Adventures of a first time CCD user

[uhb1966]

Hello guys and girls, these are the first adventures of a new CCD user.

I hope you'll have a bit to laugh

i bought a used QHY8 from a fellow stargazer. It arrived yesterday. It was missing the documentation (but in the documentation was not part of the deal, so that's okay). After quite a while I got everything running (the Camara needs two power sources). As the weather was good for the first time in years, I immediately set up in my garden at 11 PM. First I was struck by a faulty USB cable - it took me about an hour and a half to isolate the problem as it was not constantly failing but intermittantly freezing the software and/or windows.

But after that, i was able to shoot a few short moon sequences with APT. However, the result was less than optimal. I was getting pesky little black squares. I suspected something with debayering and asked APT's Ivo and the qhyccd forum for help.

Ivo answered within about 30 mins, and after 2 or 3 messages everything was clear: the debayering settings in APT refer only to the display within APT, not to the saved images ! (I hear the more experienced SGLers ROFLing)

After some updates and mouseclicks, i got nice little stacked images of the full moon.

The next problem was the cooling: the unit cooled very well when connected straight to a power source, but with the QHY power converter in-between the cooling was mediocre (guessing from the outside temp of the casing). Also, the unit stubbornly said it was running at 25C, but the pictures were ok (yes, i know, moon pics dont have to worry about SNR, but still, they were ok, some test darks at 30 secs were also very ok).

Well, to cut a long story short: the QHY8 does not have a temp sensor!!! Its supposed to cool straight away at max power. APT (and other software) is somehow getting wrong temp values.

Finally, i used the QHY power converter for the sony chip and a second power supply for the cooling. The finding: the cooling via the QHY power converter was much weaker- even the fan went at a little lower rotation speed. Running through the second power supply, the unit cooled great. Possibly one of the cables was mistakenly sent instead of the original one- it looks suspiciously thin for a cable that is supposed to be transferring 36 watts at 12 volt.

So, after several hours of silently swearing, everything works! Yay!!!

 

PS: the suspiciously thin 36 watts cable (the cross diameter of the plug is 2.5mm):

[uhb1966]

PS the qhy8 is far too sensitive for the moon in single shot mode  although i had the gain set very low and 0.002 s exposure, i still had complete saturation in some parts of the subs! This might be easier in video mode. However i bought the camera for dso imaging. But after working through all the issues described i just went for an easy target to get things going and to ensure the device arrived in good shape

[D4N]

Nice that you got everything working, there is a bigger sense of achievement when there are a few obstacles to get past.

Odd about the power issues, perhaps the transformer isn't correctly rated for the job, was it getting hot?

[Uranium235]

Welcome to the dark side

Yeah, you will find CCDs a bit over-sensitive for the moon. You really need to dim down then light getting to it, either by stopping down or putting a filter or two in place. Having said that, I tried it the other night with an Ha filter on the shortest exposure possible and its still over-exposed.

CCDs can also be a bit picky on USB cables too, I get through one every couple of years (the cold weakens them). I tend to use ones that have a ferrite bead on too - that cuts out any interference that may come from power cables etc. Try to route the power and USB separately too, that reduces the chance of RF interference.

[uhb1966]

10 hours ago, Uranium235 said:

Welcome to the dark side

...

Thank you, Darth Uranium235!

-Darth UHB

 

[MattJenko]

Good work. Always rewarding when perseverance pays off, and also that your new equipment actually works! You will have a lot of fun with that camera I am sure. USB cables are the source of a significant % of all imaging issues and much as they have made connectivity simple overall, for astronomy, they are a mixed blessing.

[RuralBill]

On 20 July 2016 at 19:38, uhb1966 said:

Hello guys and girls, these are the first adventures of a new CCD user.

I hope you'll have a bit to laugh

i bought a used QHY8 from a fellow stargazer. It arrived yesterday. It was missing the documentation (but in the documentation was not part of the deal, so that's okay). After quite a while I got everything running (the Camara needs two power sources). As the weather was good for the first time in years, I immediately set up in my garden at 11 PM. First I was struck by a faulty USB cable - it took me about an hour and a half to isolate the problem as it was not constantly failing but intermittantly freezing the software and/or windows.

But after that, i was able to shoot a few short moon sequences with APT. However, the result was less than optimal. I was getting pesky little black squares. I suspected something with debayering and asked APT's Ivo and the qhyccd forum for help.

Ivo answered within about 30 mins, and after 2 or 3 messages everything was clear: the debayering settings in APT refer only to the display within APT, not to the saved images ! (I hear the more experienced SGLers ROFLing)

After some updates and mouseclicks, i got nice little stacked images of the full moon.

The next problem was the cooling: the unit cooled very well when connected straight to a power source, but with the QHY power converter in-between the cooling was mediocre (guessing from the outside temp of the casing). Also, the unit stubbornly said it was running at 25C, but the pictures were ok (yes, i know, moon pics dont have to worry about SNR, but still, they were ok, some test darks at 30 secs were also very ok).

Well, to cut a long story short: the QHY8 does not have a temp sensor!!! Its supposed to cool straight away at max power. APT (and other software) is somehow getting wrong temp values.

Finally, i used the QHY power converter for the sony chip and a second power supply for the cooling. The finding: the cooling via the QHY power converter was much weaker- even the fan went at a little lower rotation speed. Running through the second power supply, the unit cooled great. Possibly one of the cables was mistakenly sent instead of the original one- it looks suspiciously thin for a cable that is supposed to be transferring 36 watts at 12 volt.

So, after several hours of silently swearing, everything works! Yay!!!

 

PS: the suspiciously thin 36 watts cable (the cross diameter of the plug is 2.5mm):

That cable is more than capable of the job, it looks like 6 amp speaker cable, which would be fine, same as my cable on my Atik camera.

[uhb1966]

Thank you Bill! Than it's probably the qhy 101 DC unit. Never mind, i'll use the power unit that came with the cam for cooling and a second power unit from my stash for the chip, and it's a wrap