Cannot change PrimaLuce Rotation Reversal When Connected to ACP

[William Bristow]

Hi Bob.

I wanted to raise this query with you once I had the guiding problems sorted with my PrimaLuceLab ARCO rotator.

I have added four screen grabs because I doubt you'll have the PrimaLuceLab software and drivers on any of your test machines.

The issue here is that PrimaLuceLab (PLL) have their own application called "PLAY" where you calibrate all their hardware and can also run acquisitions and point a telescope etc.

For PLL's range of ARCO rotators the rotation calibration and a master control of direction of rotation is configured here:



Play Rotator Settings.jpg


This master control for direction of rotation applies to using "PLAY" itself as well as any external application connecting to the ARCO rotator, such as ACP via ASCOM.

There is a problem though because with a standard refractor the direction of rotation for a correctly installed and mechanically coupled ARCO the direction of rotation is correct in "PLAY" when the setting for "Reverse Rotator direction” is disabled, but to get ACP to rotate the rotator in the correct direction I have to select the option "Reverse Rotator Direction" in "PLAY" and that means that PLAY itself, and any other applications seeking to connect to the ARCO rotator can no longer control the direction of rotation correctly.

PLL however thought about this and made it possible to change the rotation direction in their ASCOM driver so that any ASCOM application can control the direction of rotation independently from the master switch in "PLAY"

But, there is a problem that only seems to affect ACP, the PLL ASCOM driver won't let you change the rotation direction unless you are "Connected" to the ARCO first:

ACP Properties.jpg



But, in ACP once you are connected to the rotator you can't select the setup button to access the ASCOM properties, the Setup button is "Greyed out":



ACP Rot Setup.jpg


And, here's the strange part, using the same PLL ASCOM driver in MaxIm's Observatory Control you can "Connect" to the rotator and then access the ASCOM properties to configure the rotation direction:

MaxIm ASCOM setup.jpg

So the question is how do I configure the PLL ASCOM driver Reverse Rotator option specifically for ACP when I can't reach the ASCOM driver once the rotator is "Connected" in ACP?


Bob, there's no great urgency to solve this for me because I have changed the "Reverse Rotator direction" master switch in the PLL "PLAY" software and as I'm only using ACP I can work around the incorrect direction of rotation when calibrating the rotator in PLAY, its just another idiosyncrasy of the software-hardware environment but I wonder if this is an oversight in ACP or a bad software design of the PLL ASCOM driver...or something else...?

William.