LittleFoot Elegance Photo > LFEP ASCOM
LFEP ASCOM driver - bug reports
Armando:
Hi Rainer,
I know that weather is not good at all...
But, if possible, we should test the driver also with bad weather so that we find no bad surprises under clear skies...
Unfortunately I can't test park and flipping and your feedback is really useful to speed up the driver development.
Anyway I hope current driver is working.
CS
Armando
P.s. You can see a file that includes "TDM" in its name is also available on SourceForge. Please ignore it: it's meant to control an I2C slave used to power Off TDM while mount is slewing. I implemented this solution to exclude possible flip/parking issues when a TDM controller is in use.
the_lizardking will use it. If someone else means to equip his mount with TDM I'll provide further details about the required hardware and I2C slave firmware requirement.
Heinz-S:
Hello Armando,
I just installed the new driver 1.5.3 23-04-2014. Using FW 5.88 I will send you the following feedback:
The confirmation sound, that could be heard after changing a setting with a click on apply or OK is not active any more. Now the slewing led is blinking for a while after clicking on one of the both buttons.
After setting a park position and afterwards clicking on the park button the tracking stops properly, the parking and slewing led starts blinking but the mount didn't move. Instead the driver sends the error message, you will find in the attachment.
The manual flip function I've tested with driver version 1.5.3 13-04-2014 and no error occurs. Regarding the flip function, I have two questions:
When I start the manual flip, the mount moves to a middle position, where the telescope points to the northern direction. In that position it rests for a while. Afterwards the move was competed. Is it possible, to disable that function or to shorten the time of standstill?
I miss the automatic flip function, that aligns the telescope depending on the position of the object. If the object is been located on the western side of the meridian, the telescope should be located in the east. By analysing the coords of the object, the LFEP should be able to locate the telescope in the right position. At the moment I use the manual flip function to position the telescope on the right side. Would it be very difficult, to implement such an automatic meridian flip function for all the observers, that didn't use a photographic equipment?
CS
Heinz
Armando:
Hi Heinz,
--- Quote from: Heinz-S on Sunday, 27.04.14 - 18:38:12 - CEST ---After setting a park position and afterwards clicking on the park button the tracking stops properly, the parking and slewing led starts blinking but the mount didn't move. Instead the driver sends the error message, you will find in the attachment.
--- End quote ---
OK, I see the exception. I think you didn't enable autoflip for GoTo.
I think that if you enable autoflip for GoTo the exception doesn't occur.
--- Quote ---Regarding the flip function, I have two questions:
When I start the manual flip, the mount moves to a middle position, where the telescope points to the northern direction. In that position it rests for a while. Afterwards the move was competed. Is it possible, to disable that function or to shorten the time of standstill?
--- End quote ---
I want to make the driver able to avoid pillar crashes.
You can enable autoflip for GoTo (and/or parking) so that if a flip is opportune it's executed. But you can also force the driver to ask for a confirmation before executing a flip. So if the driver recognizes a flip is opportune but you don't confirm the flip it won't flip. I want to exclude a pillar crash also in this case...
So I had to add other GoTo steps to manage these conditions.
Now I don't know exactly what step you're referring to... Probably you're referring to the step during which the scope is apparently not moving but you can see it's moving (slowly) to cross the N (or S) Pole. If this is the case we need to keep the driver as is; you need just to wait some seconds while scope moves at 16x to cross the Pole.
--- Quote ---I miss the automatic flip function, that aligns the telescope depending on the position of the object. If the object is been located on the western side of the meridian, the telescope should be located in the east. By analysing the coords of the object, the LFEP should be able to locate the telescope in the right position. At the moment I use the manual flip function to position the telescope on the right side. Would it be very difficult, to implement such an automatic meridian flip function for all the observers, that didn't use a photographic equipment?
--- End quote ---
This feature is already implemented.
You can enable AutoFlip for GoTo and/or for parking. You can also force the driver to ask for a confirmation so that you can still exclude a flip if you want...
For parking you can set a parking position that is good on both sides of pier. This is the reason why you can disable autoflip for parking. If you want to park always at the same side of pier then you've to enable the autoflip for parking. Finally you can also enable autoflip for parking with confirmation required...
I realized that a pillar/tripod crash could be caused by the flip itself (e.g. scope next to tripod and pointing to W near the horizon)!
So I started to deeply modify the driver to take care of many conditions that can cause a pillar crash (the flip itself, when scope is already in an unusual position because of a lot of time passed since the meridian cross; or when a flip is "suggested" by the driver but the user doesn't confirm it; or when the user means to move to a "dangerous position" starting from a "good" one; etc. etc...).
Just for example, if you're pointing to NW with the scope on W side of pier ("bad position") and you send a GoTo to SW a flip is advisable. If you enable autoflip the driver should execute it (and move the scope away from pillar, if necessary). But I added also other steps so that if you don't enable autoflip or if you don't confirm the flip (with flip confirmation required) the scope will move upwards, then only on dec to "bypass" the pillar and finally will point to the target... Other steps occur also if you try to move to a dangerous position. Someone can prefer to park with scope pointing under the horizon... So you can see a pillar/tripod crash against the front side of the scope! The driver should manage also these conditions.
You see I added other settings (in safety tab) to define a dangerous area "around the pillar/tripod" in terms of distance on RA from local meridian when declination is not too far from Zenith's declination (you can set 2 values to define the minimum distances on Dec from Zenith). These values are used to make the driver able to "bypass" the pillar itself.
These are the main changes that I was able to test only "virtually" by CartesDuCiel since my mount is too slow (40x GoTo).
Please let me know if you find the autoflip working and if you see the driver bypasses the pillar as expected when you force the driver to make no flips or when you try to make dangerous GoTos...
CS
Armando
Armando:
The following driver should fix the exception bug:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lfepascom/files/LFEP%20ASCOM%20Driver%20%281.5.3%2027-04-2014%29.exe/download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/lfepascom/files/LFEP%20ASCOM%20Driver%20%281.5.3%2004-05-2014%29.exe/download
CS
Armando
Heinz-S:
Hello Armando,
thank you for the detailed explanation. The possibility to enter a time in the flip menu had been the reason for my confusion. Such a function I combine with photographic use only. The HW handbox of my CGEM mount didn't expect to enter a time. It is flipping dependent only on the coords of the objects.
Your explanation, that the pole crossing is moving at 16x had been very helpful. I only had to raise the speed.
The version 28-04-2014 of your driver had fixed the exception bug. The parking function now operates as expected.
The bypass – function I'm not able to test at the moment, because the shack that contains my scope isn't very large. The long scope, I'm using presently, perhaps would crash to one of the side walls.
Using E&T I've chosen a couple of stars alternating on both sides of the meridian. The mount every time flips on the right side with pole crossing at 16x.
A GOTO to Polaris was running in a different way. The scope was located at NW when I started the GOTO. The mount was running to the pole cross position and rested there for a few seconds, moving at 16x. Then it was slewing back to NW until it pointed to Polaris.
After that I started a GOTO to Mars, but that time not using E&T but the HW handbox. The mount was slewing to SE (the bad side) and pointed to Mars. That time the mount crossed the pole without moving at 16x. The whole movement was executed with GOTO speed.
When I parked the scope later on, I noticed that the SW handbox now displayed the wrong orientation (West instead of East). So I think, that it isn't good to use the HW handbox and the driver together for GOTO commands.
CS
Heinz
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