Hi,

New finding. Last night at the end of my imaging session, CCDAP tried to close dome but failed for some reason. The it continued tasks by taking darks. I noticed this and closed the dome manually. When looking at log, CCDAP issued close dome command and ran my dome closure 'backup' script after taking darks. Why just then? I would be very happy if all closure tasks and scripts would be done before taking darks.

And why CCDAP didn't re-try dome closure when it received 'dome open' status?

-Pete

ccdap20091010_001145.log (28 KB, 4 downloads)

quote:

And why CCDAP didn't re-try dome closure when it received 'dome open' status?

Because it expects your system to do what its told when it's told

If your dome fails to close when told to, there is no guarantee repeating the command will make it close. You need to understand and address the issue of why the dome doesn't close reliably when told to. There is only so much "triumph of software over hardware" possible

If you want "all closure tasks and scripts" to run before taking darks, enter their script on Options page, Data Acquisition section, Run box immediately before Darks After Targets Run

DDWCP is not the best piece of software I've seen. Lot of strange behavior. When I checked why DDWCP failed, the status showed 'Operation failed'. That's all. When I clicked dome close button, everything went ok and dome was closed. Don't know which bit was sideways.

This is the reason why I have made couple extra vb-scripts to close the dome. Parking mount and closing dome are two of the most critical tasks when running automated imaging sessions.

-Pete

Pete,

Did you ever try the ASCOM dome controller instead of DDW? I have clients that use it and it seems to be very reliable.

quote:

Originally posted by John Smith:
Pete,

Did you ever try the ASCOM dome controller instead of DDW? I have clients that use it and it seems to be very reliable.

Please tell me more!

-Pete

It is part of the ASCOM package. There is a program called ASCOMdome.exe located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Dome. You will also need to download a suitable driver for your dome. I assume you have a home dome or pro dome. Check here: http://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/DomeDrivers.htm

You also might want to make sure you have the latest version of DDWCP as well.

Thanks for the tip John!

John,

I was able to install all the components fro DDW dome. I'm able to control the dome via ASCOM dome control GUI. BUT, when trying to connect from CCDAP, I get .NET connection error (this is while ASCOM Dome control GUI is working). Then nothing won't work and I have to reboot the PC.

-Pete