Ran into this a few days ago and wondered if this would be useable for EQ6r and/or AM5 mounts ? If so do you then run the mount unguided ?
https://ccdware.com/pempro_overview/
https://ccdware.com/pempro_overview/
Pempro PPEC
I'd say save $150.00 and use the free tools that are already available. I don't see that the software is offering anything new or ground breaking. This software might improve your results slightly but you have to keep in mind that not all drive errors are perfectly periodic. It certainly won't make it possible to do away with guiding to any great degree.
Well Written
This software creates a pec curve that you play back for better tracking. In every case that I’ve used it, (4 times, 2 AP1200’s CGE Pro “OnStep Converted” & CGX) the guiding is better with it off at least in the case with the 4 mounts above mentioned.
I’ve talked multiple times with Ray Graylak about his software and in most cases people use it to get better tracking without guiding. That still doesn’t mean you can’t guide using it in playing it back. You’ll have to play with the settings.
But again in my experience I’ve always had better luck with my AP mounts to not play the pec back and just let PHD2 guide. Many on the PemPro forum have said that as well.
I’ve talked multiple times with Ray Graylak about his software and in most cases people use it to get better tracking without guiding. That still doesn’t mean you can’t guide using it in playing it back. You’ll have to play with the settings.
But again in my experience I’ve always had better luck with my AP mounts to not play the pec back and just let PHD2 guide. Many on the PemPro forum have said that as well.
Dale Penkala:
This software creates a pec curve that you play back for better tracking. In every case that I’ve used it, (4 times, 2 AP1200’s CGE Pro “OnStep Converted” & CGX) the guiding is better with it off at least in the case with the 4 mounts above mentioned.
I’ve talked multiple times with Ray Graylak about his software and in most cases people use it to get better tracking without guiding. That still doesn’t mean you can’t guide using it in playing it back. You’ll have to play with the settings.
But again in my experience I’ve always had better luck with my AP mounts to not play the pec back and just let PHD2 guide. Many on the PemPro forum have said that as well.
That's been my experience as well, better guiding without PEC.
I have used it with two of my AP mounts. I thought the PEC was improved in both cases. In fact, I know it was because playback using PEC showed lower periodic error. All AP mounts have PEC correction applied to new mounts using PemPro. No, you do not want to guide while measuring with PemPro. Guiding corrections will corrupt the data. You need to do at lease 20 iterations and average. Polar alignment will not effect the data, because it is not measured.
If your mount's PEC is low, PEC may not be needed and guide corrections may be adequate. If you are using guiding corrections ever 1 min or so, PEC will be useless. That is because such short guiding correction intervals interfer/ over ride the PEC anyway.
Also, scopes of of about 500 to 1000 focal length needs to be used in order to get good measurements. Smaller pixels will accommodate shorter scopes. Your main camera is used, not your guide camera. I used 3.67 pix with 819 fl. The star magnitude is crutial to good measurement.
PEC is useful when using longer guide corrections intervals such as 7 to 10 min. I use 5min correction intervals and use PEC. I use it with a Mach1 and 600E. PEC can change over a year with a mount that is used regularly. At that point, I did not have PemPro and turned PEC off. I didn't notice much difference in guiding. However, the Mach1 has a PEC error of 2.1 arc sec, and the 600E is 1.7 arc sec. So those mounts can be easily auto guided.
PEC can be useful with mounts that have bad spikes in the periodic error. Auto guiding can have trouble overcoming such spikes.
It can help with precisely polar aligned mounts using short exposures, and no auto guiding. I'm not sure if it can be applied to strain wave mounts with high PEC.
Lynn K.
If your mount's PEC is low, PEC may not be needed and guide corrections may be adequate. If you are using guiding corrections ever 1 min or so, PEC will be useless. That is because such short guiding correction intervals interfer/ over ride the PEC anyway.
Also, scopes of of about 500 to 1000 focal length needs to be used in order to get good measurements. Smaller pixels will accommodate shorter scopes. Your main camera is used, not your guide camera. I used 3.67 pix with 819 fl. The star magnitude is crutial to good measurement.
PEC is useful when using longer guide corrections intervals such as 7 to 10 min. I use 5min correction intervals and use PEC. I use it with a Mach1 and 600E. PEC can change over a year with a mount that is used regularly. At that point, I did not have PemPro and turned PEC off. I didn't notice much difference in guiding. However, the Mach1 has a PEC error of 2.1 arc sec, and the 600E is 1.7 arc sec. So those mounts can be easily auto guided.
PEC can be useful with mounts that have bad spikes in the periodic error. Auto guiding can have trouble overcoming such spikes.
It can help with precisely polar aligned mounts using short exposures, and no auto guiding. I'm not sure if it can be applied to strain wave mounts with high PEC.
Lynn K.
Helpful
Breaking it down into three separate responses:
1. If you can use Periodic Error Correction PEC with your mount, imo PEMPro is the gold standard. PEMPro averages multiple cycles to eliminate noise and other non-period errors to create the highest fidelity PE correction. Mounts vary on their PEC implementation, so ymmv regarding using PEC in general, but if your mount has effective PEC, this is the way to go.
2. PEC and guiding are related but independent. PEC will correct for mount's periodic error, but that's not really what guiding corrects for. Guiding will correct for polar misalignment, refraction, flexure, and just about anything else that can contribute to poor star shape/elongation. PEC can improve your guiding, especially if it corrects faster periods. (again, depends on your mount's PEC implementation: some lower end mounts are not able to use PEC and guide at the same time)
3. Regarding the specific mounts you mentioned, EQ6R can benefit from PEC. AM5 as a strainwave mount doesn't really have consistent periodic error, so doing any sort of PEC isn't possible
Brian
1. If you can use Periodic Error Correction PEC with your mount, imo PEMPro is the gold standard. PEMPro averages multiple cycles to eliminate noise and other non-period errors to create the highest fidelity PE correction. Mounts vary on their PEC implementation, so ymmv regarding using PEC in general, but if your mount has effective PEC, this is the way to go.
2. PEC and guiding are related but independent. PEC will correct for mount's periodic error, but that's not really what guiding corrects for. Guiding will correct for polar misalignment, refraction, flexure, and just about anything else that can contribute to poor star shape/elongation. PEC can improve your guiding, especially if it corrects faster periods. (again, depends on your mount's PEC implementation: some lower end mounts are not able to use PEC and guide at the same time)
3. Regarding the specific mounts you mentioned, EQ6R can benefit from PEC. AM5 as a strainwave mount doesn't really have consistent periodic error, so doing any sort of PEC isn't possible
Brian
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