Failed Meridian Flip - ASCOM issue?

Sequence Generator
1

Been working on getting consistent meridian flips.

Equipment/Software:
AP GTOCP4
AP ASCOM V2 Driver: V5.20.09
AP APCC Pro: v1.7.1.1
SGP Version: 3.0.3.169

Had a failure a couple of nights ago. Looked through the log and found this failure note:

ASCOM Telescope: Failed to flip because starting pier side and ending pier side are the same!

I was monitoring the event and when the flip failed and SGP started its shutdown sequence, I halted the shutdown. I then RESUMED the sequence without changing anything and then the meridian flip went off without a hitch.

At the start of the first flip everything seemed a go:

[10/08/19 00:10:33.145][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] EventMarker 2 - t:NGC253 (0); e:0; f:21; o:
[10/08/19 00:10:33.145][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Checking if Meridian Flip is needed
[10/08/19 00:10:33.176][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Telescope is on the West side of the mount
[10/08/19 00:10:33.176][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Presenting wait for meridian dialog…
[10/08/19 00:10:51.974][DEBUG] [Main Thread] PopulateDataModel: Transferring view to the data model…
[10/08/19 00:10:51.998][DEBUG] [MF Update Thread] Performing serialize…
[10/08/19 00:11:57.699][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Meridian Flip needed, Hour Angle >= Degrees Past To Flip: 0.00267083333333251 >= 0
[10/08/19 00:11:57.699][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Running blocking meridian flip…
[10/08/19 00:11:57.784][DEBUG] [Pier Flip Thread] Meridian Flip: Starting Meridian Flip Procedure

Which looks the same as the second pier flip command sequence where the pier flip occurred:

[10/08/19 00:12:54.754][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] EventMarker 2 - t:NGC253 (0); e:0; f:21; o:
[10/08/19 00:12:54.754][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Checking if Meridian Flip is needed
[10/08/19 00:12:54.755][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Telescope is on the West side of the mount
[10/08/19 00:12:54.755][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Meridian Flip needed, Hour Angle >= Degrees Past To Flip: 0.202745833333333 >= 0
[10/08/19 00:12:54.755][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Running blocking meridian flip…
[10/08/19 00:12:54.835][DEBUG] [Pier Flip Thread] Meridian Flip: Starting Meridian Flip Procedure

Attached is the pertinent portion of the SGP log file.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,

Jerry

FailedMerFlip.txt (98.4 KB)

2

@JRBOB58

I’m not sure if this is an ASCOM issue or not, but the problem does seem to be with the mount. Maybe settings? The best way to tell is to cross-reference SGPro logs with the mount’s logs and see what it is doing. All we can tell is that:

  • SGPro detected that your mount crossed the meridian
  • SGPro issues the command to flip
  • The mount reports it is done processing that command
  • The mount reports it is still on the West
3

Hi Jerry,

You should set SGP to flip some minutes (of time) past the meridian (5min should be OK). Fliping exactely at the meridian may not allways work, as the mount might have a slightly different idea about where the meridian is and simply not execute the flip.

Kind regards,
Horia

4

Thanks - will give that a try before I bug anyone else.

Jerry