<div dir="ltr">Keith,<div><br></div><div>Thanks for trying KStars out. </div><div><br></div><div><b>How to use the system</b></div><div>After your two slews and 3 captures, the system likely displayed some information </div><div>(the measured polar alignment error) and instructions (to press 'Refresh' to begin the correction cycle). </div><div>Below is a screenshot of a recent KStars/Ekos build and you can see that on the screenshot.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_lq74nnz50" alt="Screenshot 2023-12-15 at 1.14.15 PM.png" width="562" height="539"><br></div><div><br></div><div>I recommend you choose 2 or 3 seconds for the refresh, and the Plate Solve method.</div><div>Once you click Refresh, the system will continuously capture images every 2 or 3 seconds, plate-solve those images,</div><div>and update the estimated polar-alignment error. You would adjust your altitude and azimuth knobs to improve</div><div>the polar alignment and reduce the error. When you're done, click stop.</div><div><br></div><div><b>Protecting the system</b></div><div>As designed, the system does not protect against crashing your mount during polar alignment. </div><div>When you start polar alignment, you input a rotation direction and a direction and it will slew twice in the direction</div><div>you selected by the number of degrees you selected. It is up to the user to make sure these slews are safe. </div><div><br></div><div>BTW, there actually is a check for crossing the meridian if the mount is pointed away from the pole, and so it actually </div><div>protects in this way, but it does not protect against the rotations you described. I guess it is assumed that when you do</div><div>polar alignment, you're near the mount and are supervising it. See the screenshot below.</div><div><br></div><div><img src="cid:ii_lq753c2l1" alt="Screenshot 2023-12-15 at 1.26.29 PM.png" width="562" height="543"><br></div><div><br></div><div>There is some online documentation about all this, e.g. see the KStars Handbook</div><div><a href="https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/kstars/kstars/kstars.pdf">https://docs.kde.org/trunk5/en/kstars/kstars/kstars.pdf</a> and you can also find some YouTube videos online, e.g. <br></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOp7hrxw0oU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOp7hrxw0oU</a><br></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KawYjSyesq4&t=1s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KawYjSyesq4&t=1s</a><br></div><div><br></div><div>If you find some doc is out-of-date, please let us know.</div><div>Hy</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Dec 15, 2023 at 11:58 AM Keith Hoard <<a href="mailto:klhoard@proton.me">klhoard@proton.me</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px">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.</div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br></div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px">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.</div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br></div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px">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.</div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br></div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px">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?</div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br></div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px">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. </div><div style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:18px"><br></div>
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<div><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:13.5pt;line-height:normal">-Keith Hoard</span><br></div><div><span style="font-family:"Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;font-size:13.5pt;line-height:normal">-<a href="mailto:klhoard@proton.me" target="_blank">klhoard@proton.me</a></span></div>
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