Hello friends, I have an old 2 inch FLI DF-2 focuser hooked up to maximDL (with an SBIG 402ME) and it seems to work correctly manually for the most part but the autofocus always fails. I'm not quite sure why this is, it seems to be on track and the step size seems ok. I am actually setting helping a friend set this up remotely, but I wasn't able to grab the rest of the string in the command log that says why the autofocuser couldn't continue over the remote desktop session. Does anyone have any obvious ideas as to why I can get the characteristic parabolic curve the routine seems to error out before it can find and set the minimum?
Is there anything logged regarding the error in the log files? You can find them here "..Documents\MaxIm DL 6\Log\"
Trying to post representative snippets where the failure occurs (they all seem to start healthy enough): 03:38:04*4 Started 4.000s 100x100 exposure, binned 1x1, ROI (622, 62) 03:38:08*4 Completed 4.000s 100x100 exposure, binned 1x1, ROI (622, 62) 03:38:08$10 Pos = 2, 1/2 Flux Dia. = 6.98 03:38:08$10 Passed best focus; measuring 03:38:08$10 Autofocus could not continue because the focuser failed to move. 04:19:44$10 Pos = 215, 1/2 Flux Dia. = 7.11 04:19:47*4 Started 4.000s 100x100 exposure, binned 1x1, ROI (405, 280) 04:19:51*4 Completed 4.000s 100x100 exposure, binned 1x1, ROI (405, 280) 04:19:51$10 Pos = 54, 1/2 Flux Dia. = 7.96 04:19:51$10 Autofocus could not continue because the focuser failed to move. attached whole log file in case that is useful
Have you tried putting "POTH Hub" between the focuser and MaxIm DL? You can then use POTH Hub to see the communication between the focuser and MaxIm DL. It may help us pinpoint the issue.
Will do so and send an update next chance I get in a few days. It seems to always trace out the curve past the minimum and fail...it "feels" like a bound has been exceeded somewhere. Presuming there is no obvious autofocous setting combination that could inadvertently lead to this behavior.
Make sure your target 1/2 flux is not too low. If it never hits the target it won't stop. See http://www.diffractionlimited.com/help/maximdl/Autofocus_Tutorial.htm
Ah wasn't obvious to me that it is using the target that way, I was assuming it was just watching the gradient. I don't have the setting in front of me (and I don't see it in my log file), but this seems like it could be the culprit given that everything else seems to work ok.
I wasn't able to see exactly how things were fixed (since I am helping remotely) but I believe the focus was way off. Once coarse focus was adjusted the autofocuser worked just fine.
