Pier-Tech roll-off roof driver

[William Martin]

I am trying to get Pier-Tech's v3.0 ASCOM driver to speak nicely with ACP. I get a 'dome shutter error condition' but it seems to work ok manually from the ACP console, i.e. I can get the roof to open and close. Running any plan with startup or shutdown aborts at the script line with any dome.xxx saying there's a problem with the driver. I can reproduce all the log files, etc but before I do that, does anyone out there have any experience with this driver with ASCOM 5.5? I've gotten no response yet from Vito at Pier-Tech.

Bill Martin

[Bob Denny]

Check out http://www.fostersystems.com/ for a complete, reasonably priced, and excellent package.

[William Martin]

Bob, thanks for the suggestion. I take it from your reply that this may not be a unique problem. I will continue pursuing Pier Tech for a while. Their controller wasn't cheap, works fine manually and the roll-off is good quality.

Bill

[Jim Wood]

Keep us updated with your progress Bill, I too have a Pier Tech roll-off with their controller. I am new to ACP and have not gotten to dome control yet, so I am interested in the outcome. Will check out Foster Systems too.

Jim

[Jim Wood]

Hi Bill and Bob,

I finally got a little bit up to speed on ACP and tested my roll-off and pier tech controller. As Bill mentions, no problems with openeing and closing manually with ACP within the console by using the mini dome control. I then ran a script via planner for the sytem to take a bias frame and then shut everything down and close the roof. Everything also worked fine, I started with the roof open, ACP had the imager take a bias, shut down everything, park the scope and shut the roof. I also tried a test plan with an open dome and close dome command and both work. In addition I tested the weather unsafe piece and it worked too, scpope parked and roof closed.
I may have a different ASCOM driver than yours Bill. About a month ago Darren re-wrote the ASCOM driver for me because I had the roll-off and controller, but no Pier-Tech Pier. His earlier driver did not take into account that a customer might not have their pier and caused a fault when opening or closing when I was using CCDAP4. My version is 3.0.2.1

You may want to email Darren softwaresupport@pier-tech.com and have him email you the driver if your situation is the same as mine, ie no pier-tech pier.

Jim

[William Martin]

Hi Jim. Tried the dome controller again. ACP opens the dome the gives a 'Shutter Error being reported, still waiting for open??' message repeatedly until I abort the script. When I then park the telescope I get a 'Shutter Failed to Close' message. Opening and closing with the Pier-Tech standalone software is ok.

I have tried this both with the pier enabled and disabled and get the same thing. I'm using ASCOM 5.5.1 and ACP v 5.1 with v3.0.2 Pier-Tech ASCOM dome driver.

I will get on to Darren and see if he can help. Thanks for the address, I've gotten zip from the main e-mail address at Pier-Tech. Vito still there?

Bill

[Jim Wood]

Hi Bob,

Sorry to hear it is not working.

Vito is still at Pier Tech, but I have not gotten a response from him in months. Darren is more responsive and is the one who created the driver.

Do you have a pier tech pier? If you are unable to reach Darren and would like to try the driver he provided to me, here is the link . Again, he changed this due to me NOT having a pier tech pier.[FONT='Times New Roman','serif']

http://iv-industry.com/PierTech v3.0.2.1 ASCOM Setup.exe[/FONT]

[FONT='Times New Roman','serif'][FONT='Times New Roman','serif']With all programs shut down - simply download and run the set-up file. Your older version will be overwritten. You will need to reassign the com port.

[/FONT]



I did a run last night and everything worked perfectly, hope you get it worked out.[/FONT]

[FONT='Times New Roman','serif']Jim[/FONT]

[William Martin]

Hi Jim,

I used your link to download the new driver then Darren sent me the same link. The new driver did the deed and ACP now runs the scripts with dome open and shut down just fine. The problem seems to be related to the pier in the original driver. I have disabled my pier now but I will try the new driver with the roof/pier combination eventually.

Thanks for the link.

Bill

[Jim Wood]

No Problem Bill, glad it works.

Jim

[Dale Liebenberg]

Hi,
I have only now picked up on this thread.
I also have a Pier-Tech dome controller and have never had a problem with it working with ACP, using the original driver provided (other than a warning that it is unsafe?). I have had it for a couple of years - so with various versions of ACP and Ascom (Also upgraded from XP to Vista to Win 7 64bit) So maybe there is something particular to your set-up?
I also did a harware modification by adding some optical sensors (plus some wiring and a relay) to ensure that the pier is down and the scope parked, before the roof closes.
If anyone interested in the details, e-mail me dalelieb@iafrica.com

Dale