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Hi,

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Last night I was trying to park the mount and I kept getting "PDEC out of range" errors popping up from the ASCOM Gemini driver. The mount wouldn't park so I turned it off and will level it today.

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Any thoughts on this error as I have not seen it before and I only saw one other reference in a groups.io thread. I have the latest firmware and ASCOM driver (GeminiTelescope) installed?

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As I have recently had some issues that I ended up thinking was a lan cable, I am kinda guessing this may be related to a faulty DEC cable or connection.

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Any triage thoughts appreciated.

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Ken

Hi Ken, that sounds like a possible issue with DEC cable or connection. The error is coming from Gemini itself, and is produced by an internal check for consistency of the DEC motor encoder counter and position. If the mount isn't parking or moving in DEC, there may be an issue with the motor, or, worst case, with the DEC controller on the Gemini board.

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Regards,

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? -Paul

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On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 01:32 PM, Oberon510 wrote:

Hi Paul,

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Yes it is definitely a Dec issue with the latest results. I changed the Dec cable as I was finding that Dec movements in one direction were hit and miss but the other Dec direction was fine. The other motor is working perfectly with direction commands.

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I tested on both the HC and the virtual HC from the GeminiTelescope driver and had the same results so this is looking like the Gemini itself - I expect the Dec motor should be OK as it is working one way OK and intermittently the other.

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Would that be your perspective also? If so is there a preferred method to clean/inspect the Gemini itself and maybe do some loopback test on the Dec interface? Maybe I should ring Losmandy if they are back on deck with all the fires.

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Thanks,

Ken

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 09:53 PM, Oberon510 wrote:

Hi Paul,

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Yes it is definitely a Dec issue with the latest results. I changed the Dec cable as I was finding that Dec movements in one direction were hit and miss but the other Dec direction was fine. The other motor is working perfectly with direction commands.

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I tested on both the HC and the virtual HC from the GeminiTelescope driver and had the same results so this is looking like the Gemini itself - I expect the Dec motor should be OK as it is working one way OK and intermittently the other.

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Would that be your perspective also? If so is there a preferred method to clean/inspect the Gemini itself and maybe do some loopback test on the Dec interface? Maybe I should ring Losmandy if they are back on deck with all the fires.

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Thanks,

Ken

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 06:59 PM, Paul Kanevsky wrote:

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 09:53 PM, Oberon510 wrote:

Hi Paul,

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Yes it is definitely a Dec issue with the latest results. I changed the Dec cable as I was finding that Dec movements in one direction were hit and miss but the other Dec direction was fine. The other motor is working perfectly with direction commands.

?

I tested on both the HC and the virtual HC from the GeminiTelescope driver and had the same results so this is looking like the Gemini itself - I expect the Dec motor should be OK as it is working one way OK and intermittently the other.

?

Would that be your perspective also? If so is there a preferred method to clean/inspect the Gemini itself and maybe do some loopback test on the Dec interface? Maybe I should ring Losmandy if they are back on deck with all the fires.

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Thanks,

Ken

So you plugged in RA motor into DEC socket, using DEC cable, and it worked fine in both directions? This would point to a problem with the motor.

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I've seen this same error after running GFU on a mount with a bad battery and the mount type was incorrect.? Replace the battery and did a HGM reset and then manually reconfigured for the G11 and all issues were resolved.? ?

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Thanks Paul and Chip

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The cable swap worked OK for both reversed RA/DEC connections and motors but there was some lagging which is leading me to think about power supply (maybe my original Losmandy power supply is dipping but it shows 14.x volts on the web page), battery and maybe a reset per Chip's suggestion.

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I will do some tests and get back to you.

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Thanks again,

Ken

On Thu, Jan 16, 2025 at 11:28 PM, Oberon510 wrote:

Thanks Paul and Chip

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The cable swap worked OK for both reversed RA/DEC connections and motors but there was some lagging which is leading me to think about power supply (maybe my original Losmandy power supply is dipping but it shows 14.x volts on the web page), battery and maybe a reset per Chip's suggestion.

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I will do some tests and get back to you.

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Thanks again,

Ken

Last installment.

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I went nuclear - changed Gemini-2 battery and? reset/reconfig, changed power outlet, power board, G11 power adapter and cable.

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Last night went without a hitch so fingers crossed all is well again.

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Thanks,

Ken

On Sat, Jan 18, 2025 at 08:18 AM, Oberon510 wrote:

Last installment.

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I went nuclear - changed Gemini-2 battery and? reset/reconfig, changed power outlet, power board, G11 power adapter and cable.

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Last night went without a hitch so fingers crossed all is well again.

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Thanks,

Ken

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But what actually resolved the problem?? I think you said the battery was good.? Changing the power outlet in your house won't make any difference unless your house has a serious wiring problem. What's a power board, do you mean a power strip or surge suppressor strip???

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Changing the power supply might make a difference if the cord or connectors are worn and giving intermittent outages.??

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Weird, but keep us posted!?

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Well it is weird. Tonight it failed going to a star and I had to initiate park at CWD twice to get it to park.

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The error in the status page is " Powerfail detected! Off Counter: 496199 Stall in RA!"

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Another issue is I warm started at CWD from the previous nights session via the GeminiTelescope driver and sent the mount to a star but every time I picked up the HC to center that star the HC was showing the start page - had to select a start option before it would allow me to use the direction keys. That happened twice. I had replaced the HC cable recently.

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Thoughts? I will call Losmandy to discuss also.

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Thanks,

Ken

Thanks Michael - I replaced the power supply with a new one a few days ago. I will double check its' connection.

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Ken

Hi Ken, that really does sound like an issue with intermittent power. Whether it's the supply, the cable, the connector or some other issue inside of Gemini is hard to tell from here.

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Regards.

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? -Paul

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On Mon, Jan 20, 2025 at 09:33 PM, Oberon510 wrote:

Hi Ken,

The PRA and PDEC values show the Physical Step counting in the respective axes. Their upper limit is the amount of steps for a complete circle. You can watch these values changing in the Status web page, as well as the Safety Limits, the GoTo target positions and so on. These steps are counted by the ARM processor as well as by the servo PIC processors.

At a Cold Start, both PRA and PDEC are set to half circle values. With a scenario where you start the mount in 4x precision and then change the stepping to 1x you can easily raise this "Out of range" error condition, since in 1x mode the maximum amount of steps is only one quarter compared to 4x mode. This is the reason that you have to power off/on and do Cold Start the mount after changing important setup values like mount type or gearing or change the hemisphere. This is essential to proper operation.?

搁别苍é

Thanks Rene, Paul

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Rene - thanks for the detailed information. After the PDEC error I changed the battery/reset & reconfigured the Gemini-2 then did a cold start etc so I think it would cover your points. The powerfail error is the after all those changes plus I replaced the power board/strip, power supply and power outlet.

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I will talk to Losmandy this morning to discuss but as an added precaution I have ordered a new power supply and Ra/Dec cables. The only other thought is that I may have damaged the power socket on the Gemini-2 given what looks like power blips - is there any way to inspect that or am I overthinking it?

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Ken