I was running a sequence tonight and had both 1 degree temperature based auto focus enabled as well as auto focusing every 30 minutes. During my sequence, the 30 minute point came each time, before the temperature difference was large enough. Each time it did, PHD was not paused during auto-focus (even though I had that enabled) and it killed tracking and my sequence.
Luckily I was at the helm watching, and noticed this issue. I corrected tracking, and let the sequence resume assuming it was some anomaly. When time based auto focus kicked back in, PHD again was not paused and the sequence tanked.
I attempted to reboot, load up SGP and PHD again, and the issue reproduced.
Is there a reason why you have both enabled? I would have thought the 30 minutes would only be used if you don’t have a temperature sensor, otherwise why would you focus every 30 minutes if you may have just done one after a 1 degree temperature change?
Can you provide the log files - Ken and Jared will need those to investigate further. I have combined exposure count and temperature without issue but never time lapse so cannot directly comment. The log file should indicate if SGP instructed PHD to pause guiding.
I can do that at some point if it is really needed, but it only takes a few minutes to reproduce this issue. I and a fellow imager that were chatting over wire while imaging both had this exact same problem occur with the time based auto focus enabled.
The last focus time and last focus temperature will both update when the auto focus is run, so if the focus has not run in a while because the temperature hasn’t fallen far enough the time based one can ensure you are still getting some auto focus routines run. Likewise, if the temp falls and it runs AF, then the last time would increment and you dont end up with double the focus run.
The challenge is, its just not pausing PHD correctly when using the time based auto focus. Works perfectly fine for temp.
Just use temp based focusing, if the temp hasn’t fallen enough to trigger the run then you don’t need to refocus. Focus only changes with temperature, not with time, unless you have mechanical problems like a slipping focuser, and if you have that it’s better to fix it than try and hack SGP to get around it.
That’s a weird one. I wonder if it only happens when both time AND temp are enabled? it is probably not something you would normally do, with focus really only ever changing with temp change, so only if you have no temp sensor would you then need to do it with time, but probably never both.
I’ll check mine also, I’m running the latest beta, to see whether time on its own, without temp enabled, works correctly. As you rightly say, it is probably a bug which has gone unnoticed as it is an unusual scenario to have both checked.
Even so - the log files would indicate the interactions between PHD2 and SGP and offer insights to the developers. I know from bitter experience that it is easy to jump to conclusions in a complex system.
Once AF is running, SGPro does not know how it was triggered and does not care. Anything exhibited for one type of trigger should be seen with any other trigger. Maybe that observation is coincidental?
I suppose, although there were two of us, in different physical locations that had the exact same problem. Turning off time based AF fixed the issue for both of us.
Happy to provide them if needed, but reading the code and reproducing the issue arent difficult to do and would be needed anyhow to solve it. It reproduced every time we tested it, and unchecking that and allowing for temperature to kick it off worked every time.
Sounds like an open and closed case of the time based code not pausing PHD.
