PHD2 and QHY5L-II - help!

[mikey2000]

I'm having a certain amount of trouble getting my new QHY5L-II to play nicely with PHD2.    I have frequent problems with the camera failing to deliver images to PHD2 (Eg, looping mode hangs, giving a camera timeout error)  (eg making a dark frame library in PHD2 gets started but often fails before getting to the end).  Sometimes it works, sometimes it just gives the camera timeout error.    Once the error shows up, I have to reboot to get the camera to work at all with PHD2.  I once even got to the end of a PHD2 calibration before the error came up.  But I usually don't get that far.

 

Other apps that support the QHY5L-II seem to behave very nicely so I think the issue is with perhaps with PHD2.

 

I have Windows 10 64Bit on a dell XPS15 (quite new) with PHD2 2.6.3 and the latest QHY drivers downloaded from the QHYCCD.com website.( I followed their setup instructions to the letter...)

 

I've seen people mention PHD2 2.4.x and later started causing QHY5L-ii troubles and that 2.3.x was much better.   I can't find any old copies of PHD2 to try though.  Does anyone have a distribution pack for an older version please?

 

Or recommend another free guiding package for windows?  (How about metaguide???)

 

Thanks!  I wasted a whole night on this last night, deleting and reinstalling various drivers and applications related to all of this.  Ho hum.

[Skipper Billy]

You can get the previous version from here - many still use it and swear its more stable than PHD2

http://www.stark-labs.com/downloads.html

I had problems with the same camera as you  - are  you using a USB hub? Try it without the hub you might be pleasantly surprised !

Its most probably the QHY driver creating the issues - I found them pretty flaky whereas Phd2 is very robust.

 

[mikey2000]

Thanks for the idea of trying PHD version 1 but I can't get that to work at all - it just stops responding. (Windows goes searching for a solution but never finds and answer ;-)  )

 

No hub, just a direct connection to the camera from my laptop USB3 socket.

 

I'm very keen to try PHD2 v2.3.x but I can't find where to download that version :-(

 

[mikeyj1]

i have the same setup, (inc windows) and although i just started using it, works well, mostly..  how are you connecting the ascom driver (on camera or other way?)  the 'on camera' works ok for me  but had to fiddle with calibration and exposure time set to 3-4 secs.

once i did that, tracking is  < +-1arcsec, so well happy.

good luck

Mike

 

[mikey2000]

Thanks for the idea of trying PHD version 1 but I can't get that to work at all - it just stops responding. (Windows goes searching for a solution but never finds and answer ;-)  )

 

No hub, just a direct connection to the camera from my laptop USB3 socket.

 

I'm very keen to try PHD2 v2.3.x but I can't find where to download that version :-(

 

[mikey2000]

9 minutes ago, mikeyj1 said:

i have the same setup, (inc windows) and although i just started using it, works well, mostly..  how are you connecting the ascom driver (on camera or other way?)  the 'on camera' works ok for me  but had to fiddle with calibration and exposure time set to 3-4 secs.

 

 

 

I use the "CMOS QHY5LII Camera (ASCOM)" option for the camera and 'on camera' for the mount, connecting the ST4 from the camera to my mount.

 

I wish mine would work consistently!  It just keeps timing out.  Which version of PHD2 are you on?  Which version of the QHY5LII driver?  And mono or colour (I have the colour camera....)

Thanks

 

[Robp]

I had problems with the QHY5LII-C and it losing connection randomly.

I found that the issue lay with the USB cable as once changed, it has been working fine since.

If you have a spare one it is worth a shot, or maybe someone can lend you one.

[JemC]

i used the QHY5LII-C for guiding my Heq5 using win 10 64 bit and never had a problem with it,

i just downloaded all the latest versions for all the required software and everything just seemed to work fine, the only time i did have a problem was when i once left the lens cap on guide camera  (took a little while for the penny to drop)

have just changed mounts to EQ6-PRO but not tried it with that yet,

what guide scope are you using? out of interest,

 

[Xplode]

Problems like this is usually due to the USB cable even if some programs might be running totally fine.

Try another cable and see if the problem goes away

[mikey2000]

I was using the same cable that came with the camera.  I'll try and find a spare one.   It just seems odd that only PHD2 is playing up (all the other QHY software such as EZCapture and others like SharpCap seem OK).

 

Other weird stuff:  When I delete the driver then reinstall it (with reboots inbetween...) then plug the camera back in, I get *two* animated windows saying 'Windows is installing drivers for your new hardware' (or words to that effect).

 

Maybe I have a subtle cable issue and a deep-down windows driver issue.  Headache!

[mikey2000]

Just out of interest, in PHD2, which camera option are people using?  "QHYCCD-Cameras-Guide (ASCOM)" or "CMOS QHY5LII Camera (ASCOM)".  If the former, what ASCOM options are you using?  The 'CMOS' options only offer gain control or 12bit mode.

[Scott]

1 hour ago, mikey2000 said:

I use the "CMOS QHY5LII Camera (ASCOM)" option for the camera and 'on camera' for the mount, connecting the ST4 from the camera to my mount.

 

I wish mine would work consistently!  It just keeps timing out.  Which version of PHD2 are you on?  Which version of the QHY5LII driver?  And mono or colour (I have the colour camera....)

Thanks

 

I got rid of the st4 cable and have not had a problem since. worth a try at the very least?

 

[Xplode]

It's normal that Windows installs 2 devices, no idea why thou.

It's not, but not unusual that you got problems with just 1 software.

I'm been tinkering with a camera + a Raspberry Pi for an allskycam, couldn't get the camera to work att all with the cable i tried, from the pc it worked perfectly thou!

Had to use another cable with the RPi :S

[Thalestris24]

4 hours ago, mikey2000 said:

Just out of interest, in PHD2, which camera option are people using?  "QHYCCD-Cameras-Guide (ASCOM)" or "CMOS QHY5LII Camera (ASCOM)".  If the former, what ASCOM options are you using?  The 'CMOS' options only offer gain control or 12bit mode.

Hi

You might find that the usb3 is the main problem. If you have a usb2 port then that's likely to be more reliable. When you connect the qhy5l-ii then the 'firmware' is uploaded to the camera. In the event of a crash you need to disconnect/reconnect to do a fresh upload. Use the ascom driver. Qhy recently started doing separate drivers for guiding and imaging. The older, qhy5l-ii camera (Ascom), always worked fine for me  but the one specified for guiding should work just as well. Oh, 8 bit mode is fine for guiding. Selecting 12 bit precludes using ST4 but works otherwise.

Louise

[michael8554]

Hi Mikey

There are two earlier versions of PHD2 available at the bottom of the download page.

If your camera is greyed out in Device Manager after the timeout then probably usb or connection problems.

If not then software probably.

Michael

[Grierson]

Mikey, your post reflects very closely one of my own some time ago although my camera is a Toupcam.

I see that Andy Galasso has replied to both our posts on the PHD2 forum and suggested enabling 'sub frames' in the camera dialogue. I wonder if you have done this and if it has made any difference. My laptop is away at JL technical support at the moment and so I am unable to try his suggestions. - John 

 

[mikey2000]

JemC - I'm using the QHY MiniGuidescope which seems to match the little camera perfectly - a lightweight guide setup indeed. (If I can make it work!)

 

Grierson - I tried enabling subframes.  No difference. :-(

[mikey2000]

Thinking aloud here - if the camera is USB2 and my ports are USB3, maybe if I buy a decent quality powered USB2 hub that might help.

 

Or is introducing a hub just making things even more likely to go wrong?

[Thalestris24]

Just now, mikey2000 said:

Thinking aloud here - if the camera is USB2 and my ports are USB3, maybe if I buy a decent quality powered USB2 hub that might help.

 

Or is introducing a hub just making things even more likely to go wrong?

Have you no usb2 ports? You could try a usb2 hub but it still might not work reliably... I assume you are using a usb2 cable which isn't too long and which doesn't go near any power cables?

Louise

[Grierson]

5 minutes ago, mikey2000 said:

Thinking aloud here - if the camera is USB2 and my ports are USB3, maybe if I buy a decent quality powered USB2 hub that might help.

 

Or is introducing a hub just making things even more likely to go wrong?

I tried a powered hub but had no sucess but you never know it might just be the answer.

[mikey2000]

Sadly my laptop is very new (Dell XPS15 9550) and I think both USB sockets are USB3

 

Im just in the process of finishing installing all this stuff on my old laptop (with USB2 ports)

 

initial impressions are good - it just completed a Dark Set without hanging...

[mikey2000]

Blimey!  My old laptop seems to be happy to run the camera and PHD2.  I've not got as far as a calibration and connect to mount but so far so good.  It loops away quite happily and even (!!!) tries a calibration on a star through my back window, not connected to anything other than the ASCOM Telescope simulator.

 

I think it's going to work....

[mikey2000]

Incidentally, I had some help from Andy on the PHD google chat groups.  He explained why it would work with some apps and not others.  Most apps connect to the camera as a video camera but PHD2 uses single frames from the ASCOM driver. Quite different ways of connecting, it seems....

[Grierson]

Good to know that you are back up and running. Your Dell machine is well specified and is presumably relatively new. My Lenovo is less than a year old but has a more modest spec. It is nevertheless surprising that we both seem to have the same or similar issues with the computers running PHD2. The software runs fine on my son's aging Toshiba machine and it appears as if I will have to look around for a relacement for the Lenovo. Rather than usurp your thread I will ask for recommendations in another post.  

[mikey2000]

update!!!

 

I had some auto-updates on my newer, problematic Dell laptop.   It had a bios update and something to do with Docking Stations and USB3. (it wasn't clear what exactly went into the second update...)

 

It seems to be way more reliable now, with only the occasionaly camera timeout.  The ascom guiding link to PHD2 seems to work as well!

 

I've only tried 'proof of concept' so far due to the permacloud here at the moment but I'm ready to go and discover the next hurdle by actually trying some real guiding!