DDW 5.2 and ACP 5.1 HF10

[Steve Reilly]

I set up a new computer with updated ACP (5.1 HF10) and DDW 5.2. I set ACP to use TI as the driver. The issue is that ACP seems to get the commands to home and open the shutter but doesn't actually operate the dome. Using ACP"s ZDome control window and all functions work when asking to open/close, home park and so on. Any suggestions?

[Ken Archer]

Hi Steve,

I installed HF10 yesterday and the DDW driver version 1.00.14 still works fine. Maybe reinstall the older driver and see what happens.

Aloha,
Ken

[Steve Reilly]

Hey Ken,

Great idea. Any idea where I can get the old driver?

[Bob Denny]

I would not back rev! There are lots of people using HF10 with the current DDW driver. Let's try to solve the problem first. Noting in HF10 would change how the driver works.

The amazing thing is that the ACP Dome Control panel works! All it does is call the exact same functions as are called from within ACP's scripts.

ACP seems to get the commands to home and open the shutter but doesn't actually operate the dome

I'm a bit foggy on this... can you say it again another way? What do you mean "gets the commands"? From where? And what do you mean "seems to"?

This message was posted via email

[Ken Archer]

Hi Bob and Steve,

Bob is of course correct. We have not updated DDW since the first release.

Aloha,
Ken

[Steve Reilly]

Bob,

This is on Ed's observatory and that's an hour away. I installed ASCOM 5, DDW 5.2, MaxImDl 4.62 and downloaded Tim Long's Technical Innovation's DDW driver. I'll need to get more specifics from Ed's computer. I can say that I ussed the DDW program and the commands did work. In ACP, I would get the dome connecting on telescope connect, set this way, but it would not Home or Open the shutter, even though set for that action on connect. I could open ACP's Dome control, use the lowest control command (something like stop action), and then Home, Open or whatever at that point.

A plan would fail just because the dome wouldn't Home or Open the shutter. That's all I have at this point.

[Steve Reilly]

I looked at Ed's system last night and found a few things that needed doing first. I had left the preferences set to auto connect to the telescope, dome, camera and weather which I usually don't do. On starting ACP, the telescope connected as well as the dome and camera (MaxIM). There was no dome movement although the console reported the dome connected and homing. I had Ed open the Preferences to uncheck the auto connect option and check a few things as well. Several minutes had passed as we were checking the settings and then the Dome came to life and homed and opened the shutter. That was unexpected as nothing was changed but the auto connect option and preferences hadn't been closed yet. I decided to run a test plan and then got the Script Support Library error.

I had not setup the filter offsets and that was causing a script support library error until that was done. We ran the FilterOffset.vbs script to deal with that. After that was done I had Ed shut the system down and power off everything. He then did his normal power up and started the necessary programs.

When the telescope was connected, the Dome indicated that it was connected and homing. No movement of the dome occurred nor did the shutter open as it is set to do on first connect. I asked Ed to open ACP's Dome Control located under the Use Web Browser button and select Park. Error; Active X can't Create Object. I asked Ed to use the Close Button, response was Force Close Shutter and answered Yes.

At this point ask Ed to use the Park command, telescope parked as well as dome. We also used Home and Open with both responding as expected. Slewed to different parts of the sky and the dome responded with the telescope as expected.

Asked ACP to Park the telescope and it did as well as the expected dome shut down with the shutter closing. Exited the programs and started again. Same issue with dome not homing or opening. Waited 10 minutes just to see if something would time out. Nothing. Once there is a command that responds using the Dome Control in ACP, the system seems to be OK.

Several questions come to mind. First would be the settings for the serial port. I'm sure they are set at the normal default of 9600 Baud, 8 Data Bits, Parity None, Stop Bits 1 with no Flow control. While there is communication on this Comm port, maybe the Baud rate is off.

Although DDW control program is installed, it does not seem to be called for when ACP is controlling the Dome. Is this correct? If not I would think that maybe there is something in the DDW program that needs to be done that hasn't been. I was reading over the TI manual for the dome and it said something about training the dome and shutter. Could the fact that this hasn't happened be an issue?

Is there a need for the DDW program to be installed at all? The driver for the dome is that which is listed via external link on the ASCOM page which goes to Tim Long's TI driver page. The driver was extracted, the three resulting files loaded as instructed in the readme file. Should I be using another driver? I posted a screen capture in an above post that shows the TI driver and an ASCOM driver. Which is correct to use? I have it set for the TI driver.

The biggest problem is that this is a new computer. All the programs, from MaxIm, FocusMax (settings and files carried over), TheSky 6, ACP, DDW and so on have all been updated. So this is a new install. That being the case, it is likely that something simple is being missed. MaxIm works fine. FocusMax does fine.

Sorry to be so long winded but I thought the more information the better.

Thanks,

[Steve Reilly]

Just went to Technical Innovations website and looked at the downloads. At first I could not download the ASCOM driver as the link is wrong, need to remove the underscores between the words and just have spaces, but I'm at work so I can't really tell anything. This is something I'll have to look at closer.

[Bob Denny]

Steve --

I decided to run a test plan and then got the Script Support Library error.

What script support library error" The one resulting from having no targets in the plan?

I had not setup the filter offsets and that was causing a script support library error until that was done.

Another error? What is this one? Not having filte offsets should not cause an error, it should "just" result in ACP focusing after each filter change.

Although DDW control program is installed, it does not seem to be called for when ACP is controlling the Dome. Is this correct?

Yes, ACP uses the TI ASCOM driver not the Digital DomeWorks Control Program. You are correct with that setup.

The symptoms you describe are really strange. If I understand it, the bottom line is that it takes 10 minutes before dome control becomes active and after that it works fine until the programs are shut down (unloading the driver), then it takes another 10 minutes before dome control is OK. And before the 10 minutes is up, ACP's dome control looks like it's controlling the dome but the dome is not really responding? And there are no errors appearing during this time?

If all of this is true, I am stumped. One thing to try is to change the dome selection from TI DIgital Domeworks to Dome Simulator, then see if the dome simulator responds as you'd expect "un-minimize" it so you can see if it's slewing etc.

This message was posted via email

[Steve Reilly]

I feel I may have commented to much on too many issues at once. The plan was a standard 1 target plan that asked for focusing at plan start and shutting down at end of plan. This can be set aside for now as it isn't the main issue and will probably be resolved when the dome is operating correctly.

I think that by having had ACP running for quite some time on the older computer and my just writing down the settings and not going through the ACP setup as one normally would do when first setting up ACP may be my downfall.

On the initial start last test, connecting to the mount, dome and camera was done manually, not on startup of ACP automatically. When the mount was connected, the dome said it was connecting, as expected. At this point the dome would normally home and open the shutter, as set in ACP on first connection. ACP indicated that the dome was connected, but the dome did not physically home or open the shutter. While checking for certain files and general trouble shooting, the dome opened. This was about ten minutes after ACP was started and the equipment connected.

On second starting of ACP, it indicated connection to dome as before but the dome nevere did respond. Using ACP dome control, asked ACP to Close shutter. The response was Force shutter closed? Yes. At that point it appeared that all dome commands would work fine. The test plan started, dome slaved, abborted after first image and shut observatory down as normal.

The problem is in the initial connection when the dome needs to home and open. I checked the Comm settings an they are fine. Communication works. As far as the TI driver, all you can set is the Comm port #. The rest of the dome settings are in ACP.