Scope Dome-Start up sequence ok, shut down sequence fails

[Roelof Platenkamp]

I am currently evaluating ACP.

In principle I am very happy with the tool (I used it also when I worked with iScope) but I cannot solve one issue, which for me is very important as I usually work from my home in Germany with the scope in Fuerteventura.

When I used Maxim DL only I had no problem to shut down automatically after imaging was finished.

This Maxim DL sequence moves the Dome to 180 degrees, closes the shutter, parks the telescope at 360 degrees and this slews the dome to 360 (optimal parking for the wind/dust conditions)

Unfortunately, I cannot get this to work in ACP.

When I ask ACP at start up to go to “Home” and open the Shutter there is no issue. When I ask to Shutdown at the end of an imaging sequence ACP parks the scope and that’s it, the dome does not return Home and the shutter cannot be closed….

Obviously I am doing something wrong, or I need a script…I use a 4m Dome from ScopeDome GmbH (Germany) with a 20” RC from Alluna and a 10Micron GM4000 HPS mount.

Please help, this is key for me as the Observatory is on Fuerteventura and I am 4000 km away in Germany.

[Bob Denny]

Hello -- I would love to have you as an ACP customer!! There are a couple of other tickets open on the ScopeDome control system not working with ACP but I want to be sure I understand the exact problem you have.

When I ask ACP at start up to go to “Home” and open the Shutter there is no issue.

Are you saying you are starting ACP cold (not yet running) then using the ACP Dome Control panel to open the dome? When you say "go home" what do you mean? Are you homing the scope and relying on ACP to also home the dome? I know you say 'it works" but I need to know what you are actually doing.

When I ask to Shutdown at the end of an imaging sequence ACP parks the scope and that’s it, the dome does not return Home and the shutter cannot be closed….

Is this ACP Expert? Is this the Scheduler's shutdown sequence? Or is this ACP with a "live" imaging plan with a #shutdown directive in it? What do you mean "cannot be closed"? What's stopping you from closing the dome? DId it not close as prt of the #shutdown? What happens if you try to close the dome from ACP's Dome control window? Does it work there but not as part of the #shutdown directive? One thing to look at: For the dome to be closed along with parking the scope, the option "Close and Park/Home dome when scope is parked by script" must be set. This will cause ACP to call the ASCOM Standard CloseShutter function on the dome control, which is what MaxIm also does.

Snap1.jpg

This Maxim DL sequence moves the Dome to 180 degrees, closes the shutter, parks the telescope at 360 degrees and this slews the dome to 360 (optimal parking for the wind/dust conditions)

Let's start with what happens when you close the dome from the ACP Dome control panel. According to ASCOM spec that should be all that is needed to get the dome closed.

[Roelof Platenkamp]

Hi Bob,

thanks for the prompt reaction!

When I start ACP "cold" I use:

Annotation 2019-09-09 092042.jpg

The dome moves to the Home Position, then Opens the Shutter, then slaves to the scope and moves to the scope park position.

Your second question: it is ACP Expert when I close it down and it ask to Close Down; the same happens with scheduler when I use the shutdown sequence option. I thought I had set

"Close and Park/Home dome when scope is parked by script" but will check ASAP.

When I use the dome control panel manually I can go to the Dome Home position and close the shutter.

KInd regards, Roelof

[Roelof Platenkamp]

So I checked once more:

I started ACP and everything goes smoothly: the Dome is initially parked at 15 degrees and then is moved by ACP to 179:08 degrees. At this point electrical contact with the shutter is established and ACP opens the Dome shutter. Thereafter the Dome is slaved and is moved to 90 degrees at which position the scope is parked. These positions are carefully chosen to minimize dust entering the observatory, important on Fuerteventura with the Sahara close by!

Then I run a minimum script:

Annotation 2019-09-09 122648.jpg

ACP then Parks the scope and leaves the Dome at position. It then tries to close the shutter but there is no contact as the Dome is at 90 and not at 179:08 degrees. ACP keeps trying and I have to abort:
Annotation 2019-09-09 110203.jpg

Over to you ,
Roelof

[Bob Denny]

Roelof -- ACP knows nothing about any need to rotate to power contacts. The purpose of the ASCOM standards is to prevent apps from needing to have special logic and/or settings for various devices of the same type. No other dome I have ever worked with needs to be turned to match the power contacts. Instead, when told to open or close, they do this themselves, turning as needed. The HomeDome/ProDome is an example. Thus your dome is different, and actually it would fail an ASCOM function test (unable to open/close shutter).

Given that your observatory is far away, it would be very good to have a hardware switch from the weather sensor to close the dome. This is "best practice" in remote observatories. A simple switch closure is all that is needed to get the dome closed. No computer program needed. This is why every dome I know of must take care of itself to close. How can you separately rotate the dome to some position with a simple switch closure? That's why all of the domes I have worked with simply close when (a) called to close through their driver (which is what ACP is doing) or (b) told to close through a repay contact. Either way, the dome needs to close.

Is there a switch setting in the ScopeDome which will allow it to close independently of a computer, when given a simple electrical signal? I can definitely tell you that ACP expects the dome to conform to the ASCOM Dome specification, and if it does, ti will work fine. I have been through a lot of issues with Domes. Per the ASCOM specification, all that is needed to close the shutter on any dome is to call CloseShutter(). If the ScopeDome is not completing this operation it is a bug with regard to the ASCOM specification.

Also I am possibly confused... I looked up ScopeDome and it appears they are in Poland not Germany. Are there two companies? I am going to need to contact them because you are the second person who has contacted me about the ScopeDome with several problems with ACP.

Snap2.jpg

[Roelof Platenkamp]

Thanks Bob.

I thought ScopeDome was Ascom compliant. I have no difficulty with Maxim DL. The command sequence is:

Park Dome
Wait for Dome park
Close Dome Shutter
Park Telescope
Wait for Telescope idle (then the dome goes to Scope azimuth)
Wait for Dome idle.

And this is what I need ACL to do...it must be possible to have (at least I think) the same set of instructions in ACL as a SD routine. In a way ACL does the right thing at start up! In the reference guide I have seen that there are instructions for this, unfortunately I am not a scriptor (yet).

I will approach the Project Manager and ask him for a hardware switch. But anyway, even if the weather is good I want to automatically close the dome as Saharan Dust levels can appear very suddenly ("Calima").

ScopeDome used to have a representative in Germany. They are now called Dome Parts:

Hans Gerritsen (CEO)
senior project engineer
Observatory Projects

Dome Parts GmbH
Keltenstr. 2
86517 Wehringen
Germany
📞: +49 (0)8234 90 59 101
📠: +49 (0)8234 90 59 103
📱: +49 151 650 688 01
Internet: https://www.astrogfk.com
Facebook: https://business.facebook.com/domeparts/

But ScopeDome itself is indeed the Polish firm of which you have the data.

Bob,
please give my problem another thought..if it works in Maxim then it must also work in ACL; certainly it is much more sophisticated!

Kind regards,
Roelof

[Dick Berg]

Is it possible that the dome is "connected" in both MaxIm and ACP at the same time? This might cause some problems is so.

[Bob Denny]

Our responses crossed.... as I read it, the dome is not capable of being closed with a CloseShutter() call. I'll bet, given the hoops he's jumping through to get it open, that a simple OpenShutter() call won't work either.

[Roelof Platenkamp]

In answer to Dick's question: Dome is explicitly not aconnected to ACP and MAxim at the same time. Thanks for the support!

Roelof

[Bob Denny]

Ohhhhh I just saw the August email that went to our 'info' mailbox and the follow up from today. I am very sorry!!! Anyway I can see the images of MaxIm which helps me understand. I still need to know the status of the Close and Park checkbox, and what happens when you close the dome from ACP's dome control panel.