Using AC455; SC-4; AFW-10 with an MX+ mount, TheSky64, ASCOM drivers with a PrimaLuceLab Eagle6XTM

I have been using TheSky to drive my SoftwareBisque MX+ mount for > 10 years. I used devices with the SB X2 drivers (never ASCOM) exclusively. I also have never used a remotely connected computer for the telescope. So, I have lots to learn.

I have been able to get the camera (AC455), guider (SC-4) and the filterwheel (AFW10) to function within TheSky64 program using the Maxim DL ASCOM drivers. Thanks for your help, Colin and Doug. The hardware is spectacular. It has been a long time since I was able to download images in a quarter second, even though the image size is 4X the size of my 16803-chip based camera. The fiberoptic data transfer takes a bit of setup, but is a game changer.

While everything works on the bench, there seems to be significant lag in connecting devices and executing commands, so much so that I was getting numerous 206 errors from TheSky. Initially this was unusable. I followed some of the processes recommended in the below FAQ thread, and the lag is significantly better. Specifically, turning off the device installation using sysdm.cpl seemed to help a lot (per thread below). I am still working through some of the FAQ recommendations.

https://forum.diffractionlimited.co...connects-turn-off-usb-selective-suspend.7848/

I will take up some issues with PrimaLuceLab, but here are some of the things I noticed, and would appreciate comments from anyone who has experienced similar issues.

1. The Eagle6 has two thunderbolt ports. Either should work with the fiberoptic transceiver (Sonnetech Solo10G SPF+). However, using one of them instantly disconnected the Eagle6 Wifi on connection of the fiberoptic cable. The other thunderbolt port worked as advertised (took a while to figure that out).

2. I am still getting thunderbolt issues, as I see events related to their function:





3. I am having many events related to ASCOM. I see many errors related to platforms 5a, 5b, 5.5, and 7. I am not sure how significant these are. Here is an example:



Any guidance on continuing to tune my system would be appreciated. I will post any new findings to this thread.

Regards, Vince

 

Continuing to disable auto-suspend for the com ports appears to have solved almost all issues with lagging.

I have one remaining issue with the AFW filter wheel. Sometimes, when I connect the AC455 camera in TheSky (The AC filter wheel is linked to the camera, so they connect together), the filter wheel appears to get lost if I initiate a collection run. The run does not move the filter wheel, takes 1 photo and stops. I need to disconnect the filter wheel, reconnect it, and move it. Everything works fine after that. Alternatively, When I connect to the camera, if I immediately move the filter wheel before I start a run it works fine. Anyone have any ideas?

Regards,

Vince

 

Thanks Doug. I think that is very likely the issue. I have been making sure the filter wheel can move the filters prior to starting a run in TheSky. That has solved the problem and seems likely related to waiting to fully initialize. I have run a bunch of dry runs (in the shop), and everything is working very well. Now just need some clear skies.

Regards,
Vince