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sloz1664

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Posts posted by sloz1664

    Pulsar Dome Shutter Drive

    in DIY Observatories

    Posted

    The only reason you definitely need a shutter driver is if you are imaging unattended ie away from your dome or asleep in bed. The motorised shutter, coupled with a rain detector, will stop your expensive equipment from getting water damaged.

    Steve

    • Like 1

    Voyager Questions

    in Discussions - Software

    Posted

    23 hours ago, old_eyes said:

    Latest updates as a begginner user of Voyager and Viking.

    A week or so ago, I had a couple of complete run through nights with Voyager:

    • Connecting all the hardware. opening the observatory roof and lowering the flap.
    • Slewing and precise pointing to the first target.
    • Focusing on first filter, collecting subs and then switching to the next filter and refocusing.
    • Carrying out meridian flip
    • After collection sequence ended - report that to my phone using Telegram.
    • Slew to next target and wait until it has risen high enough.
    • Precise point and focus before collecting data.
    • Retry to start data collection a couple of times as the target had not quite cleared a tree.
    • Once target clear of tree and guiding can lock on - collect subs on differnet filters.
    • At end of night:
      • Stop data collection, park scope, close roof, warm camera and disconnect hardware.

    I was pretty pleased with that. It all ran smoothly - though as the moon was high and full the data is not great.

    Last night we were promised a few hours clear skies after midnight. So I set everything up to try and image. We did get a  brief clear spell at about the right time, and  everything worked as above. Then it clouded over, but Voyager kept trying to restart the sequence every 10 minutes until the end of the night, before closing down as above. It included a merdian flip as the target (which was invisible) crossed the meridian. I was pretty impressed by this. Error handling seemed to do what I expected. The only thing that has not been tested in real life yet is a power failure and rain. Both should lead to an immediate and emergency shut down and closing up the observatory.

    I feel I am making progress with this automation project, and that providing I don't make silly coding  errors in the scripting language, Voyager will make my observatory do what I need.

    Using Telegram to send progress messages and the Voyager web dashboard helped me keep track of what was happening from inside the house and allowed me to sleep with some confidence.

    That's great news. Voyager has certainly made me feel very confident in full automation and having a relatively good nights sleep :) I have tested for rain, I use the Cloudwatcher, and tested it on a clear night with full moon. Voyager immediately   went into emergency mode and parked the mount & closed the shutter and waited for the "rain" to clear. Test done. Regarding the power failure I need to fine tune my UPS parameters to execute a safe shutdown. Too cold at the mo to set it up.

    I have the custom array for my two scope setup and Leonardo kindly orchestrated a Teamview session to fine tune my setup. All set for my first session when unfortunately my auto focuser failed. I have since reverted to my Tal 200k single scope for the time being. I have just rebuilt the electronics on the auto focuser and will change to the two scope setup soon. 

    Although the electronics needed an update the issue turned out to be a serial cable failure. I have since ordered two new cables and they had issues also. I found a Startech serial cable and that works fine. Ordered two Startech cables and set the other two back.

    Steve

    My Horror Story Warning !

    in The Astro Lounge

    Posted

    I'm really gutted for you. It's hard enough putting the system together without this trauma happening. I debated whether to go roll-off or dome and dome won due to worries about the scope clashing with the roof. Look into power automation to eliminate this happening again. Don't rely on your memory........I daren't 😱😱

    Oh.. and a belated welcome to the Lounge :)

    Steve 

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