I would like to use Voyager with as little third party software as possible.
Therefore, the main camera is no longer controlled with MaximDL 6 as before, but via ASCOM in Voyager.
But when guiding, there is no way around extra software (not yet? ;-)). Before I learn PHD, I wanted to know whether I can also use MaximDL ONLY for guiding - by selecting MaximDL under guiding in the setup.
And if so - do I have to define the guide camera in MaximDL as Cam1 or Cam2 (so far Cam2, which I think is the standard when working with MaximDL)?
never tried Maxim onlyh for guiding … camera must be the 2 but im not sure you can configure only camera 2. Something to check. I will do a test. PHD2 is really easy so you can think about to use it.
I read over it - the wiki says that MaximDL only doesn’t work for guiding.
Currently I am facing the problem that in MaximDL you can set whether all devices (= both cameras and the mount) should be connected at the start or not. You can’t choose WHAT should be connected. Everything or nothing.
If I now enter the camera and the guiding as MaximDL in Voyager, Voyager opens MaximDL and the connection in Voyager to the mount and the guidecam works. But with the main camera, Voyager says that the camera is already connected = error message. Which is correct, it is connected in MaximDL, but so are the Guidecam and the mount.
If I now set MaximDL so that the devices are NOT connected at start-up, the error message concerning the main camera no longer appears in Voyager. However, there is then also no connection to the mount in MaximDL (in my case via the ASCOM driver from 10micron) - which is why it is not possible to guide.
Markus, I was fascinated to read your post because this is exactly the same question I have been wrestling with. I would like to use TheSkyX Pro’s Camera Add On for main imaging in order to use its All Sky Image Link and @Focus3, but use MaxIm DL’s guiding.In the 32 bit version of TheSkyX Pro it was possible to select Diffraction Limited’s camera in TheSkyX’s Camera Add On, though this was not without problems in filter selection. In the 64 bit edition of TkeSkyX, this possibility appears to have gone. So I suppose the question is, can Voyager jump between the two?
The topic has fallen asleep a bit, since I have been guiding with PHD until now. In the last few nights, however, PHD increasingly caused problems, errors occurred with the ASCOM connection to the mount. So yesterday I seriously tested with MaximDL.
I set camera 1 (main camera) in MaximDL to simulator, camera 2 is the guiding camera (Lodestar). In Voyager, the guiding is set to MaximDL. It works perfectly, including dithering, meridian flip and in the array.
However, you have to switch off in MaximDL that the devices are automatically connected when the programme starts.
And you must not have entered “telescope” in the guiding tab when connecting to the mount. This presupposes that the mount is connected in MaximDL (at the dome symbol), and you would either have to click on this manually (remote impractical), or have the connection established automatically - which is not possible, see above.
If you disconnect the devices in Voyager, the guide camera remains connected in MaximDL. If you then click on disconnect in MaximDL, MaximDL complains that there is still a connection to a programme. You can simply ignore this. For my remote operation, I have solved this in such a way that at the end of the night MaximDL is closed by a script using “taskkill” - then MaximDL no longer has the possibility to complain.
yes, that would work too!
I have now selected “ASCOM direct” from the list of possible connections instead of “telescope”. That worked. Next time I visit France, I will also plug in an ST4 cable, just in case.