Cables, bandwidth and power (or lack thereof!)

[uhb1966]

Didn't know that

[sidelight]

I use a powered us hub mounted on velcro to the mount everything bar the camera goes into that on nice short cables. I then use 2 active us cables, one to the hub, one to the camera that way there are only two trailing wires to worry about.

Cheers

Ross

[Twisted Lip]

On long runs, use active usb cables... they boost the signals to cope with the cable length.

I have a 12m one in use.

Yes my existing set up has the same, a 12m active USB 2.0 with a hub which until now has proved ok.

I've just purchased this USB 3.0 hub so I'll let you know how I get on. I don't have power that far out so I'll probably get one of these too so I can power it from the 12v pack.

I'll let you know how I get on with the new USB 3.0 devices.

[Christopher Davenport]

Hello Will, good to see you 'back in the saddle'! I'm feeling rather responsible now that you have named and shamed me.... So, I must try and help...!

Funnily enough I have had major issues just recently with usb connectivity dropping out too. I am convinced that it was due to dropping temperatures and insufficient power arriving at the not powered separately Lodestar as it tended to be PHD that crashed first. I have just replaced my usb hub with a powered hub (usb 2). Despite the weather's best efforts, I have managed to use it a couple of times and have had absolutely no problems with crashing. So I think I can say that the problem is solved.

Therefore I reckon a powered USB hub could be your solution. I would plug it into the USB 2 port on your laptop and run everything into the hub.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing some Twisted Lip pics soon!

My PHD has been randomly crashing since got my new laptop. I wonder if this is not the same problem. I am going to try run my qhy5 through the USB2 port instead.

[PhotoGav]

My PHD has been randomly crashing since got my new laptop. I wonder if this is not the same problem. I am going to try run my qhy5 through the USB2 port instead.

Were you using a hub at all?

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[Christopher Davenport]

Were you using a hub at all?

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No just my USB port on my laptop, but it is the black version, not the yellow, which is faster.

It never occurred to me that I it could be the USB that is causing the problem.

I am about to run some tests of using the yellow port for the guider, then I will use the slower port for my Camera. 

[PhotoGav]

Good luck with that. It does seem to be a very power critical thing to get the guidecam to not crash PHD!

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[Twisted Lip]

Just heard back from Astrotec about the EQDir cable and they reckon the reason is also lack of power through the USB 2.0 so it looks like power is definitely an issue with some astro devices!