SPC900 LXmod yesyes style ;-)

[themos]

COM7 turned up, it's a Xagyl filter wheel, and it also uses an FTDI adaptor.

[yesyes]

good to see you resolved the issue. odd that PHD only wants COM1-4.

You could have changed the COM port numbers a bit easier. When you open the properties of a COM port in device manager you can change the number for each port there. No need to uninstall the ports and then reinstall in a different order.

[themos]

I tried looking round the Properties but I missed the field you're talking about. If you look at the openPHD code, there is code in there that explicitly looks at the port number and only does something if the number is less than 5, no idea why. It's probably unintended.

[Kbramley]

I had the same problem with PHD and com port numbers over 4, took me a while to figure out what was going on, PHD would just crash with an exception error when the webcam was selected in LX mode. Now I force the webcam to be on a 1-4 com and it works a treat

[harshal]

Hello All

I have returned after a loong time... I want your opinion about this product. CAn it be used in the mod?

http://www.ebay.in/itm/USB-RS232-TTL-Converter-Adapter-Module-PL2303-/181112685136?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_203&hash=item2a2b284250

I have some time at hand and wanna take up the mod project seriously, so while searching for NEW parts I came across the above product. Though I have a few others lying around

Appreciate your review and comments

Thanks

[yesyes]

Hello All

I have returned after a loong time... I want your opinion about this product. CAn it be used in the mod?

http://www.ebay.in/i...=item2a2b284250

I have some time at hand and wanna take up the mod project seriously, so while searching for NEW parts I came across the above product. Though I have a few others lying around

Appreciate your review and comments

Thanks

There is not much technical detail in that ebay listing. What you would need to find out from the seller is what pins you have on the serial port side.

There are only 5 pins, most likely Tx, Rx, +5V, GND and one handshake line.

For the full mod you will need 2 handshake lines DTR and RTS. If you only have one of these lines, you can still do the long exposure mod without the amp-off mod.

[chrislj74]

Can someone check these 2 pics to see if I have my circuit correct? I hope they are clear enough to make out what is connected to what. Sorry about the text size too, hope people can read it. Obviously I still need to add the wires, switch.

[chrislj74]

Never mind. I went ahead and gave it a go with my spc900 and it works. The question I have now is what is the switch for? Ampoff I'm guessing?

[Whistlebare]

I hope someone can help...I recently purchased an SPC900 YesYes style webcam from a member of this site and I'm having trouble getting the LX Mode to view any DSO's.

It works fine in normal mode but I can't seem to capture anything in LX mode. I followed the vid on astronomy shed made by Dion, which showed all the settings for Sharpcap, and made sure the amp on/off were in the right place, but still no joy. If I point it towards a dim star, it sees it when it is not centered and it has a funny yellow glow around it and the image looks interlaced, but when the star is centered then nothing is displayed on the screen almost like there's a black spot on the lens.

I'm running it in on a WIn7 64bit PC and it picked up the drivers automatically...

I'm sure it is probably me that's doing something wrong, I am a Noob! but I can't see what.

I Was trying to capture M42 and it's pretty low in the sky where I am, so I'll keep trying....Any info / advice would be great.

[yesyes]

The question I have now is what is the switch for? Ampoff I'm guessing?

No, the switch is to switch back to normal mode where the exposure time of the camera is controlled by it's driver, not the LX software via serial port.

Switch open = LX mode, switch closed = normal mode.

[yesyes]

I hope someone can help...I recently purchased an SPC900 YesYes style webcam from a member of this site and I'm having trouble getting the LX Mode to view any DSO's.

It works fine in normal mode but I can't seem to capture anything in LX mode. I followed the vid on astronomy shed made by Dion, which showed all the settings for Sharpcap, and made sure the amp on/off were in the right place, but still no joy. If I point it towards a dim star, it sees it when it is not centered and it has a funny yellow glow around it and the image looks interlaced, but when the star is centered then nothing is displayed on the screen almost like there's a black spot on the lens.

I'm running it in on a WIn7 64bit PC and it picked up the drivers automatically...

I'm sure it is probably me that's doing something wrong, I am a Noob! but I can't see what.

I Was trying to capture M42 and it's pretty low in the sky where I am, so I'll keep trying....Any info / advice would be great.

if you have the original lens with the camera, try putting that back on instead of the telescope nose-piece and do some daylight tests in a dark-ish corner. That should show whether there is actually something wrong with the camera (e.g. a black spot).

Also, I think you should use the Philips drivers, not the ones Windows has built-in. But maybe do the daytime test first...

so someone is selling yesyes modded webcams on here.... ;-))

[Whistlebare]

I did have then

if you have the original lens with the camera, try putting that back on instead of the telescope nose-piece and do some daylight tests in a dark-ish corner. That should show whether there is actually something wrong with the camera (e.g. a black spot).

Also, I think you should use the Philips drivers, not the ones Windows has built-in. But maybe do the daytime test first...

so someone is selling yesyes modded webcams on here.... ;-))

I think it was just their own personal one they sold...I had an unmodded spc900 which I sold on ebay along with the original lens...alas this one did not come with the lens, but i'll contact them and see if they have it still.

So this interlacing effect (like horizontal scan lines on an old TV) is this normal? I'll have to get a few screen grabs so people can see what i mean...

[yesyes]

yes, screenshots would help.... although I can more or less imagine what you mean. I would not say it's normal.

[Whistlebare]

yes, screenshots would help.... although I can more or less imagine what you mean. I would not say it's normal.

Can I do these tests without the original len (i don't have it), say with the scope pointing at a faint light off in the distance? It's cloudy here at the moment.

I just take grabs of the same object with different exposure times and look for differences in the images, right?

I'l take shots and get them uploaded as soon as...

Thanks for your help!

[chrislj74]

No, the switch is to switch back to normal mode where the exposure time of the camera is controlled by it's driver, not the LX software via serial port.

Switch open = LX mode, switch closed = normal mode.

This can't be so. I can do long exposure regardless of the switch being on or off using wscapture. The switch works I know because I can see the noise reduce on screen when turned on which is why I said amp off.

[chrislj74]

I meant wxAstroCapture.

[chrislj74]

Actually I take that back, you are correct. It appeared to work both ways but it wasn't actually working but one of them. I do have a question though. When the lx mod is off the image is clean with no noisey pixels but when it's on I get noisey pixels. Is there anything that can be done to get rid of the artifacts?

[yesyes]

Can I do these tests without the original len (i don't have it), say with the scope pointing at a faint light off in the distance? It's cloudy here at the moment.

I just take grabs of the same object with different exposure times and look for differences in the images, right?

I'l take shots and get them uploaded as soon as...

Thanks for your help!

It should work with a focused telescope. The idea is to get a sharp-ish picture and then see what that looks like. Doesn't have to be in long exposure mode.

[yesyes]

Actually I take that back, you are correct. It appeared to work both ways but it wasn't actually working but one of them. I do have a question though. When the lx mod is off the image is clean with no noisey pixels but when it's on I get noisey pixels. Is there anything that can be done to get rid of the artifacts?

That's normal to a certain extent. The longer you expose the noisier the image will be. These are not exactly low noise sensors. ;-)

What you can do about it depends on what you are doing with the webcam. If you use it as a guide cam, then the noise is usually not a problem as long as the guide star is brighter than the noise. If you do video imaging, you can then stack your video in Registax to get a strill image. As far as I know stacking reduces noise. If you take still images with the webcam, then you can also stack them in Registax or in Deep Sky Stacker.

[Whistlebare]

It should work with a focused telescope. The idea is to get a sharp-ish picture and then see what that looks like. Doesn't have to be in long exposure mode.

Thanks Chris, I've got the original lens for a SPC900 now so i'll try it that way first. If i get time over the weekend I'll take some pics with and without lx mode switched on.

Thanks for your help.

Rgds

Craig

[chrislj74]

Did anyone ever connect the two boards via cable so they aren't stacked for better airflow cooling or other possiblities? I did determine that the pins are 2mm pitch. Which a 20 pin connector can be had but only seems to be found from China. No one I have found sells then in the states where I live. I found a male / female laptop hd cable that I cut down and redid. It works good but I can't really say if it's going to help with cooling since I do not have a fan on mine yet. If anyone's interested I'll post up some pics of how it looks.

[Whistlebare]

yes, screenshots would help.... although I can more or less imagine what you mean. I would not say it's normal.

Sorry for the length of time it has taken me to upload these images of my YesYes modded spc900. I have attached 8 images, 4 with AmpOn and 4 with AmpOff ( LX Mode ). Also you can see in normal mode the images gets brighter with the exposure changes, but when in lx mode there is no change at all...Also you should be able to see these horizontal lines I was talking about.

What do you think?

rgds

Craig

[neilhooper]

Hi everyone,

I'm totally new to everything and this is my first post.

I'm about to carry out the mod to my SPC900. I've got most of the bits together and I'm just sorting out the USB to Serial adaptor and have found one on ebay, http://www.ebay.co.u...=item43b8d732d1 This one seems expensive and I'm not sure that it's totally suitable. Does anyone know of a cheaper / better alternative that I could use? - Neil

[harshal]

There is not much technical detail in that ebay listing. What you would need to find out from the seller is what pins you have on the serial port side.

There are only 5 pins, most likely Tx, Rx, +5V, GND and one handshake line.

For the full mod you will need 2 handshake lines DTR and RTS. If you only have one of these lines, you can still do the long exposure mod without the amp-off mod.

Hey Yes Yes

Thanks for the comment. Can you point out what changes can be made to you original post in order to use this for long exposure. I am not an electronics person so asking such (dumb!!!) questions.

Thanks

[yesyes]

Sorry for the length of time it has taken me to upload these images of my YesYes modded spc900. I have attached 8 images, 4 with AmpOn and 4 with AmpOff ( LX Mode ). Also you can see in normal mode the images gets brighter with the exposure changes, but when in lx mode there is no change at all...Also you should be able to see these horizontal lines I was talking about.

What do you think?

rgds

Craig

Sorry about the delay. Quite busy recently...

First of all, AmpOn/AmpOff is not the same as LX mode. LX is Long eXposure. AmpOff disables (or, in fact, reduces) the internal signal AMPlification (which causes the sensor to heat up which in turn causes Amp Glow). The switch enables/disables LX mode, not AmpOff.

To be honest, I'm not sure what the stripes are and what causes them. Not seen it like this before. Let's concentrate on the other issue first; the fact that the exposure does not change with LX on.

What software are you using to capture the video? It must be software that has a setting for LX mode (for example SharpCap written by a SGL member). Any normal video capture program will not be able to control the LX mode via serial port. (sorry if you mentioned that before, it's been a while and I haven't re-read your last posts :-) ).

If you are using SharpCap, did you select the LX mode entry of you cam in the Camera menu? If yes, what settings did you use in the LX mode config dialog?