Resolved STX Guider

I purchased an SBIG 16803 camera to match up to my FSQ-106edx4 and along with it, I got the STX-7 filter wheel and the off-axis STX guider that mounts to the front of the camera in front of the filter wheel. I use TheSkyX Pro to control the Paramount MX+ it's all attached to and I'm having a hell of a time getting the guider to work.

I've toyed with it a bit and regrettably have never made it work since I purchased the camera several months ago. I'm not quite sure I've got it setup in TheSky correctly because when I choose "built in guider for SBIG camera" for autoguider, I can slew around and find some really out of focus half-stars that don't change at all with manipulation of the pickoff mirror or focus of the guider. As a matter of fact, when I unplug the guider from the camera, the image is still there.

So, can anyone give me any idea how to setup TheSkyX Pro to use the STX Guider?

Many thanks!

 

Appreciate the input, and I'll certainly do that, but as it stands now, I'm not even sure that the image I've getting under "autoguider" is from the actual guider itself because I'm unclear as to how to set it up in TheSkyX. I can unplug the HDMI cable from the STX guider and I still get an image when I take a picture with it. This tells me that image I'm seeing is not from the STX guider.

 

If you are using the STX-7 filter wheel with built in guider and the STX-7 is connected to the main camera by the HDMI cable then the guider camera selection in TheSkyX is 'Built in Guider', then connect the camera in TheSkyX so that is shows 'Connected' in the camera tab, finally, in the auto guider window, open the settings dialogue and select 'External' for the connection type.

Notes:
1. In the main camera tab, there should not be a filter wheel selected below the auto-guider section, the only filter wheel selection is made under the main camera section.
2.You can only make the change from 'Internal' to 'External' connection from the settings dialogue in the auto guider window when the camera is actually connected and ready to operate in TheSkyX, if the camera is not connected and not ready then the drop down tab in TheSkyX's guider window, settings dialogue, is invisible.
3. While testing, make sure 'auto dark' is not being used for the guide camera.

This subject comes up fairly frequently on TheSkyX forum, hardly surprising since there are more permutations of SBIG camera/filter/wheel driver selection than lottery numbers.

I don't have an SBIG camera otherwise I would post some screen shots for you, if you are still struggling then open a thread over on the TheSkyX forum under the main TheSkyX Pro sub-forum and I'm sure someone will be able to post some images of the correct settings for you (or do a forum search where you will find this same topic has been covered before).

William.

 

Disregard. I found the issue! Thanks for everyone's help!

 

Thanks so much for your help! I finally found the switch for internal/external. it required me to reinstall the software, but all seems to be working well now. Appreciate it!@