QHY5L-II keep crashing - only usb/cable issues or camera defect?

[Jannis]

I've been using my 5L-II for some years now, and in the beginning i found it a true nightmare to use because of poor stability.
Luckily, QHY soon released new drivers, and newer versions of FireCapture and APT solved these issues as good as 100%. Until recently...

This season i've had so much issues with the camera, that i don't think it's been a single night i've been able to image without reconnecting the camera at least once - except when i use it for guiding only trough PHD2 with ASCOM driver - it have never ever dropped out or crashed with PHD2, regardless of which ASCOM driver i've used. The problem happen at random.

I hadn't updated any drivers as i found them stable, so i though it could be APT as keep it up to date. I reverted to a previous version, and it seemingly worked fine - for some time.
Eventually i noticed it was still unstable, and so i gave firecapture a try - but same result (capture failure, sometimes veeery slow image download, or no download at all - in which case i need to reconnect the camera).
With 12/16-bit capture it appears to happen more frequently. I tried multiple USB ports directly connected to the motherboard, both USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports. USB traffic was set to 30+, and capture speed was set to "slow".
I then decided to reinstall APT, firecapture, and all the QHY drivers (tried both old and new), but no change.

I started looking for the more obvious and replaced the USB cable after my active repeater, but after trying 4 different cables and even adding a powered HUB thinking it didn't get enough power, i gave up and thought it had to be something with my 5M active USB 2.0 repeater cable even though all my other stuff works fine on it. I bought 2x new cheap 10 meter active USB 2.0 cables to be able to use a shorter cable between the repeater and the camera. I soon found out this didn't help any - in fact, with both of these cables it got significantly worse, so i went back to the old 5M cable + 3-5M passive to camera.

After more testing i found out the camera also tend to crash and/or have very slow download speed even on 4 different computers, and sometimes i get a warning "USB device not recognized".
Although it rarely crashed with a short high quality USB cable directly to the computer, it still had issues with 3-5 meter cables that had previously worked perfect with the camera (both with and without the repeater).

I'm planing on buying a new  high quality active USB 3.0 cable to exclude that, but to me it sounds like the camera is at least partially faulty as well.
Shorter cables do seem more stable, but i can't see how the camera should just get more and more picky about cable being used? And the thing is, it's all at random. It can be stable for 2 hours with a 15 meter cable, or fail after first exposure with a 5 meter cable... Connectors inside camera look clean, but i haven't opened the camera to look at the circuit board and soldering.
 

It's a nice camera and so i'd love to keep using it for long exposures - but like this i'm just wasting my clear nights.
Any advice on what to do next other then buying a more decent and stable camera and use this with PHD only - where it so far haven't had any issues?

[Thalestris24]

Hi

I think USB 2 is only certified up to a max of 5m (without a repeater) but won't necessarily perform at high data rates using a 5m cable. Powered hubs seem to work quite well providing the qhy5l-ii/hub doesn't share an internal hub. The cables don't like to be near any mains or switching psu cables. High quality shielded cables are recommended for longer than 3m. It always seems better to stick to an Ascom driver rather than switching between Ascom and native. Maybe the newer usb 3 cameras are better? Maybe not!

Louise

[Jannis]

Hi

 

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the maximum recommended length of a passive USB 2.0 is indeed 5 meters, but i am using active repeater cable to bypass this limitation. This have worked fine for a very long time, but just recently have started to get unstable. I have tried different USB ports, but i haven't checked to make sure the USB port isn't shared with another USB device internally - i will check this!
I have added/changed a few USB devices since last time i used it for imaging successfully, and after some searching i'm far from being the only one having a very USB picky 5L-II camera. I will try to disconnect some other devices and see.

The cabling haven't changed much since last time it worked, and it's not right next to any power supplies or cables pother then the PSU of the computer itself, but i guess it could still be noise. I wil check for noise in the cabling and run some new tests with battery power instead and see how things work.

My reason for thinking about USB 3 extension is because they have a higher capacity and are generally built to a higher standard then 2.0. I also want to use multiple USB 2.0 cameras trough a powered USB 3.0 hub should it be possible - but this remains to see i guess.

May i ask, how are you using your 5L (cable types/brands, HUB and so)? And what do you use it for? I don't generally have any issues with guiding with it - but capturing is a challenge.

[PeterCPC]

Have you tried it with EZPlanetary? If it has the same issues with that then I would say the camera may be faulty.

Peter

[Jannis]

I actually have not tried with  EZPlanetary. I will give it a try next time and see how it goes. 

[Thalestris24]

7 hours ago, Jannis said:

Hi

 

Thank you for your reply!

Yes, the maximum recommended length of a passive USB 2.0 is indeed 5 meters, but i am using active repeater cable to bypass this limitation. This have worked fine for a very long time, but just recently have started to get unstable. I have tried different USB ports, but i haven't checked to make sure the USB port isn't shared with another USB device internally - i will check this!
I have added/changed a few USB devices since last time i used it for imaging successfully, and after some searching i'm far from being the only one having a very USB picky 5L-II camera. I will try to disconnect some other devices and see.

The cabling haven't changed much since last time it worked, and it's not right next to any power supplies or cables pother then the PSU of the computer itself, but i guess it could still be noise. I wil check for noise in the cabling and run some new tests with battery power instead and see how things work.

My reason for thinking about USB 3 extension is because they have a higher capacity and are generally built to a higher standard then 2.0. I also want to use multiple USB 2.0 cameras trough a powered USB 3.0 hub should it be possible - but this remains to see i guess.

May i ask, how are you using your 5L (cable types/brands, HUB and so)? And what do you use it for? I don't generally have any issues with guiding with it - but capturing is a challenge.

Hi

I have a 3m Hi-Speed shielded USB 2 cable connecting mine to the PC. Even so it occasionally plays up. It's usually just a matter of moving the actual cables (without unplugging them) a little until it all works again! Thereafter, it's usually ok - until the next time! I also currently have a Canon 1100d on a separate usb as well as a separate usb-serial cable for the mount.

Louise