elenna.capote@LIGO.ORG - posted 18:07, Monday 26 June 2023 - last comment - 13:55, Tuesday 27 June 2023(70839)
Power up step time reduced
Since we are back to a lower and more stable operating power, I reduced the power step up time in the MAX_POWER guardian state. Each 5W step up from 25W took 60 seconds, now that time is down to 45 seconds. Tomorrow, I'd like to try a 30 second step time, which I think should be fine since the ASC is much more stable up to 60W. This has already reduced the relocking time by almost 2 minutes, and will reduce it more.
Today I reduced this timer to 30 seconds. We just had a successful power up! This is now guardianized. Should shave 3.5 minutes off the locking process.
Note: the ASC loops are notoriously unreliable. I encourage operators to pay attention to the power up process and if there are problems with ASC instabilities during the final power up, increasing this timer will likely be a good solution. Tagging ops.