Connecting and Setting Options:


Safety monitors are selected and connected on the Sequence Window in the equipment group box.


Most Safety Monitors give you an idea of imaging safety by continuously analyzing the weather.  That said, a safety monitor can technically analyze anything (weather or other) and provide data to SGPro that indicates if it is unsafe to continue imaging.


Safety Monitors are in the "Extended" equipment list and as such you will need to click the down arrow below the telescope to access the connection settings.


Options can be set when the safety monitor is in a disconnected state by clicking the  icon.  These options will vary by manufacturer.  This properties dialog is generally where the COM port is specified as well as other device dependent information.


To connect the Safety Monitor click on the connection icon .  Once connected the icon will change , click this icon to disconnect.


Safe/Unsafe Status:


The current Safety Monitor implementation relies on the ASCOM "Safety Device" which supports a single status of Safe or Unsafe.  When the device is reporting Safe everything operates as normal.  When the device reports Unsafe the End of Sequence options are executed.  This is true even if the sequence is not running.


 The "End of Sequence" options are set on different devices.  For instance when the sequence ends due to an unsafe condition you may want to:


  • Warm up your camera (turn off the TEC)
  • Park your telescope
  • Close your observatory.  


These settings can be found in each of the device options in the Control Panel.  You should note that the observatory must be slaved to the mount to close as the observatory open/close is tied to the mount unpark/park event and can be setup in the Slave Settings for the observatory.  Likewise you must also select to have the mount park when sequence completes.



Viewing Status:


The safety status can be seen in the bottom right notification area of Sequence Generator Pro.


Disabled/Weather Station not Connected:


Safe:


Unsafe:



Note: The safety monitor will not truly be active until the first frame from the first target begins.  If there is a period where SGPro is idle prior to sequence start, SGPro will ignore any unsafe events until the first target's start time passes.