QHY 268M camera & QHY CFW3 filter wheel with KStars / EKOS / INDI

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I just thought I would start a thread with my experience with this new camera and filter wheel from QHY.

My previous setup was using a ZWO ASI1600mm and SX filter wheel using Stellarmate / KStars etc on a RPi4 and after a few initial issues (it did not come easy) was pretty happy with it and felt it was reliable.
I also really like EKOS and how it is laid out and the ability to use it in conjunction with a planetarium (albeit KStars is a bit clunky compared to stellarium or Cartes du Ciel).

Due to the use of bolt on spacers and camera my SX filter wheel was not ideal and so I also ordered a new QHY 7 position 36mm filter wheel to match the camera.
The hope was it would be a straight swap of CCD and FW and just select different drivers in EKOS profile with maybe the need to download some new drivers from QHY.

But for days I just could not get either the camera or filter wheel to work in EKOS.

So far I have made progress and camera works fine but not the filter wheel.

In windows when connected to laptop everything works fine, camera and filter wheel and I used the supplied software EZCAP to test it out.

In EKOS on RPi I finally got the camera to work and seems to work fine on its own without the FW.
Originally I could not get it going but that was down to me downloading the 64 bit driver (as the RPi is 64 bit - silly me 🙂 ) but when I cleaned this out and downloaded the 32 bit driver it works fine.

But then connected the filter wheel and just cannot get this to work at all.
If I use the short cable from camera to FW using the 4 -pin connector on the FW (not the usb port) then you can hear the filter wheel turn on power up but it will not connect in EKOS and tells me the firmware needs to be above a certain level. I have found how to update the firmware on the QHY forum and done to the latest level but still gives the same fault.
It looked like the firmware was burnt to the FW correctly but cannot find a way to read from the FW what the actual firmware level is.

I have also tried to connect via the USB port and if I just connect the USB cable then the FW makes some horrible whirling noised (much louder than when it was turning before with the other cable) and never stops whereas before it sounded to do about a turn then stop like most FW's do (I guess anyway to datum the wheel). Searching on the QHY forum I found that when connected via USB it is unlikely to get enough power and so the motor stalls, hence the loud noises - probably not very good for the FW. So you also meed to put 12V to the 4 pin socket in addition to the USB cable (even via a powered hub it is borderline as can need up to 900 mA to rotate).
So all connected via USB but still EKOS does not connect.

That,s probably enough for a first post and will put some screen shots of faults displayed and some more info later but if anyone has any experience of similar issues or has same set-up then I would welcome some thoughts.

Steve

 

[Endolf]

I've got this same combo and it's working. I've not done any firmware updates on either device. I have the FW connected to the camera via the 4 pin connector.

Have you tried updating stellarmate?, I'm running the QHY guide cam too on one of my rigs, and found that the QHY camera stopped working, a quick update seemed to solve that. I've also got the kstars crashing issue with the 268M (same as the 2600MM for ZWO users), which seems to have been at least reduced in the latest nightly builds (update to the beta stream in stellarmate).

The filterwheel on the 4 pin plug doesn't show up as it's own device, it shows up as a component of the camera, so you don't need to add it. If it's connected to the camera, and the switch in the FW is set to 4 pin mode, then it just appears in indi as a new tab and you can set up the filters in each slot from there.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

@Endolf well thanks for that sounds very encouraging.

I am off to the garage to try your suggestion, I will report back.

One thing I am finding with QHY is that their website is awful to negotiate and find things out. There is a lot of info in there somewhere but not always a logical way to get to it.

Steve

Edited February 25, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Endolf]

Both of these images were taken with the QHY268M and the CFW3-US from stellarmate, so it can be done

https://telescopius.com/pictures/view/79492/deep_sky/orion-nebula/M/42/diffuse-nebula/by-endolf

https://telescopius.com/pictures/view/79746/deep_sky/flaming-star-nebula/IC/405/diffuse-nebula/by-endolf 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Works a treat - cheers for that.

I can't believe I did not see the extra FW tab in the camera settings, feel such a fool now.

I bet it did work as soon as I downloaded the 32 bit ARM drivers instead of the 64 bit but never saw the extra tab and added the filter wheel in the profile.

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

3 hours ago, Endolf said:

The filterwheel on the 4 pin plug doesn't show up as it's own device, it shows up as a component of the camera, so you don't need to add it. If it's connected to the camera, and the switch in the FW is set to 4 pin mode, then it just appears in indi as a new tab and you can set up the filters in each slot from there.

This was my only issue, looks like I am good to go now 🙂

Now that you have got me going with the equipment any chance you can clear these clouds ? 

Steve

[Endolf]

What cloud.... 😁

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Just now, Endolf said:

What cloud.... 😁

The ones that will appear 10 minutes after I cart all my gear out onto patio, but have to try.
There is a chance of some gaps between the clouds tonight so have to have a go at least give it all a try out 🙂 

Steve

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Well I did get the rig out whilst skies were relatively clear but by the time I had polar aligned and done a plate solve it started to get hazy and very quickly very cloudy.

Also all did not go perfectly and KStars just shut down several times, usually when saving the image (or so it appeared). So work still to do if I am to get a reliable setup.

One thing I was worried about was that I did not have the correct back focus as I thought I needed around 1.2 mm more spacers. I found a 1 mm spacer and hoped that would be near enough.
The couple of images I did get without program crashes or full cloud cover, although viewing was not great, 300 sec Ha, seem to show the BF is fine.

Highly magnified stars in corners

 

Steve

Edited February 25, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[Endolf]

Kstars crashing, what version are you on?, I'm on the nightly's as Jasem has done some work to stop the crashing with the APS-C sized sensors and above on the Pis. I still get it, but only on the rig with my iOptron mount, the other rig is now stable running on stellarmate nightly builds.

[teoria_del_big_bang]

1 minute ago, Endolf said:

Kstars crashing, what version are you on?, I'm on the nightly's as Jasem has done some work to stop the crashing with the APS-C sized sensors and above on the Pis. I still get it, but only on the rig with my iOptron mount, the other rig is now stable running on stellarmate nightly builds.

Not checked but updated and upgraded regularly.
I am on Stellarmate and IOptron mount. Last night only crashed once in the couple of hours I got before clouds covered everything, even the moon.
it seemed to crash when saving the image so I put a 4 sec delay (which may or may not have down anything) but did not crash after that.

Steve 

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Ran perfectly for the 4 hours of clear sky last night. Also did the flip flawlessly, which it had failed on the previous two nights, found that DST was not set to yes on the mount so set it to Y and flipped perfectly, checking alignment before flip and setting alignment after flip then re-calibrating PHD2 and carry on with sequence.

Steve

Edited February 28, 2021 by teoria_del_big_bang

[mbalkham]

The latest version of stellarmate seems to stop the qhy driver working. I had my qhy268m working fine but since the update it won't show up. Any ideas?

[Endolf]

I had stellarmate 1.5.8 running last week with my QHY 268M, did you run an update more recently than that?

[mbalkham]

Yep this is the new version of 1.5.8 with the updater reinstalled. I think it also includes indi 1.9.0. It all worked fine yesterday am then update and all the issues. Phd2 and kstars corrupted and indi qhy driver issues. 

Even tried a fresh image of stellarmate and have same issues after update. 

[arkla]

Hi!

I am jumping in late on this conversation and I hope you don't mind my tagging onto the filterwheel discussion had in February?

I am trying this from a Mac laptop with a QHY183 and the FW3 4 pin connection and it seems to see it, but it won't move the filterwheel. I added a screen shot of what I see. Is the FW supposed to list the same driver as the camera? That is what I am seeing in the FW column.

Thanks so much for your input. 

Arthur

Edited June 2, 2021 by arkla

[teoria_del_big_bang]

Strange, I would have thought if it sees it then it would move it

When you first apply power to the camera can you hear the FW power up and move at all as mine does this I assume to some datum point.

 

Steve

[arkla]

Thank you for your reply Steve,

Yes. The system powers up, the filter wheel initiates so all seems fine. For some reason it is not seeing the driver for the wheel and just lists the camera. I see the driver in settings but it seems to want to find it via USB. I do the wheel set to 4 pin mode but I have also tried in USB mode. It's something about not seeing that driver in my estimation but I just can't figure it out.

Any more thoughts are welcome

Arthur

[arkla]

Well, It seems it works after all Steve,

I guess I just need to adapt. I was trying to control it from one page when I should be doing it from the Indi control page (note it says new member - I am still learning it seems). I took a screen shot. Now all I need is to change my location.  ;0)

Cheers

Arthur

[mgutierrez]

Hi there!

Sorry to bump this post again, but I really find it very interesting.

I'm using a dslr cam and planning to go mono. My first option is a QHY294M pro. The kit composed by camera+lrgb filters+wheel is quite cheaper than the 268 itself, although the 268 is looks promising!

I don't use stellarmate, but astroberry; which is very similar. I have a couple of questions. First of all, can anybody confirm that ekos (indi) works with two qhy cameras at the same time? My guiding cam is a qhy5, and would like to be sure I would not run into problems.

I don't know if some of you have experience with qhy 294. If so, what are your thoughts? Yes, I know 268 is much better, but omg, very expensive.

What about filters? My two principal candidates are Astromik LRGB Deep Sky and Antlia LRGB PRO (NB will come in the future).

Regarding the FW, I would go for a QHYCFW3-M-US (7 os, 36mm).

 

Any feedback is really appreciated.

 

Regards