QHY5L-II guidecam acting weird

[souls33k3r]

Hi all,

I don't know if the title of this topic is appropriate or not but basically i'm having some issues with my current QHY5L-II guidecam.

I use MaximDL as my acquisition software and use the native MaximDL guiding. I chose the native guiding because it looked simple and just works.

Any way so what has been happening is that for the last 3-4 nights i've started to pay attention to my guiding, seeing how it behaves with my new scope (WO Star 71) but what i have noticed is that the guidecam parameters stop updating in the second windows for Camera 2, also my guide graph does not move. I see at the back of my guidecam and i can see the LED light blink but that's just about it. My stars are not wonky and they look round but maybe the fov of my scope is super forgiving.

I was told that it "can't" be the driver issue so i best try PHD2, i did that and almost the same thing happens with PHD2 as well. The camera disconnects and then tries to connect and then loops but then times out saying that it could not connect for more than 17s so will disconnect camera to prevent any further damage or something.

I tried unplugging the cables, tried to restart the software, nothing works. The only solution is to restart the laptop which is annoying.

Now the time it takes for the guidecam to behave like this can vary from anything from 3 minutes to 2hrs.

Just wanted to pick your brains on this weird issue.

I have to try a few other things which are:

1) Try connecting the guidecam to the back of my ASI 1600 hub

2) Try ezcapture and take 2 second exposures and see if that keeps on working (suggested by Bernard)

I did check whether my drivers were updated using the "Update Check" software (QHYCCD website)

Also when i choose the camera from the drop down list of either MaximDL or PHD2 , i have a few variances of the camera.

1) MaximDL: CMOS QHY5LII Camera, QHYCCD-Cameras-Capture, QHYCCD-Cameras-Guide, QHYCCD-Cameras-2st-Capture
2) PHD2: CMOS QHY5LII Camera (ASCOM), QHY5L-II Mono, QHYCCD-Cameras-Capture(ASCOM) , QHYCCD-Cameras-Guide, QHYCCD-Cameras-2st-Capture (ASCOM)

Which one should i be choosing?

For maximDL i had "CMOS QHY5LII Camera" selected and for PHD2 i had "QHY5L-II Mono" selected.

Any help on this would be super appreciated.

Thanks all.

[daz]

Its possible that driver updates have screwed things over. I would :

• Use USBDVIEW (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html) and uninstall the hardware completely - this will uninstall the drivers too
• Use something like CCleaner to do a registry sweep/tidy up
• Re-install the drivers following standard install procedure

 

If you still get issues...

Connect the camera directly to your computer USB port - does it drop out then? If so, it might be the USB hub that you are connecting the camera to...

 

[souls33k3r]

10 minutes ago, daz said:

Its possible that driver updates have screwed things over. I would :

• Use USBDVIEW (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html) and uninstall the hardware completely - this will uninstall the drivers too
• Use something like CCleaner to do a registry sweep/tidy up
• Re-install the drivers following standard install procedure

 

If you still get issues...

Connect the camera directly to your computer USB port - does it drop out then? If so, it might be the USB hub that you are connecting the camera to...

 

Many thanks for the reply @daz .. i will follow your guide and see if that helps

The camera doesn't drop out, i have tried different port but nothing.

I was told to check the "Energy saver" option under the USB settings in device manager (Not sure where i'll find this but i'll search for it)

Also is there a way i can test guiding indoors or at least its functionality without having to take my mount out and waste any time under the clear skies? it doesn't need to track but just so that any of the softwares (Maxim or PHD) can recognize and initiate the sequence? sort of simulation but using the camera itself

[souls33k3r]

Unfortunately that didn't work. I raised a ticket with QHY, they were not real helpful. Asked me to contact the vendor who I bought it from and have it replaced because it sounds like a hardware issue. So going to give them a call today 

[daz]

That's a shame, but at least you have a route forward.

As for testing - you could just go into the guiding tab in Maxim and use the Move buttons to see if the camera is actually sending commands to the mount.

 

[souls33k3r]

It sure is mate.

This is how i tested it last night

1) Only had the guidecam enabled
2) Put the cap on
3) Took a 2 sec exposure
4) Let the camera track on hot pixels which quite rightly kept on saying "Fadded Star" but that's alright, i just wanted this little thing to keep reporting it.

It worked for 2hrs or so but then it stopped. I did however disable the USB energy saving mode to be sure of it too.

I have spoken to the vendor and he has asked me to send the guidecam back to him and he will check it at his end too.

[souls33k3r]

Ok so here is where we are with this now. 

I sent my camera back to the vendor, he tested this camera with EZplanetary and PHD1 and did not get any problems at all. The camera worked flawlessly. 

What's even more annoying is that last night i thought i'll test it as well (the vendor was kind enough to send me the cable that he tested it with so we know the USB cable is fine) and again the camera ran on MaximDL for about 30 minutes and then got stuck.

Noooooooooooooooooooooo idea what's happening

I have asked the vendor to send me the details of the exact drivers that he used and a brief guide how he tested so that i can replicate the same settings on my laptop and see how that goes.

Since last night, i've removed all drivers (Ascom and camera related to QHY5L-II) and downloaded the latest and previous drivers. I have not installed anything yet but would like to find out if there is anything i can do to test the working of the camera as a guider while being indoors?

[pete_l]

I get a similar situation occasionally. But with a different set up.

I use a QHY5lii for guiding. I also have a QHY6 with a 12mm lens that I use as an electronic viewfinder for a 20° FoV.

I do not use Maxim. I use PHD2 for guiding and Sharpcap 2.9 for the QHY6.

If I start up the QHY6 with Sharpcap before I connect the QHY5 to PHD2, the QHY5 will hanf with the message you get.

If I then unplug the QHY5 and replug it, then connect to PHD2 it works fine, mostly. Occasionally I get another drop out, but unplugging/replugging always fixes that.

[souls33k3r]

I tried the unplugging and plugging it back in trick but that did not work. The only solution is to restart the OS

[spillage]

Sorry to jump in here. Some of may or not know. CCleaner version 5.33 has been released with malware. If you have download this onto your computer please remove and install the latest version and run a full virus check.

Spill.

[souls33k3r]

Cheers for the heads up Spill. Much appreciated.

[souls33k3r]

Slight update and hoping that i will consider this as a resolution and case closed. What i did last night was i un-installed everything related to QHY (QHY5L-II drivers, QHY Ascom, Polemaster). Deleted any possible registry entry and any folders that may have dormant files. Re-installed the QHYPrevious version drivers and then installed not the "QHY5L-II ASCOM" (which is available on the main QHY5L-II page http://www.qhyccd.com/QHY5L-II.html) but the "QHYCCDASCOM-Guide-StarSenseSci-V0132" and my camera ran fine for the entire night without a single hiccup.

Going to give it another go tonight and see how this goes.

[Adam J]

QHY5L-II Mono for phd2 no idea about the other program.

[souls33k3r]

Well that's what so crazy about it that the Ascom driver that has worked is not listed anywhere on the camera model page. I only saw it being mentioned in the manual. 

Running it again tonight, last night I ran it for 6hrs, tonight I'll run it for at least 11hrs.

Next update will be in the morning now

[souls33k3r]

tested it again last night but this time for 12hrs straight and worked flawlessly. I'm a happy bunny