Autofocus completes but Scheduler thinks not

Hi there,

I am currently evaluating (once again) Scheduler and ACP for my observatory (which has now been really remoted, but I will write about this in another occasion).
It works quite well as I have only some issues with guiding (which seem mount-related), and one issue with Autofocusing using FocusMax.

AcquireStar works flawlessy from FocusMax, and also from within ACP. Only if Scheduler starts its periodic Autofocus, it always thinks it failed while both FocusMax and ACP see the correct situation (Autofocus successful).

Here is the Log from ACP:

Code:

---

19:51:49  Required exposure 5.00 is > 5.00 maximum exposure setting  19:51:49  ...using maximum exposure: 5.00
  19:52:03  Pos.,    HFD, X, Y, Flux, Pixel, Count,  FWHM (arc-sec)
  19:52:03  3163, 04.62, 2035, 2043, 207679, 11064,  1, 01.95
  19:52:10  3163, 05.05, 2036, 2044, 207068, 9819,  1, 02.19
  19:52:18  3163, 05.05, 2035, 2043, 209640, 10254,  1, 02.09
  19:52:25  3163, 04.31, 2035, 2043, 207938, 13171,  1, 01.77
  19:52:32  3163, 04.94, 2035, 2043, 205948, 10142,  1, 02.07
  19:52:32  Focus position = 3163  Avg HFD =  4.80  Avg FWHM =  2.01
  19:52:32  Temperature: 21.1  Filter: Luminance (slot 4)
  19:52:33  ** AutoFocus Completed **
  19:52:33  Focus time: 179 sec
  19:52:33  Performing return slew...
  19:52:34    Slewing: 2.5388 degrees
  19:52:34    RA: 12:21:18.2  Dec: -28:38:15.6 (J2000)
  19:52:45  ...Telescope settle time: 5 sec
  19:52:51  Final pointing update not performed
  19:52:51  ** AcquireStar completed **
  FocusMax auto-focus successful!
    HFD = 4.80
    Focus position = 3163
  Autofocus finished.

---

And then from Scheduler:

Code:

---

2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: ++ Auto Focus ++2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: Doing periodic autofocus.
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: Start special ACP AutoFocus script for scheduler
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: ACP.RunScript(AutoFocusScheduler, ):
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  Script AutoFocusScheduler is loaded, and
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  the console is idle.
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  In start loop, i = 0
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  Console is now idle
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  Loaded C:\Program Files (x86)\ACP Scheduler\AutoFocusScheduler.vbs successfully
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3:  Script started successfully
2018-06-21 17:47:44.3: Sequencer is now active
2018-06-21 17:52:57.8: Sequencer is no longer active
2018-06-21 17:52:57.8: Next periodic autofocus ASAP after 21-Jun-2018 19:52:53 UTC

---

It goes on like that for the whole night, with successful focusing runs not being detected by Scheduler. No idea what could cause this, the computer is running Windows 10 with MaximDl 6.17, FocusMax 4.1.0.82 and ACP 8.1.1 and Scheduler 8.1.1.

As I said ACP recognizes the successful run, so I dunno what makes Scheduler think it didn't work out.

Thanks
Lukas

Please post the entire Scheduler Log (attach it please) so I can double check. It appears that Scheduler sees a successful focus, the log looks normal:

2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: ++ Auto Focus ++2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: Doing periodic autofocus.
2018-06-21 17:47:34.3: Start special ACP AutoFocus script for scheduler
... no errors here...
2018-06-21 17:52:57.8: Next periodic autofocus ASAP after 21-Jun-2018 19:52:53 UTC

It says it will do the next one in two hours. I assume you have Autofocus Interval set to 120 minutes?

Here are directions on attaching files.

Hi Bob,

okay this is odd and embarassing. It seems it works now, though I am unsure as to why it started working. I dug out a Scheduler log (attached) which shows this weird behaviour. The only thing I can remember is deleting a "LastAFTime.txt", maybe that one was corrupt?

I really dunno, but it is working now :)

OK, for the dates if the failures (like 2018-06-19) look in My Documents\ACP Astronomy\Logs and see the AutoFocus... logs there. Match the one for that date and look at it. You may find the reason for the failure(s).