Pulse Guiding

[paulgrover68]

I figured mounts was probably the best category to ask this.

 

I've been using ST4 guiding since I started.  It basically worked straight out of the box and while I was tuning other areas of the setup I didn't see the point of changing (no matter how many times I saw Dylan O'Donnell destroy ST4 cables with fire).

With the short scope the ST4 cable is another long cable that is getting in the way.  So I think it's time to make the swap.

 

I'm slightly nervous as my current guiding is working well. So I'm going to try this on clear nights over full moon (or nights of broken cloud).

So my question(s)

I'm using PHD2 and an older EQ6 and wondered if there is anything I should know or set before I dive in and enable pulse guiding.

Advice and thoughts are very much welcome!

[GazAstro]

Just choose the mount instead of camera, should be fine. I did the same as you, don't remember any real problems.

Just need to make sure you can communicate with the mount by ascom or the synscan app.

[AstronomyUkraine]

Posted by: @paulgrover68

I'm using PHD2 and an older EQ6 and wondered if there is anything I should know or set before I dive in and enable pulse guiding.

I'm also using an older EQ6 with an EQMod cable. As long as you plug the USB into the same port every time, you will have no problems. Set your RA and DEC rate in the ASCOM Pulseguide settings to 0.5 or 0.9, see which works best.

[paulgrover68]

Cool - sound like it should be a straightforward process. We currently have a clear sky... which I suspect won't last... but I might be able to try it tonight.

[TerryMcK]

You can keep the ST4 cable connected and it is a quick change to reactivate it if you get any issues. I made the change to pulse guiding ages ago and haven’t used ST4 since. I have not burnt my cables though as I know they will come in useful for a future star tracker purchase.