ROR opens but doesn't close when running sequence

Hi and thank you for reading this

Briefly my Roll off Roof connects and I can manually operate it from inside SGP no problem. Further when starting a sequence it will open and then the scope will unpark once again no problem there all nominal. The ROR is always slaved to the mount…The Problem appears when the sequence it’s done , The mount will park BUT the roof will not close…it’s still connected and slaved. Everything is perfect the calibrating files will be taken but the roof will not close at the end of the sequence. It will operate manuanlly from inside SGP…

I’ve included all logs and other files in the following dropbox link.

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

Take care and be safe

Pablo Lewin

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[06/08/20 20:50:03.868][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Park message received.
[06/08/20 20:50:03.868][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Dome slave set to park mount first, parking mount.
[06/08/20 20:50:03.869][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Sending park...
[06/08/20 20:50:29.845][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Parked
[06/08/20 20:50:29.845][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: closing observatory shutter...
[06/08/20 20:50:29.870][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] Dome: Closing Shutter
[06/08/20 20:50:41.523][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Observatory: Reports shutter is closed, continuing...
[06/08/20 20:50:41.524][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Parked

SGP certainly thinks that your roof is closing. Can you open/close the roof (without slaving to the telescope) using the control panel in SGP?

Jared

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Yes I can control the roof perfectly well without slaving with the SGP control panel (what I call manually opening and closing the roof).

Hmm, that’s odd as it looks like SGP is certainly telling the roof to close when the mount parks and the roof seems to be obeying it (at least according to the logs).

Can you try the following in the Telescope area of the Control Panel:

  • Make sure the observatory is slaved and closed with the mount parked
  • Unpark the mount in SGP. Roof should open.
  • slew the mount somewhere (via whatever means you choose)
  • Park the mount in SGP (again using the telescope control panel)

Did the roof close after the mount parked? Can you send me that log as well?

Thanks,
Jared

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Hi Jared

I just followed your instructions and it opened when I unprked then I slewed and parked again and nothing happened…then I tried to close it manually from within SGP and the program seemed to hang and then after a while it responded (but not immediately)

Here’s the link to the log
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0cah3xsfiz0m63d/sg_logfile_20200609012714.log?dl=0

Hi Jared

I just tried it again and it’s quite strange. I made sure that the roof was slaved to the mount from the control panel. I unparked the mount the roof opened. I parked the mount and nothing. I copied the following log THEN from the SGP control panel I pushed the “close shutter” button and the roof closed.
I’m at a loss and yes I make sure that the Observatory slaving “slave to telescope” was checked.

Hm, couple of interesting things here:

[06/09/20 19:52:36.739][DEBUG][MF Update Thread][PK;] Performing serialize...
[06/09/20 19:52:39.330][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Parked
[06/09/20 19:52:39.330][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: closing observatory shutter...
[06/09/20 19:52:39.353][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] Dome: Closing Shutter
[06/09/20 19:56:40.656][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Observatory:  Close shutter timeout!
[06/09/20 19:56:40.657][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Parked

There was a timeout error in the Closing shutter…not sure why or what caused that. May also need to take a look at your ASCOM logs from your Roof driver if you have those handy (one that correlates with a SGP log would be preferred!)

Still not sure why clicking the “Park” button in the observatory control panel works and the slave parking doesn’t…

Jared

Hi Jared

Here’s the link to the Sky Roof ASCOM Drivers

Pablo

I think you’re going to have to have a chat with the SkyRoof folks. These appear to correspond with these log entries (I don’t see date fields on their logs so this is just a guess…although I think a pretty good one).

From SGP:

[06/09/20 19:52:36.739][DEBUG][MF Update Thread][PK;] Performing serialize...
[06/09/20 19:52:39.330][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: Parked
[06/09/20 19:52:39.330][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Telescope: closing observatory shutter...
[06/09/20 19:52:39.353][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] Dome: Closing Shutter
[06/09/20 19:56:40.656][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][PK;] ASCOM Observatory:  Close shutter timeout!

SkyRoof gets the “Close Shutter” command but seems not to act on it:

19:52:39.333 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:52:39.353 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen
19:52:39.897 CloseShutter              Shutter has been closed
19:52:39.897 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:52:39.954 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen
19:52:48.891 Connected Get             True
19:52:49.964 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:52:49.986 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen

The correct behavior should look like this:
(although it does take some time to actually start reporting that it’s closing…which is undesirable behavior)

19:58:49.753 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen
19:58:52.007 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:58:52.027 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen
19:58:52.571 CloseShutter              Shutter has been closed
19:58:52.572 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:58:52.629 ShutterStatus             shutterOpen
19:58:58.926 Connected Get             True
19:59:02.802 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:59:02.820 ShutterStatus             shutterClosing
19:59:03.807 CanSetShutter Get         True
19:59:03.831 ShutterStatus             shutterClosed

So it seems the issues lies with the SkyRoof. It’s getting the “close” command but clearly ignoring it. I’m not sure why but I think you’ll need to ask them about this. Maybe there’s a newer firmware that already addresses it?

Thanks,
Jared

I think that I need to add a piece of information that I forgot to mention because it’s so new that I didn’t think it mattered but I now think this may be the problem.

I built a Sky Roof power interrupt system that completely DEpowers the sky roof system when the scope is not perfectly parked. No power whatsoever while the scope is out of park and in transit until it’s perfectly parked again and the photocell shows parked.

I am now suspecting that when SGP sends the close shutter command the scope is not fully parked and the skyroof depowered.

Is there a way within SGP to DELAY the close shutter command 5 seconds or so after the scope is parked thus ensuring the skyroof is once again fully powered?.

I did this because I’ve had roof collisions in the past and it was ugly and can’t afford a repeat.

Thank you for your time anyway Jared. I appreciated it.

Take care and be safe.

Hi Jared…I don’t know what I did but I created a different profile…and now it works…fine.

Oh well, hopefully it will keep it will hold.

Thanks again.

Pablo Lewin

No, but the scope should be completely parked as we are waiting for it to state that it is parked before we continue. It could be that the SkyRoof takes a bit to “come back up” between the power being cut though? I’m not sure where the power is cut at but it seems like you’d want to leave the unit generally running but cut the power on the motors only?

Jared

Thank you Jared the unit is powered but the garage door opener motor is not and that takes a bit to power up since it’s one of those electronic newer design motors…paradoxically I made a completely new profile and the system worked perfectly well last night. I’ll keep playing with it in the meantime.

I think I’ve taken enough of your valuable time. I appreciate your help and your software is superior to anything on the marke…by far.

Take care and be safe.

Pablo

I can’t really see why that would be the case given the flow of things that I’ve seen in the logs…unless it was just luck. But I guess if that’s working carry on :slight_smile:

Jared

Pablo - there may be several reasons why a roof does not shut. It probably makes sense to make the mount safe and run the conformance tester on the ASCOM driver for starters. I wrote my own Arduino controller for a ROR and I designed my roof to use physical position sensors to override any software commands. It will not close unless the sensors say it is safe. I am not familiar with your roof but maybe there are sensors which may have issues. In cold weather, for instance, my reflective tile frosted up… it now has a power resistor strapped to the back… and so on.

Thank you Buzz. Excellent thoughts. The weird part is that I deleted the SGP profile I was using and created another one (nothing different, all the same) and now the roof closed perfectly well last night and for the second time…I am just as puzzled as Jared…I will report back if and when I find a concrete reason…but so far so good. I’m sure luck has something to do with this (kidding)…

Thanks again!