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Hi AstroBinners, Apologies if this question has been asked elsewhere and if so please feel free to point me to the discussion I am running NINA in a remote observatory which reports the roof condition as open or close in the Safety Monitor of NINA. I am using Loop while Safe as a loop condition. But when it becomes unsafe the sequence just ends and skip to the end of sequence instructions thus shutting down the rig. Is there a way to pause imaging/guiding when conditions are unsafe while still tracking. So when conditions become safe a plate solve occurs, guiding resumes as does imaging. Thanks for any insights, tips tricks and suggestions Best Vikas Chander |
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Hello Vikas, Lucas here from the observatory. Safety monitor is less and less used as it is a bit sensitive. we recommend to get it out of the configuration. From what I know some user's are using the roof status on the user interface with a script, or pushover's notification as a trigger which is more reliable. otherwise, you can shoot the roof as except during april roof are unlikely not closing very often  Best regards ! |
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Hi Vikas, I have my setup doing exactly what you want to do. You can use the sequencer powerups plugin with its When Becomes Unsafe and Once Safe instructions to stop guiding, park your mount, etc once the roofs close, and then unpark and slew, run autofocus and resume imaging. Here is an image showing how I have set it up. Create something like below and add it as a trigger to your sequences. Works like a charm. Ani  |
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Ani Shastry: @Ani Shastry thanks i was just thinking more about this recently and your example is helpful. How do you handle the startups, making sure it doesn't open if unsafe? -Brian |
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THIBAUD Lucas: There is an ASCOM generic file safety monitor available that will allow you to read various status files and apply them to the safety monitor function. Generic File Safety Monitor I use it to monitor roof status at a remote site in combination with Marc Blank's Sequencer Powerups and it works great.  |
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Brian Valente: I essentially have a couple of wait until safe instructions in the startup section. I first wait until the roofs open, then I cool the camera, reset the focuser/rotator, etc... and wait until 15 mins before astro-dark, and I have another wait until safe there just in case the roofs close right before astro dark. |
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Ani Shastry:Brian Valente: Got. I take it you are not managing the roof open/close? |
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Bill McLaughlin:THIBAUD Lucas: Thanks Bill - I use the ascom safety hub to monitor a few different things. It looks similar to this but it's ascom driven vs file driven. I manage the open-close of the roof myself, so there are a few more steps for me. |
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I'll check with the person that handle the status of the roof to check but the ASCOM driver in question was written for the specific condition of the infrastructure here in Chile, so not sure how this can be integrated! will check. |
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Ani Shastry: +1 generic safety monitor to read the roofstatus file with WBU works great. The way I have my seq configured to expire at the end of nautical dawn at which time it parks, warms camera, etc.  |
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I have the Sequencer Powerups plugin installed and have setup my instruction set as described in the above post by Ani. One question though - When conditions remain unsafe for the rest of the night and the mount is parked and guiding stopped etc, what do you use to tell the sequence to exit the 'When Becomes Unsafe' condition and then go and run the Sequence End instructions for warming the camera etc? Do you use a Looped condition until at set time with the When Becomes Unsafe trigger or use a different instruction? Thanks Logan |
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You nest your deep sky object sequence in a sequential instruction set and place a loop until time loop condition in the parent. If WBU is active when that timer expires WBU exits and the sequencer moves to the next instruction set. Nested instruction sets obey triggers and loop conditions of the parent set. |
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Reg Pratt: Ah yes of course, seems quite obvious now that you mention it. Thank you very much for getting back to me. |
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Sorry, one more question, when you use the framing tool to frame up a target and then ask it to use one of the saved templates to create the sequence. I presume the sequence that then appears in the sequencer would have to be immediately saved, removed and then reinserted into the sequential instruction set you describe above? There is no way to have the sequence, when created, automatically be placed as a nest instruction into the the sequential instruction set that contains the loop condition? |
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| @Logan Carpenter I always work with a saved advanced sequence template that loads when NINA is opened. This template contains: - all my daytime instructions - a blank deep sky object instruction set filled with all appropriate instructions, loop conditions, and triggers - the end session instruction set Take note that the deep sky instruction set is named DSO in the Target parent instruction set.  If I want to change the target from the framing assistant I simply load the new target, click the Add target to sequence button, click Update Existing Target in Sequencer, click DSO. This will replace the target information inside of the DSO deep sky instruction set with what's in the framing assistant.  Now your new target is in the main sequence and all you need do is make any changes such as filter and exposure time.  If you will be imaging this over multiple nights save the entire advanced sequence so that it loads next time you open NINA and you can resume just changing filter and exposure information as needed. One you're finished imaging that target you can repeat the process with a new target. |
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You can also add addition targets to the sequence by simply cloning the DSO set, changing its name to anything (I change to "2"), load the new target in the framing assistant and replace 2 with it. Clone DSO   Change name second DSO to "2"  In framing assistant, replate 2 with new target  Now you have 2 targets just go in and adjust instructions as needed.  Repeat to add more targets. |
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@Reg thanks for those details. I don't suppose you could share your sequence file? Brian |
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| @Brian Valente Here you go. https://drive.google.com/file/d/15W_oaqkw5oNEnE5wrDjhMKS0n-AtRPik/view?usp=sharing Be mindful that my sequence is setup to run at a remote observatory and loops endlessly. You can disable the looping behavior by changing the Loop While at the top of the sequence to be false. If you want details on how I made the sequence I wrote about it here: https://www.r3gdigital.com/blog/looping-nina-sequence |
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Reg Pratt: ! @Reg Pratt thanks a million for the file and writeup, that's perfect. The infinite loop is what i'm after, I manage my own roof open/close/safety, so I'm interested in your bigger picture stuff -Brian |
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| @Brian Valente Happy to help. If you want full automation you can replace my DSO set with a Target Scheduler set. I prefer being a little hands on though selecting target and filters myself. |
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Reg Pratt: Ok, thanks very much for the info. Much appreciated. |
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Hi AstroBinners, so i set up a sequence in NINA which loops and images when conditions are safe. When conditions turn unsafe, it pauses imaging, parks the scope stops guiding etc. Once conditions are safe the scope slews, guiding starts as does imaging. However, the number of images taken start from a count of zero again. For example, if i have setup 20 subs to be shot and 14 have been taken before unsafe conditions take over, the moment imaging restarts, i wud expect it to restart with the 15th sub but what actually happens is that it starts from the first count and 20 images are taken again ( resulting in 34 ) if conditions remain safe. Here is the link to the sequence file - dropbox link Wud be grateful for any inputs on how to rectify the issue and have imaging restart from the count of 15 best vikas chander |
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vikas chander: The SequencerPowerups "When Becomes Unsafe" function is a trigger instruction. So when the roof reopens and the sequence executes the "Once Safe" instructions, the sequence picks up right where it left off and all the numbering continues where it left off. I looked at your sequence and you're not using SequencerPowerups. You have multiple inner loops inside a big outer loop. You'll drive yourself crazy trying to do that. I know this because I drove myself crazy with it last year. I'll send you a PM containing a link to one of my sequences. SequencerPowerups makes all this very simple and reliable. When I first started using SequencerPowerups last year, there were a number of issues with it, but those have all been fixed. It used to get really confused if the roof closed and reopened several times within just a few minutes. Those issues have been resolved. It's been a godsend. |
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| Just FYI, the documentation for Sequencer Powerups is here: https://marcblank.github.io/ |
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| @Timothy Martin >>>I'll send you a PM containing a link to one of my sequences. Can you send me a pm of that as well? Brian |
