In Control Panel I have the “pause guiding during auto focus” but it does not appear to be working. Each time the AF routine is invoked I get PHD2’s flashing RED screen and an error saying Star Mass is lost. I have the AF tied to time (so every 30 min it will AF). Any ideas why it won’t pause guiding?
There is another similar thread - where someone noted the same behavior when they used time and temperature to instigate AF. I use temperature and shot count to implement AF and I have not noticed an issue. If both behaviors are repeatable, that would suggest a link between time-based AF and PHD2 pause. Can you get the log files?
@GenerallT001,
This is happening during an actual running sequence? I know that if you
manually run AF outside of a running sequence PHD2 will not pause. It’s
only during a running sequence that it will pause.
If PHD2 is not pausing during the sequence then that is not expected
behavior. Please post a log.
Hi Joel,
Yes, during the sequence. Here are the logs . Appreciate any help.
PHD2_GuideLog_2017-08-03_222149.txt (114.5 KB)
It is a clear night tonight (a rare occurrence this year) and I’ll use time as the AF trigger and see what happens.
Hey Thanks,
If the smoke thins out here (Pacific North West) I will try to duplicate it again - should be easy as it hasn’t worked once. Get the feeling I must be screwing something up as this should be happening to more people.
Hi - just tried it. I made a very simple sequence with AF ever 5 minutes. The first AF fired off with sequence start, after that, PHD2 settled, it made a single exposure and then when that downloaded, AF kicked off again. PHD2 showed “PAUSED” and everything worked normally.
I’m using beta 24, with PHD2 2.6.3dev7 on a Windows 10 Pro.
Hi Buzz,
I will upgrade to the SGP Beta 24 and try it out - still about 7 hrs before dark enough. Also on PHD2 2.6.3 (not sure which dev though - how do you figure that out?) I am using generic Windows 10.
So I tried the AF out tonight, first on time and then on # of frames. Worked perfectly on both of these, so I don’t know anymore. Either I screwed something up yesterday or it was just a glitch.
Anyway
Thanks All
Glad you are fixed. We have all been there. I just had Camtasia go completely awry. When I asked it to abandon a screen capture, it saved the file and when I asked it to save it, it erased it. Clearing out the preferences and caches, removing the program and re-installing in OSX resumed normal operation. Go figure…
What was the solution that made everything work for you both? I’m just getting autofocus setup and on both night’s that I’ve used it, PHD2 says paused briefly, but then during the first autofocus shot is “un-paused” and runs for the rest of the auto focus routine.
Like you, pause guiding during autofocus is checked.
Any thoughts?
-Jim
Well, belay that. After going back into Control Panel, I noted that both the box marked “pause” and “settle” the autoguider during focusing were checked. Obviously, you can’t do both. I unclicked the settle box and then everything works. Interestingly, now, when I try to click one of those boxes, SGP only lets you pick one but not both. I wonder what condition caused both of them to be checked?
-Jim