So that seems like it’s taking a while updating the position from the telescope. What mount are you using? Can you connect it directly to SGP rather than using TheSky or are you using a Paramount or something that requires TheSky?
Jared
I am using a Paramount MyT and I think it has to go via TheSky I think.
Interestingly it doesn’t show up all the time. I also don’t recall seeing it before…
Hmmm am I the only one that has this issue? I assume Paramount users will all experience this?
@Jared is there any fix/containment? Currently on average it takes 1-2 min for downloading to complete…
Unfortunately I don’t have a great solution at the moment. If you image without the telescope connected does this go away? Can you check that and see if that indeed does “fix” the problem. If so we may be able to try some things from there. This is the first I’ve heard of this happening. Maybe updating the ASCOM driver or TheSky addresses it?
Jared
Thanks Jared.
I collected dark and flat frames without this issue. I haven’t try light frames without mount but I don’t see why it will have issue since we kinda identified that it’s “getting scope position” that takes long.
I’ll try to update the TheSky ASCOM driver.
I did try updating driver but no luck solving the issue. Last night was even worse and I had to kill SGP. Here is the log. Towards the end of the log you can see the exposure finished around 22:34, and stuck at between “Got exposure time” and “attempt to connect to PHD2”. Eventually it took 438s to complete file saving, and after that it stuck at “image preview open” and never proceed…
I ran QSI683WSG for many years through Paramount MX. The camera is connected to the Versaplate but it is not connected (software-wise) through TSX. I had been using the original ASCOM drivers from QSI without any problems for years. I still have the downloads which I made in 2016 if you need them.
I don’t know what Atik have done to them since but they seem to have messed up.
Thanks Buzz. Excellent. I’ll give it a try.
I am not sure if it’s QSI driver issue though, as I actually use other automation software and it has been fine without extreme long downloading process.
Also I think what Jerad pointed out is during the long wait, SGP is getting scope pointing position info, which comes from the mount; I am also not connecting my camera via TSX, but via ASCOM driver to SGP directly.
Something to watch out for with the ASCOM driver for TSX. It has to deal with many potetential mounts connected to TSX, not just Paramounts. If TSX throws an exception for any reason (usually because of asynchronous / synchronous mixups) the driver assumes that the feature that threw the exception is not supported and disables it. It can be, especially when multiple applications are interfacing to TSX at the same time, that things like side of pier, can park, direct guide are disabled. It is always worth pulling up the driver properties from time to time to check whether any options have been disabled.
I need to bribe Chris Rowland sometime to modify the driver so it is dedicated to Paramounts and doesn’t change the settings!
The TSX driver is the only one I have been involved in where I formally announced to SB that I was no longer prepared to support it.
One problem is that the TSX interface has no error reporting. When something goes wrong all you know is that something has gone wrong.
It isn’t helped because SB will change things that fundamentally affect the driver with no notice.
What would help is if I had a SB mount. I could at least test to see what they have broken this time.
But my experiece with SB and their ‘support’ puts them on my list of suppliers not to buy anything from that uses electricity.
As for bribes…
My expensive hobby is flying. I have a share in a plane that costs me £100 a month and £102 per hour flying it. Plus extras if the group runs out of money.
And of course I would need a SB mount so I could test things.
Apart from that a developer who is already experienced in this is probably worth something like $50 an hour.
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Good to hear you are still flying. I imagine the Spring was wonderful with its bountiful thermals.
I could lend a mount and even work out some crowdfunding… but the worrying part is the bit about them changing things… which could render the whole thing redundant.
The system overall is pretty reliable and it is only on occasion that it throws a wobbly - rather like in a previous era, where photocopiers sensed the urgency of a job and refused to work.
It makes you wonder how ACP copes… or maybe it has the same issues.