Hi everyone,
Now i seem to have more time to image i bought myself a ZWO OAG to use instead of my 50mm Guide scope. Main scope is 80mm altair ED doublet, ZWO 290mm guide cam. My mount is on the heavy duty pier.
Unfortunately i'm not able to get a successful PHD2 calibration no matter what i try.
My guiding has never been great - usually 1.3" RMS with the guide scope no matter how good my PA was, so i thought perhaps i could get some improvement using an OAG - and also not have to set up the guide scope, dew heater, balance it etc. OAG set up was quite easy, focusing accomplished - "awesome" i thought, that's the hard bit done
I started with a new profile, put the main scope focal length in (454) and hoped for the best. Now it must be said i rarely do any form of polar alignment - I generally just align north and be done (slack i know) because i have found it not to make that much difference.
I've been getting orthogonality errors for almost every cal run (i tried altering guide rates to see if that helped) - you can see in the attached log.
1. From reading the PHD2 manuals this might be backlash? And if so should i just make sure i run the max guide rate to minimise this? Anything else i can do?
2. Why am i seeing errors now, it was "OK" with the guide scope? Why cant i even calibrate at all?
3. Will PA align make more difference with the longer focal length?
4. Will my mount need "fixing"?
Many thanks to everyone in advance,
Clear skies, stay healthy!
Attached Files
Edited by waylander, 03 April 2020 - 01:54 AM.