<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Hy Patrick and Keith,<div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers</div><div>Wolfgang<br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div>
<meta charset="UTF-8"><div>—<br>Wolfgang Reissenberger<br><br>www.sterne-jaeger.de<br>Dobson Factory 12“ + ONTC 10“F4 + epsilon-160 + TSA-120 + FSQ-85 + FS-60CB | Avalon Linear + M-zero | ASI6200mm pro + 294mm pro</div>
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<div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>Am 17.12.2023 um 10:53 schrieb François Desvallées <fdesvallees@mailbox.org>:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div>
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Hello:
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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.
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Since in our case the reported RA did not change, it would keep rotating until it hit the pier.
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We have since fixed this in the firmware and polar alignment works fine.
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Maybe you have the same problem with your mount?
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François
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On 17/12/2023 08:24 CET Patrick Molenaar <pr_molenaar@hotmail.com> wrote:
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Hi,
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Kind regards,
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Patrick
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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">----------------------------------------------------------------------<br><br>Message: 1<br>Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 19:57:38 +0000<br>From: Keith Hoard <klhoard@proton.me><br>To: "kstars-devel@kde.org" <kstars-devel@kde.org><br>Subject: Question about Polar Align function<br>Message-ID:<br> <9P2NQV0plSFqHLn1RV9XhMf1RIBO0W05vO6O-jsdsSggtjlZ2EyZV2n6ngrdL-7F4gMpvxKkKPLtifBAgPaDb74Md1B9Bn_9EZEIzQtUxxM=@proton.me><br> <br>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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?<br><br>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.<br><br>-Keith Hoard<br>-klhoard@proton.me<br><br></span>
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