That weird focuser "jump" problem again

Sequence Generator
1

tomorrow morning i’ll post the full log, but i saw that problem again:

[06/22/17 21:33:28.291][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Alnitak Flat Box - Setting Brightness to 16
[06/22/17 21:33:28.291][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] EventMarker 2 - t:m101 flats (18); e:1; f:20; o:
[06/22/17 21:33:28.291][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] EventMarker 3 - t:m101 flats (18); e:1; f:20; o:
[06/22/17 21:33:28.291][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] EventMarker 4 - t:m101 flats (18); e:1; f:20; o:
[06/22/17 21:33:28.291][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Setting filter position 2...
[06/22/17 21:33:28.303][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Setting filter: G...
[06/22/17 21:33:28.303][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Moving filter wheel, isMoving, check 1...
[06/22/17 21:33:28.303][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Moving filter wheel, isMoving, check 1 is complete...
[06/22/17 21:33:28.343][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Adjust focuser pos per filter: Moving focsuer to focus position (30761)...
[06/22/17 21:33:28.378][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Adjust focuser pos per filter
[06/22/17 21:33:28.378][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Old filter: R; Focus pos: 30756
[06/22/17 21:33:28.378][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] New filter: G; Focus pos: 30761
[06/22/17 21:33:28.378][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Pos delta: 5 steps
[06/22/17 21:33:28.378][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] New position-> (current: 59791) + (delta: 5) = 59796
[06/22/17 21:33:28.382][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Focuser moving to 59796
[06/22/17 21:33:28.386][DEBUG] [Main Thread] Alnitak Flat Box - Turning Light On
[06/22/17 21:33:28.409][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Focuser backlash active, modified move to 59816
[06/22/17 21:33:28.455][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Focuser move call complete
[06/22/17 21:33:28.460][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Focuser backlash thread has started...
[06/22/17 21:33:29.519][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Backlash thread has detected that movement to modified position (59816) is complete...
[06/22/17 21:33:29.519][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Moving focuser to original requested position (59796)...
[06/22/17 21:33:29.519][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Focuser backlash compensation needed. Steps: 20 Direction:IN
[06/22/17 21:33:29.519][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Focuser moving to 59796
[06/22/17 21:33:29.577][DEBUG] [Focuser Backlash Thread] Focuser move call complete
[06/22/17 21:33:29.972][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] Focuser position matches requested position (59796), continuing...
[06/22/17 21:33:29.972][DEBUG] [Sequence Thread] focuser move is complete...

prior to this, the focus point was in the ~14k range. to remedy this i’ve gone into the moonlite driver and set the current position to 30,000 and disconnected and reconnected SGP to the focuser. i guess this would indicate that its actually a problem with the moonlite driver. i have logging turned on there so i will fish out that log as well.

rob

2

i guess this must be a driver bug… the very first get returns a very small number (in my case i have the focuser reverse checked, so a small position = very near the full throw.)

21:31:24.014 DeviceHardware.CommandBli > :FQ#
21:31:24.018 DeviceHardware.CommandStr > :GT#
21:31:24.032 DeviceHardware.CommandStr < 0000#
21:31:24.033 Temperature Get           0
21:31:24.034 Absolute Get              True
21:31:24.037 MaxStep Get               60000
21:31:24.039 MaxIncrement Get          60000
21:31:24.045 DeviceHardware.CommandStr > :GP#
21:31:24.064 DeviceHardware.CommandStr < 00D1#
21:31:24.064 Position Get              209
21:31:24.066 MaxStep Get               60000

there is definitely something funny about this moonlite controller - it never connects on the first try. my other controller never exhibited that behavior.

rob

3

There’s no evidence for any problem with the driver in the log fragments that you have posted.
The get temperature :GT# command returns 0000# which means that the hardware is reporting a temperature of zero.
The get position :GP# command returns 00D1# which is a focuser position of 209.

There’s no reverse command in the driver so the reverse stuff is going on elsewhere, I think this, and the backlash, is handled by SGP.

4

sorry, it was late. i meant a hardware bug. the missing info is that the focuser position the last time it was powered down was about 14000 as reported by SGP, and since “reverse” is ticked in sgp, the driver would have been reporting 60000-14000 or 46000. so on this power up the hardware started reporting 209 for no apparent reason.

rob