Staff Assigned: Tim AO-X not responding problem?

I've been having difficulty getting my AO-X working reliably. I had written up a long post to share here and get people's ideas but while writing the problem down I may have figured it out, I think it was my mistake. I'll spend another night fighting with it before I post my issue.

That said, I want to ask about a second AO-X issue I'm having:

Sometimes the AO-X refuses to move at all. In MaxIm, AO calibration doesn't move the star, going to the setup tab and exercising does nothing. Power cycling the camera fixes this problem. The cables are tight, it's not a loose cable. When the AO-X isn't working, the camera and filter wheel still work, and the filter wheel is plugged into the AO-X which is plugged into the camera. I would think if it were a cable problem the filter wheel would also stop working. This problem occurs in both MaxIm and CCDOps. It does it whether I connect to the camera via ethernet or USB.

Does this happen to others? Is this a sign of a larger problem?

Setup, connected physically in this order:

SBIG STX-16803 camera SN X14050351 (connected via Ethernet)
FW5-STX
SBIG AO-X SN 1405
Planewave IRF90 Integrated Rotating Focuser
Planewave CDK24
AP3600GTOPE mount

Software:
Windows 7
MaxIm DL 6.2
ACP Expert 8.2

I have all the latest camera drivers installed:
sbigudrv.dll 4.99 build 7
sbigu64.sys 2.41.0.1338
sbigpcam.hex 2.46
sbiglcam.hex 2.20
sbigfcam.hex 2.25
sbigfga.bin 2004.11.10

stxusb.bf2 1.06
stxga.bf2 2.54
stx16803.bf2 1.00.05
stx0340.bf2 1.00.04

 

I hate the word "sometimes" too. I recognize I do not have enough information to diagnose the problem unless it's happening to others as well. I had posted to see if this is a "thing" that others are experiencing or if it's just me and I need to track it down. Clearly it's just me.

I will do more homework.

I need to mention that I stopped trying to get things to work for a couple years while I focused on a new business. The last I tried to use the AO-X was while there were known issues as confirmed by Alan and Douglas when SBIG and Diffraction were independent. I was having this non-responding problem years ago, and figured it was drivers/software or something.

Only a week or two ago did I update everything and started to try to get the AO-X working.

It typically goes something like this: Power things on, connect to camera in MaxIm, turn on coolers. Open observatory. Have dinner while the heat escapes the observatory and it gets dark. Start an ACP acquire image run to slew/rotate/rotate dome/call PWI to focus/update pointing. Abort ACP, make sure tracking stays on. Then forget about ACP while I play in MaxIm. Do a locate exposure, see a nice star. Adjust duration/binning if necessary. Calibrate AO. See star not move at all. Test AO in both X and Y, hear crickets from the AO. Disconnect in MaxIm. Unplug camera. Wait for 15 seconds or so, plug it back in. Wait for camera to start up. Reconnect in MaxIm. Test again, hear noise, rejoice. Calibrate in MaxIm, see star move, but even if it's a bright (like mag 2) star with a dark background, watch as MaxIm fails to identify the star in all the exposures. Do it two or three times until MaxIm calibrates.

I have been doing a calibrate each time because I have taken exactly one exposure where the AO appeared to work, and that was last week. (And then I noticed part of the camera frosted over, and I realized I needed to bake the desiccant plug; I'm not frosting now) I have been trying to image from within MaxIm directly, and more often than not the star ends up going off out of the field the AO is able to correct. Since I have guided without the AO in the past, my polar alignment is good and I have encoders to help with PE, I have assumed the problem was with the AO and I did not go back to make sure the mount is guiding correctly otherwise. *Right now I'm operating under the assumption that the AO is working and that I need to make sure the mount is guiding correctly.*

But back to the non-responding problem: After I've power cycled things and confirmed the AO is moving, I have slewed and rotated and refocused and controlled things from MaxIm and ACP, had the dew heaters and fans come on and go off, and have NOT seen any of those things make the AO stop working. I would almost dare say it's a problem from a freshly-powered up state. Once it's powered up it's either going to work or not. I have not repeatedly plugged it in, checked it, unplugged it, waited, repeat, in order to diagnose that statement.

I will log things and do more work to diagnose.

To answer a couple of your other questions: I'm using the internal guide camera. I have a 25-amp pyramid power supply I use for the camera/focuser/rotator/telescope fans/dew heaters. I have a separate supply for the mount. The connections all the way to the camera are solid and reliable and of a larger gauge than necessary. It's supplying 13.3v to the camera (measured by multi-meter at the camera and at the power supply while under load) I have not noticed a power-related problem with anything, and do not believe I'm coming anywhere close to 25 amps. I have another large power supply I could use, if you suspect power.

Thanks for your help.

 

Wow! Thank you for much more advice than I expected or deserve! I'll keep it all in mind next time it's not overcast.

Yes, the machine is always connected and is running TeamViewer.

Thanks again!

 

@Tim: I have not tried the AO-X without the filter. I will add it to the list of things I'll try next session! I am not powering the filter wheel. If that is something I should be doing I will do that! Thank you!

 

An update, of sorts:

On the non-responding issue, I have not tried to repeat the problem, I have nothing new to report other than I have not power-cycled anything in three days and the AO is still responding after quite a bit of usage. It feels like it's locking up only on power-up, and only sometimes, but again I don't have direct evidence to support that, only the negative it-hasn't-locked-up-and-I've-been-using-everything.

On the other hand: I have the AO working otherwise from within MaxIm, at different PAs, on both sides of the mount! And this is on a mostly-cloudy, moonlit night! (I noticed that a remarkable amount of light from Vega can come through some clouds) Thank you!

I do not have the AO working reliably in ACP, but after more time trying to get it working there if I fail I'll go over to the ACP forums and bug Bob. (ACP-controlled guiding with the AO is working just fine up until the mount itself needs to be jogged a little, leading me to believe something is set wrong, like the guide sensor angle (although I think I have that measured correctly). I'll work on it)

One more thing before I go and leave you alone... When I calibrate with the AO-control/Locate/Calibrate Drive, presumably the guide sensor's angle is measured relative to the mount. Is that stored/does that show up somewhere? Are the guider settings on the camera control/guide/settings used at all for AO guiding? I have to assume at least some of them are, but maybe not. I don't want to have something set in there that's messing up ACP.

Thank you guys again for your help.

 

Thanks again Colin.

Last night I was going to play with settings but I ran into the AO not responding issue and after power-cycling three or four times to no avail I ended up trying to troubleshoot that instead.

I used a different power supply, another Pyramid 35a power supply set to 13.5v.
I disconnected the filter wheel from the AO so that I could rule out the filter wheel causing a problem.
The AO was plugged into the camera with the original I2C cable.
The camera had nothing else plugged into it.
When I plugged in the camera, SOMETIMES (I know) the LED on the AO would blink fast. Sometimes it would stay on. Sometimes it would blink on and off at 4.5s on, 4.5s off, 4.5 on, etc.
I made sure to keep the camera unplugged for 30s between tests.
I then tried plugging in an ethernet connection to the camera, and repeated the tests, with the same results. Each time, I connected to the camera from MaxIm and tried to exercise the AO. As expected, the AO only responded when the LED was blinking quickly. The camera itself appeared to work fine regardless of the state of the AO.

Is this a send-it-in-for-repairs thing?

Thank you!

Edit: I can probably find the original power supply to try that, if you think it will matter. Unfortunately, however, I cut/modified the original cable going to the camera to put powerpole connectors on it to attach it to my power distribution at the telescope. I will gladly unmodify the cable and put it back on the original supply if you guys believe it's a power issue. Since the camera (and filterwheel, when attached) work very well, I don't believe it's a power issue. But you guys know best.