sreilly Posted July 6, 2023 Report Share Posted July 6, 2023 We have a new ASA600 telescope being setup at SRO in California which is mounted on an AP3600 mount. The previous scope was operated via ACP and is expected to run this as well. Where can I find necessary information on using the focuser with ASCOM and the necessary drivers. I have very little info on hand for the control box on this optical tube and basically know it runs on 24 volts and uses software called ACC. I have been running this older scope for years using ACP Scheduler and it has worked great. Hoping to do the same with the 24" just have a number of questions about focusing and interfacing with this telescope. Previously I was using RoboFocus to control the focuser which was also secondary focus motor. Any insight very much appreciated. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sreilly Posted February 8 Author Report Share Posted February 8 Connecting ACP to the telescope (AP3600 mount) is done and works but now the operation of the mirror shutters and fan via startup/shutdown scripts come into play. I know the ACC app must be running in order to connect to the focuser which is now done. Opening the mirror covers and starting fan on startup is my next task as well as closing the covers and turning the fan off. Any suggestions please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted March 12 Report Share Posted March 12 Curious as to whether you ever figure out how to start the fans with a script or ASCOM? For the covers, you can connect ACC through Alpaca as a flat device, and that gives you control. I have just set up my ASA600 at Obstech in Chile and would love to compare notes, as there are not a lot of us out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sreilly Posted March 12 Author Report Share Posted March 12 Unfortunately not yet Mark. Bob Denny, ACP Scheduler (Expert) worked on the script for startup and shutdown and we got the covers to work as expected including editing the weather script to close the covers when weather is bad. Wolfgang is suppose to be talking with the software guy on this but nothing yet. I guess your telescope location eliminates the need for dew heaters. I haven't figured that one out yet either.....but the fans should help. Hope to hear from Wolfgang soon. I haven't heard back yet if they will be at the NEAIC Conference in Suffern, NY this April. Hopefully they will and I can get some other questions answered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McComiskey Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 I will be at NEAIC, as I live next door. Shoot me your email and perhaps we can meet up? Not a lot of people over here with ASAs. How did you guys come to get one? On Dew, it isn't much of an issue, but still sometimes is. No dew heater solution that I know of, but i wrote a brief script that looks at the relative humidity in a boltwood file and triggers an unsafe condition if it passes a threshold. When it does, the covers close up. Not sure what else to do... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted March 17 Report Share Posted March 17 sreilly, i got a note that you tried to send me a message, but the ASA forum is not letting me access it. My email is mccomiskey@gmail.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted April 5 Report Share Posted April 5 Hi Mark, There should be no limitation to read and write messages. I have sent you a test message, please check if you can access the messages. I'll send you an email as well, so we can discuss the issue. best Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sreilly Posted May 25 Author Report Share Posted May 25 It's been a while and most is done but we had to replace the NUC and I have most everything back to working except the mirror covers which I have open/close as needed via StartUp/ShutDown/Weather scripts. Well they did work. Now I can't find the Alpaca driver to install to allow this scripted use. Any ideas on the driver and how to install? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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