Question about Polar Align function - Kstars-devel Digest, Vol 238, Issue 4

[Wolfgang Reissenberger]

Hy Patrick and Keith,
try the polar alignment from a position close to the upper meridian, i.e. a high position in the south. There the problem with the RA position should not occur.

Cheers
Wolfgang
—
Wolfgang Reissenberger

www.sterne-jaeger.de
Dobson Factory 12“ + ONTC 10“F4 + epsilon-160 + TSA-120 + FSQ-85 + FS-60CB | Avalon Linear + M-zero | ASI6200mm pro + 294mm pro

> Am 17.12.2023 um 10:53 schrieb François Desvallées <fdesvallees at mailbox.org>:
> 
> Hello:
>  
> We had this problem in the past with our open-source mount (TeenAstro). The design caused a wrong RA display when pointing at the pole. The Kstars alignment routine normally simulates a key press to the W or E until a certain RA value is reached.
>  
> Since in our case the reported RA did not change, it would keep rotating until it hit the pier.
> We have since fixed this in the firmware and polar alignment works fine. 
>  
> Maybe you have the same problem with your mount?
>  
> François
>  
>> On 17/12/2023 08:24 CET Patrick Molenaar <pr_molenaar at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>  
>>  
>> Hi,
>>  
>> I have experienced the same thing a few months ago (I haven't got to trying it again due to the bad weather in the Netherlands). I am also a big fan of KStars/EKOS. I use an RPi-4 with Rasbian and the latest KStars installed. I have a SkyWatcher HEQ5-Pro mount connected to it.
>> I also noticed when using the Polar alignment function that my mount didn't stop slewing. The first time my telescope did hit the mount. Luckely it didn't damage the mount. I had to manually put the mount in zero position and realign the mount again (using 3-star alignment function on my mount). I did restart my RPi-4 if I remember correctly and then after connecting KStars again to my mount, I tried the polar alignment again. And again I noticed the the mount did not stop slewing. It continued for more then 100 degrees, until I manually stopped the motion by clicking the mount stop button in the KStars mount control window.
>> I retried the polar alignment several times, going west, going east, I even tried reducing the rotation angle to 15 degrees instead of 30, but each try the mount kept rotating without stopping. Eventually I gave up for that night and didn't had a change to try it again afterwards.
>>  
>> In the past it had worked fine. I am now a bit reluctant to use it again when I am not near my mount to stop it. I hope there is a solution for this.
>>  
>> Kind regards,
>>  
>> Patrick
>>  
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 19:57:38 +0000
>> From: Keith Hoard <klhoard at proton.me>
>> To: "kstars-devel at kde.org" <kstars-devel at kde.org>
>> Subject: Question about Polar Align function
>> Message-ID:
>>         <9P2NQV0plSFqHLn1RV9XhMf1RIBO0W05vO6O-jsdsSggtjlZ2EyZV2n6ngrdL-7F4gMpvxKkKPLtifBAgPaDb74Md1B9Bn_9EZEIzQtUxxM=@proton.me>
>>        
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> 
>> Last night was my first night I got out with kstars/ekos. I'm using the Stellarmate image on an Rpi-4. My mount is a HEM27EC.
>> 
>> When I was using the Polar Alignment function of ekos, it went thru its normal 2 RA rotations and 3 exposures. After the last one, the system seemed to halt and I didn't know if it was my VNC connection or the Rpi since I was in backyard using home wifi. The mount RA axis was rotated approximately 80 degrees westward.
>> 
>> I clicked "Start" button again and the PA routine began to rotate the RA axis more westward and I was able to turn off the mount power when the axis got to about 100 degrees rotation. Luckily I was right there to do that since the iOptron HEM mount will damage itself internally (and very expensively) if it is rotated past 120 degrees or so.
>> 
>> Of course I'm checking if there is a setting inside the mount to prevent this from happening in the future. However I am also curious if there is a setting in the Polar Alignment function that checks where the RA axis is before it begins slewing? Perhaps it may be as simple as having the PA function begin with a "Find Home" command before commencing the RA slew commands?
>> 
>> So far I am really liking kstars/ekos for control of my setup. I started with ASIAir, then went to NINA/Intel NUC, and am now on ekos/Rpi-4 and learning the operation of the system.
>> 
>> -Keith Hoard
>> -klhoard at proton.me
>> 

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