All Sky Camera - timelapse corrupted

[Skipper Billy]

First light for my all sky camera last night - eventually got everything working - left it running and went to bed.

Had a look at the automatically generated time-lapse this morning and it's OK until about 3/4 of the way through when something strange happens and stays like that until it shuts down at civil dawn.

Its a ZWO ASI 120 MC run by a Raspberry Pi 4.

Any suggestions?

[Tomatobro]

if battery powered voltage droop?

[Skipper Billy]

2 minutes ago, Tomatobro said:

if battery powered voltage droop?

Mains powered to 5v 10 amp transformer inside the housing.

[pete_l]

It seems to me that two things happen simultaneously. At about 03:47

First you lose the right-most third of the image. Without knowing the details (such as whether this is the beginning or end of each frame - camera inverted?) it seems like the camera stops clocking out the image from the CCD and gets "stuck".

Second is that the good part of the image develops a criss-cross pattern and seems to lose the green channel. Summat to do with de-Bayering, perhaps?

I'd start looking at the USB connections and also the drivers for the camera. After that, I'd check that the camera runs OK for 6++ hours with different software.

Edited March 14, 2020 by pete_l

[Gina]

At the point of the problem starting the image goes from normal to a blue/purple sort of colour and loss of the RH columns with the columns repeated from left to right.  The general image changes with changing light but corrupted.  The rainwater droplets still appear and move on the LHS of the image.

Is the camera working since?  Or is it some sort of permanent sensor damage?

Edited March 14, 2020 by Gina

[Skipper Billy]

1 hour ago, pete_l said:

It seems to me that two things happen simultaneously. At about 03:47

First you lose the right-most third of the image. Without knowing the details (such as whether this is the beginning or end of each frame - camera inverted?) it seems like the camera stops clocking out the image from the CCD and gets "stuck".

Second is that the good part of the image develops a criss-cross pattern and seems to lose the green channel. Summat to do with de-Bayering, perhaps?

I'd start looking at the USB connections and also the drivers for the camera. After that, I'd check that the camera runs OK for 6++ hours with different software.

Edited 1 hour ago by pete_l

 

44 minutes ago, Gina said:

At the point of the problem starting the image goes from normal to a blue/purple sort of colour and loss of the RH columns with the columns repeated from left to right.  The general image changes with changing light but corrupted.  The rainwater droplets still appear and move on the LHS of the image.

Is the camera working since?  Or is it some sort of permanent sensor damage?

Thanks both - I am at work today but will investigate this evening. 

[Gina]

Any further information on this?  I'm very interested to know what happened.

[Skipper Billy]

2 hours ago, Gina said:

Any further information on this?  I'm very interested to know what happened.

It seems like it was a dodgy camera. It was bought new for this task and failed right away. I swapped it out for a ASI 290mm that I usually use as a guide camera and it clattered away quite happily for 2 consecutive nights in biblical rain and wind. I purposefully changed nothing else eg USB lead etc to be sure that I wasn't masking the problem.

The 120 is on its way back to FLO and I have ordered an ASI 178MC as it seems to be highly regarded.

I have also ordered a cooling fan for the RPi and a better wifi dongle, some colour change dessicant (just in case!) and dew heater ring in case the heat from the RPi isn't enough to keep the dome clear and dry. (The RPi 4 runs really warm).

I am also going to change it from a 240v supply and 12v/5v transformer to a 12v - 5v buck and run it from a leisure battery - I dont like 240v outside and it will give me complete freedom of location. (There is a place I know a couple of miles from here that has stunning vistas and incredibly dark skies so on a really clear night I could leave it up there and pick it up next morning).

Will keep you posted.

PS - I spent a very happy couple of hours reading through your 36 page epic ASC thread! I doff my chapeau to your perseverance, patience and abilities !!

 

[Gina]

Thank you very much.  The ASI178MC is ideal for this purpose though I did get some odd colours with it - no idea why.  I might go back to it but presently I'm using the mono version for higher sensitivity and resolution (or even higher sensitivity win 2x2 binning).

[Skipper Billy]

Cheers Gina.

Just out of interest for anyone doing the same thing.

The RPi USB wifi adapter from PiHut has improved the wifi range and signal tremendously.

The processor cooling fan from PiHut has reduced the average running temp by about 20 degrees and provides a nice warm draught inside the enclosure - should help keep the dome dew free - time will tell.

Just waiting for the new camera now!

[Adreneline]

On 18/03/2020 at 18:03, Skipper Billy said:

Just out of interest for anyone doing the same thing.

Hi David,

I've just started doing the same thing using the thomasjacquin software and a pi3b+ along with my ASI120MM-S.

I'm struggling to get a decent result and wondered if you could tell me what settings you use in the settings.json file in particular for "exposure", "maxexposure" and "gain" and whether you use autoexposure and/or autogain? Some sources I've found on the web indicate the exposure time is microseconds and not milliseconds as indicated in the table below.

I've been saving the created startrails and video to my Synology NAS box working as an ftp server - works a treat.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Adrian

 

[Skipper Billy]

Hi Adrian

We are using different cameras but these are the settings I am using at the moment (see below) - bear in mind we have Bortle 3 skies here! 

The exp settings are milliseconds ie 1000 = 1 second - on earlier versions it was microseconds.

This is my latest attempt - you can clearly see the reflection of the writing on the lens inside the dome - I need to mess about with the height of the camera in the dome.

Shout out if I can help you.

 

 

[Adreneline]

4 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

Shout out if I can help you.

That's brilliant - thank you so much David.

It's looking like it might be clear'ish tonight so I'll have another go.

I've been struggling today because I have now discovered that even when operating the pi3 headless I still need to shut it down in an orderly manner; I've managed to set up SSH so I can shut it down from the MacBook but not before having to reinstall the OS and the AllSky software. When it comes to Pi matters I am a complete novice!

Thank you again for your help.

Adrian

P.S. The Rad Bike is on hold - as is just about everything else, including moving to Lancashire!

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by Adreneline

[Gina]

Some day I might get round to finishing off my latest version! 🤣

[stash_old]

2 hours ago, Adreneline said:

That's brilliant - thank you so much David.

It's looking like it might be clear'ish tonight so I'll have another go.

I've been struggling today because I have now discovered that even when operating the pi3 headless I still need to shut it down in an orderly manner; I've managed to set up SSH so I can shut it down from the MacBook but not before having to reinstall the OS and the AllSky software. When it comes to Pi matters I am a complete novice!

Thank you again for your help.

Adrian

P.S. The Rad Bike is on hold - as is just about everything else, including moving to Lancashire!

 

As sd cards are relatively cheap it is always a good idea to have a mirror backup in case of problems. Not only boot but software updates that may stuff a spanner in the works.

Later learn how to use ssh security keys - this makes login on a simple step - no password needed http://clearoutside.com/forecast/53.04/-0.46

Not sure on Mac but i think putty is available - in which case together with the above you can execute a simple shutdown script - will have to put in sudo password. I wish they put the closedown in Indi web manager that would help headless operators 🙂  maybe one day .

[Skipper Billy]

2 hours ago, Adreneline said:

I've been struggling today because I have now discovered that even when operating the pi3 headless I still need to shut it down in an orderly manner; I've managed to set up SSH so I can shut it down from the MacBook but not before having to reinstall the OS and the AllSky software. When it comes to Pi matters I am a complete novice!

I too am a RPi novice - this was the first time I had ever used one. I tried all sorts to get proper control over it remotely and the best solution I have found is with VNC Viewer/server. With two clicks of the mouse on my indoor Windows machine I have the Rpi desktop on my my Windows desktop which gives total control.

I haven't found it fussy about how its closed down - I know I shouldn't but I usually just disconnect the power and bring it inside - no problems so far!

I found this site extremely useful and I am pretty sure it works with a Muk book 😉 https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/remote-access/vnc/?fbclid=IwAR3HH5SZPx6L1AtAAfrldjno3cmL0XODTVE6E5WCxx7oEYIejUX17499pn4

[Adreneline]

Thanks @Skipper Billy and @stash_old for all the help and advice.

The god's are against me today. I had the camera working this afternoon looking at a clear'ish blue sky with the odd cloud but as it got darker the image got brighter and now I've got this!

I'm well confused. I've brought it back inside and reconnected it in the study and it has made no difference - I just get a featureless white image.

Time for a glass of wine me thinks!

Tomorrow is another day and fortunately I don't have any plans to go anywhere - again!

Thanks for all your help.

Adrian

[Gina]

I usually shutdown the RPi properly but not always.  Doesn't appear to matter.

I use KStars/Ekos/INDI with INDI drivers and indiserver on the RPi and KStars/Ekos on desktop indoors.

[Adreneline]

9 hours ago, Gina said:

I use KStars/Ekos/INDI with INDI drivers and indiserver on the RPi and KStars/Ekos on desktop indoors.

Hi Gina,

I am just starting to venture into this world too. I really like the convenience of the ASIair with my 135mm + ASI1600 but rather than buy two I decided to have a go with a pi4 and Astroberry. Not done any imaging as yet as I am still at the setting up and learning the software stage. The plan is to have it permanently set up on with my ED80 and EFW; I'd really like to buy a second 1600 one day but that might have to wait a while.

First challenge is to get the allsky setup working!

Adrian

[stash_old]

15 hours ago, Skipper Billy said:

best solution I have found is with VNC Viewer/server.

Except this person is "headless" which means the VNC server isn't running on the PI so cant VNC remotely to the PI - thats why he is using SSH - So a bit like just have MSDOS only and not a pretty Windows GUI in sight.

 

[stash_old]

If you are using Astroberry headless you can start up/close down Indiserver ,and its drivers, via the Web connection (e.g. if HOTSPOT being used use "http://10.42.0.1/" (without the quotes - even though you do not have a GUI being started ay boot time.. 

[Adreneline]

1 minute ago, stash_old said:

If you are using Astroberry headless you can start up/close down Indiserver ,and its drivers, via the Web connection

I have just started using Astroberry headless controlled from a remote laptop and so far it works consistently and reliably - for which I am mightily relieved!

Fired up the pi3 allsky this morning and normal service is resumed - a perfect image uploaded to my local NAS box (acting as an ftp server) - something weird is going on somewhere.

Thanks again for your help.

Adrian

[Adreneline]

Thanks to your help @Skipper Billy with the AllSky settings I had my first successful session last night - not that there was much to see!

The software successfully uploaded a startrails image (with not a star in sight), a keogram (um? - the jury is out on that one) and a video showing a great deal of cloud with a brief break when the Plough and other features were clearly visible. It was enough to convince me the focus is good. The session last night was not headless - I ran a 3m usb3 cable out to the camera. I'm going to have another go tonight with the headless system but hard-wired to the network and see how it goes. If that is successful I'll try going wireless.

Thanks again.

Adrian

[Skipper Billy]

Great stuff - just need a clear night now! Well done.