PHD white screen issue

[SkyExplorer]

Wondering if someone can help.

I was trying to use PHD 2 tonight, however I got a white screen at 1s exposure.  I changed the exposure to 3 seconds and got a lot of noise.  So I changed it back to 1.5s and got an in focused image of stars, then the next exposure was white, the next an in focus image of stars and so on.

I tried using the QGVideo app and saw stars with an exposure of 1 second with any issues, however I think that software using the USB drivers, where as PHD uses ASCOM.

Any help appreciated..

[Owmuchonomy]

I've had a very similar issue and it was down to a bad USB connection between guide camera and Mac. Have you checked cables and connections to rule this out?

[SkyExplorer]

I think the USB connections were okay, will check tomorrow. I'll try and have a go during the day to troubleshoot.

I was reading about issues with PhD 2 and qhy5 cameras showing excessive noise. Not sure if this is my issue. Well also try PhD 1 tomorrow as well.

[Scott]

I've had similar problems. Not the most technical solution but I turned pdh off and on again and it seemed to work

[Phillyo]

I had a similar issue and it was the USB hub. I was trying to run it without being plugged in, SGPro, Camera and mount worked fine but PHD just gave a white screen

[SkyExplorer]

Just tried the camera again with end cap on.

When I first use PHD I get a black screen with about 60 white dots of varying brightness.  I assume these are dead or noisy pixels.

So I thought, to remove these I'll capture some dark frames in PHD. After I have done this and use the darks the screen then goes white in PHD 1.14 and 2. 

In PHD 1.14 when I delete the darks (can't find the option in PHD 2), I get a black screen again with my nice pretty noisy pixel "night sky" 

[D4N]

You can manually delete the darks out of the folder. I think it should be in your documents directory.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[SkyExplorer]

Thanks will bear that in mind.  However I'm wondering if it is normal behaviour to get a white screen when using darks in PHD...

[D4N]

Nope that's not how mine works, does the dark look ok?

You could try asking on the PHD Google group.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[SkyExplorer]

How do i look at the dark ?

[SkyExplorer]

I guess the QHY5t is ASCOM 5/6 compliant..... 

[SkyExplorer]

Seems PHD 1.14 work slightly better than 2.  On my old laptop running XP, ASCOM platform 5.5 and PHD 1.11.3 it seems to work fine.  However on my new laptop running ASCOM 6.1sp1 and PHD 1.14 / 2 I get these issues.

When I first turn open PHD 1.14 start to capture I get this, which I assume are hot pixels.

If then take a dark and start exposures again I would assume the amount of white pixels will reduce, but instead I get this.

[D4N]

I dunno about PHD1, I only use 2.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[msh1]

what gain is the camera set on ??

[SkyExplorer]

50%

[msh1]

sorry chap not a clue at 0.2 sec it should be black try changing the usb cable 

[SkyExplorer]

Changed the USB cable, un-installed ASCOM 6.1 and all drivers, reinstalled from CD I got with QHY5t, it still goes grey/white when using darks......

I must be doing something stupid somewhere 

[SkyExplorer]

sorry chap not a clue at 0.2 sec it should be black try changing the usb cable 

Do you use darks with PHD and your QHY5?  If so what does it look like ?  Just trying 0.2 seconds with the end cap on, I would expect to get black image

[msh1]

yep i use qhy5 and do darks, calibrate with 2 sec exposures ,nice clean image.are you using a hub try plugging into computer usb2 slot

[martin_h]

I use the original PHD(1) and never use darks, calibrate at 1 second exposures with the gain set at 95% - all using the Ascom driver

[Davey-T]

Why are you using .2 ? I use from 2.0 to 4.0 secs, try a longer exposure, only mention this because in Maxim if I take really short exposures they come out white, longer ones come out black, don't ask me why

Dave

[SkyExplorer]

just using .2 as that was I was trying at the time.

What I do is as follows

1. Connect camera using ASCOM to PHD.

2. Leaving end cap on finder take some exposures

3. With end cap still on take come darks

4. With end cap still on take some exposures, the noisy pixels should have been reduced ?

Maybe I'm doing some thing wrong.

Picture taken for step 2, showing noise

Picture after dark taken, end cap still on

I went out side last night to try and PHD setup and working, however I ended up trying to guide on a noisy pixel as it did not move, so I am trying to get rid of the noise by using a dark frame, without much luck...

[Davey-T]

You certainly have a lot of dead pixels, I have a Star Shoot camera, basically the same board in  different case and it only has a couple of dead pixels that don't disappear after taking a dark frame.

Have you tried posting on the Stark Labs Yahoo forum ?

Dave

[msh1]

cover guide scope take darks 1 or 2 sec, then uncover guide scope, take image you should just see stars ,if its still a bit noisy move the slider to the right a little bit, is your guide scope focused properly you should be able to tell the difference between stars and hot pixels 

[Davey-T]

I have a couple of big ones left after subtracting dark frame but if you slew the mount a bit the stars move and the pixels don't so easy to tell the difference.

Dave