Hi
Would anyone know how to sync the telescope to SGP?
I have a Paramount MX+ I have no problem in syncing in Sky X so I understand the principle. Everything seems to be working correctly in SG Pro apart from syncing. When I nearly get it synced it goes the opposite way to what I want. If anyone can offer a step by step way of syncing from start up I would be grateful. I think I have all the settings correct. Kieron
In the Control Panel, on the Telescope tab, be sure to set “Sync behavior” to “Target Offset”. Paramounts require this setting to sync correctly.
This is very interesting. I have a Pulsar Dome with a Mesu 200 mount and it generally works incredibly well. However, I have had issues with shutter opening alignment. I find it worse when the target is approaching the meridian, the dome flips from one side to the other and can’t decide where is best. When trying to centre on target I can end up taking a shot of the inside of the dome for the plate solve. I have just checked and see that I have telescope Sync Behaviour set to Sync in the control panel. Could this be a cause? Can you explain the settings a bit more please as there is very little in the manual about this. Thanks, Gav.
My suggestion to use “Target Offset” is just so your sync behavior when slewing or centering will work with Paramounts. I don’t think it has anything to do with your dome behavior. Just change it and see if your mount syncs correctly. It just seems to be the required SGP protocol to work with Paramount mounts.
Ah ok, thanks. I will raise the dome sync question elsewhere!
Hi @PhotoGav,
Sounds like perhaps the dome dimensions (GEM offset, north offset etc) you have entered are not quite accurate. If dimensions are close but not exact it can result in anomalies near the “edge” cases (ie. near meridian/zenith).
DaveNL
The property that controls the position of the dome shutter is PierSide. If this is being reported incorrectly then the dome may think that the mount has done a pier flip when it hasn’t, or vice versa.
Ok, thank you Chris. I will do some more concentrated investigation with log files and see what I can unearth.
Thanks Guys
Since i set Target Offset things have improved
But on startup sync is not straight forward. It’s pretty much hit and miss to get the observatory aligned with telescope. I cant enter in the sync box the degree angle. I have to enter an offset number either higher or lower than what it says in the SGP observatory box Azimuth no. and keep slowly moving towards alignment
So if anyone knows the correct way to sync pls advise
Thanks
Kieron
Kieron, I don’t have the exact same control on my Pulsar Observatory but there may be similar problems to watch out for.
I remember, when I set things up initially, yes, there was a bit of tweaking to have the dome follow the scope no matter what azimuth the scope was pointing - but once it was following correctly then a HOME position had to be chosen and marked for the dome sensor. Once that was done, I knew the angle that was now ‘home’ and I set the park position 10° anti-clockwise from it. (Me knowing the actual angle just meant I could check at any time that the dome retained its proper angle “in memory”).
I found from general use that, if the dome was not shut down at the park position - it tended to ‘forget’ where it was…so starting up the next session, the dome was reading the wrong angle (….this only if shut down at other than the park position). To correct the situation…I sent the dome to HOME, where it got its angle automatically - then sent it back to park - where it remembered its position…even if shut down. So then - starting up again in e.g. SGP, it knew it was starting from the park position and worked without any further intervention.
I am not sure if your Pulsar controller works in a similar fashion…but you should not have to sync anything on each start up. The procedure I mentioned above (sending to home then park) only needs to be done very rarely for whatever reason…maybe slippage or power shut down before the dome actually got to park position.
No idea if this is what you are after…but maybe it might put you on route to fix your problem.