Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2009 13:43:41 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: 2.5-meter observing log
From: hjbrew@apo.nmsu.edu
Good morning all,
SDSSHOST2 was powered off for most of the night, so I had to write the
night log in MS WORD.
Howard.
APACHE POINT OBSERVATORY SDSS 2.5M
                      OBSERVING LOG
                 Tuesday December  8, 2009
                       (MJD 55174)
---=== OBSERVING TEAM ===---
        Observers:
        Steph Snedden
        Howard Brewington
        Day Support:
        Kaike Pan
---=== OBSERVING PLAN ===---
        Keep generator running!
        Monitor the spectro CCD temps.
        Stay warm!
---=== OBSERVING SUMMARY ===---
 The night was lost because of high humidity and
 storm damage to the our power lines. We ran on
 our emergency generator all night.
 At Dan Long’s request, we powered down the imager.
 At Jimm Gunn’s request, we also turn off the imager’s
 ion pump.
 We powered down HOST2 after having a couple of power
 failures with the on-site generator.
 The generator went down several times during the
 night.  Sometimes failing with out an alarm and
 or failure mode lights.  Other times, it failed with
 the alarms and the over crank or the RPM senor loss
 lamps.  Once it took about ten tries to get it started
 again.
 We did not go to bed until the day staff arrived, so
 someone would be available to restart the generator
 and monitor the spectro CCD temps.
 The TPM reports the spectro dewar pressure as only
 about 13 psi.
---=== OBSERVING LOG ===---
NIGHT:
--------
I had to re-write the first few hours of the log from memory because I
lost my logTool when HOST2 was powered down.
00:00Z  No co-op power because of down lines on site;
               we’re running on our emergency generator.
00:30Z  Checked the spectro CCD temps
02:00Z  The generator went down three times in a couple
               of minutes, so we powered down HOST2. These
              outages did not setoff any alarms or failure
              mode lights at the generator.
02:30Z  Restarted HOST2 and checked the spectro CCD
               temps.
02:45Z Dan Long called and asked that we power down the
             imager. We did.
03:30Z We had another generator failure, which was a
             result of “overcrank.”
03:35Z We powered down HOST2 again because the
             generator was not very unstable.  We check the
             spectro CCD temps before HOST2 was powered off.
03:40Z Jim Gunn called and asked that we power down the
             imager’s ion pump. We did.
04:20Z Generator went down again with no alarms or
              failure-mode lamps.
11:45Z Generator went down again with no alarms or
              failure-mode lamps.  This time it took about
             ten tries to get it going again.  During this
              process the RPM Sensor Loss light came on.
13:20Z We restarted HOST2 and checked the spectro CCD
              temps; all was well.
13:25Z We did a final check of the telescope; all was
              well.
13:30Z endNight finished and was happy.
---=== TELESCOPE STATUS ===---
Never opened.
Telescope at 30 deg. alt with cartridge 10 mounted. Counterweights at 240
LN2 autofill enabled. No interlocks bypassed.
13:30Z - Imager dewar weight:  222 lb; 00 psi
13:30Z - Spectro dewar weight: 218 lb; 13 psi
The imager is being warmed for storage.