I have a garage door opener that rolls the roof 11 feet on my 14-foot observatory. A Foster ROR controller (I know, not the best choice) is wired to the opener's single pushbutton to actuate the opener. I have successfully tested this hardware with the Foster AstroMC software and also with Maxim via ASCOM (that launches AstroMC).

Magnetic switches are wired to detect scope parked, roof fully closed, and roof fully open. These all work as intended.

There is one problem: Sometimes the opener does not start the open roof moving toward closed when the button is pressed. (I've never had it fail to open the roof.) The opener chatters for a second, then stops. A second press of the button always gets the roof moving. I added a six-pound weight and a rope on a pulley to provide a force bias toward closed, and sometimes this helps. I might have to add more weight. (The weight is lifted off the floor during only the last inch of roof-open travel so there's no additional opening resistance.)

Question:
After ACP commands the roof to open, does it check if the roof actually is open before moving the telescope? I know it won't close the roof if the scope is not parked, but what about the other way around? No scope movement if the roof is not fully open?

Question: Does ACP issue an additional Open or Close command if the first such command does not result in the roof opening or closing? If so, is there a way to specify how many tries ACP should attempt before giving up?

I hope to resolve this roof-closing issue, but I'd like to know what options ACP offers me.

Thanks for all guidance.

--- Mike
http://astronomy.mdodd.com