Last updated: 2019/06/18 12:45

TCS Crash Recovery Procedure

If TCS crashes when the scope is not at stow or if TCS is shutdown when the scope is not at stow, pointing will be lost. To recover, follow the steps below:

  1. Restart the TCS program if it is not up and running.
  2. Determine if the telescope is at zenith or not. If it is, precede to step 3. If not, there are three ways to get the telescope close to zenith.
    1. Use the Hard stow (Hardware Stow) feature in TCS.
    2. Use the setting circles on the side of RA and DEC drives if they are available.
    3. Use the hand paddle to get the telescope as close to zenith as possible by using the bubble level on the NW side of the scope (only at 90“) or a carpenter's level by checking in the North/South and East/West directions.
  3. Once the base of the telescope is as level as possible on the TCS computer
    1. Source → Keyboard → <Enter>
    2. Position → Next → <Enter>
      1. Epoch = 2000 <Enter>
      2. Add 2 minutes to the current LST time in TCS. Enter this time in RA of Next Position. <Enter>
      3. Enter the DEC of Next Position using the correct DEC position at stow (+31:50:00.0 at 90”). <Enter>
      4. Skip past RA Proper Motion and DEC Proper Motion with <Enter>
    3. When back at the main screen, Declare → Init Next → <Enter>
      1. A screen will appear which reads:
        1.                                 Coordinate System Initialization
    Warning - This function will make the current position equal to the NEXT position coordinates.
                       Make sure the correct object is centered in the field.
                               Hit Y to confirm, ->ESC to abort<-
    4. Watch the LST reading in TCS. When the LST and the RA position displayed in the Next line on TCS are equal (the value you entered in step 6), hit Y to confirm initialization on next position.

This should get the scope and TCS synched close enough to find a star in the finder scope and go through the normal initialization process.

Notes