Dome HOME failure

Tuesday, April 26, 2022 7:19 AM

Problem(s) Encountered:

At the end of the night, the dome did not return to its home position when commanded from the TCS software. No impact on observing -- we used the telescope paddle to return it to contacts. 

Solution:

Dome home limit switch had failed.  Apparently during the somewhat recent work on that system, the switch got placed too closely to the skid plate it contacts.  This resulted in it slowly crushing itself to death.  Last night it finally crumbled.  Had a spare limit switch so I replaced the head (the only part to actually fail).  I then adjusted the switch position to keep it from being crushed.  Finally, I repositioned the skid plate slightly so that when the dome homes, the electrical contact plates are making better contact (HOME used to have them slightly left of center.  They are now centered.).