Resolved "ERROR: camera not initialized (USB)"

I get it - - sounds promising; this method plus the other suggestions from Colin (straight-through cable and flipping the X axis) should work. And if it doesn't I can cycle through those options and cables again to see if I can find a combination that does.

Unfortunately, this is further complicated (or at least delayed) now: after cycling through testing with their team, Losmandy confirmed I'll have to send in my Gemini box, motors and cables to figure out what's wrong - - not super happy about this since it started less than a month after the warranty expired. Given my (non-Gemini) GM 8 is still working perfectly 20-odd years in, I'm more than a little surprised. (Starting to think life would have been a lot simpler if I'd just taken up knitting as a hobby, like my wife. Virtually zero equipment issues.). But I want to reiterate, this is definitely not the source of the issues with the guiding system - - when the mount stalls I get a specific error message, and the differences in the photos are obvious, which is why I never bothered to include those photos in these exchanges. (When the RA stalls, the stars just trail, as you would expect.)

I'll be in touch again when I have my equipment back, and I'm able to test - - probably a few weeks at least. Thanks again for all the efforts from the SBIG / Diffraction team - - it's not lost on me how much work has been done up to this point.

 

So I finally got my mount back and those issues sorted out (more or less), I finally had enough clear sky to do some testing using the ASCOM connection for the AO-8A. I've attached the log and some samples, and here are my findings / observations:

1. It still doesn't work, or rather, it worked once (0864), then never again (all the others).
2. It still aways fails drive calibration, and usually fails AO calibration - - but even when the AO calibration passes, the same problem shows up in the images.
3. I tried both with the x axis flipped, and not flipped, which did not seem to make any difference - except for how the calibration failed: too little X axis movement became too little Y axis movement.
4. I opened up the calibration time to the max (on the guide tab sub menu of the "Connect" dialog box), but I don't believe that actually affects the AO-8A at all: calibration time only seemed longer when using the SC-2, not the AO-8A, which seemed unchanged.
5. I again bypassed the AO-8A for the remainder of the evening, and guided using the SC-2 (still through the ASCOM connection), mostly without incident. (A couple of hiccups at the end of the evening - - and a software crash at one point - - but these looked to me like a mix of unrelated hardware and operating system issues, and assuming they don't reoccur with any frequency, probably don't warrant further investigation.)

So once again, I've disassembled the AO unit from the other two components. On the upside, I'm convinced ASCOM is a better way to go in general, which does get around the other cable issues. But for now, the AO is staying in a box in my basement. I think it might be necessary for me to ship it back to you for proper testing - - but let's wait until after the holiday, as logistics are going to be a mess until then. Let me know if you have any other suggestions.

 

Thanks Colin - - will do. If the weather co-operates tomorrow night, I'll try it out.

 

Sorry Colin - - I get an error message when I click this link: "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action." Even though I'm logged in.

 

Thanks Colin - - the link worked, and I'll try everything out tonight!

 

SUCCESS!!!! Per Colin's suggestion, I upped the SNR to 100, and extended the calibration time for the AO-8A (looks like I had previously adjusted the wrong one), and between that and the software fixes, it worked flawlessly! Both the drive and AO calibration were successful, and the tracking worked without issue. The calibration process swapped axes (as in, I didn't change it, the calibration routine did). And I used ASCOM again - - that seems to be the way to go to get around a lot of issues. If the weather had co-operated a little more, I'd have had a great night - - but I'm sure the next clear night I'll get some spectacular results!

Thanks!

 

Glad I could help - - and thanks again to you and your team for really going the extra mile - - in every sense!

 

Hi Ian,

Glad to hear things are running smoothly!

- Brian

 

Nice work, Brian! I think you really hit this one out of the park!