Connecting to Ioptron EQ45 mount

[mlois]

Have a question/help needed

I tried to use my mount within Backyard Nikon

I use the ascom driver for ioptron 3013 or earlier (based on my mount and hand controller)

when I click connect the ioptron controller shows up

but then neither the buttons on Backyard nikon nor the ascom ioptron controller buttons work.

 Seems to me there is a specific problem with Backyard Nikon as when I use cart du ciel I can connect and control my telescope

any ideas suggestions?

I did a fresh install of everything the ascom plataform (newest version 6.3) the ioptron ascom driver (newest version 3) and Backyard Nikon

 

I use windows 7 premium and a windows 10

 

Thanks in advance

Manny

[admin]

I don't understand this.

 

"but then neither the buttons on Backyard nikon nor the ascom ioptron controller buttons work."

 

If it does not work with ascom ioptron controller buttons then it will not work with byn.  Can you be more specific what is not working in byn?

 

Thanks

[mlois]

Sorry about the confusing explanation

 Let me try again

 I start backyard Nikon and my Nikon D7000

then I select my telescope Ioptron driver for 2013 and earlier and connect the telescope. once the telescope connects, if I try to use Backyard Nikon arrows to slew the telescope it does not move. it sometimes says slewing but there is no movement on the mount and the lat/long does not change either

If I use Cart Du Ciel to slew the telescope it works so I assume there is a problem with Backyard Nikon controlling my telescope

 

hope this is more clear

Manny

[astroman133]

I am assuming that you meant RA and Dec rather than lat/long.

 

I would try connecting BYN to the ASCOM telescope simulator (ASCOM.Simulator.Telescope). For this test I would also bump the speed factor up to 100%. Do the arrows work now? You should see the RA and Dec change in the Simulator's virtual hand pad.

[admin]

BYN uses the Axis_Move command to slew the telescope.  It is possible that the ASOM driver has not implemented these commands.

 

Send me the log files and I should be able to confirm this, or not.

 

Regards,

[mlois]

I have sent the log files to support email. thanks

[admin]

Got the log files.

 

Your telescope is parked, slew can only be achieved when your telescope is unparked.

 

Cannot MoveAxis after parked!

2017-02-23 09:30:34,633 [slew(Right)] ERROR -    at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CheckDotNetExceptions(String memberName, Exception e) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 589

   at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.MethodTargetInvocationExceptionHandler(String memberName, Exception e) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 678

   at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CallMember(Int32 memberCode, String memberName, Type[] parameterTypes, Object[] parms) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 422

   at ASCOM.DriverAccess.Telescope.MoveAxis(TelescopeAxes Axis, Double Rate) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\Telescope.cs:line 712

   at BinaryRivers.ASCOM.Platform60.TelescopeASCOM.MoveAxis(TelescopeAxes axe, Double speedpercentage)

2017-02-23 09:30:34,633 [slew(Right)] ERROR - Cannot MoveAxis after parked!

2017-02-23 09:30:34,633 [slew(Right)] ERROR -    at ASCOM.iOptron2013.Telescope.MoveAxis(TelescopeAxes  , Double  )

2017-02-23 09:30:34,633 [slew(Right)] ERROR - Cannot AbortSlew after parked!

 

Regards,

[mlois]

Hello thanks for the response

It was not parked. i never have it parked

I turned it on and started BYN right away.

It starts at zero position.

Wonder why it is thinking it is parked.

i dont have this problem in carts du ciel

[astroman133]

For those of us who do not have iOptron mounts, what is "zero position"? Does the mount start tracking as soon as you turn it on?

 

Apparently the mount thinks that it is parked. Perhaps because you have just turned it on. Does it behave the same way if you wait to connect BYE to the mount until you have the mount aligned and have slewed to the first target?

 

Cartes du Ciel is a planetarium program which is typically used to slew the scope to a particular celestial object. This is not the reason for BYE's telescope functionality. BYE is typically used to make small, slow motion, changes to the mount's position to allow you to better frame your target. They use different mount commands.

 

According to the ASCOM standard, both the Slewing commands used by Cartes du Ciel and the MoveAxis commands used by BYE should fail if the mount thinks that it is parked.

[admin]

Hello thanks for the response

It was not parked. i never have it parked

I turned it on and started BYN right away.

It starts at zero position.

Wonder why it is thinking it is parked.

i dont have this problem in carts du ciel

 

Odd, the move command is issued to the ASCOM driver but it thinks it is parked and the move fails as a result.  The error is in the ASCOM driver

 

Cannot MoveAxis after parked!

2017-02-23 09:30:34,633 [slew(Right)] ERROR -    at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CheckDotNetExceptions(String memberName, Exception e) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 589

   at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.MethodTargetInvocationExceptionHandler(String memberName, Exception e) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 678

   at ASCOM.DriverAccess.MemberFactory.CallMember(Int32 memberCode, String memberName, Type[] parameterTypes, Object[] parms) in c:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.DriverAccess\MemberFactory.cs:line 422

[mlois]

yes it behaves the same way after mount is aligned and I slewed anyplace.

Zero position is what the mount position is as it is turned on. In my case I always have it pointed as close to the true north using a compass

The scope is directly pointing close to Polaris

according to BYN the mount is slewing but the scope is not moving

 

 

I do understand that the purpose of BYN and cart du ciel are different I just do not know why BYN consider that the scope is parked when it is not

If you see on the attached photos when I first connect the scope to BYN it says stationary (not parked)

if I ask to slew it considers that it is slewing but the mount is not moving ( see photos)

 

Appreciate you looking into this

[astroman133]

According to the ASCOM standard, Slew commands should fail if the mount is parked or not tracking. BYN will report "Stationary" if the mount is not parked and not tracking. So, while BYN is reporting "Stationary", you should not be able to slew the mount with Cartes du Ciel. I would assume that you can use the physical hand controller to start tracking.

 

However, even while the mount is stationary you should be able to nudge it with BYN. You will likely not see any movement, but you should be able to see the altitude and azimuth change.

 

It may help you to connect to the ASCOM telescope simulator and play with that.

[admin]

Hum... tracking.... could it be that.  Is your mount tracking at the time you are issuing the move command?

[mlois]

Thanks again guys.

 No I am not tracking when I issue the move command.

I used the virtual telescope and it does move with my mount I do not see any movement in my screen when the camera is connected and I am on frame and focus

[astroman133]

According to ASCOM documentation, the mount does not need to be tracking to issue MoveAxis (nudge) commands, as it does with Slew commands.

 

If BYE works with the Simulator telescope, but not with your iOptron telescope, then the issue may be with your iOptron ASCOM driver. Are you using the iOptron driver that is available on the ASCOM site?

 

What happens when you turn on tracking for the mount? You should see the telescope mode in BYE change from Stationary to Tracking. Can you slew the telescope through Cartes du Ciel? through the iOptron virtual hand controller? through BYE?

 

I am confused by what you mean when you say "I do not see any movement in my screen". What are you looking at? a LiveView image that is constantly updating? the RA and DEC position of the mount as displayed in the Telescope Control area? Please be precise. We are not looking over your shoulder. If you are using the ASCOM Telescope Simulator, then your iOptron mount will not move.

 

I would also suggest that if you feel that the iOptron driver is the source of your issue that you should contact iOptron Tech Support since they support the driver.

[mlois]

Sorry for being imprecise or confusing.

I have contacted ioptron but they say the ascom driver is OK. I did not download it from ascom site

I can slew with the ioptron virtual controller and with cart du ciel but not with BYE

If I turn on the tracking with the hand controller BYE and the virtual Ioptron virtual controller freeze

 

As I mentioned when i have BYE on frame and focus (Live view)

And i have the telescope connected through BYE it will say stationary. When I ask for the scope to move it will say slewing but in live view there is no movement on the image in live view.

If the mount was moving there should be movement on the image I have in live view as the purpose of the slew is to fine tune the centering of the object.

Hope this clarifys what is going on

 

It seems I have to give up using BYE to move my scope and deal with it with the hand controller ????

I really appreciate you helping me get to the bottom of this

[astroman133]

So, I would check that you are using the latest ASCOM driver from iOptron. I don't know if the driver version on the ASCOM site is the newest or not. The comments say that it comes from iOptron. If the ASCOM site has an old driver then iOptron should either provide the latest driver or have the ASCOM web master remove the old driver from the download area.

 

So, when you connect from Cartes du Ciel to your mount you are able to move the mount with the iOptron virtual hand controller, but when you connect BYE to your mount, the same virtual hand controller does not work?

 

There is definitely an ASCOM driver issue if turning on tracking at the mount causes the ASCOM driver to hang. Do you see the same behavior when BYE is connected with the mount as you do when Cartes du Ciel is connected? If so, I would go back to iOptron. If they say that the issue is with BYE then I would ask them to recommend a free ASCOM client application that can be used to verify their driver. With all the issues that you have reported this is not likely a BYE issue, but most likely an issue with the iOptron driver.

 

If the mount is not tracking (BYE reports the mode as stationary) then you should see the stars slowly drifting across the field of view from east to west. This will be most apparent if you are pointing at a spot near the celestial equator, like near Orion's belt. You should also see the Right Ascension value changing because the scope is not tracking, but the azimuth will not change. If you turn on tracking then the RA will not change, but the azimuth will change.

 

You said:

 

"If the mount was moving there should be movement on the image I have in live view as the purpose of the slew is to fine tune the centering of the object."

 

That is not strictly true. There should be movement in the image except when the mount is tracking at sidereal speed. So if the mount is not moving (is stationary) the stars should be drifting. If the mount is moving in declination or is moving in right ascension at a speed that is faster or slower than sidereal speed then the stars will also drift.

 

You also said:

 

"And i have the telescope connected through BYE it will say stationary"

 

BYE reports the state as Stationary when the mount is connected, but is not tracking. If you disconnect BYE from the mount and connect some other application, it should also report that the mount is not tracking.

 

In BYE's telescope control panel, what speed do you have set? To make it easy to see movement I would set the speed to 100%. If BYE is showing the state of the mount as Slewing that is because the mount is telling BYE that it is slewing. When you press any of the movement buttons (up, down, left, or right) the mount should report that it is slewing as long as you hold the button down. When you release the button it should go back to its previous state (Stationary or Tracking).

 

Again, part of our problem with helping you is that we don't have an iOptron mount. However, you can connect to the ASCOM Telescope Simulator instead of with the iOptron telescope, just for testing. So can we. This will make answering questions easier and you can see how BYE's telescope control panel is designed to work. You do not even need to connect to your camera to play with the telescope simulator in BYE.

[mlois]

I will go baack tonioptron and ask them.

The ascom website does. Ot have an ioptron mount download

But I do have the lates downoad for both ascomp platform and ioptron ascom controller.

I do see stars drifting when mount is nOt tracking and see the changes in RA but not az and viceversa

When i have tried to use the mount to test with BYE have not ask the mount to track. (If that helps or makes a difference) it is just on and aimed to a star after alignment

 

When I start BYE ascom telescope it is stationary. If I push one of the movement buttons it says slewing and have changes in the RA dec alt az numbers and no it does nOt stop when I stop pushing the movement buttons or the stop button I used 75 and 100% (on the pics I posted was 75%

So agree seems problem is the ascom driver but ioptron says it is. Not. Will see if i can get that app to test the ioptron driver

 

I have used the telescope simulator and it does fine moves in whichever direction I ask

 

Thanks again

[admin]

This is an odd one for sure.  On one hand the ASCOM driver is reporting that the scope is parked and therefor it fails when the move_axis command is issued from BYE.

 

From an error perspective it points to ASCOM since it is the one throwing the exception.

 

From a user perspective it points to BYE because it works with CDC.  I'm not sure where to look because the error is thrown outside BYE.

 

Seems like we are stuck between a rock and a hard place

 

I don't have the IEQ45, sold the one I had in stock last month so I can not try it.

 

Regards.

[astroman133]

If you are unable to determine a solution or workaround to your issue, I would suggest posting it to the ASCOM-Talk Yahoo! group. That is where ASCOM experts hang out. They may ask you to enable and provide logs from the ASCOM Platform and the iOptron driver to see if they can determine what is going on. I frequently post to that group, as well.

[mlois]

THank you all

Ioptron finally aknowledge the problem

This is their response

Now I remember this issue with BYC. There is no solution at this moment.

I don't know if there is a diagnostic tools. However I was told there might be an ASCOM upgrading on the V3.11 in a few months. I've forwarded your e-mail to the development team.

[astroman133]

I am glad that iOptron admitted to being the cause of the issue.

 

There is a diagnostic tool, called Conform, that you can run to test conformance of any ASCOM driver against the ASCOM standard. It is downloadable from the Developers section of the ASCOM-Standards web site. It is intended as a tool for driver authors, but anyone can download and run it. You do need to be connected to the device (the mount in your case).