Automatic dome closing and Optec Perseus control

[Mauro Narduzzi]

Hello,

I'm considering to purchase ACP for observatory control. I need to know if there are features that allows for automatic dome closing in case of power shortage.
Moreover I need to know if it is possible to control the Optec Perseus device, a 4-port instrument selector. I still don't have it, but I'm considering to purchase this device.

Thank you

Mauro

[Bob Denny]

Mauro -- ACP would not be the best place to do your safety closure of the dome. You should install a dome control with a hardware input to close it, and then trigger this with a PC "power failure" script which would kill any running job on ACP. There are of course other ways to do this, but it is not a standard feature of ACP.

ACP does not have features for a 4-port selector to change it during the night (effectively changing imaging packages). You would need to decide which imaging package you want to use, then have ACP, MaxIm, and FocusMax configurations for each. When switching the instrument package, you would also switch the configurations.

[Robert Capon]

Hi Mauro:

I'm using ACP and ACP Scheduler (Expert) for an observatory that is completely robotic. My dome is a Technical Innovations PD-10, and I'm using Digital DomeWorks (DDW) to control the dome. DDW is ASCOM compliant, and works very well with ACP.

If you're subject to frequent power outages, one elegant solution might be to run as follows:

1) Put your computer, camera and mount and other critical components on an Uninterruptable Power Supply. (I use a UPS, but also have a whole-house generator that provides power after a 40 second power failure, so the UPS easily keeps my equipment going during outages, which are also very infrequent for me).

2) Set the UPS software to do an orderly computer shutdown if Power is lost for XXX minutes. (Most mounts and cameras can just have the power turned off, but it's nice to do a "shutdown" of the computer.) If the UPS is able to run for 30 minutes, and power outages are brief, you might set it to 10 minutes. That will handle power fluctuations. If power outages are frequent, and the power typically goes off all night when they occur, you may do a shutdown after 5 minutes.

2A) Note, don't plug anything into the UPS that doesn't need to stay on. For example, my observatory is robotic, so it doesn't matter if the LCD monitor loses power.

2B) I use a Digital Loggers Web Power Switch to turn outlets on and off during the Startup and Shutdown scripts. But the Switch actually is plugged into the UPS, not directly into the power mains.

3) When the computer is shutdown, DDW will no longer be connected to the computer. That will start an 8-minute "heartbeat check" with a clock that will close the dome after the connection has been lost for 8 minutes.

Please tell us, what kind of dome are you using? Do you have an existing observatory, or are you getting started with something new?

Where are you located? Is power loss a frequent problem?

As for the Perseus device (which I haven't used, and I'm sure it's a great device), I'm a big believer in keeping things as simple as possible. I don't even use a field rotator because I don't want the extra vignetting of the optical train, and don't want to bother with a different set of flats every time the camera is rotated. If you're getting started with robotics, I suggest you keep things as clean and simple as possible.

One nice feature of ACP is that it does let you keep different profiles. So I have one profile for my 12.5 RCOS Ritchey Chretien, and another profile for my 4-inch f5 Televue refractor. So, at the beginning of the night, I can decide which device I want to run, and choose between the 12.5 f9 telescope for small objects (most objects), or the Astrograph for a few large objects.

Please don't hesitate to contact me with any further questions.

All best,

Rob

[Bob Denny]

Thank you so much Rob!!! You guys that have solved the physical problems deserve a hats off!!

[Mauro Narduzzi]

Thank you very much for extensive answers, in particular to Robert.

Dome will be a Scopedome 3 meters with his ASCOM drivers and I should check with manufacturer drviers capabilities. Project is for a tender, not for my personal observatory. I already planned to do something like you suggest, but it's worth a question.
I eventually ask some more if needed, by now I have enough suggestion for you. Thank you so much, Robert.

Best regards

Mauro

[Robert Capon]

Hi Mauro-

You're welcome. Please don't hesitate to write if you have other questions. The ACP Forum is monitored by a lot of people who can help.

Best,

Rob