I tried the new core software dated Sept 28, 2016 downloaded from the Atik site. Happy to report that the filterwheel driver performed with no glitches during a quick bench-trial. The lengthy “moving…” message doesn’t appear. Connections are swift. Atik FiterRunner and SGP report identical results after a filter change. Did not get any exception upon pressing the setup button, before or after connection. My SGP version is 2.5.1.17
My observing season is done for the time being. Those of you who can get some time under the stars might want to give this a try. Chris Golden of Atik deserves thanks.
There is one circumstance which the software (SGP/Atik Driver) still does not handle, but really shouldn’t be expected to. If you press SGP setup icon while the wheel is moving, the Atik FilterRunner pops up with a filter number of “1” irrespective of where the wheel is. However if you close the filter runner and press setup again the FilterRunner pops up with the correct entry. From that point on everything works as well.
You shouldn’t have to do what I have described above! I have been deliberately trying to break the s/w in order to give feedback to make it more robust.
Originally, SGPro disabled device settings when the device was connected, then we ran across some device (can’t remember that would not allow settings unless it was connected). Since ASCOM does not specify one way of the other, driver authors should disallow settings when connected if it will place the software in a bad state.
All in all the s/w is not in a bad state. If I were in the field imaging I would not mess around the way I did in this test scenario. If one waited till the filter change was complete things work as expected. So I am not too concerned about this. Still I’ve passed on the message to Chris Golden at Atik.
Whenever this has happened to me, tightening the motor tension adjustment screw (beside the USB port) has fixed it. Oh, except for one time there was a frayed thread stuck in one of the alignment holes that needed to be removed.
…Keith
Same problem here… I noticed today that the option Allow the computer to turn off the driver to save power was switched on at the USB input Device driver of the ATIK filter wheel (under tab Power Management). I switched it off since my filter wheel often did not respond after a longer time of inactivity. I’ll test if this makes a difference.
I’m not second guessing you at all, but how did you test this? My experience with this problem was so hit and miss that sometimes I thought the problem was solved only to have it crop up again. I’ll certainly adjust the power management too, although thankfully I have not had an issue with this in a while (using the latest driver).
Beside stopping somewhere during the night the filter wheel did always needed a power reset the next day I started again. That no longer seems to be needed. Also during the night it worked flawlessly so far (but that was only for two nights).
I had another EFW2 keep on moving despite the setting change. It did fix the needed power cycle (after a day or so) but it seems the keep on moving issue during operation is still there…
Today removed all the ATIK drivers on the system. Removed all ATIK references in the Registry (as far as possible) and reinstalled the latest version (4.1.2.1) and ensured the Power Management option is switched off again so I can give it another try tonight.
Last night the setup worked all night without problems. Hopefully the issue is resolved (BTW I used the Rotate through events option for the Event order to ensure a lot of filter changes and made 120sec subs all night)…
I also had made the change in the “sleep” setting for USB - and I installed the latest ATIK drivers - but I did not clean the registry at all. Things appear to be working pretty well now with the efw2 and I haven’t had a session fail in a while. But sometimes at the start of a session there will be a failure to move and I will have difficulty reconnecting to the wheel after disconnecting. But it does seem to reconnect after a couple tries - and without disconnecting power. So it is still a little odd - but basically usable right now.
When I was having problems I would do tests in daylight with fake imaging sessions that exercised the wheel. Back then it was failing pretty reliably. Maybe the sleep setting and the latest drivers have improved things. I will see when the next failure happens.
I suggested this before and no one acknowledged my suggestion. However, what is being reported in terms of the continuous “Moving” dialog and the intermittent nature of the problem mimics exactly my experience with my EFW2 on several occasions in the 6 years I’ve had it. It sounds like there are issues here related to drivers and settings. However I have only ever updated my drivers when upgrading to a new computer and never in response to these issues. My solution has always been a hardware adjustment to tighten the motor tension screw. Since there was no comment when I posted this suggestion previously, perhaps you are all including this adjustment in your trouble-shooting, in which case I apologize for bringing it up again.
…Keith
This is certainly worth trying. I remember the first time you suggested this I tried it myself but it didn’t work.
But I think there may be two issues going on and tightening the motor tension screw only addresses one. For some people the filter wheel would rotate and stop at some random spot. In this case tightening the motor tension might address that issue. The other solution put forward by Atik was to replace the elastic band.
But for myself and I think a majority that have dealt with this, the problem is not that the filter wheel stops at some random place. In my case the filter wheel did always stop at the correct location, but the software would never report that the wheel had stopped. So the “Moving…” message would always stay up. This is a software/driver/communication issue.
Guess I’ve been lucky with my EFW2, as I haven’t had driver issues and it has worked pretty much flawlessly save for needing motor tension adjustment once in a while. Good luck with sorting out your driver issues.
…Keith
The reason I wasn’t excited about doing the adjustment is that when I disconnect power and then reconnect it - it immediately moves just fine to find the home position. There is no indication of any mechanical issue.
And right now it appears to work ok without doing anything mechanical.
So I’ll see if it fails again and stops a sequence.
However, that was also the behaviour that I observed. It would say “Moving” and never settle on a filter. If I unplugged the FW and recycled the power then more often than not it would start up fine. As in Joel’s experience, the problem for me was intermittent and usually resolved by recycling the power. However, after adjustment it would stop happening for months to years, so I assumed that the adjustment of the motor tension had something to do with the issue. This thread on Cloudy Nights from a few years ago reports that a similar problem has been fixed for several other EFW2 users by adjusting the tension:
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/453148-problem-with-atik-efw2/
All the issues I reported above were fixed by driver updates back in August or September of 2016. I did several nights of imaging without a hitch. I did not have to fiddle with anything mechanical. Being in the Pacific NW, I haven’t had the opportunity to image since then.
Chris Golden of Atik is very responsive if you post on the Atik forums or send him an email.
