Gina

Had another really close inspection of the HAT with sunlight on it and powerful magnifier plus reading glasses and found a fine strand of wire that could have been intermittently shorting the +3.3v line to Gnd. It didn't show a short on the DMM but it could have just touched when I was testing I guess. This seems unlikely but, as I believe Sherlock Holmes said "Once you have eliminated the possible what seems impossible must be true" or something like that. I suppose if the 3.3v regulator had been destroyed the full 5.1v could be applied to the processor and blow it up. But I'm by no means convinced this is what has happened. EDIT - Found the quote

Ordered another RPi 3 £30.97 due to be delivered tomorrow by Amazon Prime.

Thought I'd gamble £32 on possibly popping another Pi - I lost This is silly!!! This Pi popping has to stop! I've already wasted what I've gained from dumping BT "services"! Though I'm very happy to have saved so much money and frustration from Blooming Terrible so-called broadband Now where's my knitting wool and needles?

Inspected connections etc. and can see nothing wrong. Checked with DMM for possible shorts and again didn't find anything.

Had a cuppa, had a think and decided to do a bit of fault-finding. Disconnected everything including HAT from RPi and RPi power connection from buck converter. Gradually applied volts to the buck converter while measuring the output voltage. All fine. Plugged in the RPi power connector and the rig started drawing lots of current - just under an amp. Switched off again. Checked RPi processor chip and slightly burnt my finger!! Seems I've blown up the RPi I have spares but I need to find the fault before trying another RPi - at £30 odd a "pop" it could get expensive! So that's it for tonight. Some very careful circuit checking to do tomorrow!

Time for a cuppa! Might not do any more tonight...

"Huston - we have a problem!" Plugged SD card back into RPi and applied power. DISASTER! Smoke started appearing from somewhere!! I don't think I shall be imaging tonight after all Maybe I'm rushing things too much.

This is where my reference tutorials come in helpful From the first one in PART 8 - Adding an INDI driver not included in the INDI library. cd indi-astroberry cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr ../astroberry-svn make sudo make install

I think I have the focuser code sorted out but the Astroberry Board driver is a different matter as I had it all set up for three motor selection control so I think I shall have to leave that for another day. I'll have to cut that out of the compiling process for now. OK commented out the Astroberry Board from CMakeLists.txt. Now to find what I do to compile stuff...

These are the current GPIO allocations :- // Lens Cover Motor #define DIR RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_07 // GPIO4 DIR #define STEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_11 // GPIO17 STEP #define STEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_12 // GPIO18 SLEEP #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_29 // GPIOO5 Lens Cover Hall Switch // Power lines #define IN2 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_31 // GPIO06 Dew Heater #define IN3 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_33 // GPIO13 Camera Cooler // Focus Motors #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_13 // GPIO27 DIR #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_15 // GPIO22 STEP #define SLEEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_16 // GPIO23 SLEEP #define M0 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_35 // GPIO19 Motor A #define M1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_37 // GPIO20 Motor B #define M2 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_40 // GPIO21 Motor C There are no longer three focus motors and the single focus motor can be allocated to the standard pins for the Astroberry Focuser. All focussing can be handled by the standard Astroberry Focuser INDI driver. So the focus motor pin allocations are :- // Focus Motor #define DIR RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_07 // GPIO4 DIR #define STEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_11 // GPIO17 STEP #define STEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_12 // GPIO18 SLEEP Now to the other controls. These will be handled by a modified Astroberry Board INDI driver. There are two simple ON/OFF controls for the dew heater and camera cooler. To allow use of GPIO 6 on pin 31, with pull-up, for one of the Hall sensors, the control for the dew heater has been moved to GPIO 12 on the adjacent pin 32. So the ON/Off functions are allocated thus :- // Power lines #define IN2 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_32 // GPIO12 Dew Heater #define IN3 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_33 // GPIO13 Camera Cooler Now to the lens cover control. Hall senors are on GPIO5 and GPIO6 and motor on pins 13, 15 and 16 (GPIOs 22,27,23). // Lens Cover Motor Hall Switches #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_29 // GPIOO5 Open #define IN2 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_31 // GPIO06 Closed // Lens Cover Motor #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_13 // GPIO27 DIR #define IN1 RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_15 // GPIO22 STEP #define SLEEP RPI_BPLUS_GPIO_J8_16 // GPIO23 SLEEP

I think I have everything connected ready to start testing but there are some modifications needed to the INDI code. Firstly, I need to check where I was. I'm still hoping to get imaging tonight - still plenty of time before moonset at around 2am though there is plenty I can test before then

Connectors soldered to RPi HAT for the Hall sensors and mating parts crimped onto the wires from the Hall devices.

Made ring bracket to hold the electronics and wired up the buck converter to the HAT and the power supply for the RPi.

I think that's a good idea

Just thought, I shall want a rain sensor to close the lens cover if it starts raining. In fact I have one on order, on a very slow boat from China, I reckon That's to add to my weather station.

Found the arm wasn't attached to lens cover correctly so broke the joint and re-glued it. Seems fine now and hoping to test the remote operation later today when I've connected up the electrics.

And we've got it - ice too - lovely!!!!

Found my spare soldering iron and it heats up Probably won't go into town tomorrow - I expect it'll be very busy and there's snow forecast for the early hours tomorrow

I'll have a look for my other iron and if I can't find it I might drive into town tomorrow and get one from Homebase. Weller High Performance Soldering Iron with LEDs - 25 Watt There are a few other things I could do with from town.

I think there are some things I can do without a soldering iron but not sure if I can get it working without. There's some clear sky forecast for tomorrow night and I was hoping to test it using this very rare occurrence. I need to provide connections for the Hall sensors on the RPi HAT so won't be able to test the remote opening and closing of the lens cover. A bit later... Checked what still needs doing and there's the buck converter to solder to and connect to the RPi so unless I can find and make use of that other soldering iron, I shan't be testing tomorrow evening!

I have a problem! My Antex XS25 soldering iron has packed up Lasted just under 18 months - my previous one lasted many years! Nothing seems to be as good as it used to be Ordered a replacement from Amazon Prime but not expected to arrive until Thursday! Blummin' typical packing up in a holiday period!!! Maybe I'll order a replacement element as well and put it in my present iron, then I shall have a spare iron. I guess the "insurance" price of £13 is probably worth it. I think I have a cheapo clumsy spare iron somewhere. Probably in one of the 10,000 boxes of bits I have all around the place!! EDIT - OH!! Found Amazon are out of stock of Antex replacement elements when I went to order - said two left on the main page, guess there's been a run on them!!!!

Testing Hall sensors. The open sensor orange wire, not there yet. Open state detected. The closed sensor yellow wire, towards the closed position but not there yet. Close state detected.

Yes, I could but I don't think I'll need to.

Yes, that's better As long as the FOV is clearing your house roof

Open position. Lens cover is slightly above level with the lens but it will be to the north where there are trees and rising ground and also where I can't quite get 180 degrees anyway. So adequate