Does anybody else have these issues with the ASI294MM-Pro?

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

My ASI294MM-Pro seems to have constant problems with my capture software. FireCapture won't recognise it, whereas my ASI183MM-Pro works just fine on it. Yesterday I spent a frustrating evening trying to get it to work together with APT. It does recognise it, but live view stutters and jams, making focusing a near nightmare, single shots may or may not appear on the screen, cooling may or may not work (sometimes failing to cool, sometimes reporting temperatures that are WAY off (+32 deg C, or -19.6 deg C), and dropping loads of subs once you thought you had everything running smoothly. Only 17 subs out of 29 were actually saved to disk (they were crap, as the spacing was off, so no great loss, but it's the principle that counts). I tried running a plan for darks, but it also dropped 2 frame out of 8 before I pulled the plug on it.

My ASI183MM-Pro works just fine using the same software. Really frustrating!

I have replaced the cables, updated drivers and software, FireCapture still cannot connect, I tried creating a dark library with APT, which first refused to cool properly, then seemed to be OK, then failed to store the first 6 out of 7 darks I tried to shoot. I am now running ZWO's own ASIimg software to create darks, and that seems to work fine. However, that doesn't have nearly as many features as APT.

Are these known issues with the ASI294MM or is my one faulty in some way?

[geeklee]

This is interesting Michael as I have unusual behaviour with my 294MM but nothing as severe as you've described.  After a fresh restart I'll launch my capture software (Voyager) and connect everything up.  I'll start cooling and after a few minutes I'll see the cooling has flat lined.  I disconnect everything in Voyager and see the camera pausing for a while like it's trying to disconnect.  Voyager will then crash.  I'll start up Voyager again, connect everything and see the camera temperature is obviously rising now but it must have carried on cooling by the values I see.  From here - usually - everything just works like normal - cooling happens fine and images download consistently.

From the troubleshooting I've done I think - for me - it's the USB configuration in my system as there seems to be correlation to PHD2 and it's connectivity.  I need to do more testing.

If I'm creating calibration files I use APT (just APT, nothing else loaded) and this  usually connects OK and cools OK first time.  More hinting at trouble elsewhere in my system.

Do you have anything else connected while using the 294MM when using APT (for example) for calibration frames.

14 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

which first refused to cool properly, then seemed to be OK, then failed to store the first 6 out of 7 darks

This sounds similar to what I'd see though, when it's not working.  Apologies, this hasn't been much help.

In both Voyager and APT I use ASCOM drivers.

My cooling is also a little less stable than my 183MM (and 533 before I sold it).  They were rock solid when they hit -10.  The 294MM floats between -9.4 and -10 - not sure if this is an issue - it doesn't seem to be.

I got my 294MM around end of August.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, geeklee said:

This is interesting Michael as I have unusual behaviour with my 294MM but nothing as severe as you've described.  After a fresh restart I'll launch my capture software (Voyager) and connect everything up.  I'll start cooling and after a few minutes I'll see the cooling has flat lined.  I disconnect everything in Voyager and see the camera pausing for a while like it's trying to disconnect.  Voyager will then crash.  I'll start up Voyager again, connect everything and see the camera temperature is obviously rising now but it must have carried on cooling by the values I see.  From here - usually - everything just works like normal - cooling happens fine and images download consistently.

From the troubleshooting I've done I think - for me - it's the USB configuration in my system as there seems to be correlation to PHD2 and it's connectivity.  I need to do more testing.

If I'm creating calibration files I use APT (just APT, nothing else loaded) and this  usually connects OK and cools OK first time.  More hinting at trouble elsewhere in my system.

Do you have anything else connected while using the 294MM when using APT (for example) for calibration frames.

This sounds similar to what I'd see though, when it's not working.  Apologies, this hasn't been much help.

In both Voyager and APT I use ASCOM drivers.

My cooling is also a little less stable than my 183MM (and 533 before I sold it).  They were rock solid when they hit -10.  The 294MM floats between -9.4 and -10 - not sure if this is an issue - it doesn't seem to be.

I got my 294MM around end of August.

Thanks for that. Just finished a perfect run of 60 s darks at gain 120 and -10 in the ASIimg tool. No frames dropped at all. I am beginning to suspect the USB settings

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just noticed the power supply might be a bit too weedy (3A vs recommended 5A). This does not explain why everything seems to work fine in the ASIimg app from ASIstudio (and at a higher ambient temperature at that)

[The Lazy Astronomer]

Perhaps not very helpful, but I use NINA and have not experienced a single issue.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, The Lazy Astronomer said:

Perhaps not very helpful, but I use NINA and have not experienced a single issue.

Might try that.

Closer inspection of the ASIimg tool's results suggests that on occasion, this also drops subs. two darks out of a run of 30 120s exposures are 4 minutes and a bit apart, which suggests something was dropped. Maybe I need to increase pauses between shots? I would have thought the frame buffer in the ASI294MM would act as a cache, so the next exposure could start whilst the previous is sent to the computer

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have now tried a better power supply, run NINA, APT, and ASIstudio (both planetary and DSO modes) and all have problems getting the image from the camera. I have installed new drivers, changed USB speed settings, but nothing seems to work. I guess the camera must be faulty.

[bottletopburly]

Have you tried a different lead ,  are you connecting via a blue usb3 socket on your pc? 

[drjolo]

If that problem persists with different computer, cables, PSU and drivers I would say that is camera fault, because it should not work that way. Friend of mine returned some time ago two ASI294MC and recently QHY294M, but probably some faulty 294 chips still may exist somewhere  

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, drjolo said:

If that problem persists with different computer, cables, PSU and drivers I would say that is camera fault, because it should not work that way. Friend of mine returned some time ago two ASI294MC and recently QHY294M, but probably some faulty 294 chips still may exist somewhere  

Same here. I haven't tried my other laptop, but I very much doubt that would change anything, especially as the ASI183MM-Pro works flawlessly.

 

1 hour ago, bottletopburly said:

Have you tried a different lead ,  are you connecting via a blue usb3 socket on your pc? 

I have replaced the rather flimsy flat USB3 cable supplied with the camera by a quality cable (actually, I tried two different ones), but no change in results. Again, everything works neatly in all my other ZWO cameras (ASI183MM-Pro, ASI183MC, ASI178MM, ASI174MM). All sockets on the PC are USB3 in this case.

I will contact the supplier of the camera. It looks like it is going to be a very clear night tonight. I will go for the ASI183MM-Pro, and see what I can get. I am not wasting any more precious imaging time on this camera for now.