174 guiding problem

ken220782

Hi all , I'm using an asi 174 camera and have it connected to st4 port on my mount and usb on my laptop . In phd2 I've selected zwo asi as camera type and asi st4 telescope driver (ascom). My problem is in PhD2 when I start to guide after a short period I get a flashing in PhD and it tells me "maximum RA reached " I've got RA to 2000 which should be fine and also the mount is tracking just doesn't seem to get pulses from camera

ken220782

I've downloaded phd2 version 2.6.0 and using the st4 port on mount . Should I be connecting to "on camera " or asi st4 telescope driver (ascom) in phd2 mount setting ?

riklaunim

I used "on camera" with 120MM. In general anything with ST4 should use "on camera".

ken220782

Thanks for that! So if im connected to usb3 on laptop and st4 port on mount i select "on camera" for mount type. what should i choose under the camera selection either - "ascom camera chooser" "asi cameras ascom driver" or "zwo asi camera" ??? also should i select anything under aux mount? thanks. Im not even sure what drivers Sam put on here for me last year

riklaunim

I used ASCOM and then ASI camera from the list.

ken220782

I dont seem to have that option of first picking ascom and then asi camera, i just have those 3 options and nothing after. its the newest version of phd2 2.6.0

riklaunim

If it's not on ascom camera list then the ascom driver is either missing or somehow failed to work/detect camera.

ken220782

Yea it does come up im just wondering which is the correct choice under camera selection, i have 3 options- 1 "ascom camera chooser" 2 "asi cameras ascom driver" or 3 "zwo asi camera"

riklaunim

any that works ;)

ken220782

What drivers should I download for this ? Sam put a driver on for me last year which I use for planetary through the usb3 port but do I need extra drivers ?

riklaunim

1. the camera driver

2. the ASCOM camera driver

ken220782

I checked the hard drive and I have all the necessary drivers (Sam must have downloaded for me last year) I don't understand why this isn't working . I have set focal length and camera pixel size in PhD and tried all the different configurations ascom etc etc but PhD never corrects properly and the star just drifts

riklaunim

Do you have the image from camera? If so then it's either something with mount connection (bad ST4 cable or alike) or bad guide settings (but then you should hear some corrections applied to mount motors).

ken220782

Not sure if it's the camera st 4 cable that came with camera ?? I do get a visual from the camera but it doesn't ever calibrate correctly . I've connected using st 4 cable to mount and usb to computer . I use "on camera " for mount and "zwo asi camera for camera . One other thing I don't understand is I can't enter the camera settings on PhD this is just greyed out , is that normal for asi camera ?

ken220782

Could the guys from zwo possibly update the guidance for connecting the cameras for PhD software . Do I still select wdm webcam for camera ?? Can I then select celestron ascom driver for mount (assuming I'm connecting through the hand control)?? This is very confusing and the guidelines on the website are now outdated . PhD 2 is not working with my zwo 174 camera

Sam@ZWO

Ken220782 wrote:
Could the guys from zwo possibly update the guidance for connecting the cameras for PhD software . Do I still select wdm webcam for camera ?? Can I then select celestron ascom driver for mount (assuming I'm connecting through the hand control)?? This is very confusing and the guidelines on the website are now outdated . PhD 2 is not working with my zwo 174 camera

newest PHD2 V2.6 support ASI174 natively

so there is no other dialog needed

I would suggest you measure the ST4 port with a mutimeter

the direction pin will connected with the common pin if you click the guide button

ken220782

Hi Sam, yea im using phd v2.6 but what driver under camera in phd should i choose as i have a choice of 3 asi ascom drivers and none appear to work 1oo%.

I connected to the mount through the hand control with usb and r232. I used (asi cameras ascom driver) for the camera (its an asi174) and connected to (celestron telescope driver ascom) for mount. I then noticed a hand control box appeared on computer which i could use to slew the scope which worked well. I tried manual guide and set the ms to 5000 to get a good movement . When i try to move these controls in manual guide i get a very very small movement which appears to be very delayed this is in direct contrast to the hand control computer controller which is instant. I then tried to calibrate on a star and it failed twice so i checked assume dec orthogonal and was able to calibrate. Although my north and west lines are nearly together and when i tried to guide it was terrible. My thinking is the mount must be working correctly as the hand control box on computer works really well??? i also used POTH hub ascom which slews very well without delay. Maybe someone more experienced could tell me if im connecting to the correct drivers and doing things correctly etc etc.

ken220782

I had driver version asi174mc ver 1,0.4,7 fw ver v1

Ive downloaded what i think to be the latest 1,1,1,20 so im not sure if that will make a difference with phd2 ver 2.6.

Can you confirm that i should be selecting windows wdm web cam for camera type ? Ive connected directly to the hand control using usb and r232 so now not using st4 port on mount.

Sam@ZWO

you can set the guider rate in your hand controller

the default guider rate usually only 0.5X tracking rate

so it's very slow compare with slew

you need to select "ASCOM" in PHD's telescope menu

and then choose the "celestron telescope driver ascom"

then it's no business of ST4 now

PHD will pick the image from camera and control your mount through RS232