6 replies to this topic

[geothomas]

I have the ZWO EAF focuser and their external temperature probe. I have version 3.3.8 installed for the EAF. I have NINA v3 running on Windows 11 laptop. Still the Temperature Compensation remains greyed out. I reached out to ZWO with the following email:   

 

Do you plan to update your EAF driver to allow it to work with NINA for temperature compensation? If so, any idea when that might be?

 

Their response:

 

Hi George

the EAF ASCOM driver provides temperature read out to sofwtare

the compensation is within NINA not the EAF

the EAF Is a dumb device and only will do what is commanded by ASCOM

 

Simon

 

When I look at the NINA documentation, it says:

 

Temperature compensation can be turned on or off here. Note that this is the in-driver temperature compensation.
Temperature compensation must be configured in the focuser driver

thanks

 

When I connect the focuser, I can see the temperature readout, but the compensation button remains greyed out. Is there a way to see if their driver is indeed outputting the value to enable compensation and if it is in the format needed by NINA? How do I configure the focuser driver?

 

Any suggestions on where to go looking next?

 

Much thx.

Edited by geothomas, 20 May 2024 - 04:53 PM.

[KTAZ]

Sorry for not answering your question directly; I don't own the EAF.

 

However, I do have a temp probe in my Optec focuser on my refractor. Do I use it to do compensation? Nope. I guess I just don't trust it.

 

I simply set Nina to run a AF every time the HFR changes by more than 5%. That seems to work really well.

Edited by KTAZ, 20 May 2024 - 05:58 PM.

[geothomas]

Sorry for not answering your question directly; I don't own the EAF.

 

However, I do have a temp probe in my Optec focuser on my refractor. Do I use it to do compensation? Nope. I guess I just don't trust it.

 

I simply set Nina to run a AF every time the HFR changes by more than 5%. That seems to work really well.

When I was using SGP, I found that focus compensation worked really well. It was much faster than frequent autofocuses. I would use it in combination with an AF once every 60-90 minutes depending on the expected temperature drop for the night.

[Juno18]

I have a 5v ZWO EAF installed on my ES ED102. 

 

I have a temperature probe and don't use it, but I did dig it up and plug it in recently to monitor my dew heater temperature.

 

I don't have NINA write the focuser temperature to the filename as I only want to occaisionally glance at the temperature in the Equipment Focuser tab and it works fine.

 

I just stuck it in my mouth to test it!

 

Here is an image of my Focuser window in NINA if this helps.

I’m running NINA in a Win11 Pro mini pc.

 

Edited by Juno18, 21 May 2024 - 09:32 AM.

[fmeschia]

In NINA, you can use the “Move focuser by temperature” to achieve temperature compensation even if the ASCOM driver doesn’t support it, as long as it provides a temperature readout.

[geothomas]

In NINA, you can use the “Move focuser by temperature” to achieve temperature compensation even if the ASCOM driver doesn’t support it, as long as it provides a temperature readout.

Just what I was looking for, thank you. Even though I'm fairly well conversed in SGP, learning a new tool is still a steep learning curve.

[archiebald]

I just got started in NINA and noticed that temperature compensation was greyed out too.

 

Does this simply apply to "Focus every xx degC change in temperature" or can it be used for predictive focusing?

 

Coming from EKOS, a recent update in their focusing module allows for predictive focus change based on temperature.  Initial calibration must be done based on temperature, but can also include RA DEC values to compensate for mirror flop for example.  After the extensive calibration, focus is updated by a few steps between every sub.