Tales of horror and some advice

[ribuck]

Hi all,

I start with a tale of horror, it was only a few days ago, the sky was clear (for about an hour) so i set about getting ready for a night of imaging.

All was set, i was locked onto my target and ccd commander was running everything.....so i went to bed sound in the mind knowing that i might have some nice data the following morning (clouds pending)

The following sunny morning i walked into the back garden, and as i walked towards the obs, i heard a loud clicking noise. Instantly my heart sank and dread set in, and my worst fears we realized when i opened the obs door to see the scope hard against the mount trying to track and the clicking noise was indeed the motors on my Heq5 Pro :-(

after investigation, it turns out that i left my Windows update set to Automatic and windows decided that it wanted to update during the night and restarted the pc, but for some reason my mount kept on tracking and ignored the limit setting in Eqascom

As for my mount, even after several hours of my scope/ccd pressed hard up against my tripod leg as it tried to track, it amazingly seems to have survived as the experience as i was able to manually slew in both axis. I've yet to test my mount properly, guiding etc, but i'm praying that i've been lucky in this instance.

So the Moral of the story is to check that your imaging pc's dont have windows update set to automatic updates in the middle of the night.

[r3i]

I think you should be OK. Assuming that the EQ5 is built in the same way as the EQ6, i.e. using stepper motors, they can apparently tolerate this kind of situation without damage, unlike servo motors. See here for an interesting comparison between the EQ6 and CGEM motor systems: Atlas (EQ-6) vs. CGEM Drive System - Forums - Astronomy.com - Online Community, Forums, Media Galleries, Blogs

[ribuck]

Thanks for that link, it's a great load off my mind, as if i had killed my mount, i wouldn't have been able to afford to buy a new one.

Phew....

hopefully i'll get some clear sky this week to do a proper test.

[Catanonia]

Happened loads of times with me on the EQ6 and never had a problem.

Always try to avoid it, but sometimes I get the timing wrong when I take a nap.

[great_bear]

Ouch! - That's a terrible thing to hear about!

So the Moral of the story is to check that your imaging pc's dont have windows update set to automatic updates in the middle of the night.

Good advice but, y'know what? Windows has been known to completely ignore this setting from time-to-time and go ahead and update/reboot anyway.

I remember a journalist blogging about this (he'd left lots of internet explorer windows open on important research material when he turned in for the night) and I myself have had it happen on two or three occasions. Each time I was greeted with a message saying windows had updated requiring a reboot, and I checked the Windows Update settings afterwards and found it was still turned off - so no operator error involved.

Maybe turn off the Internet connection when not needed?

[ollypenrice]

This Windows update garbage is a nightmare and has driven me crazy. If it has tried and failed to update it will still do it every night till you manage to sort it out, even when there is no internet connection. I have, at last, found the solution with the help of a friend, so I can't remember what the solution was!

But your mount will be fine. Most of us have done that without mishap and one of us merrily explained that she did it every night! The concensus there was, don't, not surprizingly, but I shouldn't worry.

Olly

[great_bear]

If it has tried and failed to update it will still do it every night till you manage to sort it out, even when there is no internet connection.

Ah... That explains a few things!...

[ribuck]

This is good to hear, as i've been dreading testing it properly, but it sounds like it might be ok........big sigh of relief...

I was always under the impression that if you hit your mount and didn't stop it within a few seconds then it was game over and motor burn out, but i'm happy to read that Synta uses stepper motors so this can't happen

[SteveL]

... and restarted the pc, but for some reason my mount kept on tracking and ignored the limit setting in Eqascom

So if your PC has rebooted, why do you seem surprised that its ignoring limits defined in a program that isnt running?

[great_bear]

Because in some systems, parts of the software are just a UI on a hardware feature.

[ribuck]

SteveL,

In the same token, I ask you why it should continue tracking if it's lost connection to Eqascom, once that connection is lost it should in theory stop doing anything, but as Great-Bear has said perhaps some parts of Eqascom just switch on or off features that are really running in the firmware/electronics of the mount.

I guess you could think of it like a train, the driver starts the train moving then if he suddenly disappeared the train wouldn't just suddenly stop .

[martin_h]

I lost the USB connection to my mount the other night. I was running it on EQAscom, but I was ST4 guiding so it kept on going, it wasn't untill I came to park the mount that I realised it wasn't connected!

[Psychobilly]

SteveL,

In the same token, I ask you why it should continue tracking if it's lost connection to Eqascom....

Obeying the last command I suppose....

I guess the mount isn't sent a continous stream of RA/Dec co-ords to move to it moves to the last slew and then just tracks at whatever rate has been slected......

I make sure that updates are set to "manual" and AV scans are disabled.. ideally I disconnect the pc from the internet...

Peter...

[reddoss]

Does anyone here know how to switch off the Windows automatic up dates? I would find that very useful indeed.

[Scosmico]

Hi Steve,

What is you signiture link?

The one with astronomical twilight information?

cheers

So if your PC has rebooted, why do you seem surprised that its ignoring limits defined in a program that isnt running?

[Sp@ce_d]

SteveL,

I guess you could think of it like a train, the driver starts the train moving then if he suddenly disappeared the train wouldn't just suddenly stop .

Hmmm you sure.. isn't this what the "dead mans handle" is for?

I've lost connection with my netbook before and my mount has continued to track. In fact, rebooting, reconnecting & re-loading my saved EQ-Mod alignment for that night has saved me going through it all again on more than one occasion.

Mind you, the sooner I can get everything running on my Macs the better.. Windoze it not at the top of my favourites list!

[Psychobilly]

Control panel - Windows Update - change settings?

[Tim]

Yeh, I've had this happen too, v frustrating!

[Paxo]

Happened to me at Lucksall a couple of years ago, thankfully, I'd finished the lights and flats, and the scope was parked and gathering darks when the windows update occurred - just proved how good SteveL's "field" network connection was at the time though.

Steve