Troubleshooting

• Telescope Drive Problems
• Telescope run away
• Pointing Lost
• Guider Mirror Failure
• Dome Failure
• Cannot See Stars
• Cannot Find Target
• Guide Probe Not Tracking
• Common Problems when Trying to Guide
• Strange Software Behavior

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Telescope Drive Problems

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If the telescope has stopped moving in either direction; follow these steps to both log the problem correctly, and to recover from the problem.


Before you do anything else, record the following critical troubleshooting info for the Service Request you will write up:



1. Current time

2. Current telescope position on the Selsyn dials, and on the VDU.

3. At time of failure was telescope tracking, or slewing?

4. Is there an alarm sounding? If so what alarm is indicated on the console?


Go ahead and acknowledge the alarm to silence it.


5. What is the status of the drive power as indicated by the console buttons?

6. What is the status of the oil pumps as indicated by the the console buttons?

7. Is the reset button on the drive rack outside the computer room lit up? Go check it please.

8. Are any lights on the bearing limit box? (small grey metal box under VDU with 2 LEDs and a reset switch)

9. Will either axis move in guide speed using the handpaddle?

10. Did you notice any static electricity when the drive stopped?


Push the small reset button on the end to reset the box once you have recorded if either light is on.


Recovery


1. Take telescope out of "AUTO".

2. Logout of teal.

3. Reboot cyan and wait for the reboot to complete. (VDU will start updating again)

4. Cycle the drive power using the "Drive Power" button on the operators console.

5. Login to teal.

6. Once the XTCS starts up again, you have to select "Configurations" - then "Your Instrument" and yes to "save ?" dialog.

7. Follow the normal startup procedure from here; you have to initialize the telescope again, and verify the pointing.

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Telescope run away

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1.

Turn the "AUTO Button" on panel B off.



2.

If that does not work, then turn the Drive Power buttons off (Panel A)



3.

IF that does not work, then push in the Emergency Stop Button.

NOTE: The Emergency stop button can be used from places in the dome as well - have the staff member show you where they are located. Look for the large red buttons.

If the Emergency Stop has been pressed, just press the green square reset button directly below console E-Stop button.

If the drive power has been shut off, turn the drive power back on.

If the Auto Button has been shut off then;

1.

Turn Auto Button back on.

2.

Reset HA and DEC servo buttons on panel B if they are lit.

3.

Select reset servos in Shortcuts menu on the XTCS gui.

4.

Return to object with the "Go There" button in the XTCS GUI

5.

If your pointing is not right, then select "Restore tcs" from the "Configurations" pull-down menu in the XTCS GUI.

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Pointing Lost

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1. Check dome and sky to be sure you can see stars.
2. Attempt to goto a bright star - visual magnitude of 3 or brighter.
3. If that didn't work try selecting reset servos from the Shortcuts pull-down menu in the XTCS
4. Again, attempt to goto a bright star.

If pointing is still lost a complete shutdown and restart of the system may be required. Upon logging out and logging back into teal, be sure to select your instrument configuration, and save it, and then select "restore tcs" from the shortcuts menu on XTCS.


(a) Turn Auto off
(b) Turn Drive Power and Preloads off
(c) Now follow recovery procedure from the Drive Trips in troubleshooting.

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Guider Mirror Failure

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1. Have you waited long enough? (It takes about 60 seconds to move)

2. If so, again select the mirror reset button in the XTCS GUI (sometimes it takes a couple tries)

3. In rare circumstances quitting and restarting the XTCS GUI will solve the problem. If this is done the XOE will have to be restarted so that it can reconnect to the XTCS.

4. Please call either the WIYN (x8760) or 4 meter (x8620) operator if this point is reached.

5. In even more rare circumstance a reboot of teal may be necessary

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Dome Failure

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If dome is not tracking or will not turn at all.

1. Turn dome tracking on. This has to be done anytime the goto zenith shortcut is used. Select the On button beside the heading Dome: in the Tracking section of the XTCS GUI.
2. Try rotating dome with handpaddle buttons. Is the correct station selected? (Press either Main or Observer button on panel B)
3. If dome still won't rotate call the Duty Tech (if still on duty) or call the WIYN (x8760) or 4 meter (x8620) operator to reset dome breakers for you.

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Cannot See Star

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1. Dome open and tracking?
2. Looking into lower shutter?
3. Mirror cover open?
4. Focus close to nominal?
5. TV cameras turned on?
6. TV gain turned up?
7. Correct TV selected?
8. Pickoff mirror in correct position?
9. Clouds?

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Cannot Find Target

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1. Check pointing by going to a nearby SAO star.

2. Check scale of finding chart.

3. Check coordinates (epoch).

4. Are there clouds?

5. How bright is the object? Stars with visual magnitude of 13 will be faint. Stars with visual magnitude of 16 will probably be invisible.

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Guide Probe Not Tracking

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Possible problems which could result in the guide probe not arriving at the location requested in the XTCS include:


1. Is there a guide star selected in the XTCS? Within the box which contains the coordinates of the object there should be a gold star if a guide star has been selected for the object.


2. Is the guide star selected in the XTCS within the range of motion for the guide probe?

To check this select the current star in the XTCS by clicking on the arrow beneath it (this should turn the arrow blue). Start the GSC Search GUI. Select a guide star and send it to the XTCS. Then click on the Go There. This should not change the position of the telescope, but the guide probe should move to a guide star. The numbers on the collim: line on the Telescope Status Monitor should change and then the guide probe status at the end of the line should change to TRACKING.


3. Has an offset been applied?

If an offset has been applied after moving to an object it may be necessary to select a new guide star. The offset may have caused the selected star to go outside of the range of the guide probe. To select a new guide star follow the instructions for selecting a New Guide Star from Current Position in the "guiding" section of the "observing" page.

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Common Problems when Trying to Guide

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Is the guide camera turned on, properly initialized, with the gain turned up, so that you can see your field? (see the camera section on the Overview page)

Is the guide camera's neutral density filter stuck in the way, filtering your star out? If it is stuck, please ask for assistance, a slight tap can unstick it.

Have the guide probes finished moving? Check the Telescope Status Monitor (VDU) (below) for probe motion - look at "collim" value. If the numbers are changing, the probe is still in motion. Wait for it to stop and check for your guide star again.

Is the telescope pointing verified? Can you easily find bright stars?

Guide Stage Tracking



When you first go to a new field, and have a guide star associated with it; if you try to "jog" the guide probe using the 4 arrows in the "Guider GUI", you will see that the star will "return" to it's original position. This is because the stage is in the "tracking mode". To disable the tracking, just click the "off" button on the "Guider GUI".

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Strange Software Behaviors

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If you are having strange software problems on teal, especially with the XTCS software, you need to check and see if there are two instances of the software running.

On teal, look at the bottom desktop panel to see if there are 2 instances of XTCS, or the TV Guider GUI, or any other process. It is easy to start two processes mistakenly by "double clicking" on icons.

You can always close everything out (exit out of all of Teal's processes and GUI's) and then logout, and log back in again.