iDK 20 Issues

lukas_demetz

Hello everybody,

as some of you might have noticed, our 20" iDK in Namibia had some issues in the last nights.
I honestly feel like it has an episode of midlife crysis 😅 .
So it started with the mount going into an odd parking position. Turns out, a mechanical stop was not working anymore correctly and interferes with the encoders. We found a workaround together with ASA, so it keeps working for now.

After we solved this, the focuser stopped working. Turns out, a cable was a little oxidated. Swapped cables, works again.

And last night, we suddenly lost connection to camera, focuser and guider. We are still investigating this. I suspect the USB hub at the OTA has some issues, but it could also be the 12V power supply. We expect to be able to remotely inspect this today or tomorrow.

EDIT: The power supply is okay, so my guess is that it's the USB hub or cable. Will be replaced on saturday.

Best regards
Lukas

lukas_demetz

Update:
We were able to fix the issue and the scope worked again. However, there is a recurrent and sporadic issue with the DEC axis of the DDM85 mount. We are working with ASA to resolve this.
At the end what happens is that the sudden movements of the DEC axis detach the USB cables from the hub, thus disconnecting the camera, guider and focuser. 🐵

lukas_demetz

Update:
It looks like the encoder on the Dec axis of the mount somehow moved and measures about 90 degrees more than what we would like to see. Long story short: We need to ship the mount back to Austria for refurbishment.

We will ship the L-500 mount to Namibia and put the scope on that while waiting for the dome to be ready - at least we will be able to use the scope normally...

lukas_demetz

Update:
The new mount will be picked up on friday, and is expected in Windhoek on Monday.
The exact time it will become operational is not confirmed, I expect it to be usable towards the end of september.

lukas_demetz

On the way to Namibia...

lukas_demetz

The mount arrived today at the observatory.
Setting up will begin shortly, however we still miss the dovetail plate - it is in Johannesburg and slated to arrive next wednesday.

lukas_demetz

So the mount is ready for the scope 😀

We are currently awaiting the dovetail plate, arriving from the US (via Europe and South Africa). By the end of this week we shall be able to do some test runs.

lukas_demetz

Ok, itching closer:

Tomorrow the last cabling will be laid and the balancing tuned. Tomorrow night if all goes well a first pointing model and some testing 😜

lukas_demetz

Ok I let the new system run tonight, it Looks very promising. Several issues will be fixed in the coming Nights,like an odd tracking issue close to zenith

lukas_demetz

Ok folks, iDK20 is back in business:

Some minor issues still need addressing, but a first night went without issues. Frames of even 30 minutes exposure came out great:

lukas_demetz

Ok working on some issues which arised now. One of them is about the orientation of the rotator: It seems that the rotator was being commanded the wrong direction (could be something common with Optec's), so that from one frame to the other the sky angle changed. Not ideal, indeed 😀 Need to test it tonight.

Other than that, the system seems mostly working. Derotation doesn't seem perfect all the time, which I need to further investigate. Once I get the sky ange issue resolved, we will also allow users to choose the angle for every request - this might come handy for some particular usecases 😅

lukas_demetz

Ok fixed an issue where the rotation angle of the single frames was mostly random. Also derotation is a little better. Tracking is still not always perfect, but pretty good.