So I hooked up my new CAA to my Redcat 51 setup which is all ZWO. First, I found that the CAA only appears to want to work in an absolute angle mode as opposed to both absolute and/or relative. All of my previous experiences with rotators is with Pegasus rotators using NINA. In NINA, rotators will work with absolute angles if you calibrate them that way but other wise you go into a plan, center the frame on your object the way you want with what ever rotation is required to give you your desired results, put it in the sequence and go image. In this mode with rotators inside NINA, you can connect to the rotator but it will only function if/when you commend it either with a sequence instruction or rotate the optical train while using the framing module. To my surprise last night, I made a "Plan" in my ASI Air + to image IC434 and then image M51. To my surprise, at about 9:15PM last night, right after my mount did a meridian flip imaging IC434, the CAA took off and tried to do a 180 degree rotation. I had never planned on this as I'd never seen this before. I read the CAA manual cover to cover. No where, is there ANY mention that on a meridian flip it's going to rotate your camera 180 degrees. This is really never required these days as almost ALL post processing applications deal with flipped subs such that I never even think about it. Since I am using my AM5 in EQ mode all I really need and want a rotator to do is just set my framing to my liking and then run the program. I see now that with the CAA this is possible but not in an intuitive way at least for me. For folks like myself that are just looking to frame, I see now that I have to connect, set my framing the way I want it and rotate the camera to what I "think" I want. Open up the Star Atlas and see how that frames to my desired object. Play around with this a little until it is what I like. Then I need to disconnect from the CAA and ONLY then, make a plan with the planner and go forward. I assume with the CAA NOT connected I can work with it in the same manner as I do with a rotator in NINA. Because I did not understand how the CAA works vs a rotator in NINA, I only made my cables long enough to support about a 120 degree rotation in only one direction. Which in my past is more than sufficient for my needs. A 180 degree rotation locked up everything in cable snags. Thankfully nothing snapped but it could have. In 20/20 hindsight and knowing how an AA+ works I can now see why it works the way it does but it would be nice to have a few more features for the rest of us that don't want to work in an absolute angle mode. Like:
1) Select between relative and absolute angles.
2) The ability to turn OFF meridian flip rotations if the CAA is connected. It's not needed for many of us.
3) The ability to manually set a "zero" which for relative angles is perfect. I don't care what the absolute angle is.
