I have a sequence running and from 2200-02:30 everything works perfectly. The sequence then pauses until 03:20 when I got up and manually get it running as I know it keeps failing. It takes one exposure and then fails at around 04:13… the guiding appears to be working, yet the guider isn’t reporting that it’s ready to resume. I also have it set to recovery, yet this isn’t working either.
There was no cloud at all and no adverse conditions recorded at all.
So can anyone shed some light on this? Why is the guider failing to report? Is this SGP or PHD not doing what it should? I hope that someone can identify what the issue is here. I can’t understand why it’s working perfectly for many hours then failing at this second target point.
There is no dither involved as I have that set to every 3 exposures, so PHD wouldn’t lose the guide star. Also this morning when I come to shut PHD down, it says it’s ‘waiting for devices’ and it won’t close down at all nor is it responsive to any buttons.
Seems to be mostly this… SGPro settles your guider and then waits for PHD2 to tell SGPro it’s ready to move on…
[04/22/17 04:10:48.549][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Distance stayed below 0.7 for 10 seconds, done settling…
[04/22/17 04:10:48.550][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] SGPro settle criteria have been met, but the guider reports it is not ready to resume, waiting…
Then…
[04/22/17 04:13:48.771][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Guider did not report settle done within 3 minutes, something might be wrong, continuing sequence...
[04/22/17 04:13:48.771][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Adding sequence level notification: Guider did not report settle done within 3 minutes, something might be wrong, continuing sequence...
[04/22/17 04:13:48.773][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Guider reported a failure to settle!
I thought we extended the wait time here for settle, but I’m not sure this would help. I have not looked through the PHD2 logs, but the times above would be of particular interest.
Thanks Ken - I really didn’t know what was causing this. It seems to come after a target change and pause on the sequence. Is there anything I can do to counter the problem at all?
Looking at the PHD2 Debug log: at about 03:41:49 the camera hung when downloading an image from the camera. This is usually a symptom of a connection to the camera going bad (usb cable or connector, or USB extender or USB port). In many cases like this the SX cameras return an error when the connection is severed and do not hang, so that was a bit surprising to see it hang. What version SX camera driver are you using? 1.3.7.2 or 1.2.2.0 (or something else?) Terry of SX recommends the 1.2.2.0 driver when people report connection problems on the SX forum.
You should be able diagnose the problem in the daytime by looping exposures in phd2. You can slew the scope around and try wiggling the cables to see if you can find the fault.
Thanks for that Andy - I’ll be sure to check out the driver that I’m using. I’ve wiggled the cables and there seems to be nothing loose at all… I did down grade to PHD 2.6.2 yesterday in frustration and last night all was working well…