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DMK woes

MartinB

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MartinB

MartinB

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I don't know whether others have had problems with their DMK cameras or the IC Capture software but so far I have been highly unimpressed.

Using my new Vista based laptop the software crashes almost straight after connecting the camera. Using my old XP based laptop things are more stable but still inconsistent. The capture rate varies between 10 an and 60 frames per second for no apparent reason, certainly not related to processor activity. The other night, doing a moon mosaic the capture time for 1000 frames varied between 1min 30 secs and 16.4 secs.

Several times the software crashed and necessitated a reboot. Worse still, eventually the camera stopped sending signals all together despite being recognised by the software. I resorted to digging out my old Toucam. On retrying the DMK again it was ok albeit with the erratic frame rate.

Also rather worrying is that the camera starts to vibrate as soon as connected.

This is very very disappointing, especially since I have spent a few bob on large external hard drive, filter wheel and flilters to go with the DMK.

Is this an isolated instance of problems or do others have similar experiences?

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Reggie

Reggie

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I've had issues with my new qhy5 and they've been on a laptop, it didn't like xp or vista, I think mine is usb related as I have a much lower spec desktop PC with 6 dedicated usb ports that ran the whole rig, eqmod, qhy5, dslr, gamepad and gps without issue all night, whereas the on laptop the qhy5 was bound to crash phd or guidemaster at some point during imaging.

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MartinB

MartinB

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As soon as the USB is connected you can feel it vibrating. You certainly can't hear anything. I'm wondering if it's at mains frequency. It happens regardless of whether I connect it to a powered USB hub or direct to the laptop.

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Merlin66

Merlin66

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Don't know what to say..

I've been using the DMK21 (firewire, 12V) with IC Capture for the last year or so and never had any issues....

This is using an ACER laptop with XPsp2

Can you "borrow" another DMK and see it you get the same symptoms????

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roundycat

roundycat

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How does this vibration manifest itself? Is it like a throbbing phone set to vibrate rather than ring or is it something you can just feel with the back of your hand? If the latter it may be an earth loop that is interfering.

Dennis

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MartinB

MartinB

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Thanks for the advice everyone. I don't have any great problem with software crashing with other applications but I do sometimes get this vibration effect with other kit. In fact I'm thinking it might be responsible for a saw tooth guiding graph in dec even when I turn off corrections.

I know nothing about electronics. How should I go about investigating a dodgy earth loop?

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MartinB

MartinB

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Thanks Kevin, the battery is powered by the usb so no power issue there but you are right, if it is fine from the battery then I guess a have an earth problem. If I then try with a different laptop but the same power supply I might start homing in on the problem.

I'll be back! Thanks guys

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