Changes
/* Local Control Unit (LCU) */
There is a local control unit (LCU) that has the ability to shutdown the facility under certain circumstances:
* '''Weather''': the telescope will shutdown if meteorological limits are reached. Note that the LCU currently ignores the cloud monitor, which doesn't always give an accurate indication of cloud cover, so it is especially important to monitor for cloud yourself using the all-sky camera. You won't be able to startup the telescope again until the weather is good again.
* '''TCS connection''': the LCU will close up the telescope if the connection to the user's TCS browser is lost for more than 10 minutes. Therefore '''it is essential to reload the browser if you see a message informing you that the connection has been lost, else the telescope will shutdown in the middle of your observation'''.
* '''LCU connection''': if the LCU drops out, then the telescope will also shutdown.
During the verification period of the LCU, there are tick boxes available to override the LCU and weather shutdowns. Please don't tick the boxes unless you experience spurious shutdowns, and report the circumstances of those shutdowns. '''If the suthweather.saao.ac.za page is down, the LCU will not be able to read the weather and will close the dome''', so you will need to tick the weather override in this circumstance. Note that there is no way to override a loss of connection to the user's browser, so you always need to '''ensure that you reload the page if a connection warning appears on the TCS'''.
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[[File:LCU_20220215.png|400px|frame|left|The LCU -- displayed on both tabs of the TCS -- monitors weather and connections, and shuts down the telescope when certain criteria are met.]]
