Last night a meridian flip failed. I am sure it has to do with my The SkyX Ascom driver.
Does anyone know what setting to use to ensure a successful Meridian flip? Please see a short excerpt of the log file below: (I have a Paramount MX and use The SkyX’s ascom driver).
Shailesh Trivedi
[03/16/21 23:59:05.714][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Running blocking meridian flip…
[03/16/21 23:59:05.714][DEBUG][Main Thread][SQ;] Adding sequence level notification: Running automatic pier flip…
[03/16/21 23:59:05.721][DEBUG][Sequence Thread][SQ;] Sending Notification: Status - Running automatic pier flip…
[03/16/21 23:59:05.987][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Meridian Flip: Starting Meridian Flip Procedure
[03/16/21 23:59:05.987][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Meridian flip: Skipped initial plate solve, use target as reference…
[03/16/21 23:59:06.009][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Meridian Flip: Stopping the Auto Guider
[03/16/21 23:59:06.010][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Attempting to stop PHD2 guiding…
[03/16/21 23:59:06.010][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Checking PHD2 state…
[03/16/21 23:59:06.010][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] PHD2 GetPhdStatus - Pre-Wait : Guiding
[03/16/21 23:59:06.010][DEBUG][Pier Flip Thread][SQ;MF;] Sending to PHD2:
{“method”: “get_app_state”, “id”: 1001}
I’d recommend NOT using the “Offset” options for sync unless you have a valid reason. Are you using a TPoint model or does your telescope not like to be synced? I’m guessing that your offsets are decently off or that your Telescope model is not great so SGP thinks your mount has crossed the meridian but it has not.
I recently changed to the Offset option without which Plate Solves did not converge to less than 50-pixel error. Is there a way to debug meridian flips without waiting for them or without necessarily having a target near the meridian? If it helps, I use The Sky X Ascom driver and my mount is Paramount MX.
One thing you may want to do is make sure the mount has the correct time set…especially if you live in an area that just recently changed time due to Daylight Savings.
You can troubleshoot the flip during the day but you’ll need to disable plate solving to do so. Just get the mount past the meridian and then you can use the “Run” button to execute a flip.
@Shailesh
I have an MX and have been flipping for years without issue. Since build 9334, I have stopped using Sync, as it messes up any TPoint. I made a video to help those who use Paramount and SGP.
I watched the video. I am assuming your name is Chris Woodhouse. The video was very clear and I will test out the settings when the rain stops here in Northern California. Thank you for pointing me to the video.
I looked at your video and made a few limit changes based on your video. But I still could not perform a meridian flip. I am unsure what is happening. the dropbox link below has two files, the sgp log file with the issue at interest at 23:39.51 where a meridian flip fails. In the same drop box link below is also the ascom log file which does not show anything unusual.
Around midnight last night I did a manual slew with The Sky X and it performed a meridian flip after which I resumed SGP imaging. A manual meridian flip is not desirable. Please suggest next steps.
This is the bit that looks confusing. I’m no expert at reading logs, Ken or Jared will need to comment, but it suggests there is an almighty offset, which possibly lands the mount on the other side again?
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][INFO][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Using “OFFSET” sync option, updating slew cooridnates with offsets:
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][INFO][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] RA: 0.720522857612345 hours
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][INFO][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] DEC: 25.441522013561 degrees
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Slewing to J2000 RA: 10.8078428641852 (10h48m28.23s) Dec: 25.441522013561 (25°26’29.48")
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Slew received J2000 coordinates, mount requires JNOW, converting…
[03/21/21 23:39:24.226][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Slewing to JNOW RA: 10.8272018001153 Dec: 25.329653348439
[03/21/21 23:39:31.312][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Scope reports it is done with synchronous slew, verifying…
[03/21/21 23:39:31.314][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Slewing has completed
[03/21/21 23:39:31.314][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Settling for 20 seconds
[03/21/21 23:39:51.315][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope: Settling has completed
[03/21/21 23:39:51.826][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] ASCOM Telescope: Failed to flip because starting pier side and ending pier side are the same!
[03/21/21 23:39:53.827][DEBUG][Telescope Thread][SQ;MF;] Telescope thread is IDLE…
For what it is worth, I checked that in SGP meridian delay was set to minus 10 minutes but when I changed it to positive 2 minutes, I still had the same meridian flip fail. Next I checked the scope limits in TSX Bisque TCS and it shows -1.5 (hours past meridian) for East side of pier and +1.5 for west side of pier. The flip hour angle is set to a positive number but very close to zero. I am almost thinking that 1.5 hours past meridian is the issue, so I will try reducing it to 0.5 hours just like your video, and also set the flip hour angle at exactly zero. Debug continues.
I was unable to get the Run button to turn enabled from grey unless I ran a sequence; it complained about platsolve being disabled through CP and autoguider being disabled too. With a sequence run in such non-traditional fashion, I was able to enable the Run button after the OTA pointed east but was past the meridian. The OTA began to flip from West side of the pier to the East, paused in the flipped state and then went back to the original state of OTA on the West. I am confused about what is happening. Perhaps the sequence tried to platesolve and could not because I aborted plate solve? Can I simply enable the Run button without any active sequence? Any pointers will help, thanks.
Yes, but to be enabled the mount needs to be in a state where the meridian flip is possible…so with the OTA on the west side of the pier and likely past the meridian. You’ll need to have the telescope and camera connected in SGP. That should enable the “Run” button.
Last night I had the same issue. In SGP I set the meridian delay to 10 minutes and checked the “wait for meridian” box. While imaging NGC 3187 , the meridian was reached at 10:48pm but due to the 10min delay and an existing sequence, SGP showed 11:13pm. I was watching s 11:13pm rolled around, the meridian box popped up and the mount was trying to do “something” but could not flip, and failed. Then I tried to slew to NGC 3187 from TSX and it slewed to the east side of the pier. For what it is worth in TSX, the flip HA is set to zero and the meridian limits are set to 0.5 hrs. So 10:48 to 11:13 is 25 minutes past the meridian and less than 30 minutes, but the PMX mount failed to flip. Is this a known bug in SGP?
Here is the link. Look at time stamp 23:13 onwards. The flip fails a bit after 23:13. Let me know if this is a known issue and I need to update SGP or is this something peculiar about the ascom mount or The Sky X though Buzz insists his setup with Paramount MX works perfectly with SGP and has been doing meridian flips for years. I remain befuddled.
Nothing seems obvious in that log. Looks like SGP requested a slew to the same location as the mount is currently at with the expectation that the mount would perform a meridian flip. But the mount remained in the same location. Guessing there may be a setting somewhere either in the ASCOM driver or in TheSky that is not performing the flip when this happens.
Unfortunately not really sure where to go from here. SGP seems to be doing the right thing.
Thanks for looking at the log file. How do you suggest I can expeditiously debug this issue without waiting for an object to cross a meridian? I do not want any overhead of focus or platsolves or centering an object, just pay attention to variables in TSX or ascom related to meridian flips? For eg. I do not know how to work without an autoguider or platesolve, a sequence always complains about these two.
Here’s a little helper script I wrote a while back for testing such things. It basically puts your mount in a position where it should be about to flip:
To run you’ll need to do the following:
change the first line to be the scope you want to control. You’ll have to get these values from the ASCOM profile explorer … here is mine as an example:
var scope = "ASCOM.Simulator.Telescope";
Run the program from your command prompt with: cscript Slew.js
This will bring up the following:
Microsoft (R) Windows Script Host Version 5.812
Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Scope : Simulator
RA : 0
Dec : 0
Lat : 51.07861
Parked: false
Options:
1 - Slew To 3 Degrees East of Meridian (Scope West)
2 - Slew To 0.01 Degrees East of Meridian (Scope West)
3 - Slew To 1 Degrees West of Meridian (Scope East)
4 - Slew to Zenith
5 - Park Mount
6 - Set current location as park position
9 - ABORT!
Choice:
You’ll want option 2, which should put your scope JUUUST before the meridian. Then you should be able to go into SGP WITHOUT a sequence running but with the scope and camera connected and click the “Run” button to invoke a manual meridian flip. From there you can figure out what might be up. If you want to check SGP just by itself you can use the ASCOM simulator in the script as well as in SGP. I’m not sure if TheSkyX provides a telescope sim but if so it would be good to test it indoors as well.
Also you’ll want to make sure your finger is on the Abort button for your telescope driver when using the script…it’s not particularly well tested other than by me.
