1. Topics
  2. APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark

APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark

Brian Valente
 

Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Eric Claeys
 

In the latest SGPro, 4.2.0.942, I'm also having that problem, only worse.  I just reported this problem to SGPro:

Just installed ASCOM 6 SP1 and newest APCC and AP ASCOM driver.
  • In APPC I parked the mount at my defined position, which is the tube pointing down slightly and to the east, counterweights down (to minimize dust).
  • In SGPro, clicked on "Set Park" and "Use current mount position".
  • In APCC, unparked then moved the mount.
  • Back in SGPro clicked on "Park".  Instead of going where it was recently parked, it went to a counterweight up position on the east, then to the AP park position (I believe 5) on the west side, horizontal, pointing north.
Not sure if this is an SGPro issue or APCC (it now allows parks with counterweights up).  I'll also let Ray Graylak know.  However, there are ASCOM errors in the SGPro log file during the SetPark and Park commands.
Note that in my case, the mount did NOT park in the correct place, although it did park.
Also, it once hit the pier when first doing it counterweight-up initial move.

Eric
Brian Valente
 

Thanks Eric

I sent you a PM

On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 4:44 PM Eric Claeys <AstroEric@...> wrote:
In the latest SGPro, 4.2.0.942, I'm also having that problem, only worse.  I just reported this problem to SGPro:

Just installed ASCOM 6 SP1 and newest APCC and AP ASCOM driver.
  • In APPC I parked the mount at my defined position, which is the tube pointing down slightly and to the east, counterweights down (to minimize dust).
  • In SGPro, clicked on "Set Park" and "Use current mount position".
  • In APCC, unparked then moved the mount.
  • Back in SGPro clicked on "Park".  Instead of going where it was recently parked, it went to a counterweight up position on the east, then to the AP park position (I believe 5) on the west side, horizontal, pointing north.
Not sure if this is an SGPro issue or APCC (it now allows parks with counterweights up).  I'll also let Ray Graylak know.  However, there are ASCOM errors in the SGPro log file during the SetPark and Park commands.
Note that in my case, the mount did NOT park in the correct place, although it did park.
Also, it once hit the pier when first doing it counterweight-up initial move.

Eric



--

Patrick Sparkman
 

Yes, some definite un-intended behavior with NINA.  I am using NINA 2.1 HF1 Beta 005 and APCC v1.9.6.1.  When I connected to the mount from NINA, it unparked the mount and since I had not reconfigured the new ASCOM V2 setting to uncheck the "Enable mount tracking on Unpark" the mount started tracking.   On one computer that I updated, all of the previous settings came through properly on both APCC and ASCOM V2.  However, the other computer (the one that I just described) lost all of my previous ASCOM settings.

 But the real issue was when I hit the park button in NINA.  I received the attached error.  It did park correctly at least.



Hopefully we can get this issue fixed pretty quickly as we all know how important proper parking behavior is to the safety of the equipment.

midmoastro
 

I usually park using APCC and while inside after the upgrade, I did not notice anything.  I am imaging right now (NINA) so I will give it try on my side.  I'm curious.
Todd
midmoastro
 

I just parked from NINA and did not get the error. It parked fine.  Unsure what may be triggering that
Todd
Brian Valente
 

Thanks Todd

I sent you a PM

On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 6:52 PM midmoastro <teche70@...> wrote:
I just parked from NINA and did not get the error. It parked fine.  Unsure what may be triggering that
Todd



--

Bill Long
 

I sent a note to Brian separately, but I was able to get to upgrading my Mele3C PC with the new versions of the APCC Pro and APV2 Driver software with no issues. I upgraded the license using Edge on Windows 11, also had no issues with this process.

I tested parking and unparking in Voyager (2.3.7) and had no errors or issues.

-Bill


From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Brian Valente <bvalente@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 7:50 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Thanks Todd

I sent you a PM

On Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 6:52 PM midmoastro <teche70@...> wrote:
I just parked from NINA and did not get the error. It parked fine.  Unsure what may be triggering that
Todd



--

R Botero
 

I had not read Ray’s clarification about Park/Unpark yesterday and although Voyager had no issues moving the mount around and parking/unparking, as Bill says, I did notice a slight delay in it reporting the mount’s status after parked. Now it makes sense!

Roberto
Bill Long
 

Here is what I saw in terms of timing:

21:10:04 443 - Setup Connect Request
21:10:13 880 - Action Start
21:10:13 896 - Mount Unparking ...
21:10:13 959 - Mount Unparked
21:10:13 974 - Mount Tracking ON
21:10:14 005 - Action Time [UNPARK_MOUNT] => 0 [m] 0 [s]
21:10:14 005 - Action Time Mobile Mean [UNPARK_MOUNT] => 0 [m] 0 [s]
21:10:14 005 - Action End : OK
21:10:18 864 - Action Start
21:10:18 880 - Mount Parking ...
21:10:29 490 - Mount Parked
21:10:29 521 - Mount Tracking OFF
21:10:29 552 - Action Time [PARK_MOUNT] => 0 [m] 10 [s]
21:10:29 552 - Action Time Mobile Mean [PARK_MOUNT] => 0 [m] 10 [s]
21:10:29 552 - Action End : OK

So a 10 second delay, note that the mount did not actually move during the testing. Just pressed unpark and park in the Park 3 position. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of R Botero via groups.io <rbotero@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:40 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
I had not read Ray’s clarification about Park/Unpark yesterday and although Voyager had no issues moving the mount around and parking/unparking, as Bill says, I did notice a slight delay in it reporting the mount’s status after parked. Now it makes sense!

Roberto

Stephane Charbonnel
 

Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane


Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Bill Long
 

I believe the park and unpark actions are happening correctly, and that the errors being reported are benign. Is this not the case?

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Stephane Charbonnel
 

No it is not benign ! Some software which is used for remote or automatic session stop activity with this problem.

Please, keep in mind all users could not be behind instrument during all the clear nights because, every tomorrow, you have to have a normal life ;-)


Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 08:59, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
I believe the park and unpark actions are happening correctly, and that the errors being reported are benign. Is this not the case?

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Bill Long
 

Okay, so the error terminates the Prism software from taking further action? Sorry if I am seeming to be naive, I have not used Prism before. Technically speaking the mount is parking and unparking as asked, right? Then this issue seems to be how Prism and NINA are handling the new way the V2 driver and APCC interact in terms of parking. If the request to the driver to park the mount was inoperable, I would expect that Voyager and SGP would both be failing as well -- and they are not.

I am aware of not being behind the instrument all night long, I (and many others here) image with systems off in the dark doing their own thing frequently. 🙂 Sleep is valuable. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 12:09 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
No it is not benign ! Some software which is used for remote or automatic session stop activity with this problem.

Please, keep in mind all users could not be behind instrument during all the clear nights because, every tomorrow, you have to have a normal life ;-)

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 08:59, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
I believe the park and unpark actions are happening correctly, and that the errors being reported are benign. Is this not the case?

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Stephane Charbonnel
 

Hello Bill,

First of all, sorry, I have bad and very slow English so I use an automatic translator for this mail ...

I have quite a long experience with software. Depending on the software, the latter are more or less tolerant with respect to errors in communication with the instruments. It's the same problem with the cameras. The most tolerant I've come across is MaximDL. With regard to this parking problem, some seem more tolerant than others, but it is not because they are tolerant that there is no error and that all the others must be fired !

I know that PRiSM is among the less tolerant software with respect to instrumental errors. But I use this software because I code a few lines in it in order to be able to automate my observation nights in spectroscopy (more restrictive to center to the nearest fraction of a pixel in a little hole rather than to a few pixels for a more classic). The philosophy of this software used by a lot of telescope farm observers in Chile is: as soon as there is a communication problem, we stop everything and disconnect the instrumentation. On our common problem, NINA only reports the error while others let it go. On the other hand, to have the source code, PRiSM scrupulously applies the ASCOM standard as described in the documentation.

So there is nothing serious for the moment and indeed, the change of internal parking management can only lead to such inconveniences but which must be corrected for those who use the less tolerant software and want to use the last version of APCC (I repeat : PRiSM respects the ASCOM documentation). For my part, since it's a timing problem, as soon as possible, I will also limit the questioning of the mount to every 5 seconds because it is currently questioned every second.

Best regards
Stephane


Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 09:14, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
Okay, so the error terminates the Prism software from taking further action? Sorry if I am seeming to be naive, I have not used Prism before. Technically speaking the mount is parking and unparking as asked, right? Then this issue seems to be how Prism and NINA are handling the new way the V2 driver and APCC interact in terms of parking. If the request to the driver to park the mount was inoperable, I would expect that Voyager and SGP would both be failing as well -- and they are not.

I am aware of not being behind the instrument all night long, I (and many others here) image with systems off in the dark doing their own thing frequently. 🙂 Sleep is valuable. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 12:09 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
No it is not benign ! Some software which is used for remote or automatic session stop activity with this problem.

Please, keep in mind all users could not be behind instrument during all the clear nights because, every tomorrow, you have to have a normal life ;-)

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 08:59, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
I believe the park and unpark actions are happening correctly, and that the errors being reported are benign. Is this not the case?

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Bill Long
 

No worries, Stephane. I have my friends around the globe that speak varying levels of English. The fact that you try, and do so in a large forum like this is commendable friend. 🙂 I have tried to speak German at a high level in a forum before, and it did not end well for me. You are doing very well, even if it is through translation. 😄

There is a likelihood that something changed in this new software update that is disturbing these applications (NINA and PRISM) from working as expected. I will be curious to see what the result of this investigation will find, as I use Voyager which I have always considered to be the most resilient, reliable, and hard-core in terms of ensuring systems are running as expected -- down to the sub pixel level of perfection. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 12:52 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello Bill,

First of all, sorry, I have bad and very slow English so I use an automatic translator for this mail ...

I have quite a long experience with software. Depending on the software, the latter are more or less tolerant with respect to errors in communication with the instruments. It's the same problem with the cameras. The most tolerant I've come across is MaximDL. With regard to this parking problem, some seem more tolerant than others, but it is not because they are tolerant that there is no error and that all the others must be fired !

I know that PRiSM is among the less tolerant software with respect to instrumental errors. But I use this software because I code a few lines in it in order to be able to automate my observation nights in spectroscopy (more restrictive to center to the nearest fraction of a pixel in a little hole rather than to a few pixels for a more classic). The philosophy of this software used by a lot of telescope farm observers in Chile is: as soon as there is a communication problem, we stop everything and disconnect the instrumentation. On our common problem, NINA only reports the error while others let it go. On the other hand, to have the source code, PRiSM scrupulously applies the ASCOM standard as described in the documentation.

So there is nothing serious for the moment and indeed, the change of internal parking management can only lead to such inconveniences but which must be corrected for those who use the less tolerant software and want to use the last version of APCC (I repeat : PRiSM respects the ASCOM documentation). For my part, since it's a timing problem, as soon as possible, I will also limit the questioning of the mount to every 5 seconds because it is currently questioned every second.

Best regards
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 09:14, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
Okay, so the error terminates the Prism software from taking further action? Sorry if I am seeming to be naive, I have not used Prism before. Technically speaking the mount is parking and unparking as asked, right? Then this issue seems to be how Prism and NINA are handling the new way the V2 driver and APCC interact in terms of parking. If the request to the driver to park the mount was inoperable, I would expect that Voyager and SGP would both be failing as well -- and they are not.

I am aware of not being behind the instrument all night long, I (and many others here) image with systems off in the dark doing their own thing frequently. 🙂 Sleep is valuable. 

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2023 12:09 AM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
No it is not benign ! Some software which is used for remote or automatic session stop activity with this problem.

Please, keep in mind all users could not be behind instrument during all the clear nights because, every tomorrow, you have to have a normal life ;-)

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 08:59, Bill Long <bill@...> a écrit :
I believe the park and unpark actions are happening correctly, and that the errors being reported are benign. Is this not the case?

From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> on behalf of Stephane Charbonnel <scharbonnel949@...>
Sent: Thursday, January 5, 2023 11:44 PM
To: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io>
Subject: Re: [ap-gto] APCC 1.9.6 and Park/Unpark
 
Hello,

Thank you Brian (and Ray on another post) for your replies.

This behaviour is in fact not acceptable for me and I think you can find a solution. I use my instrument in fully automatic mode during my spectroscopy nights (which can begin at the middle of the night, after a big cloudy period for example) and if "unpark" doesn't work at the beginning of the session, the rest of the session is compromised.

I'll wait for you to find a solution (I'm sure!) because if I downgrade, I must reinstall the Eltima virtual COM port and I prefer to wait ;-)

Thank you for your work
Stephane

Le ven. 6 janv. 2023 à 01:12, Brian Valente <bvalente@...> a écrit :
Hi Astronuts

As a followup the 1.9.6 release, we've noticed the following:

In some applications, mount Park/Unpark may throw an error message. It appears the park/unpark still works correctly, but the client app reports an error. 

We have confirmed this behavior in NINA (latest version 2.1 HF1), and Stephane has reported similar behavior in Prism. 

If you use NINA or Prism and experience these messages, your options right now are:

1. Ignore these error messages and continue to use the applications (you should definitely confirm the mount is parking/unparking by viewing the APCC status bar and/or observing the telescope position) 

2. downgrade to the prior version until a fix is available.

We have also tested and confirmed Park/Unpark works correctly with Sequence Generator Pro, Maxim DL, and Voyager.

We are actively working on a solution now. 

Thanks to the folks who installed the latest release and reported these behaviors. 

If you experience any issues related to 1.9.6 please please do let us know, and post to this thread. We always value your feedback

Thanks
Robert Smith
 

Good morning,

I've had my Mach 2 since June, using APCC Pro. I easily installed the updates per the video, and everything (Backyard Nikon, Moonlite focuser, The Sky X) worked perfectly, except Park.

First thing after installing APCC Pro and the AP V2 driver, I opened the AP V2 driver, through AP Jog, as illustrated in the video, and selected Park (set to and at Park 3).  The mount moved East and would have crashed into the pier, if I didn't stop it at the last second.  I used my Keypad to return to Park 3 and tried again using the AP V2 driver - almost crashed again.  Back to Park 3 with the Keypad and tried going to Park 2 with the AP V2 driver - same movement and almost crashed.

I on/off cycled APCC, and this time instead of the V2 driver, I went to the APCC Park tab, and found it set to Park 2.  I changed to Park 3, tried it successfully, and then opened AP V2 driver (already set to Park 3).  This time, with both APCC and AP V2 set to the same position, it worked. 

I hope this helps someone avoid a crash.

Regards, Lee
Brian Valente
 

Hi Lee

When using ASCOM and APCC together, Park/Unpark should only be done through APCC

The park/unpark from within ASCOM is supposed to be disabled when it detects APCC. We are working on a quick update for that, thanks for posting this info


Brian


On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 6:29 AM Robert Smith <landssmith@...> wrote:
Good morning,

I've had my Mach 2 since June, using APCC Pro. I easily installed the updates per the video, and everything (Backyard Nikon, Moonlite focuser, The Sky X) worked perfectly, except Park.

First thing after installing APCC Pro and the AP V2 driver, I opened the AP V2 driver, through AP Jog, as illustrated in the video, and selected Park (set to and at Park 3).  The mount moved East and would have crashed into the pier, if I didn't stop it at the last second.  I used my Keypad to return to Park 3 and tried again using the AP V2 driver - almost crashed again.  Back to Park 3 with the Keypad and tried going to Park 2 with the AP V2 driver - same movement and almost crashed.

I on/off cycled APCC, and this time instead of the V2 driver, I went to the APCC Park tab, and found it set to Park 2.  I changed to Park 3, tried it successfully, and then opened AP V2 driver (already set to Park 3).  This time, with both APCC and AP V2 set to the same position, it worked. 

I hope this helps someone avoid a crash.

Regards, Lee



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ap@CaptivePhotons.com
 

On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 10:20 AM, Brian Valente wrote:
When using ASCOM and APCC together, Park/Unpark should only be done through APCC
Could you clarify that? 

So if I have a session manager (say NINA), connected via ASCOM to APCC and thence to the mount are you saying NINA should never be used (via ASCOM) to do the park or unpark? 

That doesn't sound right, so I must be misunderstanding.

Linwood
Brian Valente
 

Linwood

I'm referring ONLY to the ASCOM user interface "park/unpark" buttons. Those should be disabled in the UI when connected to APCC. It is being fixed in an update. 

NINA/third party apps will of course execute park/unpark through ASCOM

I hope this clarifies

image.png


On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 7:47 AM ap@... <ap@...> wrote:
On Fri, Jan 6, 2023 at 10:20 AM, Brian Valente wrote:
When using ASCOM and APCC together, Park/Unpark should only be done through APCC
Could you clarify that? 

So if I have a session manager (say NINA), connected via ASCOM to APCC and thence to the mount are you saying NINA should never be used (via ASCOM) to do the park or unpark? 

That doesn't sound right, so I must be misunderstanding.

Linwood



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