AO-L will not calibrate

Spent the last two nights trying to get AO-L/STL11000 to work with Maxim v 6.14. The symptom is that it will not calibrate. When calibrating, both the drive and AO show the brightly focused guide star moving in X and Y directions but comes back with the error saying star movement not detected in all directions. I see the guide star move correctly in both drive calibration and AO calibration and it shows the movement in both x and y. Here are the steps I have taken to debug.

1.) fresh install of Maxim DL 6.14

2.) SBIG drivers up to date.

3.) Exercise the AO-L with a laser reflected on the wall to see if it is moving in all directions. It does.

4.) Camera Setup in Maxim

- Selected SBIG w AO

- Selected none for the Filter wheel. (also tried selecting SBIG w AO and FW

5.) unchecked dual chip mode and selected internal guider.

BASICALLY FOLLOWED THE HELP FILE TO SET IT UP.



The camera connects and shows the AO window. After pressing locate it shows the guide star.

When selecting Drive the star move normally with all positions on the guide chip but comes back with error that either guide star not found in all positions or does not detect movement in both x and y positions.



When calibrating the AO it gives me the same error.



6.) The next thing I did was to disconnect and connect the camera using Universal SBIG using internal dual chip mode to see if it would calibrate normally. It does while using the same guide star.


I am stumped and thought someone could either verify that AO-L does work with Maxim DL 6.14 and/or give me advice what to do next.

My understanding is that maxim 6.14 solves the guide issues it AO.

Any help would be appreciated. Out of ideas.



Terry Standefer

 

Thanks for the assistance.

I installed both MaxIm 6.14 Beta 10 and the two replacement files.

Definitely an improvement. The 'Drive' now calibrates. It looked as though the AO was going to calibrate but it always fails with the error "Star did not move in X and Y direction". If guide star moves during calibration for the first three steps then the error message. I found a bright guide star and the only star in the field that is visible.

I decided to see if the AO would track even though it did not calibrate completely and to my surprise it tracked just fine. I took a five minute exposure with no issues. I get this error but it seems to work.

Lastly, I did not see the improvements in the tracking box described by Owen. I did replace both files (.dll and Maxim DL app) but not change in tracking box selections.

Thanks for all the work you guys are doing. I do have a short video of the screen when calibrating AO error happens if you want it.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

Terry Standefer

 

I have a variation of this problem but think I know now what it is. I too, am using an AO-L on a STL-1001 camera. I had wanted to use this combination with a Remote Guide Head on an outside guide scope. I can calibrate the mount portion fine as the outside guider sees the motions. But the outside guider does not see AO calibration motions so, calibration fails.

I now guess that the Remote Guide Head can only be used with a pick off system that is behind the AO device. True?

 

Thanks Doug.

 

Thanks Colin, that's a good reminder, but for another project!