October 24, 2009: Write a report and go home.
October 23, 2009: Install a new (slit1i) version of the PLD code for the slit opener, that has rudimentary computer control and status readback. See program and device documentation for more details.
Get the Vaisala weather station to readout. Unfortunately it is mounted in the computer room so the readings do not represent the outside, but what the hey. See the mets command documentation. The rain drop and cloud sensors are not up yet.
Hook up the APC power strip temporarily in the ha drive cabinet and for a test connect the flat field light to outlet 1.
Run the 'telescope fork' switch which runs the experimental version in multiple connection (fork) mode. I am able to use my 'tx' commands when the GUI is running so John's program should work too.
October 22, 2009: Tony mounted the old altitude switch. Wired and tested it, but it seems a bit scary as seven degrees is really close to the horizon.
I worked on the slit opener, it seemed to be close, but that is a misleading word when working with PLDs.
October 21, 2009: Solder capacitors to the temperature sensors to kill the electrical pickup.
Spend the rest of the day working on the slit controller. Remove the current sensor and clean up the documentation. Then work on the PLD program to allow the remote control of the slit; it is a bear. Fix the problem of the motion of the main slit triggered by pressing the Dropleaf button.
October 20, 2009: Look at dome rotation problems. Bob and I found the following sequence of events:
In response, we re-insulated and dressed the temperature sensor. Also the PMAC register was reset to give a more realistic error messages. Finally the nominal current pot on the ABB controller was increased from 100 to 120%; this was probably not necessary. I ran a random telescope pointing program for thirty minutes with no errors.
The temperature sensors seem to pick up a lot of hash from the servo system. Putting a capacitor across the 22K resistors seems to remove it.
October 19, 2009: Arrive on mountain.
August 29, 2009: Add sub command to power tx power dec=off to turn of dec servo for testing the oscillation issue.
August 18, 2009: Ship power strip to AZ.
August 18, 2009: Get the Power strip tow work the SNMP.
August 14, 2009: Build the cloud sensor. It seems to work.
August 12, 2009: Call Ash dome and they said that overruning the drop leaf hydraulic actuators is not serious as long as not done for hours at a time. Order APC AP7900 rack mounted switch for turning on illuminators.
August 8, 2009: Write a report on the trip. Update drawings.
August 7, 2009: Start programming the slit opener, a bit optimistic, but what the hey. Find out that my clever idea to measure the current through the dropleaf to determine whether it is at the end of travel doesn't work (at all). Test the opening and closing of the slit and dropleaf with Bob. Find that there is a bug that the if the main shutter is partially open, it will continue to move if the dropleaf is depressed. While annoying it should not be a problem as the proper procedure is to open it all the way.
Bob and I test the motion of the dome with the new dome controller. After a few false starts, it seems to be working.
August 6, 2009: Automatic dome rotation working. Try opening the slit, it does nothing. Bob and I wire the emergency opener, and it works. After a rather unpleasant afternoon, I discovered the operation of the slit is different than anticipated; The lack of drawings doesn't help. The secret seems to be that the "busy" line must be activated before the slit starts and then it raises the busy line.
August 5, 2009: Mount the new dome slit and dome controller. Install the power and connectors. Estop works (and glows), but klaxon is warbly. Dome works manually.
August 4, 2009: Tune the HA and dec motors installing the "integrate while moving" feature" which should give better servo following for slow motions or small track motions. The graphs of following error appear better, but I would like to try going back to the old values and seeing if it make sense.
Rip out the dome slit and dome rotation controller getting ready for mounting the new computer control version tomorrow. Reroute the (my) old dome cables through the bent conduit.
August 3, 2009: Arrive at Kitt Peak in the afternoon. Later my son arrives with the dome controller and weather station.
July 19, 2009: (In California) debug PLD for dome slit controller.
June 22, 2009: Revise homeit to turn power off before homing telescope.
April 19, 2009:
Make experiments with integral gain for motor controller
and it looks good, but they are hard to do remotely.
Create a beta version of rtel which
has the these values installed.
The beta version also has adjustable paddle speed
(see paddle ).
This beta version also has a fork option
to allow mulitple connections; this feature is very poorly tested.
April 7, 2009: Load the motor controller registers in ~treffers/mdm/13m.cfg and then issue the SAVE command to install it into the PMAC non-volatile memory.
March 31, 2009:
Make changes to rtel that are
bigger than originally hoped.
March 30, 2009:
Talk to Bob and Rick.
Rick moved observer's copy of rtel
to common area so my directory can be used for
development.
Start developing version with integral gain activated.
March 10, 2009: Order parts to duplicate the dome/slit control box so it can be installed in one swoop.
February 2, 2009: Design and specify box for slit opener and dome control. I am going to rebuild the existing one so that it can be swapped in and tested rather than modifying the current one.
January 30, 2009: The programming cable for the PLC finally arrived.
January 07, 2009: Order contactors and relays for slit opener.
January 06, 2009: The PLD for the slit arrived! Work on the design and try to specify new solid state relay instead of the contactor. Move old blog into its own file.