Help with Rigel nStep Focuse Vcurve setup & FLW

1

Hello All,
I’m on the free trial of Voyager and trying to decide between switching to it or keep banging away with SGP. I like the promise of Voyagers capabilities and appreciate the free trial to test things out, so thanks for that !
I’m currently trying to get a VCurve using my setup (Paramount TheSkyX Pro, 9.25 Edge HD SCT, Rigel nStep focuser) but am having issues. I’ve seen all of the videos concerning the autofocusing routine in Voyager and read the relevant wiki pages, I’ve chosen non-saturating focus stars and kept exposures times down to avoid reaching saturation during focus. I think I understand the important parameters needed for Vcurve to work, but it keeps failing with my Rigel nStep.

So, has anyone successfully used Voyager with the Rigel nStep focuser ?

The issue seems to be an apparent loss of connection during the routine. It starts off taking an image and moving the focuser. But then it seems to lose the focusers position and says that the anticipated position has not been reached, but in reality, the focuser is rapidly racking inward way past the position Voyager says it hasn’t reached. It would go all the way to zero if I didn’t hit abort before that.

I’ve copied the event log if anyone cares to have a look. Looking through the setup options,I’m at a loss to know what to try next. Thanks to anyone that takes a look!
Garry

19:21:47 200 - VCurve First Light : Find Star
19:21:47 227 - Find Focus Star : Star Found [OK] => {X=65,Y=60,Width=9,Height=8} - {X=69.31696, Y=64.29381} - HFD:2.82 - 0.35 - 607881.5 - OK - 0.12 - Dist:5.33
19:21:47 231 - Target star found X: 1332 Y: 784 Flux: 607882 HFD: 2.82 Peak:65504
19:21:47 233 - VCurve First Light : Calculate Next Slope Point Position
19:21:47 236 - VCurve First Light : Slope Point [4] Calculate Pos=15460 Inc=8
19:21:47 240 - VCurve First Light : Focuser Move
19:21:47 246 - Moving Focuser from Position=15376 …
19:21:47 248 - Moving Focuser to Position=15460 …
19:21:47 951 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry [1] …
19:21:50 138 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry [2] …
19:21:53 448 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry finished Parent Action final result could be compromise!
19:21:53 475 - Action Time [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 6 [s]
19:21:53 477 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 23 [s]
19:21:53 482 - VCurve First Light : Expose
19:21:53 818 - Exposing 0.678980145398228 [s] ; Filter=Luminance ; Type=LIGHT ; Gain=Preset ; Offset=Preset ; Binning=2 ; ROI @1268,720 of 128x128
19:21:54 578 - Expose finished
19:21:54 583 - Download started
19:21:54 942 - Download finished
19:21:54 965 - Action Time [ATOMIC_CAMERA_SHOT] => 0 [m] 1 [s]
19:21:54 967 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ATOMIC_CAMERA_SHOT] => 0 [m] 2 [s]
19:21:54 977 - VCurve First Light : Find Star
19:21:55 028 - Find Focus Star : Star Found [OK] => {X=92,Y=61,Width=12,Height=13} - {X=97.61418, Y=67.42276} - HFD:7.13 - 0.39 - 625642.8 - OK - 0.08 - Dist:33.79
19:21:55 033 - Target star found X: 1332 Y: 784 Flux: 625643 HFD: 7.13 Peak:17240
19:21:55 037 - VCurve First Light : Calculate Next Slope Point Position
19:21:55 039 - VCurve First Light : Slope Point [5] Calculate Pos=15468 Inc=8
19:21:55 073 - VCurve First Light : Focuser Move
19:21:55 076 - Moving Focuser from Position=14788 …
19:21:55 078 - Moving Focuser to Position=15468 …
19:21:59 830 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry [1] …
19:22:10 141 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry [2] …
19:22:29 692 - Focuser not reached the asked position ! Retry finished Parent Action final result could be compromise!
19:22:29 719 - Action Time [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 34 [s]
19:22:29 722 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 23 [s]
19:22:29 725 - VCurve First Light : Expose
19:22:30 082 - Exposing 0.678980145398228 [s] ; Filter=Luminance ; Type=LIGHT ; Gain=Preset ; Offset=Preset ; Binning=2 ; ROI @1268,720 of 128x128
19:22:30 843 - Expose finished
19:22:30 846 - Download started
19:22:31 205 - Download finished
19:22:31 235 - Action Time [ATOMIC_CAMERA_SHOT] => 0 [m] 1 [s]
19:22:31 238 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ATOMIC_CAMERA_SHOT] => 0 [m] 2 [s]
19:22:31 241 - VCurve First Light : Find Star
19:22:31 272 - Find Focus Star : Star Found [OK] => {X=53,Y=25,Width=54,Height=82} - {X=75.00996, Y=65.4545} - HFD:49.28 - 5.02 - 195117.7 - CENTROIDE_SOSPETTO - 0.34 - Dist:11.11
19:22:31 276 - Target star found X: 1332 Y: 784 Flux: 195118 HFD: 49.28 Peak:1188
19:22:31 278 - VCurve First Light : Calculate Next Slope Point Position
19:22:31 280 - VCurve First Light : Slope Data Points taken correctly
19:22:31 283 - VCurve First Light : Taken 6 Slope Data Points
19:22:31 317 - VCurve First Light Error : Return Previous Position
19:22:31 341 - Moving Focuser from Position=10028 …
19:22:31 345 - Moving Focuser to Position=15453 …
19:22:44 498 - Request Abort
19:22:44 693 - Aborting Action [SubAction Aborted]…
19:22:44 695 - Action Aborted
19:22:44 698 - Send Async Request to FocuserObj to return in original position : 15453
19:22:44 700 - Actual Position=8083
19:22:44 703 - Action Time [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 13 [s]
19:22:44 706 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ATOMIC_FOCUSER_MOVE_TO] => 0 [m] 23 [s]
19:22:44 772 - Memory GC Collect
19:22:44 790 - Action Time [ROBOFIRE_VCURVE] => 1 [m] 14 [s]
19:22:44 793 - Action Time Mobile Mean [ROBOFIRE_VCURVE] => 1 [m] 5 [s]
19:22:44 795 - Action End : ABORTED

2

Hello
I have Voyager working with a refractor, TSX & Rigel nStep. I run the focuser with the GCUSB nStep ASCOM driver and needed to set theFocuser Type to “Absolute” to get it working. After that it was fine, runs pretty much like FocusMax 4.

From the log file, it looks like “IN” is increasing step count which would be the reverse from my setup.

There a couple of settings you can check in the ASCOM GCUSB nStep setup window:

  1. Confirm selected Focuser Type = “Absolute”, and
  2. Reverse Direc setting - you could try running tests with this setting selected then de-selected.

Good luck …

3

Hi Richard,
Thanks for the reply. I’ve got everything set as you’ve described and I also found the “Reverse Direc” setting which I’ve played with to no effect - the focuser runs away regardless of the setting. It’s odd since the focuser works in @fous 2 & 3 flawlessly in TSX.
I’ll keep trying.
Thanks again.
Garry

4

Hello Gary
Extracts from log file indicate that the focuser moved in the opposite direction to the command direction:

19:21:47 246 - Moving Focuser from Position=15376 …
19:21:47 248 - Moving Focuser to Position=15460 … [command = +84 steps]
…
19:21:55 076 - Moving Focuser from Position=14788 … [ie actual = -588 steps]

Hence the suggestion for checking the Reverse Direc setting in the nStep driver. It’s possible that you need to fully exit and reload Voyager for the change in focuser driver setting to take effect.

It might be better to do everything in Voyager. In the RoboFire Configuration Center => Focuser Tab, there are settings to Reverse Focuser Direction and to Enable Backlash Compensation. No need to exit and reload for the settings to take effect.

Check that Focuser tab in TSX = “No focuser selected”. All focus commands should come from Voyager.

If you need more Voyager-specific help, I suggest you email Leo directly – Leo provides fantastically good support for Voyager. It’s worth persevering with this – I moved to Voyager from CCDAutopilot about a year ago and once over the software-starter-issues its worked really well.

Richard

Post edit: another suggestion – if you open the nStep driver dialog you can monitor focuser steps directly while RoboFocus is running.

5

Hi Richard,
Thanks for that. I stupidly noticed the reverse direction soon after I posted the msg. I toggled that to both choices to no effect.
I did find a solution though from a perceptive member of another board who alerted me to the " Use Slow Polling for ASCOM HUB or Not Multi Thread Driver" setting in the autofocus setup. That was the solution to Voyager asking the focuser for position info faster than the GCUSP software link could manage. I got a perfect looking Vcurve after that.
Thanks,
Garry

6

Thanks for the update, Garry, glad you fnally got it working.