Last night, it looked like we might have a coupleof hours of relatively clear sky. I wanted to
a) Try getting the slew failure error 212 to occur when doing FindBrightStar with actual plate solves. Tried several times; also tried with Maxim connected back to ACP telescope. No failures.
b) Run another TPoint 70 point model to check alignment now that the SBig is back and I adjusted the alignment position according to the last model. Hopefully this model will look pretty good, and I will be ready to run a Big model.
Of course, disaster. Somehow, when slewing to Azm 150 Alt 30, the mount out the OTA on the West side (good) and dropped it down until it hit the pier (or got really close, to trip the hardware limit). The counterweights are up at about a 50 degree angle, and Sky now reports “the mount hit something or the balance is not even”. In this mode, I cannot get the mount to slew at all – it keeps just repeating the error. It looks like the roof might hit the counterweights, so now I can’t get the roof to close.
Sigh. Got dressed, drove out to the observatory. Fortunately, the new snow wasn’t too deep, only 3 inches or so. I could drive to the observatory. Put the mount in RA Balance switch, re-positioned the mount, got the roof closed. By this time, snow is accumulating pretty fast.
Sent message to Bisque to see a) why would it position this way, and b) how can I get control of the mount back?
This afternoon, connected to the mount, found Home fine. Slewed to a spot, and suddenly getting the same error. Cameras show the position is fine. Re-powered and re-connected, and now it seems fine. Another flakey problem:(
Don’t know what to do about this. Also, the 30 points it collected seemed to be a pretty bad model…