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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

PAA and Meridian Flip Issue

  • Posts: 179
  • Thank you received: 16
I think I discovered an issue with the Polar Alignment Assistant.  Not sure I'd classify it as a bug, but certainly an inconvenience.  

I'm using last night's build (2021-11-06T15:21:15Z).  When going through the PAA, during the first west slew I noticed the mount suddenly started driving back to the east and pointing the scope to the east as well.  Very strange.  I aborted the PAA and started the imaging session anyway (already aligned with PoleMaster).  I noticed this behavior once before on another night, but the PAA actually completed.  The imaging run looked like it was progressing nicely, but about halfway through it aborted.  I noticed a repeating sequence of the following errors in the log:
Meridian flip: slewing to RA= "10h 02m 54s" DEC= " 36° 36' 43\"". Hour Angle  "23h 24m 40s" "Meridian flip started." Target updated to JNow RA: "10h 02m 54s" DE: " 36° 36' 43\"" "Meridian flip slew started..." "Mount is moving. Resetting calibration..." "Calibration is cleared." EQMod Mount :  "[WARNING] Goto outside Horizon Limits. "Meridian flip failed, pier side not changed "meridian flip failed, retrying in 4 minutes" "Meridian flip completed."

I usually have the "Meridian Flip if HA >" set for overnight runs.  I think what's happening is the meridian flip condition is being met during the PAA slew, and Ekos remembers that it needs to do the flip when it can.  In this case, it looks like it got stuck in loop trying to complete a flip during the imaging - which it never could do.

I'm going to try again next session with the flip checkbox off - see if that takes care of it.  I suppose the solution would be to ensure you don't have the MF check set before you do the PAA, or have Ekos ignore that check during PAA?

UPDATE:  Turning off the MF checkbox did the trick.  The PAA worked as expected.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Gary Eason
Last edit: 2 years 4 months ago by AirBourn.
2 years 4 months ago #77334

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