ASI294 MC Pro not cooling

[ntaylorblanchard]

Note on this issue: A suggestion from another forum seems to have found the problem but I'm not sure. It was suggested that after 3 hours my power tank was drained enough to inhibit the operation of the cooler. I attached my second (smaller) power tank and it seems to be working now. Of course the camera sat for awhile before I was given the idea that power was the issue and decided to try a test with a new power source.  If anyone has any additional information or suggestion for me they would be appreciated.  Original issue is below:

 

HELP PLEASE! ASI294 MC Pro Stopped cooling Also have an image saving issue. I'll try to give as much detail as I can:

Using APT with an ASI294 MC Pro - CAMERA IS NEW

Cooler is powered by a Celestron Powertank 17 fully charged connected using an Orion DC cable w/Auto Lighter Plug

Connecting via ASCOM ASI Camera 1 setting

Properties are

Image Type RAW 16

Bayer RGGB

Unity Gain

Gain 120

Offset 30

USB limit 40

The camera is plugged directly into the laptop NOT a USB hub. I believe all my laptops USB ports are USB 2.0

No other software (such as PHD2) was running.

No other cameras attached.

Trying to create a dark library.

Cooling to -5C from room temp of around 25-30C

Camera and cooler were working fine for a couple of hours but I then ran into a snag:

 

I got a time-out message from APT saying "Still waiting image from the camera - 30s" also -

The cooling stopped working. (Red light indicating power is still on. Fan is still spinning.)

I'm also noticing that the laptop is making the chime noise it makes when something is unplugged or plugged in.

 

I tried connecting to the camera just using APT's ZWO camera setting with the same results.

Black level and USB speed settings were left blank.

 

Disconnecting and reconnecting everything seems to fix the problem only for a minute then I'm right back into the same problem. Changing USB ports does not help.

 

I tried using ZWO's "ASI Studio" and I did not seem to have any problems capturing images but the cooler didn't seem to be working. (Power was = 100%)

I tried using Sharpcap and did not seem to be able to do anything but I'm very unfamiliar with that software.

 

I went back to APT and tried doing 10 lights exposures of 30 sec each with no power to the cooler. Those went ok. I then connected the cooler. The cooler cooled the camera down to 23.2C then stopped.

Cooling Aid settings are

Target -5

Step 5

Pause 5

Timeout 120 (also tried timeout 300)

Disconnected the cooler and ran another set of 10 30 sec light subs. These went ok. Tried set of 10 10 sec darks without cooler. This also went ok.

I tried reinstalling the ASCOM drivers from the ASI site, restarted the laptop, restarted APT. Camera cooled from around 30C to 25.3C then stopped cooling (Red light indicating power is still on. Fan is still spinning.) I again started hearing the plugged/unplugged chimes from the laptop.

So right now this seems to be some issue with the cooling. Is the camera defective?

While I'm not computer illiterate, I'm not highly technical. I'd appreciate any help or advice but please put it into simple straightforward terms.

[Matt D]

Hi. I am having the same issue with my ASI294MC Pro.  Did you ever figure out the problem/solution?   This issue is very frustrating.