QHY8L and Sequence Generator Pro - Cooling Problem !

[Pscammp]

Hello all,

I have a problem which I so hope someone can help me with  Please  Please  Please  ????

I've just acquired SGP and I'm having problems with Cooling my 8L

When I connect my Camera in SGP the Temperature module shows the Cooler set to off so then I plug in the power lead

into the DC-201s power unit, all good up to this point !

Then, with the 'Cool Down' set to -5c over a period of 10 Mins (set in a profile and the Control Panel) and the 'Warm Up'

set to 20c over a period of 10 Mins, I click the Cooler to 'ON' in the temp module..............Not so OK from this point ! 

After clicking 'ON' for the cooler, SGP changes it's indicated power percentage to 1% and should just sit there until I click

'Cool Down' button but it does not. The power very rapidly shoots all the way up to 50% to 52% if I don't catch it and click

the 'Warm Up' button really quick. Once the 'Warm Up' cycle completes and the camera is back at ambient temp I can click

the Cooler on and off all day and all SGP does is show 1% and 0% respectively but no shooting up of the power. This hap-

pens every time I start SGP and connect my 8L and power it up for the first time but once this initial issue is passed, cooling

works as expected.

The Cooling works perfectly and usually power sit's around 25% 'ish to maintain a -25c below the ambient temp. Does anyone

have any Idea why my 8L on initial startup keeps wanting to pump the power up to 50%   ??????

Incidentally, when I hook it up to QHY's EZCap software and open up the TEC control screen, the power is always set to 50%

power and when enabling the 'Auto Control' feature also begins cooling with power at 50% which very rapidly knocks the temp

way below zero before the software slowly brings the power down. To stop this happening, I have to open the TEC control box,

click to 'Manual', move the power % slider all the way to zero % and then hit 'Auto Control' - Then the cooling works perfectly.

I tried to go on the QHYCCD forum to ask there but all the forum is offering me is a Ransomware attack every time caught by

Microsoft security essentials (good god, they must have really P*ssed someone off at some point). So I'm at your mercy  :-D

My System: 

Win 7 64bit (fully updated via Windows Update)

ASCOM 6.1SP1

EQASCOM V1.28j

QHY8L - Driver: V11-02-17

QHY8L - ASCOM Driver:  V33

SGP Ver: Beta V2.4.3.11 (Same happens on current official release though)

Seems like the Driver is initializing my 8L at 50% power instead of 0% power, the Dev's of SGP tell me that their software doesn't

control the camera directly but sends commands to ASCOM and ASCOM decides what to do with the info so there is nothing they

can do directly. It's strange how in SGP initial power shoots up immediately to 50% power and EZCap also defaults to 50% too, this

surely has to be related somewhere along the line  ????

Many thanks for allowing me to rattle on and I so hope someone can help.

Best Regards

Paul

[Waldemar]

Hi Paul,

I do not get what the problem is...

If your cam is at ambient temperature it is quite normal that it will need more power to cool down then when it is already at set temp. and only needs to maintain that.

My QHY8Pro initially uses a lot more then 50%, once it is a set temperature, power drops. Totally normal to me...

my 2€c

Waldemar

[swag72]

My camera will cool at a higher percentage to get it down to set point temperature then levels off when this is reached. Mine generally starts off at 50 something percent and then levels off. 

I think this is perfectly normal - Let the camera reach the set point cooling that you set and then the power percentage will level off.

[r3i]

Hi Paul,

I'm currently using my QHY8L with Nebulosity 4 but I'm about to motorise the focus on my scope so am planning to buy SGP to use its autofocus facility. I therefore was interested in your post.

I downloaded the 45 day trial to see if I could replicate the problem and I think I understand where you are coming from.

I think the problem is that when you connect to the camera and then switch the cooler on, SGP does not appear to define a temperature setpoint (indicated by the NA next to the camera's temperature). The camera seems to set off and cool to some undefined temperature - I couldn't work out if this was some fixed absolute or relative value, or perhaps the last setpoint used.

Things are okay if as you say you quickly click on the Go button for either the Warm or Cool setpoint as then there is a defined setpoint.

I think the solution would be to click on the checkbox to tell SGP to start the defined Cooling setpoint/time period as soon as the camera is connected so then you have the camera's cooling operation under control from the start.

[Pscammp]

Sub Dwarf,

     Sorry it's so long for my reply in this topic but I forgot about it.

When clicking cooler to 'ON' your not actually telling SGP to cool the camera to a particular temp, all the ON does is activate cooling. To cool to you chosen temp you would

click the 'Cool Down' button. This then activates the cooling cycle but SGP doesn't whack up the power % higher than required to get to the chosen temp, it begins at 1% and

over time ( based on the time you set to complete cooling in ) Slowly brings the power % up in stages to hit your chosen temp in the set time you choose.

The problem here is that on initial connection and turning cooler to 'ON' ( "only the first time") I think the driver is setting the power % to 50% instead of 0% leaving SGP will tell

ASCOM what to do with it. Once I catch the initial power % ramp up with the 'Warm up' button and the camera's temp stabilizes at about ambient then I can click the Cooler to

ON or OFF all day long and it does not try firing the power to 50% it just sits there as im not actually cooling until I click to do so.

A response from the Dev's on the SGP forum said ASCOM has full control of the camera's cooler and all SGP does is request ASCOM to make an adjustment, ASCOM decides what

to do with that info, they say it's an issue with either the main driver or the ASCOM driver.

If you try the QHY8L in their own EZCap software and bring up the temp control box you'll also see that the power is at 50% default, on hitting 'Auto Control' the camera begins aggres-

sively cooling way too fast while the software is slowly trying to bring the power down. Again, once temp has stabilized power to zero and camera is back at ambient it will work normally

as SGP does. If when opening the temp control box, select 'Manual' and slide the power slider all the way to zero and then hit 'Auto Control' then cooling begins from zero and works fine.

I have managed to get a message on the QHY forum to challenge this issue as 'QUi' on there says the 50% power start up setting is set in the driver. I think it should default to Zero %

to remove the risk of thermal shock as my camera is going from +20c to -5c in about 50 secs if I let it or forget to react. surely risks thermal shock.

If I get any joy i'll post it here

Regards

Paul