ASIAM5 Polar Align

[jerry1]

I just converted to an ASIAM5 mount and cannot get it to polar align with SharpCap. I keep getting an RA rotation error after the SharpCap Wizard tells me to rotate the RA 90 degrees. Because the AM5 doesn’t have a clutch, I’m rotating the mount 90 degrees with its hand control.

So, how do I polar align using SharpCap with this mount?

Thanks,

Jerry

[admin]

Hi Jerry,

is the RA rotation error coming from SharpCap or the mount? If it is from SharpCap, can you give me the exact wording (or a screenshot) so I can work out the conditions that cause it to happen.

Hopefully another SharpCap user who has the AM5 mount might comment to say if they have polar align working or not, and if they had any issues. I'm afraid I still run a good old-fashioned EQ6

cheers,

Robin

[jerry1]

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the quick response!

I meant to take a pic before leaving, but I was so frustrated and cold (it was -4 deg C with wind, but GREAT seeing) that I packed up and left. I'll try again this evening and capture the message for you. If you should think of anything else you'd also like me try, just post it here and I'll do those also to help you diagnose the problem.

Thanks,

Jerry

[jerry1]

I just tried to polar align this evening so I could document my experience. Here is more detail:

I start PA, am instructed to click NEXT, and SharpCap identifies stars and reports the quality of the alignment as well as the RA and Dec errors. It then instructs me to click NEXT and rotate the RA. Because there is no clutch on the AM5, I use its hand control to rotate the RA approximately 90 degrees. (Should I instead use the GOTO controls on SharpCap to rotate the RA?) SharpCap then displays this message:

“Rotation detected during adjustment stage. Please undo rotation or restart”.

At this point, the PREVIOUS button is disabled and the NEXT button is not displayed. The only enabled button is RESTART.

So, I use the Hand Control to send the mount back to Home, thereby undoing the rotation. Now, the same situation exists in that the PREVIOUS button is still disabled and the NEXT button is not displayed. The only enabled button is RESTART. When I restart, the process recurs.

I have tried instead to not rotate the RA and just make a manual adjustment, but without the NEXT button ever being displayed again, I finally restart the process. With this approach, if I was careful in the adjustment, the new starting process is closer to adjustment and I sometimes see a star with a square box around it on the screen. I have presumed that this is Polaris; is that correct?

But even if it is and I was eventually able to align, the process is arduous and time consuming. Tonight, I did that for over 30 minutes and got to the point that the RA error was down to 44 minutes and the Dec was down to less than 2 minutes, but this is far too tedious an approach to tolerate.

Because I’m new to this, the problem could be me. My previous experience has been with computerized GOTO mounts and prior to that, manual polar alignment and then tracking with a manual RA control.

Please let me know if you need other information or approaches to try.

Thanks,

Jerry

P.S. For Select Hardware in Settings, I selected: ASI Mount

[admin]

Hi,

do you have the 'auto advance' checkbox ticked in polar align? With this checked, the polar alignment moves on to the next stage when enough information is available to do so, but if you are still rotating then it will get to the final adjustment stage and give you the 'rotation detected error'. So, I'd suggest unticking that check box and then pressing the 'Next' button as required to move from one stage to the next, and everything should be fine.

The interesting part is why is this rarely a problem for other mounts? I think it is because when you unlock the clutch and spin the mount manually, you tend to do it quickly and then stop. In the frames where moving quickly the stars will trail so much that SharpCap will fail to do anything with them, and once you are stopped you are not rotating any more. Using the handset controls almost certainly rotates the mount more slowly and SharpCap can perhaps pick up the (slightly) trailed stars while it is still in motion.

cheers,

Robin

[jerry1]

Robin,

I just started everything and Auto Advance is not checked. Your explanation makes a lot of sense, but alas, it's not causing the problem I have.

But I did find something interesting: to check whether or not Auto Advance was checked, all I did was connect my scope to power and to a camera and my laptop in the house and even left the cover over the objective. When the program started, it obviously found no stars, but I got the same error after SharpCap started looking for stars, namely:

“Rotation detected during adjustment stage. Please undo rotation or restart”.

This implies to me that SharpCap is not talking to the AM5 and there’s actually a communications problem. In yesterday’s report of my trials last night, I did mention that I selected “ASI Mount” for the hardware setting, is that the correct setting? Obviously, not knowing the innards of the app, I could be wrong. I'm just trying to share any info of my travails.

Thanks,

Jerry

[metastable]

Hey Jerry,

Just chiming in because I too have an AM5 and have also run into the issue you are having. Like Robin said, make sure auto advance is disabled. I have ASI Mount set, so I don't believe that's causing the issue. Some things you could double check is perhaps making sure all the screws on the mount are properly tightened, specifically the screws that allow you to change from EQ to Alt/Az. In the past I failed to properly tighten those which would cause the mount to move around depending on the rotation and weight of my telescope.

Hope that helps,
Alejandro

am5screw.jpg (173.77 KiB) Viewed 10229 times

[jerry1]

Hi Alejandro,

Thanks for chiming in! It’s got to be difficult for Robin to diagnose a problem with this mount without one to test.

I just checked all the screws, especially those for converting from EQ to Alt/AZ and back, and they were all already tight. I also assure all the hand clamps are tight after each adjustment. So I’m afraid that is not the cause of my problem, but I do appreciate your suggestion and letting me know that the “ASI Mount” setting is working for you; at least I’ve got those things correct.

Thanks,

Jerry

[jerry1]

Robin,

A point of information that may prove helpful: I can control the AM5 from both the ASCOM control panel and the Movement Buttons of SharpCap. I can turn it in RA or Dec with those controls. Similarly, I can select any database object that is above the horizon and the scope will slew to it. I presume it would point properly at the object if the scope was polar aligned at the Home position.

I hope this helps,

Jerry

[admin]

Hi Jerry,

providing you have a reasonable polar align and start from the home position (or, equivalently, do some sort of star align) then the movements should get you close to the targets. They may not be precisely centered in view (or even be out of view by a bit), but plate solving will sort that out quickly.

cheers,

Robin