Resolved AOL will not calibrate

Discussion in 'Guiding and Adaptive Optics - StarChaser and AO' started by Martin Pugh, Aug 27, 2018.

  1. Martin Pugh

    Martin Pugh Cyanogen Customer

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    Hello Doug
    I have had this unit for years, and was using it successfully just last night. Now when I try and calibrate the AOL it will not move. I have removed the unit and can confirm that I can exercise it no problem to the full range of motion, but it will not move when I try to calibrate it on a star.
    It is connected to an STL11000M and FW8-L.

    I have tried to calibrate in both Maxim and SkyX.

    and by the way, when you try to exercise an AOL in Maxim, it crashes the program and camera requiring a power cycle.

    Any thoughts?
    thanks
    Martin
     
    Martin Pugh, Aug 27, 2018
    #1
  2. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Hmm... I hope you didn't hot-plug it. You should never plug/unplug a filter wheel or AO with the power on to the camera. It can blow a fuse in the camera.

    I'd suggest you contact Bill @ service.
     
    Doug, Aug 27, 2018
    #2
  3. Martin Pugh

    Martin Pugh Cyanogen Customer

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    No, didnt hot plug it. Bill’s email address is Bill@sbig.com?
     
    Martin Pugh, Aug 27, 2018
    #3
  4. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Correct. He may have some other suggestions. He’s got the most experience with STL and AO-L.
     
    Doug, Aug 27, 2018
    #4
  5. Martin Pugh

    Martin Pugh Cyanogen Customer

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    Doug
    The only testing that Bill does during building is to exercise the AOL and it does do that to the full extent, so I am totally baffled by this how I can exercise it but the mirror just will not move during calibration. In TSX, i ramped up the agg to 30 to see what it would do. As you know tilt values change very rapidly under normal operating conditions, but this unit was changing less than 1% very, very slowly.

    thanks
    Martin
     
    Martin Pugh, Aug 28, 2018
    #5
  6. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    That is truly strange. We've not made any changes to SBIGUDrv for the AO. So I don't understand how both SkyX and MaxIm DL would have a problem. There have been some updates to MaxIm DL's AO functions, but they shouldn't have any model-specific impacts (we can only test with AO-8 and AO-X, but for the changes that were made there's no reason to expect any difference).

    Can you check it in CCDOPS? You don't need stars - just look at the AO window and see if it tilts when it tries to calibrate.
     
    Doug, Aug 28, 2018
    #6
  7. Martin Pugh

    Martin Pugh Cyanogen Customer

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    Yes, it is very odd. I have also tried CCDOPS and actually watched the window move during a 'dummy' calibration, and yet even tonight, the star does not move when a calibration is started.
     
    Martin Pugh, Aug 28, 2018
    #7
  8. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    That makes no sense! Something must be different. Check for bad power at the telescope, etc.
     
    Doug, Aug 28, 2018
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  9. Martin Pugh

    Martin Pugh Cyanogen Customer

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    Hello Doug
    let me close this off as user error. What I did was replace the Astrodon OAG with the Astrodon MOAG which has a much wider aperture. Consequently, the pick off prism was outside of the field of view of the AOL window, hence no movement.
    I switched to the internal guider on the STL and calibrated the AOL and that is what gave me the clue.

    Nonetheless, as much as I wanted to use this new configuration, I am going to have to revert to the OAG solution to get this to work again.

    sorry to have bothered you with this.
    cheers
    Martin
     
    Martin Pugh, Sep 13, 2018
    #9
  10. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Okay thanks for letting us know.
     
    Doug, Sep 13, 2018
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