New SEQ needs....

[Ron Kramer]

Dome instruction to UNFOLLOW mount (there is a follow only) My dome won’t park at charger if I can UNSLAVE mount.

Needs “connect device” instructions. I need to connect my Switch. (to turn off gear).
Need “disconnect device” instructions. I should disconnect mount, camera, accessories before I switch power off

Some sort of new primary use of SAFETY MONITOR. Not just during loops but all the time.
Like start of sequence. “if safe=true” then… start.
If “safe=false” AT ANY TIME - ( RUN END of SEQ ) or maybe a “unsafe” loop of commands.
It needs to know it’s not raining before opening dome.
It needs to close dome at ANY TIME that it might start raining. (safe = false)
SAFE check should be outside of normal sequence operation). It’s paramount that gear is SAFE before starting, during at all times and after during warm up and shut down. It’s our primary objective

Else new SEQ code is SO SEXY. Love it.

[Stefan B]

Latest version already contains an option for the domes to close the shutter when unsafe which is not tied to the sequence

[Ron Kramer]

YOUR FAST! - I found it in settings/dome… thanks! I SO APPRECIATE what you have built here. More donations coming (when I can).

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[Ron Kramer]

When I add safety monitor to the START of the sequence. It positions itself outside the nest (seems logical) but at the bottom?) is that suppose to be that way?

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[Ron Kramer]

OR - is it not necessary to include a safety/dome instruction in the sequence at all? If the dome will close or stay closed when it is connected as a device?

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[George Hilios]

Regarding dome synchronization, parking should turn it off already.

[Ron Kramer]

That won’t help. I don’t “nina park” the mount. I have to run a special script that parks the scope in a face down weight up position. And the dome tries to park there. (at the weird scope position). My script also homes the dome and parks it. I run the script from nina.

if I park the dome (and that turns off slaving). Then parks the dome, if I run my script will the parked dome then update? I don’t understand park dome (is it like park mount where the mount has to be unparked before it will move?) I never park the dome - I always home it… so I’m unsure the difference between home and park. I do know that “park” is not always accurate. If there was any slippage in the drive gear it will think it’s at park when in fact it may not be. (so I don’t use park). I use home… because home aligns the dome at the home sensor for “home position” that is always accurate.

I could test it. It might work if I park dome (to unslave). Then run the script… which will face down park the scope and home the dome. (if NINA’s PARK command allows it). I’ll test it.

[Stefan B]

Domes have no specification of “Unpark” like a telescope does in ASCOM

[Ron Kramer]

okay, but then why park instead of home? I always use home because it’s accurate but park can have error due to drive gear slip, ice, or manual rotation I may have inadvertently or intentionally done. Since I must stop “at the charger” accuracy can’t be off 1-2 degree’s.
For this reason, I’ve always made a home call rather than a park command.

As far as I’m aware - park and home are the same except home validates sensor position first?

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[George Hilios]

The ASCOM standard to me makes clear distinction between the purposes park and home serve. You could also set your park position to the same as Home. Why do you maintain a separate Park position if you don't use it?

I'm hesitant to add more options as they confuse people. Also, so far you are the only person thats asked for this.

[Ron Kramer]

I don’t use park at all. I always use home. But NINA only supports PARK (my whole reason for this issue).
I don’t really maintain a park position other than NINA asks me to “set park” so I do. But I don’t ever want to park without a home as it can be in error.

only person? maybe no one else is as reliant on the charger? If mine is off 1 degree from the charger it will sit in the cold all night and my battery will be dead by the time I found out the next day. A dead battery is a pain since the charger will not charger without me going out and hooking up a separate trickle charge to get it up to a auto charge level. I tend to be a bit more of a power user when it comes to the nexdome. Tim Long in firmware and drivers supports home. Again I think it is the same as park but it confirms the magnetic sensor.
I so hate arguing about this stuff. It just seems logical to me to PARK or HOME at an accurate position. My home and park are same place… but only home checks for sensor position before it stops.

[Ron Kramer]

What is ascoms explanation of home vs park?
Not confusing - we could just change PARK to HOME and not add any confusion. Since both seem to be “stop at this position”. Park waits until the firmware counter is at xxx position. (it thinks is accurate) where as Home verifies XXX position before stopping. This is my point. I’ve used the NexDome heavily for 3.5 years and I know it often has to be homed to re-align the sensor with the direction degree. Any slip of even one drive gear tooth will not “PARK at the charger”. Just been there done that and learned that Park has flaws.

Nexdome owners know what home is - and that it aligns the dome with the 360 degree counter and sensor. MANY of the guys I know do a home before they even start slaving for the night to reduce slaving error.

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[George Hilios]

I have the same Nexdome you do. You can set the home and park to the same azimuth in the nexdome driver options. Then you can enable “find home before park" in NINA dome options. When you park it'll find home and then stay there since its already at the park azimuth.

[Ron Kramer]

I googled Ascom’s definition.

PARK rotates to XXX defined position. (this REALLY has no bearing on the actual position of the dome… it’s just counting numbers as the drive gear turns. It will stop where it thinks park is. Which may be irrelevant to the actual physical position of the dome.

Home SEARCHES for home position. This VERIFIES the actual physical position of the dome and re-aligns the physical position of the dome with the XXX degree position counter. HOME is an accuracy check - Park is not.
It would be WISE to set park and home at the same XXX designation. HOWEVER - one will be accurate and the other may not be.
This is my issue. If I park only - It is very likely to miss the charger as it has over the past years.

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[Ron Kramer]

I have the same Nexdome you do. You can set the home and park to the same azimuth in the nexdome driver options. Then you can enable “find home before park" in NINA dome options. When you park it'll find home and then stay there since its already at the park azimuth.

Okay - I wasn’t aware of this - that should do - sorry for the confusion. I will go look for and verify that setting.

[Stefan B]

Connect and disconnect instructions are possible with the connector plugin "Waiting for safe" instruction is available. Dome can be closed independently of sequence when it is unsafe.

As most of the topics described are covered i close this issue. For the next time it would be beneficial to split the request into multiple per category.

[Stefan B]

Removing version: 1.11 Nightly (automated comment)