Orion dual axis drive and indigo

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olben1
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Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#1

Post by olben1 »


Is there a conversion to make the dual axis drive for the SVP mount indigo compatible?
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#2

Post by Lady Fraktor »


I have no idea what indigo is besides a colour... ;)
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#3

Post by olben1 »


INDIGO is an asltrophotograpy control system. What's neat to me is, there is a raspberry pi image that sets up a dedicated wifi network so the telescope/camera can be outside while you're inside. Great for cold nights. Go here indigo astronomy
Last edited by olben1 on Fri Jun 19, 2020 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#4

Post by ARock »


There used to be ways to add ST4 guiding to some dual axis drives. Are you planning to do anything more than guiding?

Have you looked at ONSTEP ? It is a DIY way to build your own drive/controller
https://onstep.groups.io/g/main/wiki/4414
AR
Scopes: Zhumell Z8, Meade Adventure 80mm, Bushnell 1300x100 Goto Mak.
Mount: ES EXOS Nano EQ Mount, DIY Arduino+Stepper drives.
AP: 50mm guidescope, AR0130 based guidecam, Canon T3i, UHC filter.
EPs: ES82 18,11,6.7mm, Zhumell 30,9mm FJ Ortho 9mm, assorted plossls, Meade 2x S-F Barlow, DGM NPB filter.
Binos: Celestron Skymaster 15x70 (Albott tripod/monopod), Nikon Naturalist 7x35.
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

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Post by Lady Fraktor »


See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#6

Post by SkyHiker »


I replaced my G11S motorization with the EQStar system of astro gadgets. I can confirm that they work with EQMOD. Once the goto alignment is done I use my Pi with lin_guider or PHD2 for ST4 autoguiding. The EQStar kit is not perfect but good enough and affordable.
... Henk. :D Telescopes: GSO 12" Astrograph, "Comet Hunter" MN152, ES ED127CF, ES ED80, WO Redcat51, Z12, AT6RC, Celestron Skymaster 20x80, Mounts and tripod: Losmandy G11S with OnStep, AVX, Tiltall, Cameras: ASI2600MC, ASI2600MM, ASI120 mini, Fuji X-a1, Canon XSi, T6, ELPH 100HS, DIY: OnStep controller, Pi4b/power rig, Afocal adapter, Foldable Dob base, Az/Alt Dob setting circles, Accessories: ZWO 36 mm filter wheel, TV Paracorr 2, Baader MPCC Mk III, ES FF, SSAG, QHY OAG-M, EAF electronic focuser, Plossls, Barlows, Telrad, Laser collimators (Seben LK1, Z12, Howie Glatter), Cheshire, 2 Orion RACIs 8x50, Software: KStars-Ekos, DSS, PHD2, Nebulosity, Photo Gallery, Gimp, CHDK, Computers:Pi4b, 2x running KStars/Ekos, Toshiba Satellite 17", Website:Henk's astro images
olben1
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#7

Post by olben1 »


Thank y'all for your responses. They verify what I thought was going to be the case. If I want to integrate the drive, I'm going to have to either customize or build the controller. The electronics are straight forward. Programming the correct step frequency and size are the crucial bits.
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

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Post by olben1 »


BTW OnStep looks like a good starting point.
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#9

Post by olben1 »


The motors in the Orion TrueTrack dual axis kit appear to be stepper motors. Is this the case?
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

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Post by Lady Fraktor »


Yes they are
See Far Sticks: Antares Elita 103/1575, AOM FLT 105/1000, Bresser BV 127/1200, Nočný stopár 152/1200, Vyrobené doma 70/700, Stellarvue NHNG DX 80/552, TAL RS100/1000, Vixen SD115s/885
EQ: TAL MT-1, Vixen SXP, AXJ, AXD
Az/Alt: AYO Digi II/ Argo Navis, Stellarvue M2C/ Argo Navis
Tripods: Berlebach Planet (2), Uni 28 Astro, Report 372, TAL factory maple, Vixen ASG-CB90, Vixen AXD-TR102
Diagonals: Astro-Physics, Baader Amici, Baader Herschel, iStar Blue, Stellarvue DX, Takahashi prism, TAL, Vixen flip mirror
Eyepieces: Antares to Zeiss
The only culture I have is from yogurt
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#11

Post by SkyHiker »


olben1 wrote: Fri Jun 19, 2020 2:27 pm INDIGO is an asltrophotograpy control system. What's neat to me is, there is a raspberry pi image that sets up a dedicated wifi network so the telescope/camera can be outside while you're inside. Great for cold nights. Go here indigo astronomy
There are lots of ways to control telescopes remotely. The easiest one is to have a laptop or a Pi by the telescope to remote log into using RDP or VNC. At home you can use the router, in the field you would have to set it up as an access point or use an ethernet cable (but your use case is from home so this does not matter). The performance of the Pi as an access point is probably rather poor so you may be better off using your router anyway.

The Indigo FAQ says that the reason for Indigo is to offer an alternative to the ASCOM solution which is tied to Windows and non-distributable. At the same time Indigo appears to be Unix-oriented (no server on Windows). Meanwhile we have INDI that achieves the main goals that we need (platform independent and distributed), and has started to gain some real traction through the ASIAir device.

Indigo claims that its advantage over INDI is the implementation of a software bus, which is more efficient than the pipe/network oriented INDI protocol. To me this seems like an implementation issue. There is nothing that says INDI can't use a software bus internally for the case where a client and a server run on the same machine. So I doubt if Indigo will ever take off, strategically it's better to support INDI IMHO.

OnStep looks like a great solution but requires a lot of work and skills to set up. The Orion kit looks great if all you need is tracking. It does not allow for ASCOM or ST4 autoguiding so you will depend on very good polar alignment and accurate mechanics. How about astro-gadget's solution https://astro-gadget.net/gadgets/contro ... /eqstareq5 ? It has goto, autoguiding, supports ASCOM and INDI through EQMod if you're OK with using that.
... Henk. :D Telescopes: GSO 12" Astrograph, "Comet Hunter" MN152, ES ED127CF, ES ED80, WO Redcat51, Z12, AT6RC, Celestron Skymaster 20x80, Mounts and tripod: Losmandy G11S with OnStep, AVX, Tiltall, Cameras: ASI2600MC, ASI2600MM, ASI120 mini, Fuji X-a1, Canon XSi, T6, ELPH 100HS, DIY: OnStep controller, Pi4b/power rig, Afocal adapter, Foldable Dob base, Az/Alt Dob setting circles, Accessories: ZWO 36 mm filter wheel, TV Paracorr 2, Baader MPCC Mk III, ES FF, SSAG, QHY OAG-M, EAF electronic focuser, Plossls, Barlows, Telrad, Laser collimators (Seben LK1, Z12, Howie Glatter), Cheshire, 2 Orion RACIs 8x50, Software: KStars-Ekos, DSS, PHD2, Nebulosity, Photo Gallery, Gimp, CHDK, Computers:Pi4b, 2x running KStars/Ekos, Toshiba Satellite 17", Website:Henk's astro images
olben1
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#12

Post by olben1 »


SkyHiker
Thanx for your comments. There are several reasons I'm looking at INDIGO. They all revolve around the INDIGO Sky server that runs on a Raspberry Pi. It sets up a dedicated WiFi access point designed for the INDIGO software bus. I'm a Mac guy and there is a very nice suit of software CloudMakers specifically for the Mac that addresses the INDIGO bus. While the software is not free, it's not expensive either (ca $20 for their AstroDSLR package). The big reason is that I live in Wheeling, WV. The clearest Skys and best seeing is in winter. The night time temperatures on those clear nights often reaches 10 F or below. I'm too old to stay outside long enough to do any meaningful observing. Some time ago I converted a Logitech webcam to use on my 'scopes. It was OK but could be better. It did, however, function with INDIGO Sky. Having the ability to establish a WiFi anywhere and observe in a heated space, is very attractive to me.

I teach electronics and process control at a local college. So the design and construction is not really an issue. In fact I have microcontroller code that can move three steppers from a point 3D space to another. What haven't been able to find are specs for the TrueTrack steppers I.e., step angle, voltage, amps per phase, etc. The TrueTrack motors fit so well, I don't want to mess with building/printing mounting hardware. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I'm searching for as much experience I can tap into from others. So thank you again for your input.
Ben
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Re: Orion dual axis drive and indigo

#13

Post by ARock »


This thread might help

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/6379 ... nic-drive/

While you are right about mounting ease of Truetrack, the motor specs might be too old. Might be worth considering newer motors. On the ONSTEP page I linked, there is at least one person who has worked on a SVP. You could post/ask him about his mounting hardware. Also, it is quite possible that motor brackets for other EQ-5 mounts will work on the SVP, you might be able to get some 3D bracket designs from ONSTEP folks and print them with slight modifications.
AR
Scopes: Zhumell Z8, Meade Adventure 80mm, Bushnell 1300x100 Goto Mak.
Mount: ES EXOS Nano EQ Mount, DIY Arduino+Stepper drives.
AP: 50mm guidescope, AR0130 based guidecam, Canon T3i, UHC filter.
EPs: ES82 18,11,6.7mm, Zhumell 30,9mm FJ Ortho 9mm, assorted plossls, Meade 2x S-F Barlow, DGM NPB filter.
Binos: Celestron Skymaster 15x70 (Albott tripod/monopod), Nikon Naturalist 7x35.
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