FocusMax fails on ACP Startup - runs fine later.

[Stacey E. Mills]

When ACP starts a nightly run, FocusMax fails. See the error message below and the attached file. After finishing the first imaging run without an AutoFocus, ACP again starts autofocus and this time it runs fine and it runs fine for the rest of the night. I'm using FocusMax V5 in single star mode. I don't know if this is an ACP or FocusMax problem but I'll start here.

Note the following error:
17:50:17 Error: -2147221404 Type mismatch FocusMax.frmMain.cmdAcquireStar17:50:17 ** AcquireStar not completed **

Thanks,

-Stacey

[William Bristow]

Hi Stacey.

Is this something that’s just started happening on a system that has previously been stable, or started to occur after a part of a previously stable system has been changed, or a completely new set-up?

Not an expert on FocusMax and the initial part of the error code “-2147221404 Type mismatch…….” is a fairly generic and common error if you search on the FocusMax support forum, but unfortunately it has multiple causes.

If I’ve interpreted the log correctly the initial autofocus run seems to fail because of the repeated plate-solve failures which means that AcquireStar can’t position the telescope to get a suitable focus star centred and when it does try to focus using any star it does find then the star quickly becomes too bright as the focus point is approached and the only other stars available are too close to the edge of the image frame.

Is it possible that the temperature change of the telescope between the end of the previous nights session and the start of the current session is big enough to throw the start up focus so far out as to cause the multiple plate-solve failures?

Can’t see anything else jumping out from the log, maybe somebody else here has seen this type of start-up problem with FocusMax AcquireStar before?

Sorry can’t come up with anything better at this time…..

William.

[Dick Berg]

Hi Stacey,

Could you please post the ACP log that corresponds to this FocusMax log? It might provide a better insight into the point of failure. Thanks.

[Dick Berg]

Thanks, Steve.

[Bob Denny]

Thanks, Steve.

Is this a stray?

[Dick Berg]

Nope. It was prescient.

[Bob Denny]

I'll echo William's message ... did this "just start happening"? With no changes to your system? Muy best guess is that there is some device that is taking "too long" to initialize, or maybe it needs to be "used" once to get its brains in order after powering up. I'm moving thie to the "other software and hardware" section in any case.

[Steve Brady]

Hi Stacey--

Thank you for contacting me on the CCDWare support and sending a copy of your Log. I thought I would post a copy of the response I sent you. A few thoughts to pass along:

1) Do not know the source of the first focus run error. I do see that your telescope and focuser were not connected initially - try setting both to auto-connect to see if it addresses the error. Also, setting COM Logging in Preferences/General may help find the root cause.
17:50:16 ** Telescope: connected
17:50:17 ** Focuser: 1 connected
17:50:17 Error: -2147221404 Type mismatch FocusMax.frmMain.cmdAcquireStar
17:50:17 ** AcquireStar not completed **

2) The Log shows many PinPoint failures - it may help if you set your Binning to 2x2 or 3x3 in Preferences/AcquireStar, especially with 3.76 u pixels.

3) Your successful plate solve indicate rather large slew errors - I recommend verifying polar alignment
19:00:14 ...Max pointing error = 1 (arc-min)
19:00:14 ...Current pointing error = 14.5174 (arc-min)

4) ACP is passing a target star mag range of 7.5 - 9.5 to FocusMax.
22:46:18 Using host request to update bright target star mag to 7.5
22:46:18 Using host request to update dim target star mag to 9.5

Stars identified in the GSC catalog are mag 7.5/7.6:
18:59:33 Target stars = 3
18:59:33 ...GSC 2743-0183 Mag: 7.50 RA: 22:34:02.0 Dec: +35:33:49.7 (Topo) Alt: 74.03 Sep: 1.33 deg
18:59:33 ...GSC 2740-0271 Mag: 7.50 RA: 22:44:16.6 Dec: +33:24:45.4 (Topo) Alt: 75.34 Sep: 1.69 deg
18:59:33 ...GSC 2744-1413 Mag: 7.60 RA: 22:46:26.3 Dec: +34:27:00.5 (Topo) Alt: 76.14 Sep: 1.69 deg
18:59:33 Using 7.50 mag star at RA 22:34:02.0 Dec +35:33:49.7 (Topo) Alt: 74.03

The focus run fails at the very end when brought to focus because the star is too bright.
19:04:57 Moving to focus position: 21343
19:05:08 ** Star is too bright **
19:05:08 Required exposure 0.09 is < minimum exposure setting 0.10 sec
I recommend setting a dimmer target star mag range for the UV-IF filter. You will need to set the optimum mag range for each filter - the AcquireStar Wizard will help you with this.

You have an option to override the target star mag that ACP passes when AcquireStar is running under automation and instead use the mag defined in FocusMax Preferences/AcquireStar. Open C:\Users\XXX\Documents\FocusMax V5\Configurations\ PlaneWave - QHY\MySystem1.ini, scroll down to [AcquireStar] and change 'DenyHostStarMag'=0 (false) to =1 (true).

5) Your autofocus runs are using 1x1 binning, please adjust the binning to achieve 1 to 1.5 arc-sec/pixel - your current is 0.26 arc-sec/pixel.
19:00:13 ...Plate scale = 0.26H x 0.27 V

6) The last autofocus run failed - setting the binning per item 5 will help with potential memory constraints.
04:38:07 ...Target star binning: 1
04:38:19 Error: -2147221404 Out of memory FocusMax.modCameraImage.GetCCDImage
04:38:19 Failed to read image to array

Please let me know if this helps!

Best regards,
Steve Brady

[Stacey E. Mills]

Thanks, folks! At least part of this probably relates to my smaller pixel size when I switched cameras from SBIG STXL 16200 to QHY600. I've made some changes as suggested by Steve Brady and I've linked FocusMax and ACP logs so we'll see what happens. I'll post result tomorrow if the weather cooperates tonight.

[Bob Denny]

Thank you so much Steve.

The PinPoint solve failures are due to large (14+ arcmin) mount pointing errors. "What changed" is the camera ha ha ha.