Odd values for maxstep and focuser position after disconnecting and reconnecting

[Alan Jordan]

Hello,

I built the My Focuser Pro 2 with the suggested Nano, a Pololu DRV8825 board, the Nema 17 PG-27 operating in full step mode, and a tempurature probe. I am using the firmware in the myFocuserPro2 Official Arduino Firmware 300 package. I am using the Windows application to test. Everything is working great, except the following: I'll set the max steps to 50000 and the focuser position to 0 in the Windows app. If I disconnect the system, then reconnect, the max step position may read 10000, and the focus position may say 5000. It sometimes specifies the correct values but it often doesn't. The issue is random but happens quite a bit.

Has anyone ever seen similar behavior or have any suggestions?

Thank you,
Alan

[brownrb]

You are aware that there is a 30s delay after changing a value that it is "saved"? in eeprom?

So if you change position or maxsteps, you must "wait" at least 30s or longer BEFORE disconnecting and reconnecting?

[Alan Jordan]

Thanks for your reply. That is not the issue. I'll have it on for a long time, shut down, and the next time i power it up the two settings above can change to inconsistant values. Step size and tempurature settings can also change. I have set the same settings between the Windows program and the ASCOM driver, and I have tried resetting the controller on connection and not resetting the controller on connection. I have tried two different Nanos and stil have the same problem, and have tried controlling from two different PCs.

Do you think it is worth trying the 299 firmware instead of the 300?

[brownrb]

Hi Alan
there are ONLY a few conditions under which the focuser position can change [reset] to 5000 and maxsteps to 10000

These are the default settings -so something is reseting these on connection
1. If you use the ascom driver and have the Update On Connect for Focuser Settings checked on the Connection Tab
2. In Windows app, you clicked on the menu Extra Settings/Write focuser default settings

release 300 never changed any of that code, and v299 is no longer supported, so going back to a prior version I cannot help with

I suggest you do the following
1. If you wish to save your current settings, use the Windows app ExtraSettings/Saveandrestoresettings menu to save those to a file first, then

1. Use control panel to remove the current windows application [and all prior] and also to remove ascom driver.
   3 program the controller with the test program ClearEEPROM.ino [attached] and let the program run to completion
2. program the controller with the firmware v300
3. Install the latest windows app and latest ascom driver
4. if you wish to restore the old settings, use the Windows app ExtraSettings/Saveandrestoresettings menu to restore the settings.

You can email me direct at the address in the firmware file to get 1:1 help
Cheers
Robert