AtikOne issues with INDI & Ekos

[dazza1639]

Calling all Linux INDI
I'm having issues with my AtikOne when I connect using Ekos the camera connects but the internal filter wheel keeps rotating. This happens whether I connect using Ekos through KStars directly on the RPi or on the remote windows PC. I have tried different USB ports on the USB3 hub and USB ports on the RPi. I have tried 2 different USB cables and 2 different power leads.

I have had this problem previously. Last time I fixed it by connecting the camera directly to the windows pc and connected to the camera and cycled through the filters with the software. Once reconnected to the RPi it appeared to work. Unfortunately, this fix hasn’t worked this time. I’m a bit stuck.

The RPi is an RPi4 running the beta version of StellarMate OS for RPi4

thanks

 

Darren

[JamesF]

When you got it to work before was that also with StellarMate on the RPi4, or something else?

James

[dazza1639]

Yes nothing has changed apart from me re-routing my cables around the mount. I’ve had a bit of a tidy up in the observatory 

[JamesF]

It sounds as though something isn't getting initialised properly and the filter wheel isn't finding the correct index position as a result.  No idea what you might be able to do to work around it though.  I'd be tempted to try setting a specific filter position under Windows and then connecting it back to the RPi to see what happens with different starting positions, but that's just a wild stab in the dark.  I'm assuming the camera and filter wheel is powered from its own separate supply?

Definitely worth reporting the problem back via the website too.

James

[dazza1639]

I’ve tried starting from a different filter. I think part of the problem is that it’s an integrated filter wheel and is operated by the camera driver rather than a dedicated driver under INDI. It’s driving me nuts.

 

Darren

[dazza1639]

I have posted this issue to the INDI forum at https://indilib.org/forum/ccds-dslrs/5884-atikone-internal-filter-wheel-problem.html and to the Atik support forum at https://forums.atik-cameras.com/index.php?topic=5396.0 I have also sent a support ticket direct to Atik. I can’t believe that I’m the only one with this issue. I’m thinking that if I am the only one, then it must be an issue with my camera, but why would it work flawlessly under indies? If I am not the only one then it must be a driver issue.

 

Darren

[dazza1639]

It looks like this has got everyone stumped, I haven’t found any workable suggestions on any forum, nor have I received a response from Atik support, which is very disappointing.

 

Darren

[Davey-T]

Have you tried  it using Artemis Capture to check it's not an internal fault, I have an Atik EFW2 that's a bit flaky, it has 8 filter positions but sometimes starts from filter number 10 upwards and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to start on filter 1.

It also sometimes rotates continuously when first connected.

Dave

Edited October 23, 2019 by Davey-T

[JamesF]

Also worth a try perhaps is turning on all the logging in Ekos to see if that shows up anything helpful.

James

[dazza1639]

14 hours ago, Davey-T said:

Have you tried  it using Artemis Capture to check it's not an internal fault, I have an Atik EFW2 that's a bit flaky, it has 8 filter positions but sometimes starts from filter number 10 upwards and I have to disconnect and reconnect to get it to start on filter 1.

It also sometimes rotates continuously when first connected.

Dave

It works fine using the ascom drivers it only gets the problem when running through the INDI server. The camera has worked flawlessly for the last 2 1/2 years. It has experienced this issue on ang off since moving to the raspberry pi 4 and StellarMate OS I have managed to sort it out in the past but now, no matter what I try the wheel is getting stuck in a continual loop.

[dazza1639]

11 hours ago, JamesF said:

Also worth a try perhaps is turning on all the logging in Ekos to see if that shows up anything helpful.

James

I’ll give that a go at least it will let people know what is going on 

[JamesF]

Just to make sure I've understood correctly Darren, is this an accurate summary?

It works fine with Windows/ASCOM, both now and in the past
It used to work with StellarMate on the RPi4, though with the occasional niggle that could be fixed by playing with it from Windows
Since the cables were tidied up it no longer works properly at all on the RPi4

You've tried switching USB cables
You've tried switching USB ports
You've tried adding/removing a USB3 hub
None of these make a difference

James

[dazza1639]

That's it James. it seems to me that it must be an INDI driver issue that isn't recognizing the double click of the micro switch when the filter wheel hits the home position. The only thing I haven't tried is plugging the camera into one of the RPi4 USB2 slots, when I tried connecting directly to the RPi I used one of the USB3 ports.

When I get home I will give it another go in a USB2 slot with anothe cable that is not part of the scope loom, incase it is an interference issue.

 

Darren 

[JamesF]

I think it's worth a go with the USB2 port, certainly.

I've been thinking over the issues I've had with my 314L+ to see if anything might help despite the fact it's a completely different model.  I have an HP USFF PC controlling everything on the pier.  It has USB3 ports, but when I plugged the camera in it didn't show up at all.  My preference is to connect the camera direct to the PC and run everything else (all the slow speed/low bandwidth stuff, basically) from a USB3 powered hub on the mount (which is obviously then connected back to the same PC).  I tried plugging the camera into the hub instead (using the same cable) and it worked fine.  There appears to be no problem with the USB port that I originally used on the PC though, as I now use that for connecting a keyboard and mouse from the warm room.  It isn't the first time I've had problems connecting a USB2 device to a USB3 port, though it hasn't happened often.

Last week I applied a set of updates to the PC, including updating Kstars etc and the kernel. and when I actually came to try to use it Ekos couldn't initialise the camera.  I unplugged the camera and plugged it back into the same port, restarted Kstars and it worked fine after that.

I don't know if the updates have done something to cause this, or perhaps it was because it has become much colder and the temperature has had some effect, or if there's some sort of issue over how fast things get switched on.  It may even be that I can never reproduce the problem again.  We shall see when I next power everything up.

James

[dazza1639]

I've just had a response from Atik Support, they say that they are looking into the issue and think it is to do with using RPi4. For the time being Atik Filter Wheels are not supported for use with the RPi4. so we may be on the right lines with using USB2 instead of USB3.

 

Darren

[dazza1639]

We’ve had a result I tried an unbundled usb cable plugged into a usb2 port on the RPi4. Connected to the camera only using KStars & Ekos running on the RPi4. The camera connected and found the filter wheel home position. 
 

I disconnected and rewired the camera with the original bundled cable IMO the hub and reconnected again using KStars and Ekos running on the RPi4. Again it connected and found the filter wheel home position.

Finally I reconnected everything and opened KStars on the Windows PC, I started Ekos which made the remote connection to the INDI server running on the RPi4. Everything connected and worked as intended. Hopefully this has sorted the issue, how long it lasts is anyone’s guess until the filter wheel is formally supported with an update.

 

Darren

[JamesF]

Given the results I suspect this is possibly a hardware issue that it may not be possible to resolve.

I can think of things that might be interesting to try if you have command line access on the RPi, but given that it's working perhaps it's best not to fiddle with things unless there's a need

James

[dazza1639]

Back to square one, out in the observatory tonight and the gremlins are back. I’ve had to go back to a direct connection to the Windows PC 😢

[dazza1639]

Managed to get it working if I turn auto connect off then connect the AtikOne manually first then connect everything else. Very odd 

[dazza1639]

Minor success last night, once I sorted out the camera issue, connecting manually one device at a time starting with the AtikOne seems like a winner. I managed 20 subs in Ha and 10 subs in OIII on M27 before my neighbours conifer got in the way, by which time I needed to go to bed because we only ever get clear nights when I have to go to work.