Little East Movement in PHD2

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jrm_astro
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Little East Movement in PHD2

#1

Post by jrm_astro »


Hi All,

So after another extremely frustrating evening...

After platesolving or aligning, I attempt to guide and get the following error.

Little or no East movement. Check guide cable.
After reading up on the PHD2 website etc, i find that a damaged cable can be the cause. I had a snag last night on that cable so this may be the case.
I intend to replace this asap.

But, I did also hear a loud clicking noise from the mount. This scared me.
Is it a potential mount problem, or is the mount (HEQ5) attempting to make a correction it is unable to make due to damaged cable? E.g. An East correction?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Scope - Skywatcher ED80
Mount - Skywatcher HEQ5
Guiding - Orion 50mm guide with ZWO ASI120MM-S
Imaging - ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool, ZWO Filter wheel, LRGB, Ha Sii Oiii and Dark frame filters
Software - APT, PS2, ASPS, PHD2, BYE, ASCOM, Stellarium, PI, PS.
Sky - Bortle 5
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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Little East Movement in PHD2

#2

Post by yobbo89 »


usually it is a disconnected mount or guiding on a dead pixel that causes the error.a mount clicking noise can be the motor stalling,poor balance can stall a mount or gear meshing too tight ectt.

you need to run your mount and slew the dec and ra a few times too see if the system is free from stalling/binding.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Little East Movement in PHD2

#3

Post by JayTee »


I've had clicking sounds from one of my mounts when I had a cable snag. The motor was trying to pull against a taut cable and it did not like that. I did what Yobbo suggested and after freeing the cable I ran the Dec motor for several minutes in both directions and that cleared the problem.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Little East Movement in PHD2

#4

Post by yobbo89 »


The diagnostics is too find where the mount is and if stalling in the gearing cycle, just to avoid any confusion, repeative slewing should not fix a stalled motor.

Glad you sorted it out.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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jrm_astro
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Re: Little East Movement in PHD2

#5

Post by jrm_astro »


G'day all,

Thanks for the replies.

So, its definitely not a cable snag (we won't be doing that again) and the mount is balanced well.
I can slew the mount in all directions freely with ASCOM EQMOD. I have replaced what I thought was perhaps a damaged cable and inspected where
it plugs in, both on the mount and at the camera. Both look fine.

Still getting the same error message :(
Scope - Skywatcher ED80
Mount - Skywatcher HEQ5
Guiding - Orion 50mm guide with ZWO ASI120MM-S
Imaging - ZWO ASI1600MM-Cool, ZWO Filter wheel, LRGB, Ha Sii Oiii and Dark frame filters
Software - APT, PS2, ASPS, PHD2, BYE, ASCOM, Stellarium, PI, PS.
Sky - Bortle 5
glevento
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Re: Little East Movement in PHD2

#6

Post by glevento »


Hi!
Did it happen to find a solution on the above? I have exactly the same problem
Thanks a lot!
George
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