Help needed connecting new camera

[Tiny Small]

Hi all. I just took delivery of an ASI178mm-cool. I have installed the latest drivers and my laptop recognises it fine. However, every time I plug it in, it disconnects my mount and if I leave the mount plugged in, the camera disappears from device manager too. I have uninstalled and reinstalled all the ascom drivers and platform, the camera drivers and now I'm a little bit stuck. I've checked the ZWO website and there is nothing on there as far as I can see to solve this. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Matt.

 

[Tiny Small]

Update... it's a problem either with the cooler or the cooler power supply. If I unplug the cooler, it all works fine... which is a bit annoying.

[cosmojaydee]

how are you connecting your camera and mount to the pc?

 

[Davey-T]

How is your mount connected ? you can look in the ASCOM Profiler to see what's what.

Dave

[Tiny Small]

It's a vixen GPDX with SS2K handset. It plugs in via USB as does the camera. It's fine if I don't plug in the cooler but the whole idea was to have a cooled camera. The cooler is running on a centre positive connection from a 13.8v bench power supply. The cooler is supposed to be able to use 9-15v so 13.8 should be fine. 

[Thalestris24]

Sounds like a power (or maybe a grounding) issue? Are you supplying enough for the cooler + mount?

[Gina]

+1 for Sounds like a power problem.  Like not enough current available.  The ZWO coolers definitely work fine with 13.8v - that's what I use.  Make sure you have at least 4A available.  I use a 25A PSU backed up with a car battery for my observatory power supply.

[Tiny Small]

There is more than enough power. The bench unit can chuck out 25 Amps and is currently using just under 6 with everything connected.

[Gina]

Check your connections.  Oh and cable resistance - you could be dropping too much voltage.

[Tiny Small]

The cable is fine too. The multi-meter is showing 13.8 volts bang on at the connection. The wire is 16 gauge so should be more than enough?

[Gina]

Earthing/grounding is important - make sure you have a common connection ie. one point with a star type connection to the equipment.  Connect the common point to a good ground rod too.

[Tiny Small]

So, I've just checked the amp meter on the power supply. Without the cooler plugged in, the mount is using about 0.8 amps in sidereal. When I plug the cooler in, it's drawing a total of 4.5 amps, so the cooler is drawing 3.7 amps. That sounds a little high but I'm not sure what these actually run at. 

[Gina]

My ground point is on the top of my pier with a heavy duty (30A) ground cable to the grounding rod - a length of copper pipe going a metre into the ground just outside the scope room where it gets suitably damp/wet.  The equipment connections are with stranded cable rated at 16.5A.

[Thalestris24]

What it might be is that the camera is specified as 12v, 2amps. It's possible that it doesn't like the mount overvoltage. Have you got a separate 12v psu you can try?

Louise

[Gina]

Hmm...  ZWO don't quote a maximum voltage for the cooler but my ASI1600MM-Cool works fine on 13.8v.  Mostly a spec of 12v means something like 11v to 15v.  I agree Louise - try a lower voltage - there may be a variation in voltage tolerance.

[Thalestris24]

1 minute ago, Gina said:

Hmm...  ZWO don't quote a maximum voltage for the cooler but my ASI1600MM-Cool works fine on 13.8v.  Mostly a spec of 12v means something like 11v to 15v.

Fair enough Gina - it was just an idea!

Louise

[Tiny Small]

Okay... fixed. I... might have accidently reversed the polarity... luckily, I didn't kill the camera and it's now working. I have somewhat of a red face so please don't ask me how I did it as then I would have to come clean. Thank you very much for your help though

[Gina]

Phew!!  I'm glad you camera was alright   Maybe ZWO have included reverse voltage protection.  And you're not the only one capable of making silly and potentially disastrous mistakes - I've made a few in my time

[Tiny Small]

So, in sharpcap, the cooler is now working fine but in MaximDL, it's not working at all. What capture software is everyone using for these cameras and, if anyone is using MaximDL, is it easy to get the cooler working?

[Gina]

I'm using SharpCap for setting up, focussing etc. and APT for scheduling and capturing images.

[Thalestris24]

2 minutes ago, Tiny Small said:

So, in sharpcap, the cooler is now working fine but in MaximDL, it's not working at all. What capture software is everyone using for these cameras and, if anyone is using MaximDL, is it easy to get the cooler working?

Hi

I don't have zwo but APT is good if you have an ascom driver.

Louise

[Gina]

Download ASCOM driver from ZWO web site.

[Tiny Small]

10 minutes ago, Thalestris24 said:

Hi

I don't have zwo but APT is good if you have an ascom driver.

Louise

I've just downloaded to trial version to have a look. It seems pretty comprehensive.  I've connected the mount, focuser and imaging camera but can't see where to attach the guide camera?

Is the autofocusing any good with this?

4 minutes ago, Gina said:

Download ASCOM driver from ZWO web site.

Already done this but I'll give it another go as it wouldn't be the first time I've missed something simple.

[Thalestris24]

5 minutes ago, Tiny Small said:

I've just downloaded to trial version to have a look. It seems pretty comprehensive.  I've connected the mount, focuser and imaging camera but can't see where to attach the guide camera?

Is the autofocusing any good with this?

Already done this but I'll give it another go as it wouldn't be the first time I've missed something simple.

Hi

I take it you already have the ascom platform installed? You probably want PHD2 for guiding... APT and PHD2 work together well plus your planetarium software. I use Stellariumscope/Stellarium  I don't do any autofocussing myself - a Bahtinov mask does the job and APT has a good Bahtinov aid.

Louise