Connection to PHD2

Sequence Generator SBIG Guiders
1

Hello,

I just purchased Sequence Generator Pro and am trying to get set up with PHD2 guiding.

I can connect my SBIG STT-8300M and CFW8, and I can specify the directory for PHD2. However, whenever I try to connect equipment in SGP, after PHD2 starts (it does launch automatically), I get an error that says “Timeout! Could not refresh PHD2 profiles, please try again.” I have tried setting up several different profiles in PHD2. Does anyone have an idea about what could be wrong?

Thanks,

-Tom

2

Actually, I think I just needed to install the latest beta version of PHD2. Now I can get past PHD2 profile specification, but I cannot figure out how to share the USB connection to an SBIG camera with a self-guiding filter wheel. I need to:

1.) Image with an SBIG STT-8300M in SGP and
2.) Autoguide with PHD using the CFW8 hooked to the the camera in item 1 so that SGP and PHD2 are sharing the same USB port and camera interface.

I was told that SGP can do this, so I bought the package along with the mosaic wizard. Are there some instructions for sharing the SBIG driver between applications? Currently, I can only run SGP or PHD2, but I cannot figure out how to run both simultaneously with the BIG imaging chip in SGP and guiding chip in PHD2 at the same time…

Please let me know if this is possible and how to accomplish it.

Thank you,

-Tom

3

We need a help section for this, but we have not gotten around to it…

SBIG cameras do not allow different apps to share the connection. This means you need to give the connection to SGPro and then set your guide chip options in the SBIG settings dialog.

http://mainsequencesoftware.com/Content/SGPHelp/Cameras.html

Then download the SGP API Guider (ASCOM driver). This is the camera you will choose to use in PHD2. You can find that here:

http://mainsequencesoftware.com/Releases

Finally, make sure that you “Pause the guider during main image download”:

4

Fantastic! Thank you for the incredibly quick reply!
I will try that next time I am ready to set up in the early evening.
Thank you so much for the information. I’m currently using TheSkyX and would like to be able to guide with PHD2 while imaging in SGP and controlling the mount in TheSkyX, so I appreciate the availability of a solution that can integrate in this way. I also look forward to trying to use SGP to autofocus between images, which I have not been able to do yet with TheSkyX and Orchestrate.