Jump to content

  •  

CNers have asked about a donation box for Cloudy Nights over the years, so here you go. Donation is not required by any means, so please enjoy your stay.

Photo

A beginner-friendly smart EAA setup

  • Please log in to reply
373 replies to this topic

#251 acrh2

acrh2

    Gemini

  • *****
  • Posts: 3,267
  • Joined: 16 Mar 2021

Posted 09 January 2022 - 07:40 AM

I tried 1.7 Beta with an iPad last night. All the normal features worked fine.
Had no trouble slewing to and plate solving targets.
 
The trouble I had all night was the app kept freezing up.
I was using Stellarmate hotspot for connectivity.
This happened whether I was 3 feet or 15 feet away from the RPI4.
The buttons stopped working so I lost complete control.
A restart of the app easily brought it all back until it froze again.
I "Forget this network" to all my usual networks.
So close yet so far,,,
Any one else try it?


Get android?

#252 Psionmark

Psionmark

    Ranger 4

  • -----
  • Posts: 308
  • Joined: 20 Jul 2020
  • Loc: Near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom

Posted 09 January 2022 - 08:04 AM

I tried 1.7 Beta with an iPad last night. All the normal features worked fine.

Had no trouble slewing to and plate solving targets.

 

The trouble I had all night was the app kept freezing up.

I was using Stellarmate hotspot for connectivity.

This happened whether I was 3 feet or 15 feet away from the RPI4.

The buttons stopped working so I lost complete control.

A restart of the app easily brought it all back until it froze again.

I "Forget this network" to all my usual networks.

So close yet so far,,,

Any one else try it?

My iPad refuses to connect to the Stellarmate WiFi once it has previously done so. I have to “Forget Network “ every time prior to trying to use it. I don’t get this problem with my Android tablet so going to give it one more go on next clear night. 



#253 jkelly

jkelly

    Ranger 4

  • *****
  • Posts: 382
  • Joined: 06 Jun 2009
  • Loc: New Jersey

Posted 09 January 2022 - 08:13 AM

I do have an older android tablet - I'll try it in the house today. TY!



#254 ahmadeus9

ahmadeus9

    Explorer 1

  • *****
  • Posts: 50
  • Joined: 27 Nov 2016
  • Loc: Charlotte, NC, USA

Posted 09 January 2022 - 08:38 AM

I truly tip my hat to you all for continuing to explore this despite the endless challenges. I must admit I somewhat wish OP would chime in at some point and see if he can assist with the troubleshooting. Would be great if he could get involved with Jasim and try to help move things in the right direction, maybe make an updated video at some point. I sincerely hope the issues with this setup can get ironed out, as I would love to go back to the modular approach! Good luck all!



#255 alphatripleplus

alphatripleplus

    World Controller

  • *****
  • Posts: 135,052
  • Joined: 09 Mar 2012
  • Loc: Georgia

Posted 09 January 2022 - 08:55 AM

Yes, the modular approach was one of the main attractions of this set-up.



#256 Psionmark

Psionmark

    Ranger 4

  • -----
  • Posts: 308
  • Joined: 20 Jul 2020
  • Loc: Near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, United Kingdom

Posted 09 January 2022 - 11:26 AM

After what appeared to be a successful indoors test yesterday, took the rig outside to check alignments etc.

 

Todays issue? Can’t get an image from the camera lol.

 

I think that’s it for me on this project smile.gif


  • steveincolo likes this

#257 amitshesh

amitshesh

    Apollo

  • *****
  • Posts: 1,421
  • Joined: 25 Sep 2020

Posted 10 January 2022 - 10:47 AM

The more I use this setup, the more I feel like giving this advice:

 

Try it by connecting to the Pi using a computer inside, even if that is not what you planned. The setup will be slower because all the images are now being transferred to your laptop. But with the much bigger display and UI, it is easier to troubleshoot issues. If image transfer is too slow, try binning. I troubleshot my speeds by running iperf server on my computer and running iperf from the terminal on Rpi. If you live in a cold climate, just try to power the Pi using an electrical outlet rather than a battery to see if it makes a difference.

 

I struggled a lot with this setup, primarily because I had not done this before. A lot of it was just a difference between how I think it should work vs how it actually worked. I had never worked with an astro camera, so just getting an image to show up was an exercise in frustration that I had completely not anticipated. This affected everything from pointing the telescope correctly, focusing, slewing not succeeding, etc. But again, large display, I not being outside, etc. helped me stick with it. Admittedly I don't have the same mount as what the OP suggested and a lot of the problems here have to do with specifically Az-Gti being wired.

 

I even went one step further and used Ekos for image acquisition, then stacked using Sharpcap Pro using folder monitoring. That way I could confirm that everything other than Stellarmate's image stacking was working. Personally I decided to remain with Sharpcap Pro for stacking simply because I can do some curves adjustment. But you don't have to.

 

Finally when everything else works, and you still cannot see live stacked images on your phone/tablet, you can then concentrate just on the live stacking part (i.e. play with gain, exposure time etc. to see what's the sweet spot before the Pi gets overwhelmed)


  • alphatripleplus and bips3453 like this

#258 alphatripleplus

alphatripleplus

    World Controller

  • *****
  • Posts: 135,052
  • Joined: 09 Mar 2012
  • Loc: Georgia

Posted 10 January 2022 - 12:41 PM

Sounds like that approach is worth trying.



#259 Joey44

Joey44

    Mariner 2

  • *****
  • Posts: 221
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2019

Posted 10 January 2022 - 01:57 PM

...I must admit I somewhat wish OP would chime in at some point and see if he can assist with the troubleshooting. Would be great if he could get involved with Jasim and try to help move things in the right direction, maybe make an updated video at some point. I sincerely hope the issues with this setup can get ironed out, as I would love to go back to the modular approach! Good luck all!

My guess is that Cuiv has moved on. I think the best route to getting this setup to work is for those of us who are struggling with it to provide feedback to Jasem with specifics about what is not working. By the way, the new 1.70 64 bit beta is faster and more stable in my testing. Since the original concept calls for in-app plate solving, stacking, and saving of stacked images, this is where I am focusing my attention. Saving of individual, non-stacked images is a different issue, and when reporting how this is working it needs to be differentiated from the live stacked image saves. Stellarmate support has a feedback option and Jasem is working on issues, but I don’t know if he is following this thread, so my advice is to report specific issues directly to him and to include information about what version of OS, what mount, what app, how it is connected to Stellarmate, what wifi band (2.4 or 5 GHZ), etc.



#260 danb35

danb35

    Vostok 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 137
  • Joined: 07 Oct 2021
  • Loc: Coastal GA, USA

Posted 16 January 2022 - 09:10 PM

So I watched this video, thought it sounded intriguing, then Cuiv posted a follow-up describing pretty much the same thing but with DSLR+lens, so I gave it a try, as the only thing I then needed to buy was the mount itself, the StellarMate OS license, and a battery pack for the mount and the Pi (I already had a spare Pi 4).  I'm using an Orion StarSeeker IV rather than the AZ-GTi, as I couldn't find the latter in stock.  Camera is a Canon EOS 6D, lens is a Canon 100-400L.  And somewhere in that video, he said to set the plate solving accuracy to around 1,000, so I did that.  I'm running StellarMate 1.6.1, the latest "stable" release, along with version 2.4.3 of the app on my iPad.  Here's what works:

  • The mount reliably connects to the StellarMate hotspot--I'd prefer a wired connection, but haven't as yet been able to make that work, so the mount connects via WiFi.
    • I could connect both the mount and Stellarmate to my home WiFi, which would make it easier to control from inside my house, but I was wanting to configure it in such a way that it'd work in another location as well.  This is why I'd really prefer a wired connection, but apparently I bought the wrong cable for that application.
  • Go to target works most of the time--it slews to close to the specified location, takes the image, solves, adjusts, and is generally within tolerance on the second exposure.
  • I can set up a sequence of exposures, which the Pi will save to its SD card--I can then download them over my home network (Stellarmate includes a SMB server, so just plug it into a network cable, browse to \\stellarmate\Pictures, and copy from there) and stack/process them
  • Stellarmate is able to autofocus with my lens--or did at least once.
  • The app works most of the time on my iPad, but occasionally freezes and becomes unresponsive.  When that happens, I close the app, restart, reconnect to Stellarmate, and it's generally worked fine.

What doesn't:

  • Probably shouldn't be surprising, but the mount doesn't track well enough to support exposures > 10 sec (at 400mm focal length) without some trailing.
  • I haven't been able to make the live stack work that well--it runs, but I'm not seeing much in the way of improvement in the image over time.  This was, of course, the "killer app" of Cuiv's video.

Works, but...

  • Exposures don't always seem to be of the specified length, particularly for the "go and solve" feature--I've set it for a 5-second exposure, and it sometimes wants to take exposures of about 1 second.  I've found that if I stop the process, and then tap "capture and solve" again, it (at least usually) uses the 5-second exposure I told it to.
  • I've got a pretty good SD card installed, but the system still takes several seconds to download/save/process an exposure before it takes the next one.  If I have a sequence of 5-second subs, I'm going to have the shutter open less than half of the time.
  • It sometimes parks the mount in an azimuth position very different from where it started.  I haven't been able to figure out (though I haven't put much effort into it as yet) the circumstances under which this happens.

I still think it's pretty impressive that I can start with an alignment routine of "point generally north, and have the scope roughly level," pick a target, and have a centered image of that target within about 45 seconds--and that a Raspberry Pi can handle all the image processing and computation necessary to accomplish that.  And the images I've been able to produce are enough of a gateway drug for me that I've ordered an EQ mount for the sake of longer and better-aligned subs.

 

So, have I been able to get it to do what Cuiv was able to?  Not exactly, though I guess mostly--it's just that the live stacking is the piece that pulls it all together, and it doesn't (at least yet) work for me the way he showed it.  But I'm happy with where it's put me so far.



#261 casati

casati

    Explorer 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 65
  • Joined: 15 Dec 2019
  • Loc: Near Regensburg / Germany

Posted 17 January 2022 - 04:38 AM

Hello Dan,

 

which Indi-Driver did you use for the mount? I'm asking because I've already spent days to find out what driver does work with the Skywatcher StarDiscovery (same as Starseeker IV) - to no avail.
 

 

I'm using an Orion StarSeeker IV rather than the AZ-GTi

TIA & best regards,

Peter


Edited by casati, 17 January 2022 - 07:10 AM.


#262 danb35

danb35

    Vostok 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 137
  • Joined: 07 Oct 2021
  • Loc: Coastal GA, USA

Posted 17 January 2022 - 07:42 AM

which Indi-Driver did you use for the mount?

I picked the Skywatcher Alt-Az driver, figuring that if the same Synscan app worked with the mount, they probably used the same communication protocol.  While that may not have been sound reasoning, it seems to be working so far via the WiFi connection.



#263 casati

casati

    Explorer 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 65
  • Joined: 15 Dec 2019
  • Loc: Near Regensburg / Germany

Posted 17 January 2022 - 11:00 AM

Dan, do you have a WIFI dongle attached to the HC port or is WIFI built into the mount? Using the recommended Skywatcher Alt/Az driver still produces timeout errors here.

TIA,

Peter



#264 danb35

danb35

    Vostok 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 137
  • Joined: 07 Oct 2021
  • Loc: Coastal GA, USA

Posted 17 January 2022 - 01:14 PM

WiFi is built into the mount.



#265 Joey44

Joey44

    Mariner 2

  • *****
  • Posts: 221
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2019

Posted 18 January 2022 - 08:08 AM

New Stellarmate facebook post today:
SM OS v1.6.2 is out! it comes with #KStars v3.5.7 and #INDI v1.9.4.SM App v2.4.4 should be available soon in Android/iOS stores.

 

Of particular interest to those following this thread:
Bimonthly Stable INDI Library release v1.9.4 introduces new drivers and fixes for existing ones. Some highlights: SkyWatcher Alt-Az iterative GOTO.

 

It looks like there has been a fix for the driver many of us are using for the Synscan adapter direct connection to the AZ-GTI.


  • casati likes this

#266 casati

casati

    Explorer 1

  • -----
  • Posts: 65
  • Joined: 15 Dec 2019
  • Loc: Near Regensburg / Germany

Posted 20 January 2022 - 04:22 PM

Hello Joey,

 

Thx. a lot! Your info on the new INDI release + updating my WIFI-Dongle to v1.07 solved my problem with the StarDiscovery mount (should work on ORION Starseeker IV as well).

Best,

Peter

 



#267 Joey44

Joey44

    Mariner 2

  • *****
  • Posts: 221
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2019

Posted 20 January 2022 - 05:23 PM

Hello Joey,

 

Thx. a lot! Your info on the new INDI release + updating my WIFI-Dongle to v1.07 solved my problem with the StarDiscovery mount (should work on ORION Starseeker IV as well).

Best,

Peter

 

Glad to hear. Are you using the new 1.70 Beta 64 bit version of Stellarmate? If not, and you want to try it, it can be updated in the app (using software updater, same process as in Cuiv's video) and when updated it will have INDI 1.9.4. I confirmed this with the Stellarmate developer. I haven't tried it yet, but am curious what has changed with the Skywatcher Alt/Az driver.
 



#268 jkelly

jkelly

    Ranger 4

  • *****
  • Posts: 382
  • Joined: 06 Jun 2009
  • Loc: New Jersey

Posted 26 January 2022 - 06:26 PM

I am imaging tonight with all the latest updates and have been going an hour with no problems at all!

I am using a EQ wedge now so I did use the polar alignment module as well with no problems.

So far so good!


Edited by jkelly, 26 January 2022 - 06:50 PM.

  • steveincolo likes this

#269 Joey44

Joey44

    Mariner 2

  • *****
  • Posts: 221
  • Joined: 30 Jan 2019

Posted 26 January 2022 - 06:55 PM

I am imaging tonight with all the latest updates and have been going an hour with no problems at all!

I am using a EQ wedge now so I did use the polar alignment module as well with no problems.

So far so good!

Are you using the IOs app and the 1.70 64 bit beta?
 



#270 acrh2

acrh2

    Gemini

  • *****
  • Posts: 3,267
  • Joined: 16 Mar 2021

Posted 26 January 2022 - 07:26 PM

With regard to using alt-az mounts and tracking.

Cuiv recommended to use the basic alignment routine of "point to the North."

That is a mistake.

 

These cheaper mounts have pretty cheap guts, and in the words of an Orion's tech, are only designed to point and hold an object in an eyepiece fov.

 

I was able to live stack in Sharpcap at 1400 mm focal length f/11 but only after a precise 3-star alignment.

Luckily you can do it fairly easily with Skywatcher mounts because the Synscan Pro software has an option of "align with sync." You turn it on, and after each plate solve and sync, it adds an alignment point. Once you register 3 alignment points, turn off the option, and the model is created that is fairly precise for decent tracking.



#271 jkelly

jkelly

    Ranger 4

  • *****
  • Posts: 382
  • Joined: 06 Jun 2009
  • Loc: New Jersey

Posted 26 January 2022 - 09:16 PM

IMG_0428_sm.jpg

M42

(image scaled)

 

Flawless!

I just finished about 3 hours with the latest Stellarmate 64 bit 1.70 OS and IOS app, using an iPad and did not have one glitch.

I was able to solve all images with one slew after the original slew. Did about 10 tonight.

I was able to navigate all screens while images were stacking without any syncing error.

As far as I'm concerned, based on tonight everything seems to be fixed.

 

I'd like to see more work on the stacking software. I also don't think the images look the same when viewed on an iPad and then later on a PC or Mac.  The contrast is different.

 

I am using an external antenna on the RPI4 and was inside the house about 15 feet away.

The AZ-GTI is hard wired to the Pi.

I am using Stellarmate wifi hotspot.

 

I also have upgraded to the eq wedge and the EQ version of the firmware.

I really recommend that. I was able to eliminate field rotation and was using 30 second exposures.

I am sure though that Alt Az will be 100% as well.

So far so good - waiting to hear from others.


Edited by jkelly, 26 January 2022 - 09:34 PM.

  • bips3453 and acrh2 like this

#272 jkelly

jkelly

    Ranger 4

  • *****
  • Posts: 382
  • Joined: 06 Jun 2009
  • Loc: New Jersey

Posted 26 January 2022 - 09:19 PM

Are you using the IOs app and the 1.70 64 bit beta?
 

Yes.



#273 ahmadeus9

ahmadeus9

    Explorer 1

  • *****
  • Posts: 50
  • Joined: 27 Nov 2016
  • Loc: Charlotte, NC, USA

Posted 26 January 2022 - 10:24 PM

Great news! Curious - have you tried using the original alt/az configuration with the new software?



#274 acrh2

acrh2

    Gemini

  • *****
  • Posts: 3,267
  • Joined: 16 Mar 2021

Posted 26 January 2022 - 10:49 PM

attachicon.gifIMG_0428_sm.jpg

M42

(image scaled)

 

Flawless!

I just finished about 3 hours with the latest Stellarmate 64 bit 1.70 OS and IOS app, using an iPad and did not have one glitch.

I was able to solve all images with one slew after the original slew. Did about 10 tonight.

I was able to navigate all screens while images were stacking without any syncing error.

As far as I'm concerned, based on tonight everything seems to be fixed.

 

I'd like to see more work on the stacking software. I also don't think the images look the same when viewed on an iPad and then later on a PC or Mac.  The contrast is different.

 

I am using an external antenna on the RPI4 and was inside the house about 15 feet away.

The AZ-GTI is hard wired to the Pi.

I am using Stellarmate wifi hotspot.

 

I also have upgraded to the eq wedge and the EQ version of the firmware.

I really recommend that. I was able to eliminate field rotation and was using 30 second exposures.

I am sure though that Alt Az will be 100% as well.

So far so good - waiting to hear from others.

Fantastic. Why mono though?



#275 jkmonroe

jkmonroe

    Mariner 2

  • -----
  • Posts: 287
  • Joined: 22 Mar 2012

Posted 27 January 2022 - 12:22 AM

I know this is about Stellarmate, but I am getting great results using Astroberry with my AZ-GTi.  I am running my AZGTi in alt-az mode for the winter (it was -6F tonight) so I only have to be outside long enough to point the scope north and then get fine focus.  Bonus!  Astroberry is free, as is the KStars/EKOS suite.

 

My winter workflow is pretty simple, Astroberry at the scope, AZ-GTi plugged in via USB cable, the whole thing is powered with a Talentcell.  On Astroberry I only use the INDI server from the main page and then inside I am using KStars/EKOS for planetarium, focus aid, plate solving, and image capture.  From there I use Sharpcap folder monitor to do the stacking.  Easier and more comfortable than sitting outside with an iPad.  smile.gif  

 

Here are a few images of my workflow -

 

This is my desktop
full1

 

Astroberry INDI

indi_server

 

EKOS INDI

ekos_indi
 
KStars Planetarium
kstars
 
Focus Aid
focusaid
 
Plate Solving
platesolving
 
Image Capture
imagecapture
 
Stacking
stacking
 
NGC891 which you can see in the images above (from tonight 1/26/2022)
NGC891 20frames 160sseconds
 
IC342 from the picture of my full desktop (from tonight 1/26/2022)
IC342 39frames 624sseconds

 

 


Edited by jkmonroe, 27 January 2022 - 12:31 AM.

  • cgilber, MartinMeredith, steveincolo and 1 other like this


CNers have asked about a donation box for Cloudy Nights over the years, so here you go. Donation is not required by any means, so please enjoy your stay.


Recent Topics






Cloudy Nights LLC
Cloudy Nights Sponsor: Astronomics