Help with a guiding problem please

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Jockinireland Ireland
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Help with a guiding problem please

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Post by Jockinireland »


I've been guiding with PHD2 for a couple of years now without major issue.

Gear is NEQ6, SW 80ED, Guide scope SW Evostar 50ED, guide cam ASI 120mm

Last night I hit a series of intermittent problems which, (from looking at the tutorial about interpreting guide graphs) seem to suggest, cable issue, dec backlash, dec "stiction"). But my problem is that none were constant, the sequence would run for a long time (hours) then the issue would hit then disappear again.

I need to understand whats happening and what corrective actions I can make.

The whole nights guide log is here for anyone who may be able to help https://1drv.ms/u/s!...3vHkg1?e=6JZMkw

But to summarize.

I targeted M106 (quite low) and did guide assistant (without backlash measure) Line 1 ((PA was not fantastic but I dont see it as causing what follows)

Then 2.5 hours of normal type guiding for me - OK not outstanding but no severe issues. Lines 2&3

I then moved to M101 - not far, (lines 4,5,6 are during reposition) and restarted, dec starts to drift and no signals making any difference -cable issue?. Line 7
Line 7.jpg
I then did several cable checks , park/unparks etc ending with a full shut down and restart (Lines 8 -13) and then a guide assistant with backlash measure- Line 14

Then restarted the sequence at line 17 - this had a clear post dither backlash issue at 6 minutes in, and a "stiction" type event at 02.00. Other than these and a few other minor dec events it was OK.
Line 17.jpg
At the end of line 17 it went through unattended meridian flip and restarted. This run went for 2hr 15 with normal guiding except what may be another "stiction" event at 04.44
line 18.jpg
So, all in I am at a loss, never had these issues and unsure how to fix. Why so intermittent?

Thanks for reading and for any help you can give.
Scope: Skywatcher Evostar 80ED (SW 0.85 FR/FF) on a SW NEQ6Pro
Guiding; SW Evoguide 50ED, ASI 120mm mini
Meade 8" LX200 GPS on wedge (Guided with a cheapo 50mm guidescope and a ZWO ASI 120mm mini)
Sharpstar 61EDPH II (with dedicated 0.8 reducer) with wiliam Optics 32mm uniguide
Camera: ASI2600MC pro. QHY 163M with ZWO 7nm NB filters, Canon EOS700D astro mod
Secondary mount: Skywatcher StarAdventurer

My Astrobin https://www.astrobin.com/users/mackiedlm/
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