S30 Initial Startup Problem

HeidsG

I operate an S30 from a remote observatory in EQ mode. The past few nights I have had the following problem:
1.I open the arm and send it to a bright star .... it doesn't find this.
2,I look on my pier cam and it is sat with the arm open looking West at the height of my neighbours Seestar, claiming it has found the star. The angle is that of the initial Open Arm position.
3.I use the joystick and move it to a star field, and then start the autofocus and warm up going.
4.Once this is done I check where it is and if it looks like the Skyatlas has identified where it is I stop the stack and hit sync on the Skyatlas.
5.Then I have to find a nearby bright star on the Sky Atlas and hit goto - the Seestar then does a complete rotation to find the star (the star I find it to go to is always very close).
6.Seestar finds this and then does a correct find alignment and starts stacking. I stop the stack and once more hit sync in Skyatlas as I now have a definitive proof that the Seestar knows where it is.
7.Then I can go to my intended target for the night. When I find this target tracking and dropped frames are very minimal. Everything works as intended.

Points to note:
Seestar is turned on and off via a Switchbot - Seestar is not on all the time and users at the observatory power their seestars on and off.
The Seestar is correctly EQ aligned on a permanent basis on a WIllams Optic Wedge (very stable)
The Location in the app is correct for the location of the remote observatory - The App runs locally next to the Seestar on an M series Mac that can run the Seestar App. I always ensure that I have reloaded the location in the app so it will refresh in the app and to the Seestar.
The Seestar is fully charged and remains on charge at all times. The power is controlled via a wifi controlled power strip.
At times when the Seestar gets confused like this it can "forget" it is connected to a power source and can start to lose power - cycling the power strip remedies this, but can be a symptom that helps to determine if this is an error.
Restarting the Seestar does not fix this issue.
Once a successful target is found and stacking starts the issue is fixed and power will return to normal expectations.

Please advise if this is a known bug or a newly found bug. I have seen reports of users with their Seestar with them in person experiencing the same problem. Lastly, I have an S30 and S50 at home and this S30 at the remote observatory, I have been using Seestars for over a year and I do not believe this is a user error.

Thanks for your time and please advise if you would like to me to test anything on my end to get a resolution to this.

Tech@ZWO

Did you mean that the first issue you mentioned was failing to find the target? This might be caused by obstructions such as clouds, or it could be due to improper polar alignment. Regarding the Seestar power-off problem you mentioned later, I need to conduct a test on my end.Addationly,You can bug report:https://h5.seestar.com/course/79221

HeidsG

Tech@ZWO thanks for your reply. Polar alignment is fine, when the Seestar is synced and finds its target I lose less than 20% of subs. The remote observatory does not generally open the roof when there are clouds, so this was not an issue, and i can corroborate with pier cam images of this. Yes the first issue is due to not finding the target - the app shows the Seestar slewing to the target I choose, then it fails to find the target - if I then go back to Skyatlas and check the actual position then the arm is still in the down position. Then I have to use the joystick to move the arm to a position where I see stars and then I have to try and get the unit to “see” where it is. The unit can do an autofocus and warm up but will still register that it is in the closed position. So the unit will not even attempt to slew to a target even though the app shows and say it is, it has to be manually moved to an open starfield and only after multiple syncs will it show it’s correct position.

Tech@ZWO

I believe the issue may be due to inaccuracies in your polar alignment calibration.
First, mount the Seestar on a wedge base with adjustable latitude, and adjust the tilt angle to match your local latitude.Ensure the device's power button is facing upward and the top of the telescope is pointing north.After powering on the device, the Seestar will extend its telescope arm—usually pointing toward the zenith (i.e., directly above the device)—and perform the first plate solve to determine its current pointing direction.Subsequently, the device will conduct a series of rotations and plate solves to accurately calculate the polar axis deviation, and prompt you to make necessary adjustments until the calibration is completed.
If the polar alignment calibration fails, please check the level and compass calibration, and ensure there is no interference from magnetic substances in the surrounding area. Then click to calibrate the polar axis deviation again.Please give it another try.Alternatively, could you send me a video of the entire process of your polar alignment calibration for me to review?

HeidsG

Tech@ZWO Heloo and thank you for your reply. The Seestar is located at a remote observatory in EQ mode on a permanent basis. The polar deviation does not need to be done for every session because the mount and Seestar do not move from their pier. Polar alignment is fine on the unit because once the Seestar (with my help finds a star and is able to sync - I have to use the joystick to do that) then the tracking is as near to perfect as a Seestar can get which proves that the alignment is good - if it wasn't then I would not be able to get 5 or so hours on a target which I do nightly. I can't send you a video of polar deviation as I don't do it as there is no need. Would it be possible to send you logs of when this happens or how would you like it recorded?

HeidsG

I've now submitted a bug report and hopefully a log has gfone with that as well.

Tech@ZWO

HeidsG We will conduct the analysis as soon as possible.

HeidsG

Tech@ZWO I’ve had permission from the remote observatory to offer you the information so you can remote into my Seestar and see the issue for yourself, as I see it when attempting to image. If this is something that would be useful, please send me via the bug report in the app or on here an email address I can use to send you the credentials and information needed, then we can arrange a night for you to image from my Seestar. Thank you in advance.

Tech@ZWO

HeidsG My email is Joye.Zheng@zwoastro.com, Could you give me your BT number?I will help you analyze your logs as soon as possible. Thank you for your cooperation.

HeidsG

Thank you, I have sent an email.