Has anyone had issues with their shutter motor connecting? I can use the rocker to Open/close the shutter, but I cannot connect to it via ascom. In the putty terminal I see an endless repeat of XB->WaitAT, XB->Config,XB->Detect. I have power cycled it all a few times too. Seems like the wireless/bluetooth link is not establishing. @FRR returns 3.3.0 and @FRS returns nothing. I will send an email to Babak, but want to check here quick if I am missing something easy.
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Edited:Â Jan 02, 2021
Shutter not connecting
Shutter not connecting
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This is great news for the original automation users. Well if they want to dig into the code. I do have a couple spare XBee, just not sure which version. But I am comfortable digging into code. Just will need to get that XBee adapter board. I do appreciate this work on your part.
I really like my setup, I did add a second shutter motor opposite the original and never have issues anymore opening or closing. I am about to put a second rotator motor opposite the original to help handle skipping. Even though I have a spring loaded setup it still skips once in a while and eventually the shutter opening gets out of sync.
I was able to view in Putty, but it only mirrors the lack of connection. The only thing that has worked is to leave it on for many minutes until it connects as suggested. Unfortunately this happen every time the power is recycled. Each time it is uncertain how long it will take.
I have hooked up the XCTU software to an adapter and inspected each of the two Xbee's. I am able to write to then individually to change the settings without the arduino code. This has not improved the connection time. I am uncertain about the arduino code that does this as well. i don't know if it is applied once or every time the Arduino Leonardo's are booted.
I found the initialization routines in the Arduino IDE code for 4.0 that i got from Github.
The Rotator configuration string found in the file XBeeConfigureState.h of TA.NexDome.Rotator.ino is:
"RE,WR,AC,MYFFFE,ID6FBF,CH0B,A17,A27,RR6,RN2,CA30,PL4,SM0,CE1,AP2,WR,FR,"
The Shutter configuration string found in the file XBeeConfigureState.h of TA.NexDome.Shutter.ino is:
"RE,WR,AC,MYFFFF,ID6FBF,CH0B,A17,A27,RR6,RN2,CA30,RO10,PL4,RO10,SM0,CE0,AP2,WR,FR,"
They are exactoy the same except the MY command is FFFE in the rotator firmware and FFFF in the shutter firmware. According to the Xbee manual:
MY (16-bit Network Address) Reads the 16-bit network address of the device, which is randomly assigned by the network manager upon association. A value of 0xFFFE means the device has not joined a Zigbee network. Parameter range 0 - 0xFFFF [read-only] Default 0 - 0xFFFE
I don't now how this affect the unidirectional or bidirectional communication between the 2 Xbee's, but this is all I see that is different between them.
Even though these are are set by the firmware and I also set them in XCTU to see if it made any difference, it did not seem to matter. I would figure that once set the connection should be automatic without any delay, but it still takes an eternity to connect. i suspect that the code is implemented incorrectly, but I don't know how all the code interacts, so very hard to trouble shoot.
In regards two observatories side by side. the two systems would be in conflict unless the code is recompiled for different channels or ID's.
Many people have had connection issues. In my case my shutter motor was wired incorrectly. I suggest you take the motor housing off, two #4 small screws on top and two on the bottom. Take a photo of the boards on the right side of the unit, so you can see the color of the wires and the connection designators and send it to Babak at sales@nexdome.com and have him verify the wiring. In my case the wires were upside down. Here is how my motor is now wired.
Steven
Thanks I have cycled 4 times still not connecting.
thanks I will give that a try.
@neuropa3 what I have found is sometimes it takes a few power cycles (turn off/on) the shutter motor power switch before it connects to the rotator and you can then control it via ASCOM. So what I suggest is turn off the shutter, wait 30s, turn it back on, wait up to 10min and if it has not connected, start these steps over. Once it connects, it stays connected until the shutter is turned off. Which you really should not have to do unless you run on battery's.
Also I make it move up and down with the rocker switch.
My Shutter will not connect either, I have updated firmware to the 4.0 still will not connect. I am using the new nexdome program rotator will connect and i can move dome. Nothing from shutter. All the stuff you all were talking about is Greek to me. I am computer savay but not that savay. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks.
I am having the same problem. Able to issue @FRS to the shutter via USB directly and get the version back. Can you provide some more details about what you did?
Did you have to replace the shutter and rotator XBEE(s)?
What version of XBEE(s) did you go with?
Is the custom firmware available somwhere?
I've updated to 4.0.0 already, wondering if downgrading would be an issue with the custom firmware.
Back to wrap this thread up. I am now able to connect to the shutter via the XBEE. I got in contact with Tim Long who wrote the current code. After some checks, he had me upload a custom firmware hex that clears all the code out. Then I downloaded and uploaded the latest 3.3.0 hex firmware for the shutter from the github repo. At first nothing was happening. So I took a break and came back to see it was connected. It must of took 10-15min for the XBEE to connect. But it has been solid since.
Morning update: I checked that both the Xbee modules were seated properly for the Rotator and Shutter, they are. I also swapped the two and still the same, no connection being created. Does not seem like a lot of activity here on the forums, so I will wait to hear from Babak. But I will also order a new Xbee to swap out. I wonder if the issue is because the Xbee are from different series? 3 vs 1? I read online that might cause issues.
Further update: I connected to the shutter via USB and can run the @FRS to get 3.3.0 as a return. I also can issue the open shutter and close shutter command and those work fine. So for some reason the XBee on the rotator and shutter are not communicating. I looked at both XBee boards and the Rotator has an antenna and the Shutter does not. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.