Hi All,
I'm running current kStars/eKos 3.6.0 under Astroberry. Recently I added a Robofocus to my setup. I seems to work fine in manual mode but I have problems with the autofocus process. I have other focusers (diy OnStep/OnFocus) autofocusing fine, I only have issues with the RoboFocus.
I have noticed that the RoboFocus indi driver produces errors (tty timeout / bogus position) when autofocusing. I usually manually disconnect/connect the indi driver for the process to continue.
Trying to know what happens in order to tell it more clearly, I have managed to reproduce it when moving the focuser manually: It works fine in normal use, but this issue happens when I change focus directions very fast. In the log, it always reads State: Busy at the end of the position notice, just before the timeouts occur:
INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 3 steps..."
[2022-09-30T19:20:35.358 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Moving outward... "
[2022-09-30T19:20:35.752 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Stopped. "
[2022-09-30T19:20:35.753 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - Abs Focuser position changed to 10175 State: Busy
[2022-09-30T19:20:35.758 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Focuser is moving to position 10181 "
[2022-09-30T19:20:39.007 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[ERROR] TTY error detected: Timeout error "
[2022-09-30T19:20:39.012 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[WARNING] Bogus position: (00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00) - Bytes read: -1 "
[2022-09-30T19:20:46.014 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[ERROR] TTY error detected: Timeout error "
[2022-09-30T19:20:46.020 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[WARNING] Bogus position: (00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00) - Bytes read: -1
If I do nothing, the system keeps outputting this error. In manual mode, if I press again any button for a manual movement, everything works again.
When running autofocus, it keeps waiting until I disconnect/connect manually (then the autofocus process tries to continue). In that case, the log does not tell that 'Busy' state, but the result is exactly the same happening in manual mode:
org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing outward by 31 steps..."
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.149 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[DEBUG] Moving Absolute Position: 10209 "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.149 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[DEBUG] CMD (0X46 0X47 0X30 0X31 0X30 0X32 0X30 0X39 0XB9) "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.151 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Focuser is moving to position 10209 "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.394 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Moving outward... "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.515 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Stopped. "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.515 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - Abs Focuser position changed to 10209 State: Ok
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.516 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Linear: un-doing extension. Moving back in by 15"
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.517 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.focus] - "Focusing inward by 15 steps..."
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.520 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[DEBUG] Moving Absolute Position: 10194 "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.520 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[DEBUG] CMD (0X46 0X47 0X30 0X31 0X30 0X31 0X39 0X34 0XBC) "
[2022-09-28T22:28:10.522 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[INFO] Focuser is moving to position 10194 "
[2022-09-28T22:28:13.774 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[ERROR] TTY error detected: Timeout error "
[2022-09-28T22:28:13.778 CEST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - RoboFocus : "[WARNING] Bogus position: (00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00) - Bytes read: -1 "
I have tried changing the serial<->USB cable, and it makes no difference.
Perhaps this device needs a small extra pause after sending every command?. I have not found a place to make such an adjustment in the driver interface. Setting higher values in the polling period (4s right now) or settle times (2s) made no difference.
Is there anything else I can try in order to solve this issue?
Thanks for your help.
Regards from Barcelona
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