I am having a problem with my FW8S-Aluma (purchased 2021-06-25) . This FW is being used with an Aluma CCD694 & P-SC-2 Guide Camera, operated with The SkyX Pro. This problem has only occurred when conducting three filter time series where the FW is changing filters every 30-60 seconds. Either for exoplanet transits or binary star system observations. I have not made a ‘daily build’ TSX update in over a year. Infrequently the filter wheel appears to have ‘stuck’ when changing filters. First I get an error message: Receive Time-Out Error: 209 which stops the imaging series. When I click on “O.K.” nothing happens. When I click on anything else (Take Series, Move (FWheel), etc. I get: Filter Wheel Command in Process Error: 113. Basically it appears the filter wheel is stuck between filters and TSX while waiting for a confirmation of the change from the FW times out. Disconnecting & reconnecting the FW does not change this condition. Powering the FW off and back on, is the only way to clear this problem. Last year this only happened two times, last night it happened three times in one session. Have you seen this problem before? Any suggestions? I am going to be traveling for the next month or so and won’t be doing any photometry. Should I send the filter wheel to you for evaluation? Thanks! John Downing
No, I haven't seen this before. Is the camera still responding? Or is it hung as well? Please provide specific information - camera firmware version, DL Imaging driver version (e.g. 2.4.0.0), are you running ASCOM Platform 6.6. SP1, how is the camera configured in TSX (eg ASCOM camera or MaxIm's camera), version of TSX, and steps to reproduce the problem. e.g. TSX doing the sequence, and what is the filter order of the sequence etc.
Hi Colin: Will get out to the observatory and get these details shortly. Where/how do I find the camera firmware version? Tks, John
DL Config Utility will show you. Here's an example for an Aluma 694. Driver version 2.4.0.0 Click the camera. It will then show Firmware Rev In my example, Firmware Rev 29.
Other stuff that would be good to know: A screen shot of the exact sequence. Like this: and the ASCOM driver info from the ASCOM DL Imaging properties, like this:
O.K. here goes: CCD694 firmware: Rev. 22 Driver: 2.0.2.0 Ascom: 6.6.1.3673 TSX: 10.5.0 Build: 12545 Filter Order: 1. V 2. B 3. Rc 4. Clear 5. Sii 6. Ha 7. "Filter 6" ?? 8. Oiii Imaging sequence: snapshot attached. V@30s/B@60s/Rc@15S; Repeat Across Series. Note: Until last night this problem occurred when moving from B to Rc. Last night one error occurred when Shifting from Rc to V. John
Suggestion: Get current. Go here, and scroll down to +DOWNLOADS, click that. You'll find updates for the Camera Firmware, Drivers, ASCOM Driver. I think if you get to Firmware 27, DL Imaging 2.4.0.0, and DL ASCOM 6.4.13.0 that it will improve overall performance. You might want to update TSX as well. I've run some tests will the current versions on an Aluma 694 and FW8 here without incident in TSX.
Colin, Thanks for the suggestions, I will follow your advice. But it will have to wait until I return home, as I am now on vacation. Yes, it is an intermittent problem, at least it was until my last session. Do you think my problem will possibly be resolved by updating my software? Is a good visual inspection of the interior of the FW called for? It seems electro-mechanical to me, but I'm no expert on the FW. I'm also going to see if I can send a TSX log to Bisque to see if they can give me input on the time-out error. Will get back to you upon my return during the 1st week of March.
FW8S-Aluma Time-Out Problem Colin: After a (very) long hiatus from my photometry I am attempting to follow your software update directions . However I am not seeing a Firmware 29. The latest revision I see on your web page is 27?
Further, we released updates for DL Imaging Drivers and ASCOM since that was written way back in February. Current versions: DL Imaging drivers 2.7.1.0 DL ASCOM 6.4.22 MaxIm DL Pro 6.40
Thanks for the update Colin. No worries, I upgraded to Firmware #27 and also the most current drivers. The problem had been recurring every 1-2 hours. Ran a test last night for four hours and had no failures. Hopefully that will continue to be the case. Lately the exoplanet transit requests from this astrophysicist have been for brighter stars which has the filter wheel moving every 15 and 30 seconds. Next transit is Thursday with a 4 hour run so hopefully will be without an error.
