure it when I can. On a plus note, I can now justify buying another scope and i'll use the Riccardi on that, along with my trusty old 2600mc and a Shiny new OAG.