I've bought a HitecAstro DC focus controller.

While I'm in the process of buying equipment for a "hands-off" astrophotography approach (i.e. only controlling the equipment from a PC away from the telescope & equipment), I'm still waiting for a lot of the kit to arrive.

However, the focus controller has arrived so I thought I would check it's control on the Telescope's focuser.

My setup is entirely Linux based, but I do have a couple of Windows virtual machines, so I have tested the HitecAstro with the ASCOM, and manufacturer's supplied software, all appears to work well with them (focus in and focus out etc...)

With the INDI driver, I find I can focus out, but when I subsequently try to focus in, I get the following in Kstars Ekos:

2020-01-11T19:13:27 Focuser error, check INDI panel.
2020-01-11T19:13:27 Focusing inward by 100 steps...
2020-01-11T19:13:22 Focusing outward by 100 steps...
2020-01-11T19:13:05 Idle.

The focus out, as you can see appears to work well, and indeed I see the focuser retract the tube from the telescope a small amount.

There is no movement (at 19:13:27) when I try to fucos in.

In the INDI Panel the following is displayed:

2020-01-11T19:13:32: [ERROR] Relative ticks value must be greater than zero.
2020-01-11T19:13:12: [INFO] Device configuration applied.
2020-01-11T19:13:12: [INFO] Loading device configuration...
2020-01-11T19:13:12: [INFO] Experimental driver. Report issues to github.com/A-j-K/hitecastrodcfocuser/issues

I have not tried the Autofocus (I am waiting on another CCD, OAG, Filterwheel etc... - so kit is incomplete), and it looks likely to be cloudy for a week, but I was hoping to ascertain whether this focus in issue is going to present an issue when I finally get a chance to set up this new imaging train on a cloudless night.

Any ideas anyone?

I have the same issue., it used to work fine but not with Kstars 3.3.9.
I have version 3.3.6 installed on my laptop and that still works but 3.3.9 gives '[ERROR] Relative ticks value must be greater than zero' when I try to focus in.

I have the same issue. It has been working fine for up to now but gives the same error as described above with KStars 3.3.9.
I have 3.3.6 on my other laptop, and that still works the same as previously..

There is a bug introduced in 3.3.9, it's now fixed with the nightly release. Please test that and report back.

Have just done a quick bench test with the 3.4.0 nightly build (Build: 2020-01-11T16:19:05Z)

2020-01-13T12:11:16 Focusing inward by 50 steps...
2020-01-13T12:11:15 Focusing inward by 50 steps...
2020-01-13T12:11:14 Focusing outward by 50 steps...
2020-01-13T12:11:13 Focusing outward by 50 steps...
2020-01-13T12:11:12 Focusing outward by 50 steps...
2020-01-13T12:11:02 Idle.

Thanks, all looks good there, will see if 3.4.0 is released when my other kit arrives.

Thanks for the fix. I'm currently using Kstars-bleeding from the fedora repo at lupinix-indi-bleeding, will the change filter through to there soon?

Regards,

Keith

Now working fine thanks, and it's a clear sky tonight!