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Table of Contents

General Principles

  • DO NOT use control-c to stop a script, this can leave the instrument in an unsafe state. Use kpfconfig.SCRIPTSTOP to request a stop (also available as a button in the KPF OB GUI).

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Setting SCRIPTSTOP to “Yes” will request that the running script terminate in an orderly fashion. This may take several minutes depending on when the running script reaches a sensible breakpoint. It is important to use SCRIPTSTOP to halt a script (instead of hitting ctrl-c) because cleanup actions will be performed after a SCRIPTSTOP (e.g. turning off laps to preserve their lifetime).

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The agitator can be reenabled by simply setting the keyword to “Yes”. This should only be done by WMKO staff and should only be done if the agitator is fully functional. A broken or misbehaving agitator mechanism presents a significant danger to the science fibers.

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The cal source has likely been disabled for a reason. Reenabling it should only be done by WMKO staff with knowledge of why it was disabled in the first place.

SlewCal or Simultaneous Calibration Source is Wrong

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These two sources are set from the same place and are always kept to the same value using the kpfconfig.SIMULCALSOURCE keyword.

Solution

This value should only be changed by WMKO staff. The choice of calibration source is influenced by our desire to maintain the lifetime of the various lamps and calibration sources and by the need for warmup times on certain sources. This is not something the user should adjust, contact a WMKO Staff Astronomer if you feel it is set incorrectly.

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The detector has likely been disabled for a reason. Reenabling it should only be done by WMKO staff with knowledge of why it was disabled in the first place.

Detector Fails to Trigger Without Error

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Green or Red CCDPOWER is “Not Configured”

Symptom

The CCDPOWER keyword in the kpfgreen or kpfred service is “Not Configured”. This may manifest as the system not being able to take exposures.

Problem

The core problem is not yet clear, but this appears to be something in the Archon controller itself. Investigation is ongoing as of this writing. “It is as if the Archon glitched and lost its ACF.”

Solution

Restart the relevant kpfgreen or kpfred service (we will use kpfgreen in this example):

kpf restart kpfgreen

After the restart, the heater configuration must immediately be reset to the nominal values to restore temperature control, this will also turn on CCDPOWER:

kpfmon-heater-copy green copytolive

Note: The above solution was made obsolete when the Archons were removed from the heater control loops.

Green or Red CCDPOWER Fails to turn on

Symptom

When trying to power up the detector by setting the CCDPOWER keyword to “On”, the keyword does not successfully transition to on. The stderr file for the relevant camerad process (e.g. `gcamerad.stderr`) contains lines like:

`2024-11-24T23:38:56.114155 (Archon::Interface::archon_cmd) sending command: >19POWERON
2024-11-24T23:38:56.157720 (Archon::Interface::archon_cmd) ERROR: Archon controller returned error processing command: POWERON`

Problem

There is something wrong in the ACF file for the Archon.

Solution

Resend the ACF file by either modifying the appropriate ACF keyword or using the kpfSetReadModeNormal or kpfSetReadModeFast scripts.

Ca HK Detector Stuck

Symptom

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