[APBeta] Problems driving Meade LX200ACF with APv2

[Bruce Pipes]

Hi Paul,

Let me apologize up front for the length of this message. I have tried  
to give as much detail as possible in hopes it will help you identify  
the problems.

It was clear last night so I tried using APv2b14 during an imaging  
session. First let me describe my setup:

The scope is an 8" Meade LX200ACF, mounted on a wedge, and the camera  
is an SBIG ST-2000XM. The serial cable from the scope mount goes  
through a Keyspan Serial-to-USB adapter to a USB hub and the USB cable  
from the camera goes to the same hub. The output USB cable from the  
hub goes to a USB-to-Cat 5 adapter which then goes to a 100 ft length  
of Cat 5 cable. The Cat 5 cable goes from the observatory to a warm  
room, where it connects to a Cat 5-to-USB adapter which goes to my  
MacBook Pro. I run two applications when I am imaging, AP to drive the  
scope and Equinox Image (EI) to control the camera and autoguide.

When I use APv1.6.1 I leave the USB cable to the computer unplugged  
until I have initialized the scope mount and booted up both AP and EI.  
I then plug the USB cable into the computer, connect to the camera  
with EI, and connect to the scope with AP. Normally APv1.6.1 connects  
to the scope immediately, but sometimes, when I have made some changes  
between sessions, I have to go to AP preferences and select the  
Keyspan adapter (USA19H1d14P1.1). I then use AP to do a high precision  
slew to my DSO. I center the synch star in the camera image using the  
keypad on the small high-precision window. When I do this EI is the  
front application, but, as you know, I have access to the small high  
precision window of AP. After I synch the star, I click "Slew to  
object" in the high precision window. When that slew is finished (I  
can tell that because, even though AP is not in front, I can see the  
grayed-out slew bar in the lower left of the Observing window).  I  
then bring AP to the front and open the Telescope Control Palette.  
Next I bring EI to the front (with the Telescope Control Palette  
remaining accessible) and make some test images, using the AP  
Telescope Control Palette to center the DSO on the camera chip and to  
focus the scope. I then autoguide and image with EI, only using the AP  
Telescope Control Palette occasionally to re-center the DSO image or  
to refocus. When I finish an imaging session, I click Slew to Home on  
the Telescope Control Palette and walk out to the observatory to shut  
down the telescope when it beeps. APv1.6.1 slews it to the Autostar  
default home position, i.e. pointing south with Dec = 0°.

Now to last night - I will try to tell it as it happened, but it may  
be somewhat unclear because I was not always sure what was going on.  
The starred paragraph describe the strangest behavior:

I started out using APv2 exactly the same way I have been using  
APv1.6.1. However, when I went to connect AP to the scope, the connect  
box said "Serial port not defined". OK, I went to the scope  
preferences in the Resource window, but the Keyspan adapter was not  
listed, only a couple of Bluetooth options. I then closed AP and  
restarted it. The connect box was still grayed out, but when I went to  
the scope preferences window, there were two new options for serial  
ports, Keyspan 1 and USA19H1d14P1.1. I selected the latter and APv2  
connected to the scope. Then things worked normally for a bit; I was  
able to do the high precision slew, center and synch to the star and  
slew to the DSO.

*****Now here is a really weird thing - After slewing to the DSO  
(recall from above that EI is still in front at this point), when I  
tried to bring APv2 front so I could access the Telescope Control  
Palette, it would not come to the front. I tried both clicking on the  
AP Objects window and clicking on the AP icon in the dock, but EI  
remained in front. I then did a force quit of APv2.*****

At this point, I started up APv1.6.1 just to be sure the problem was  
not somewhere other than APv2. Everything worked perfectly with  
APv1.6.1. I then closed APv1.6.1 and opened APv2 again with EI still  
running and the scope still pointed at my DSO. APv2 hung on start up,  
so I did a force quite and restarted it. It started fine the second  
time, though I had to go in and select the serial port again. Since  
APv2 was in front now, I could access the Telescope Control Palette. I  
then brought EI to the front and the Telescope Contol Palette remained  
accessible. Things worked normally for a while; I was able to focus  
the scope and center the DSO using the Telescope Control Panel. I even  
autoguided and took a test image.

*****I then went to shut down the way I normally do, i.e. click Slew  
to Home on the Telescope Control Panel and go out to the observatory  
to shut the scope down when it signals it is in Home position  
(Autostar default - pointing south with Dec = 0°). Actually I ran out  
to the observatory to be sure APv2 was doing the right thing. It  
wasn't. The scope continued to slew in RA to the west until I shut it  
down to avoid it hitting something. I do not know where APv2 thinks  
Home is. *****

I then went through a "startup from scratch to imaging to slew to Home  
and shut down" with APv1.6.1 just to be sure everything was working.  
It was.

That is about it. I did notice one other thing - when I got the  
Telecope Contol Palette working in APv2, it was sometimes slow to  
respond, i.e. when I hit a slew button or a focus button, the button  
did not turn blue immediately; there was maybe a half-second delay. I  
have not seen this in APv1.6.1.

I apologize again for the length of this message. I hope it contains  
useful information.

Bruce