Page 2 of 3
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:41 pm
by roelb
Hi Robin,
I did several tests inside the house applying your method using M 42. That worked fine for both AstroTortilla and ASTAP from within SC.
I did a lot of combinations with/without HC.
Using the StarSense HC and the Nexstar+ HC.
Did also a firmware update of the StarSense HC.
Un- & re-install CPWI / ASCOM Platform 65 SP1.
Tried older CPWI installation versions.
Let CPWI make USB connection directly to HC and via the Focuser USB bridge.
With & without Stellarium connected.
Conclusion:
1. Using the Celestron Telescope driver sync worked fine.
2. Using CPWI (driver) sync generated the error: <Method SyncToAltAz is not implemented in this driver.>
I had some occasions that the sync seems to work without an error, but couldn't replicate that after a day again trying.
In the next replies I include the SC & ASCOM logs (if applicable) for some trials.
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:43 pm
by roelb
Using the Celestron Telescope driver.
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:44 pm
by roelb
Using CPWI with NO error.
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:45 pm
by roelb
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:47 pm
by roelb
Here I tried AstroTortilla outside SC with this error displayed at sync:
- CPWI - AstroTortilla.png (178.37 KiB) Viewed 999 times
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:50 pm
by roelb
So far the most relevant results.
I think that the conclusion is that CPWI is not a mature driver using the SE mount.
I'm interested at your opinion after looking at the log files.
Thanks in advance.
Roel
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 11:52 pm
by roelb
I forgot to mention that I have no problem using CPWI/Stellarium/SharpCap with my Evolution 8.
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2021 1:45 pm
by admin
Hi Roel,
thanks for capturing all the logs - looking at the SharpCap / ASCOM ERROR logs, you can see that the CPWI ASCOM driver once again gave an error for the sync request in the SharpCap log. In the corresponding point in the ASCOM log (00:21:48.425), you can see that the ASCOM driver asks the main CPWI program to run the sync process and doesn't get a response - in fact it seems to create the error after about 2s waiting for a response.
In the non-error ASCOM log, you can see that the sync process takes about 0.3s, so quite a difference. Quite why the sync sometimes completes quickly and sometimes takes long enough to cause the ASCOM drivre to time out is unfortunately impossible to tell. It may be down to the communication with the SE mount being slow sometimes?
I don't think there is much I can do about this issue from the SharpCap side, but it may be worth sending the ASCOM_Telescope...CPWI-ERROR log to Celestron - this is the bit they should look at which shows the timeout problem
Code: Select all
00:21:48.423 INFO: SyncToCoordinates(5,60715131769342, -5,29457016287766)
00:21:48.425 INFO: SyncToTarget()
00:21:48.427 INFO: Submitting Synchronus request: /mount/sync_to_coordinates?ra=5.60715131769342&dec=-5.29457016287766
00:21:48.795 INFO: Get Tracking
00:21:48.795 INFO: Returning True
00:21:48.806 INFO: Get RightAscension
00:21:48.806 INFO: Returning 5,60876424739796
00:21:48.817 INFO: Get Declination
00:21:48.817 INFO: Returning -5,44399522986376
00:21:48.828 INFO: Get AtPark
00:21:48.828 INFO: Submitting Synchronus request: /mount/is_park_complete
00:21:50.474 INFO: could not communicate with CPWI, request =/mount/sync_to_coordinates?ra=5.60715131769342&dec=-5.29457016287766
00:21:50.482 INFO: Response: false
00:21:50.482 INFO: Returning False
00:21:50.493 INFO: Get Altitude
00:21:50.493 INFO: Returning 31,9318947890806
00:21:50.504 INFO: Get Azimuth
00:21:50.504 INFO: Returning 162,033082388326
00:21:50.508 INFO: ERROR: ASCOM.DriverAccessCOMException (0x00000000): could not communicate with CPWI, request =/mount/sync_to_coordinates?ra=5.60715131769342&dec=-5.29457016287766 ---> System.Net.WebException: Er is een time-out opgetreden voor de bewerking
bij System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
bij PWLib.Net.WebUtils.HttpGetString(String url, Int32 timeoutMsec)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.Request(String urlPath)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.Request(String urlPath)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.SubmitRequest(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.SubmitRequest(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.SubmitCommand(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.<SyncToTarget>b__106_0()
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.LogCall(String logPrefix, Action action)
00:21:50.508 INFO: ERROR: ASCOM.DriverAccessCOMException (0x00000000): could not communicate with CPWI, request =/mount/sync_to_coordinates?ra=5.60715131769342&dec=-5.29457016287766 ---> System.Net.WebException: Er is een time-out opgetreden voor de bewerking
bij System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
bij PWLib.Net.WebUtils.HttpGetString(String url, Int32 timeoutMsec)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.Request(String urlPath)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.Request(String urlPath)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.AscomTelescopeThread.SubmitRequest(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.SubmitRequest(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.SubmitCommand(String request)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.<SyncToTarget>b__106_0()
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.LogCall(String logPrefix, Action action)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.LogCall(Action action)
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.SyncToTarget()
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.<>c__DisplayClass105_0.<SyncToCoordinates>b__0()
bij ASCOM.CPWI.Telescope.LogCall(String logPrefix, Action action)
00:21:50.515 INFO: Get SideOfPier
00:21:50.515 INFO: Submitting Synchronus request: /mount/sideofpier
cheers,
Robin
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Sun Dec 05, 2021 3:05 pm
by roelb
Thanks Robin for your quick reply.
I'll send the info to Celestron but I fear that feedback will be poor because CPWI isn't updated for a year now due to personnel shifts. I'll keep you posted.
Again thanks!
Roel
Re: Sync error with Celestron Nexstar 6 SE mount
Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2021 9:12 pm
by roelb
I received following answer from Celestron:
QUOTE
Hello Roland,
First and foremost, thank you for bringing this to our attention and also for doing such a complete job documenting everything with logs.
Our engineer will be working on a solution to this issue after the Holidays.
We agree with SharpCap engineer. The logs make this pretty clear. This is a bug in CPWI’s implementation. Possibly in the Sync command implementation. Possibly in the communication between the ASCOM driver and CPWI.
Here's our engineer's take on this:
"It doesn’t look like an easy fix though for 2 reasons:
(a) I have done many sync commands, as I am sure many others have, so I feel I will have a hard time repeating this bug on my computers.
(b) the error seems to be coming in the communication between the Ascom driver and the CPWI application. Or it could be in the sync command of CPWI. And I don’t have source code for either of those things.
Still there is hope. Since the error seems to happen only with this command, it should be possible to add some additional logging on both the CPWI side and the ASCOM driver side. This will not take me long to do, and we can then ask the user to run the test again. The resulting logs should show us where the thread is locking up on the user’s computer. Once we know that we can act accordingly. At the very least, if we can detect the error in-situ, then maybe we can have the driver automatically re-submit the lost command.
Regards
Wil
Technical Support Representative
UNQUOTE
I'll keep you posted if news come for this issue.