HELP!!

[Adam1234]

I really need some advice urgently please. Since I've got a clear night tonight, I thought I'd get the scope out but I'm having some issues with the asi1600mm pro and astrophotography tool. 

It was working fine when I was focusing, then slowed to an object and then it got stuck on busy when trying to take a test image, and same when attempting the image plan. I want to restart APT but the camera seems stuck on -15C, trying to warm it back up and I get a message that says it can't reach the set temperature (+15C). I don't know what to do, I don't want to damage the camera buy shutting APT without cooling, help please??

Edited June 21, 2020 by Adam1234

[carastro]

Sorry Adam, I don't use that camera or APT.  Had a similar problem myself this evening and had to shut the camera down when it was cooled.  Had an even worse disaster I am just about to post up.

I have had similar with my Atik when it got stuck on flushing and the only thing I could do was shut everything down.

Hopefully I will give Apophis a nudge as he uses APT and a similar camera.

Carole 

[carastro]

I've just posted it on the thread Adam where all the imagers hang out, and also E mailed Roger.

Carole 

Edited June 21, 2020 by carastro

[MarkAR]

I've had similar problems with EKOS and SXCCD 694 saying camera is busy imaging after PA and such. Have to turn off Ekos and restart, other times if camera is cooled and it won't start capturing I just flick off the cooler  and on again and it starts capture.

Not had any problems with warming camera before shutdown, must be different with the 1600.

[Adam1234]

4 minutes ago, carastro said:

I've just posted it on the thread Adam where all the imagers hang out, and also E mailed Roger.

Carole 

Thanks Carole

[carastro]

Unfortunately Roger has a tendency to go to sleep while he is imaging, so might not get the message.

Personally I don't think you have a lot of choice if it is all stuck, but to shut it down and start again.  Sounds like the camera might not even have cooled anyway if it's all getting stuck. 

Carole  

[ApophisAstros]

3 minutes ago, carastro said:

Unfortunately Roger has a tendency to go to sleep while he is imaging, so might not get the message.

Personally I don't think you have a lot of choice if it is all stuck, but to shut it down and start again.  Sounds like the camera might not even have cooled anyway if it's all getting stuck. 

Carole  

Just busy getting started , only just seen this, sorry.

Shouldnt do any harm shutting down  , its happened a while ago, just get up and cooling again as quickly as you can.

Roger

[daemon]

I have various similar issues with APT (and the 1600) - which is a real shame as on the whole I love it.

As yet I have been unable to determine whether it is the fault of APT or some other culprit (maybe USB connection issue).

I have found that APT will sometimes have issues acquiring an image from the camera. It sends a message saying it has been waiting for the camera for 30 seconds. Then sometimes it will hang altogether - with the camera (ASI1600MM) sometimes cooled to -20c!

I have had no alternative other than to disconnect everything and pray for no thermal shock to the sensor!

Based on my experience I have a few recommendations - but I'm happy to be corrected if anyone has deeper knowledge:-

1) I think +15c is not really necessary for a target warming temperature. Regardless of what the current ambient temperature is I usually only warm to +3 or +5 degrees. I think that if you can reach that temperature then thermal shock is probably much less likely - CAVEAT: THIS IS PURE LAYMANS LOGIC AND NOT BASED ON SCIENCE!

2) If I get the message that it can't reach the target temperature I just ask it to cool again and it often can reach it with another try. Usually it cools in steps with pauses and not in one go, so this is not usually an issue. 

3) I think that USB connections are the key issue here. I have a 4 port hub attached to my mount, which is powered so that does not seem to be the issue, but despite that it is sometimes flaky. I most often find that as long as I connect the same equipment to the same ports each time and I go through all my usual checks (check USB status in Device Manager - Windows) then things can be pretty stable. Make sure you are comfortable that your USB setup is stable.

Finally, one thing that I find weird - if anyone can help with - is that APT always seems to want to warm the camera to +100c! God forbid! I have to adjust the target temperature each time.

Good luck!

Steve

 

 

[knobby]

Are you using ZWO or ascom driver ? I had random weirdness with the ZWO driver but touch wood it's been fine since going back to ascom.

[Starwiz]

 

On 22/06/2020 at 01:11, Adam1234 said:

I don't know what to do, I don't want to damage the camera buy shutting APT without cooling, help please??

I've had this a few times with APT & the ASI1600mm-Pro.  With APT hung, it's not cooling anyway, so there's no choice other than to shut it down and get it up and running again as quickly as possible.  I'm fairly certain that it's due to the USB connection reliability.

Electronics undergoes much more extreme thermal shock during the manufacturing processes.  Also, there are no warnings about the dangers of thermal shock in the cooling section of the ASI1600 handbook, so I think you have nothing to worry about.

However, with the camera warming up quickly in this way it's possible condensation may occur on the sensor in the same way as happens with your telescope optics when you take it from outside into a warm room, so you still want to do a controlled warming if possible.

John

[jimjam11]

2 hours ago, Starwiz said:

 

I've had this a few times with APT & the ASI1600mm-Pro.  With APT hung, it's not cooling anyway, so there's no choice other than to shut it down and get it up and running again as quickly as possible.  I'm fairly certain that it's due to the USB connection reliability.

Electronics undergoes much more extreme thermal shock during the manufacturing processes.  Also, there are no warnings about the dangers of thermal shock in the cooling section of the ASI1600 handbook, so I think you have nothing to worry about.

However, with the camera warming up quickly in this way it's possible condensation may occur on the sensor in the same way as happens with your telescope optics when you take it from outside into a warm room, so you still want to do a controlled warming if possible.

John

Likewise. I have never seen anything suggesting the asi cameras are vulnerable to this. I regularly turn cooling straight off at the end of a run, and the asiair doesn’t even have a soft warm up function!

[Adam1234]

 I think you guys are right, it's a usb connection problem. I think I was accidently nudging the cable from the powered usb hub to my laptop, causing everything connected to disconnect. That would explain why occasionally I had similar issues with the mount getting stuck on Settling after Slewing. Take home lesson - don't lean on the usb cable.

At least I didn't lose any imaging time as such, my field flattener arrived so I was testing that out and trying to get the correct backfocus of 55mm (or is it 56mm - heard you have to add 1mm if using filters?). Stars were all comet shaped and looked like they were pointing towards the centre of the image, hard to tell exactly. I measured the backfocus as 56.5mm using the setup that AWO recommended, so got an extension tube set on order so hopefully one of the shorter ones will help bring the camera in closer