AZ-GTi Mount does not slew when plate solving

[admin]

Hi Bernie,

it could be a timing problem - in other words, maybe the Synscan app doesn't like receiving a batch of commands all in a row from SharpCap and therefore ignores some of them.

SharpCap currently waits about 2 seconds between sending the sync command and sending a new GOTO command to recenter the target. I've just looked at the code and unfortunately there isn't anything you can do to increase that delay easily.

However, in SharpCap 4.1 you could build an equivalent with a longer delay using the sequence editor - the screenshot below shows a sequence that you could try to see if it works. It has a longer 10 second delay between the sync and the movement.

cheers,

Robin

Screenshot 2023-08-22 145940.jpg (119.75 KiB) Viewed 1014 times

[TheBernster]

Hi Robin,

This sounds like something I could try! I will give this a go...
Thanks!

Cheers
Bernie

[luca857]

Hi all,

SharpCap newbie and AZGTi user here. I've been affected by a problem that appears to be very closely related to the ones I've seen discussed in this thread and other forums. Essentially, it seems like the mount (or better the SynScan App) is ignoring sync commands as they have no effect at all, despite they appear in the ASCOM log. To me this happens not only when I use SharpCap, but also while using other planetarium apps such as Stellarium which offer a "sync" command in their interface. I've never noticed any effect after issuing it, which makes me think the problem lies within the SynScan app itself rather than in SharpCap.

Tonight, however, I managed to make some progress by installing an old version of the SynScan app for Windows, specifically version 1.19.20. Using that version of the SynScan app, with everything else unchanged (latest stable version of SharpCap connecting to ASCOM hub), the plate solve button in the scope controls does plate solving and the sync, and now the mount slews and centers the target. It's been working beautifully so far and I'm so excited I wanted to share the news immediately with you.

If this is confirmed, maybe we can persuade SkyWatcher to look more deeply into the problem and have it fixed in recent versions of the SynScan app.

In case you want to give it a try, the old versions of the SynScan app are no longer linked from the official website, but you can figure out their URL by using the version (without dots) in the latter part of the URL. The version I have downloaded and that seems to work can be found at this link:

https://inter-static.skywatcher.com/dow ... _11920.zip

Hope that helps.

Luca

[Antonio]

Confermo, accade la stessa cosa anche a me: con la nuova versione di synscan il recentering dopo il plate solve non funziona, con la vecchia versione va.

Google Translate of the above added by Admin

I confirm, the same thing happens to me too: with the new version of synscan the recentring after the plate solve doesn't work, with the old version it does.

[admin]

Hi folks,

thanks for continuing to test new ideas and reporting the results here - it's now sounding very much like a new issue in the latest Synscan App versions. It will be interesting to see whether the test Bernie is going to try of the sequencer script with the bigger delay helps at all - if it does then maybe I can work around the Synscan issue, if not then it really will need a Skywatcher fix.

cheers,

Robin

[TheBernster]

Hi all,

I managed to try the sequencer idea last night, but unfortunately it made no difference. Same behaviour - no slew when using plate solve & sync, but the 'plate solve then offset' works fine with my setup. I'm using a DSLR so my FOV is pretty forgiving.

Interesting to hear that an older version of the Synscan app works - I'll try that out tonight if I have time.

Bernie

[TheBernster]

I should add - I didn't have much time to tinker with the sequencer last night, so I only tried the script that Robin suggested. I could perhaps try different timings.

Bernie

[admin]

Hi Bernie,

thanks for trying - with a 10 second delay and still not working it pretty much eliminates the idea of it being a timing issue. It all rather points to a bug in the current version of the Synscan App.

It may be worth following the link a few posts up to try the older version which seems not to be affected.

cheers,

Robin

[TheBernster]

Hi Robin,

I tried using that older version of Synscan Pro, and with my daytime testing (using previous images with the test camera etc.) the solve/sync/slew now seems to work! So it must be a Synscan app problem. I've yet to try it under clear skies, but I don't see why it shouldn't work now. (Famous last words).

Many thanks to Luca for the tip.

Bernie

[gateway]

Hello,

SynScanApp Pro Version 1.19.20 is working without any issue. Therefore its really a bug inside the SynScanApp.

I will write an email to Skywatcher with this issue.

Thanks for the support!

All the best,
Philipp