Centering the EQ8 - EQMOD bug on new PC's?

I have developed a problem with the Meridian flip and subsequent centering AFTER the initial centre (which works perfectly) with my EQ8 - When the flip is happening, the centering gets to a certain position (perhaps 400px RA and 60px in DEC - Different each time) and it will not move from there… it’s like there’s an alignment point saved from somewhere and the only way to run the flip and target changes at the moment is to stop the sequence, reset it all and start again… then it centres on the correct position in 3 goes after I have deleted all points in the EQMOD setting.

It have followed the SGP threads on here about what settings to have in EQMOD… as far as I can work out they are all correct.

EQMOD 2

Please no one has any ideas? I am literally pulling my hair out on this one… Do I have an EQMOD setting different to what you’d expect?

As I recall, this kind of problem is caused by having active sky model which conflicts with the sync that SGP does to do a center. You have to disable any sky model - can’t tell you how to do that since I don’t know the EQMOD system.

I also use EQMOD and everything works ok. I had the same problem that you are describing but I fixed it by changing the user interface to dialog based and the alignment behavior to nearest point - the same as the settings in your image. All I can suggest is that you check if any points have been set but not cleared. The only other thing that comes to mind is that you are on V2.00. If that is a recent version you may want to try falling back in case there are still some bugs still in it.

Many thanks Tim… I’m glad that I showed the EQMOD settings as I truly thought that I had them right (and do indeed seem to have) - I will revert back to an older EQMOD when I next get out :slight_smile:

Interesting that in my quest to sort this I have found that it is not only happening to me, but others using the Skywatcher drivers and EQMOD and with a new PC… The common factor seems to be the new PC as everything was running perfectly with these exact settings until the new PC was used…

… Perhaps some W10 bug and EQMOD / Skywatcher drivers… I wonder if one of the EQMOD folks could comment?

Interesting. I would guess that people who buy a new PC install the latest version of EQMOD. Those on older PC’s are slower to update. Its just a guess but I wouldn’t be surprised if it worked when you fall back to an earlier version of EQMOD.

I’m running the last but one version of EQMOD with a fully updated win 10 laptop on my AZEQ6 and I haven’t experienced this problem.

I have the same settings as you Sara, what about the sync setting in SGP? I can’t remember what mine’s set to and I can’t check atm.

Cheers
Ian

I will roll back to an older EQMOD version and see if that solves it.

Sync settings are as per threads on hete… I can’t look either Ian!!

In reviewing your screen images, I noticed that the point filter is set to “ALL”. If you have just done a meridian flip and have a sync point that’s very close to the meridian but on the other side of it, that point should be used for positioning which is a poor choice because it was created with the mount flipped to the other side of the meridian.

A better choice for the filter is to use only points on the same side of the meridian. If you have declination balance issues that cause dec displacement when passing through the zenith, then use only points in the quadrant that the scope is pointing to.

Phil

I have uninstalled this version of EQMOD and am running V128k… with the same settings (Point filter set to ALL for example) it is working perfectly.

In my experience, it looks like something on V200k EQMOD isn’t working with new build PC’s on W10… Why else would V200k not work, but V128k works perfectly?

FWIW - I have a new PC (Christmas) with Windows 10 and EQMOD (2.00l ). No problems with this setup and centering. I don’t have anything in the point model although in the past I have used a small point model (~ 8 points) which sometimes makes the process go faster (ie. initial slew is closer).

Also, I have SGP Telescope Sync Behaviour set to “sync”. Once in a blue moon I have a problem with plate solving/centering and playing around with this setting has sometimes resolved it. Still not sure I fully understand the SGP sync options or if some of the past issues with these settings were resolved.

image

Also just noticing there are 4 newer versions of EQMOD so will be installing latest and testing soon.

DaveNL

Good luck with the testing! The only difference in my setup between V200k working and not working is a new PC - Less than 1 month old. If it WASN’T a bug somewhere, then reverting to an earlier build wouldn’t have solved the problem I would think?

Yes, quite possible it is a bug. Although as I’m sure you know, there are so many things that can go wrong with these equipment/software setups it is difficult to keep track!

If you have something that is working then I would not mess with it :=) unless there is a really compelling reason.

In your screenshots, I do not see a SideofPier setting in the EQMOD Toolbox. Perhaps this is EQMOD version dependent. But the comments from others in the past suggest that this must be set to “Pointing (ASCOM)” for flips to work with SGP:

image

One thing I am curious about - in your original post you mention “after I have deleted all points in the EQMOD setting.”. Are you talking about the sync points (DxSA, DxSB)?

Have you considered raising this issue in the EQMOD forum? (or perhaps you already have).

DaveNL

PS. Need to get some clear skies so I can test this (and capture some usable subs). Mother Nature - are you listening ?!?

On V200k (my screenshots) the SGP forum posts suggest that ‘Strict Conformance’ is the best thing to use… but when I did change it to the settings you show (and that runs perfectly on V128k), it made no difference.

Yes I was talking about the sync points you mention…

Hi Sarah,

I finally got out last night and here are the screen grabs of how I’ve got it set up for my AZ-EQ6.
This is on a Win10 machine with all the latest updates applied.

I have no problems with centering, either standard or after a flip.

Does the EQ8 have encoders and are they off in EQMOD? I had problems with them turned on, but this was ages ago, before I started with SGP.

I hope you can sort it out without having to stay on such an old version.

Cheers,

Ian

Interesting - the settings look the same as mine… I do have the encoders switched off in EQMOD.

It works in V128k… I don’t see a problem with being on an older version of EQMOD.

For what it is worth, finally got some clear skies over the weekend. Seems like the meridian flip worked ok. This is with EQMOD 2.00q (latest that I am aware of), SGP 2.6.0.25 and settings as outlined in my previous posts.

Perhaps this was a bug or issue related to a specific version of EQMOD?

DaveNL

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I see that you have selected auto meridian flip in SGP but not in EQMOD. Is this correct and does it work?

Kind regards
Roger