NexDome Community Forum

Hi Folks, I've been having a problem getting the toothed belt installed properly in my nexdome. Interestingly the first belt shipped was 287 teeth and left a region larger than a tooth opened in the track with the gear track tight against the molding line of the dome (like the image in the instructions). Now I have a belt with 288 teeth, which is what it is supposed to have. However I find I have overlap. I can have the belt hang off the bottom of the region for the tape, such that this is not sound for expectation of operation, and this belt is still too long and overlaps by about 1/4th a tooth. I've asked Babek to provide panel sizes as review of all images of my dome does not reveal any user error. The dome does not seem to offer much of any play with what I've loosened so far and so I am not sure how I can expand the dome circumference further. What would be a huge help is folks providing: 1) the length of their belt, perhaps the tooth count so we may know of yet another QC issue if present 2) the circumference of the molding line across the whole dome - preferably with millimeter precision, let's set our measuring tape above this line so we don't get involved with the gear train. 3) The easiest but probably most important: the length of each panel along the molding line (again, tape just above it) I'm concerned one or more of the panels is "wrong" and unworkable. I bought my whole nexdome as one kit fwiw so while the dome if there's an issue present may have went unnoticed with a manual installation, the automated dome rotation is not in good or workable shape... I've made the same ask(s) to Babek so I can figure out what is wrong with this dome but it's been going slow. Here's some measurements I took on mine with just a fiberglass measuring tape, I've got a track length of 132.5 inches due to it (sorry , tape was std, not metric). I stuck it ontop of the edge of the 3m extreme mounting tape. I have checked this thread out: https://www.nexdome.com/forum/observatory-automation/toothed-belt-for-dome-rotation-3-8-too-short

Important - Must Read This release is an alpha-quality pre-release that is not production quality. It most likely contains bugs and may crash. Please only install this software if you are willing to test it, expect to find issues and report them here on GitHub. Do not use the observatory unattended with this release. This software gathers diagnostic data and posts it to our logging service in the cloud, where we may further analyze problems and perform statistical analysis. By default, the log data posted contains your machine name and Windows login name (so we can correlate errors to specific installations). By downloading and installing this software, you are consenting to our use of that information for diagnostic purposes only. Log data is kept for up to 90 days and then permanently deleted and will not be shared with any third party. This feature is enabled by default in pre-release builds. Logging is performed very efficiently and as long as you have reasonable Internet bandwidth, you should not notice any effect. Log data that cannot be sent within a reasonable time is simply discarded and should not impact performance. If you prefer not to allow the software to send log data to our logging service for any reason, you may disable this feature by editing the NLog.config file in the program directory end following the instructions there. You can disable all logging by deleting the NLog.config file. However, we ask that you do not do this for pre-release builds as the express purpose of such builds is to allow us to diagnose any problems. New Features The main changes in this release are: Includes Firmware 3.4.0-alpha Adds low battery detection logic Adds commands for configuring low battery detection Adds notifications about the low battery status Adds the ability to autonomously auto-close the shutter when low battery is detected. Please see the FAQ for information on upgrading the firmware, and details of the firmware protocol. ASCOM Driver Setup screen updated to include controls to configure the auto-close feature Improved status display with 'battery low' annunciator Introduced a new logging engine that allows us to collect detailed log data directly into a cloud server. This is controlled via the NLog.config file. Installation Download and run the installer as usual. This will overwrite the previous version. Upgrade both rotator and shutter units to the alpha firmware build included with this release. The previous firmware version is also included in case you need to roll back. Note on Updating the Firmware We have had several instances where the shutter firmware has been installed on the rotator and then the user has contacted us to report that "nothing works". Please remember that both units must be upgraded seperately, using a USB cable connected directly to the unit with the appropriate firmware image. The shutter firmware cannot be updated via the rotator, you must plug in a separate USB cable to update the firmware. You can remove the cable once the update has completed. We suggest only connecting one unit at a time, so that there is no confusion about which serial port should be used. Suggested sequence: Open the firmware update screen Select the Rotator firmware image and the COM port that corresponds to the rotator. Perform the firmware upgrade. Power off the rotator and disconnect the USB cable. Quit out of the firmware update screen completely. Attach a USB cable to the shutter controller and power it on if not already on. Open the firmware update screen Select the shutter firmware image and the COM port associated with the shutter. Perform the firmware update. Remove the USB cable and power off the shutter. Reconnect the USB cable to the rotator and power it on. Wait about 30 seconds and power on the shutter. After a minute or two, the system should be full functional. Note: don't be alarmed if you see the firmware updater using different COM ports than the ones you selected - this is a normal (if slightly odd) Arduino behavior .

The ASCOM Status Display window has stopped appearing when I start the ASCOM device hub. This is the window that shows the activity and position of the rotator, shutter, shutter battery voltage, etc. I can't figure out how to get this back on the screen. The ASCOM Device Hub works fine without the Status Display being visible but I'd like to see it again.