MDM Trouble Report for 2015 Mar 29

Telescope: 2.4m
Observer(s): Holoien, Danilet (Ohio State)
Instrument: OSMOS

Problem(s) Encountered:
Clouds prevented observations all night.

In addition, had issues with the dome multiple times throughout the night.

UT 2:25: After noticing that the dome was moving for an unusually long time, saw the message
 Dome Encoder Not Responding  on the TCS monitor. Some searching revealed a similar issue in an old trouble report from Nov 10, 2008.
(http://mdm.kpno.noao.edu/Reports/Trouble/2008/MDM24.2008Nov10.txt)

Turning auto dome off stopped the dome, but it started moving again after turning it back on. We switched it to  Home ,
and it still didn't stop moving. So, we followed the steps outlined in that previous trouble report to resolve the issue:
1) Stow telescope at zenith (send coordintes for RA=LST, 
DEC = 31 57).
2) Set Track toggle to off
3) Set tilt meters using hand paddle
4) Set Drives toggle to off
5) Set Dome Home/Free to  Home , ensure arrows align
6) Set Auto Dome toggle to off
7) Dome Controller in manual mode (yellow button off)
8) in XTCS:
8a) choose <<setup>> then Clear Link
8b) choose <<setup>> then Set UT
8c) Choose <<setup>> Set Dome Encoder, enter 320
9) Set Dome Controller to auto mode (yellow button on)
10) Auto Dome: up
Drives: up
Track: up
Dome Home/Free: up
11) Center a bright star in FOV, set RA/DEC encoders.
This seemed to fix the issue.

UT 8:34: Saw the  Dome Encoder Not Responding  message again. Followed the same steps as before.
This time, when we sent the dome  home , it moved for a while and then stopped, however when we went into
the dome, it was pointed almost 180 degrees away from where it should have been. Following the same steps as before seemed
to solve it. The telescope was pointed at these coordinates when it happened:
RA=14:44:55.6, Dec=+24:34:44, HA=-1:06:47, airmass 1.043

UT 9:05: After pointing to a bright star, the dome seemed to track the telescope alright. Then shortly after
we noticed that it seemed to get lost again: the Dome Azimuth field was not changing, but the dome was rotating.
It started by trying small movements, then started spinning again. We turned off Auto Dome then turned it back on, and it stopped moving.
However, once the target moved beyond where the dome thought it was, it tried to move and then did not stop again. This time,
the  Dome Encoder Not Responding  message did not appear, but this might be because we noticed the problem early.
Target coordinates when this occurred: RA/Dec: 13:48:38.7, +31:11:25, Alt/Az: 88.1, 230

Since the dome was not cooperating and the clouds look to be sticking around for the rest of the night, we closed up.

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Submitted on 2015 Mar 30 [2:38:21]