allsky not creating darks

[jproehl]

I'm having trouble getting the allsky camera system to create darks. I follow the procedure on the wiki page on setting the flag in the webgui to Collect Darks to YES and when it restarts the Live View window says that the system is collecting darks, but it continues to create normal images.

I've attached a few files (the log file in /var/log and the config.h file in the allsky directory) right after I reboot the system with the Save Darks set to YES. The allsky.log says that the Save Darks flag is NO, yet when I open the WebGUI it still shows up as being YES. Is there anywhere in the system that might override the Save Darks flag set in the WebGUI?

allsky.log
config.sh.txt

[EricClaeys]

@jproehl. Sounds like the WebUI and capture program are using different settings files.
What does the WebUI say the settings file is? It should be in the header of the "Camera Settings" page in the WebUI.
The log file says /etc/raspap/settings_ZWO.json. Please attach that file.

[jproehl]

Eric: Thank you so much for your reply. You are correct - the WEBGUI says its setting file is /etc/raspap/settings_RPiHQ.json and the darkframe flag is different (both setting files attached). This must be because I initially installed the allsky system using a RPi camera (not the HQ one) and found the results lacking (poor field of view). So, following the posted advice in the Instructable page from Thomas, I bought a ZWO ASI120MC-S and changed the camera name in the allsky/config/config.sh file to ZWO. Apparently, that isn't enough to complete the change. Can you advise me on the steps needed to fully change cameras? By the way, I recently came across information in the support pages for the allsky system that the ZWO ASI120MC-S has serious deficiencies and the RPiHQ camera would be a much better choice. So, I've ordered a RPiHQ camera and fisheye lens and plan to compare them. So, I'll need to know how to properly configure allsky for one or the other cameras. Thanks! Jeff

…

On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 3:34 AM EricClaeys ***@***.***> wrote: @jproehl <https://github.com/jproehl>. Sounds like the WebUI and capture program are using different settings files. What does the WebUI say the settings file is? It should be in the header of the "Camera Settings" page in the WebUI. The log file says /etc/raspap/settings_ZWO.json. Please attach that file. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2208 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACY4MKSQQZD7CL3AYHIFB23WXCOCNANCNFSM6AAAAAAUZENRNM> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[jproehl]

Did the attached files make it through? If not, here they are again:

settings_RPiHQ.json.txt
settings_ZWO.json.txt

(I had to add the .txt extension for Windows to allow me to see them.)

[jproehl]

I edited the config.sh file using the Edit tab on the WEBGUI and removed what I assumed was a commented out line with a different camera designation. What it had at the start was:

============================================================
#!/bin/bash

NOTES:

- Variable names must start at the beginning of a line.

- There should be nothing after a variable's value, i.e., no comments on the same line.

- Values can optionally be quoted with double quotes, NOT single quotes.

- If a variable occurs multiple times, only the last value is used.

Choose between "ZWO" or "RPiHQ".

CAMERA="ZWO"

CAMERA="RPiHQ"

===============================================================

After deleting the extra line:

CAMERA="RPiHQ"

and saving, the WEBGUI changed to the proper settings file: /etc/raspap/camera_options_ZWO.json
and started saving dark images. So, your tip was perfect and now I think I have it corrected.

However, I'm a bit puzzled as to why my commented CAMERA line caused this problem.

[EricClaeys]

@jproehl Jeff, the current code does a very, very simple, but stupid, "search for CAMERA=xyz" and uses the last occurrence. It ignores the fact that the 2nd one is in a comment. I fixed that in the new release.

The new release also supports easy switching between cameras via the WebUI.

A lot of people with the ASI 120 cameras report issues with hot pixels, noise, and unreliability. Some of those folks got other cameras. But I'm sure a lot of people have had no problems - we just hear about the problems. I have an HQ and a couple ZWO, and personally think the HQ is the better value - good quality and much cheaper than ZWO cameras.

[jproehl]

Thanks for the tip!

On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 6:46 PM EricClaeys ***@***.***> wrote: @jproehl <https://github.com/jproehl> Jeff, the current code does a very, very simple, but stupid, "search for CAMERA=xyz" and uses the last occurrence. It ignores the fact that the 2nd one is in a comment. I fixed that in the new release. The new release also supports easy switching between cameras via the WebUI. A lot of people with the ASI 120 cameras report issues with hot pixels, noise, and unreliability. Some of those folks got other cameras. But I'm sure a lot of people have had no problems - we just hear about the problems. I have an HQ and a couple ZWO, and personally think the HQ is the better value - good quality and much cheaper than ZWO cameras. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#2208 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACY4MKVPDW5MKMQ2QZGE27TWXFY45ANCNFSM6AAAAAAUZENRNM> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

-- Jeff

[jproehl]

Eric: I did see that the hot pixels are not present at cold temperatures. They start to appear around 15C (I’ll know more after I get my dark frames vs temperature later tonight after the camera has cooled down it my freezer) and get pretty noticeable by 20C. I have yet to try to subtract them from images. Jeff

On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 6:47 PM Jeff Proehl ***@***.***> wrote: Thanks for the tip! On Sun, Feb 12, 2023 at 6:46 PM EricClaeys ***@***.***> wrote: > @jproehl <https://github.com/jproehl> Jeff, the current code does a > very, very simple, but stupid, "search for CAMERA=xyz" and uses the last > occurrence. It ignores the fact that the 2nd one is in a comment. I fixed > that in the new release. > > The new release also supports easy switching between cameras via the > WebUI. > > A lot of people with the ASI 120 cameras report issues with hot pixels, > noise, and unreliability. Some of those folks got other cameras. But I'm > sure a lot of people have had no problems - we just hear about the > problems. I have an HQ and a couple ZWO, and personally think the HQ is the > better value - good quality and much cheaper than ZWO cameras. > > — > Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub > <#2208 (reply in thread)>, > or unsubscribe > <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ACY4MKVPDW5MKMQ2QZGE27TWXFY45ANCNFSM6AAAAAAUZENRNM> > . > You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: > ***@***.***> > -- Jeff

-- Jeff