Spectrograph CCD

Loading the FLI camera

The back-illuminated FLI camera installed on the spectrograph bench can also be controlled via CCDSH using the regular acquire and sequence commands after loading the necessary module:

source /usr/local/ccdsh/scripts/load-spec.ccdsh

Only one camera module can be loaded at a time!

Checking the cooling system

The old water cooler was decommisioned on 11. February 2015. The new OASIS Three chiller (File:Oasis-manual.pdf File:Oasis-productsheet.pdf) is located in the observing room. If necessary, the temperature of the cooler can be queried, set and checked remotely using the ALIX machine using

echo "settemp?" | nc -w 1 172.31.171.98 8821
echo "settemp 10" | nc -w 1 172.31.171.98 8821
echo "temp?" | nc -w 1 172.31.171.98 8821

commands. Fault status can be read by

echo "flts1a?" | nc -w 1 172.31.171.98 8821

A return value of 0 means no error, 2 means "Tank low" warning. For other faults consult the manual. In case of "Pump failure" error the temperature control is stopped, and the cooler must be restarted. The first tests show that at 5 degrees, the cooler tends to stop with "Pump failure", 10C is recommended. Try to keep coolant temperature above the dew point. At this level, the spectrograph can be cooled to -45C with ~95% power level.

If the spectrograph CCD, the cooler, or the ALIX controlling the cooler must be reset, it can be done through the IP Stecker remote-controlled switch, currently only from its website: http://172.31.171.99/

Warming-up of the camera

The warming-up of the camera should be closely supervised by the observer. Do not turn off the cooling at the operating temperature, warm it up gradually! The regular ccdsh commands (i.e. get temperature and set temperature) can be used.

For support astronomers: The ACE spectrograph can be switch on as follows:

0. Please make sure you have enough time to do this before the observation starts as screen socket may needs to be restarted on m5. This can be done via the file /etc/rc.local.

1. Go the the IP Stecker remote-controlled switch, available only from its website: http://172.31.171.99/. Turn on the FLI and the CHILLER.

2. Via IP Stecker, restart ALIX.

3. Wait two minutes.

4. On m5:

sudo cooler --start
sudo cooler --status

If you get a python error message, run the followings as root:

/usr/bin/screen -dmS ifwserial /usr/bin/socket -l -s 5774 -p "/home/apal/bin/serial -c /dev/ttyS0 -b 19200"
/usr/bin/screen -dmS mqtt-time /usr/local/bin/time-mqtt-pub.sh
/usr/bin/screen -dmS socat /usr/bin/socat pty,link=/dev/virtualcom0,raw tcp:172.31.171.98:1234
sleep 5; /bin/chmod 666 /dev/virtualcom

5. Then you are safe to start the cooling of the camera via ccdsh.