We are using Snapcap as a telescope cover and as flatbox. There seems to be issues with this in SGP
3.0.3.169.
When snapcap is connected as flatbox in SGP, and at the same time the camera is connected (ZWO ASI294MC), and we want to make flats, the resulting images are garbage. Sometimes they are totally white, sometimes totally black, sometimes black with thick black stripes at the top.
Deconnecting the Gemini, and starting a new sequence without the Gemini solves the issue. I am then controlling the SnapCap using its own little control program, and it works perfectly to make images,
no garbage anymore. This is a serious issue.
Suppose we leave the SnapCap connected in SGP, and go to the control panel to change the settings now. If I select “close” in the flatbox GUI, immediately the thing reverts to the open position.
So something here is definitely fishy and not useable.
Finally, there are no end of sequence options for the Snapcap (should the above be fixed of course). Meaning, at end of sequence, when you warm up the camera in the morning, and park the mount, it is
impossible to automate that the cover is closed in Snapcap (no end of sequence actions foreseen for the flatbox/cover).
Any feedback about these issues? The first two, we can workaround by using the tool outside SGP, but
the last problem is very annoying. It is impossible to cover the telescopes (we have two installed) at the end of the night. Except putting the alarm clock and doing it manually… no fun.
No matter how detailed descriptions are it’s almost impossible for us to determine what is happening (this is certainly a good description, but we need details about what is going on internally). Please provide logs and we’ll see if we can help.
You will need to post them to your favorite file sharing website (most are free unless you need a lot of space). Details are in the post above. If it’s small enough you can attach them right here in this thread.
Here is the log file when all went wrong as stated in the original mail. You can see I did a few things
to troubleshoot, like removing autofocuser etc to exclude it from the problem
There shouldn’t need to be end of sequence options. At the end of sequence the device should be turned off and closed automatically.
Unfortunately my observatory machine is currently down which actually uses a SnapCap so it will be a couple of days before I can validate this.
It also appears that you’re using the slider to set the brightness for flats rather than using a set value in the filter setup dialog. Is this the case?
No, but at the end of an imaging session, before the roof gets closed, the cap has to close itself. The program has to give the trigger to do that. Ideally, it would be a the end of the target list at end of sequence.
I wrote a small Powershell script to do it, but I noticed that SGP only supports the (no longer used) VBS or a .exe…
Turning off the light and closing are two separate actions. At end of sequence it should be turning off the light (if it was one) and closing the flap automatically. I don’t think we need an option to do this. It just seems like what you would expect. I’m not sure why yours isn’t closing. I see a lot of opening and closing toggles in your log. But I don’t see you ever running a sequence so in this case I would never expect it to have been closed programatically. If you open it manually it will stay open until you manually close it. Unless you’re running a sequence, when the sequence ends it will close.
Ran again a short sequence to verify, with nothing else connected except camera and Gemini. And lo and behold, it closed at the end of the sequence! Will try to figure out where the interference comes from that prevented it to close the previous times. Is it possible SGP remembers the condition (open/close) and if you in the meantime play with the Snapcap App, it might not be consistent anymore? Otherwise I have to look deeper into this.
It is possible that if you have both the SnapCap App and SGP connected at the same time that the communication could have issues. Only one application should be connected at a time.
For the Gemini SnapCap we don’t currently buffer the status though. We will likely move to that in the near future though. My guess would be that it was a communication issue with having the SnapCap and SGP both connected.
If you have logs where it didn’t close at end of sequence I can take a look.
Thanks. But as you know, if Murphy strikes, it strikes hard… Our camera just died today And unfortunately except for the big log file I posted, I have no other log files anymore. And I obviously
cannot recreate the issue for a while now. I will try when we get a new camera fixed to see where the interference is or can be.
And unfortunately except for the big log file I posted, I have no other log files anymore. And I obviously