SGP and SX Filter wheel

[nightster]

Can anyone tell if Sequence Generator Pro and the Starlight Xpress USB Filter Wheel work together. I read on the SX site that the FW driver is native in Windows but I cannot find on the SGP site that wheel is compatible.

Any info would help.

[Steve 1962]

Yup - my SX USB filter wheel works fine with SGPro

Steve

[Sp@ce_d]

Yeah used mine with it too

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[Zakalwe]

Yep, same here. And SGP will read the filter names and locations from the SX driver, so it saves you having to re-enter the same information.

[nightster]

This wheel is 200$ cheaper than the well liked EFW2. I downloaded the trial version of SGP and was excited at how intuitive it was. I just want to make sure each chunk of money it being wisely used.

So that's what they mean by the hall effect sesnors. This wheel knows what position it's at? I can image other wheels might get lost in a power lose for example. The SX seems like a great value.

[Sp@ce_d]

I've got 2 SX wheels with OAGs (ones the mini with built in OAG) & they work fine. I also have an EFW2, it's well made but I prefer the SX wheels as they don't require separate power.. Ok they are noisier in operation but so is the mount & CCD fan [emoji3]

Also easier to get in to fit filters. Although that's normally not a very frequent requirement. There's reviews by Steve Richards (steppenwolf) of both on FLO's website.

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[Zakalwe]

This wheel is 200$ cheaper than the well liked EFW2. I downloaded the trial version of SGP and was excited at how intuitive it was. I just want to make sure each chunk of money it being wisely used.

So that's what they mean by the hall effect sesnors. This wheel knows what position it's at? I can image other wheels might get lost in a power lose for example. The SX seems like a great value.

I think that any half-decent electric filter wheel will use some sort of sensor to register where the wheel is. I would think (but am open to correction on this) that a Hall effect system would be better than one using an optical sensor, as an optical system might "contaminate" the system with reflected light?

I find that my SX wheel sometimes needs re-booting, especially if the wheel is powered up and there is a time delay in connecting the software to it. Happily, it only takes the USB plug to be unplugged and plugged back in to do this.

[Sp@ce_d]

Or if you're running a remote system go into device manager and disable/enable. I've had to do that a few times.

The other setting I select in the driver is to disable bidirectional movement. That's known to have caused some people problems.

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[nightster]

FLO's review commented on the screws for the nose pieces scratching the camera. Has this been fixed in newer versions?

[perfrej]

I filed off a bit of the screw heads

/per

[Steve 1962]

I put some Delrin spacers in.

[Horwig]

I'm using my SX wheel successfully with SGP. But beware, if you plug main and guide cameras and wheel into the hub, then plug the hub into the pc, the wheel will occasionally not be recognised, not just by SGP, but by Windows and any number of applications, (a driver problem?)

Un-plugging and re-plugging the wheel's usb brings it online. As to camera screw clearance,  I'm with Per on this one, no harm in taking a few thou off the heads, still plenty of meat on them.

Huw

[nightster]

I actually found a good photo of the 460ex attached to the SX wheel and the screws are outside the circumference of the camera. Now that I think of it, both manufactures put up excellent mechanical drawing with all the dimensions so I should of been able to figure that one out.

So the USB plug in sequence matters? Not a deal breakeR, just a quirk. This wheel has such a tempting price I can't justify the 40% premium for the Atik wheel if I don't plan on using the Artemis software. While many like the Atik software, in the few minutes I was poking around in SGP it felt very intuitive. Right now I am trying to figure how it plate solves. Currently using ATortilla with BYEOS but seems like SGP interfaces right to the astrometry.net or a local copy of it.

Are there any other issues, quirks, benefits of the SX wheel?

[Horwig]

Are there any other issues, quirks, benefits of the SX wheel?

The only problem I've had is brushing against the usb in the dark, and cracking the connections off the board. Solved it by using a right angle connector, with the cable P-clipped to the wheel.

Huw

[perfrej]

I have re-soldered my USB connector three times now. It is clearly not a clever design to use surface mount connectors with the board itself as the only support for the connector. My latest mod is an external connector that does not sit on the edge of the wheel (the board leads are extinct). Apart from that it is a great wheel if you get it with the 7-position carousel.

/per

[Horwig]

Like Per, I've lost count of the times I've 'compromised' the usb connector. I've put in place a two pronged solution.

The problem is that the usb socket is only fixed to the pcb, not physically to the wheel housing, so I've glued a nylon block to the wheel cover to wedge the socket in place against the body of the wheel, making a much stronger system.

As a second line of defence, I use a right angle plug, so there's nothing protruding, so no leverage when you inevitably bump into the wheel in the dark.

Huw

[nightster]

Would it be possible to post a pic of this 'upgrade'?  This sounds similar to the issues some have had with the QHY USB connections.    Since I started this hobby I've been buying velcro strips in bulk to fasten as many of these cords, cables and wires as possible.  

[Horwig]

This is how I did mine, firstly, the problem, that socket is just surface soldered to the board, the leverage from the inserted plug rips the pins off the board at the back.

So I glued a nylon block to the inside of the wheel cover, to press down on the socket:

The right angle usb socket is great, (it's a 3m long one from Startech) The cable , together with the cables from the main and guide camera are held on by the P-clip to one of the screws on the back of the wheel .

The blue pipes are to feed dessicated air into the wheel body to stop the front face of my camera dewing over:

Hope that explains it all

Huw

[nightster]

Spectacular solution. I also like the wire wrap. Cable management is going to be a goal for me this year. Tell me about the desiccant tube. Is that part of the SX kit or did you add that?

[Horwig]

Cable management is SO important, also ident the USBs both ends, so you can trace problems. If I were doing it again, I'd use light grey wrap, easier to see in the dark.

My sx35 camera is prone to dewing on the front of the window on moist nights, and I'm fed up of dis assembling to use a hairdryer, so came up with the dry air solution. It might be overkill, but it works well.

It's a 12v ac fish tank air pump, running off my dew heater supply, the air going through a dessicant chamber, through the wheel, and back to the pump.

Huw