QHY5 with Maxim

[Robfal]

I'm trying to use my QHY5 to guide with Maxim (with CCD Commander) but having problems. Works fine in PHD.

I've mastered the calibration (connect through telescope etc) however Maxim is struggling to find a suitable guide star. This is a mix of poor clarity and excessive 'hot pixels'. If I point at a very bright star (eg Vega) then it can find autofind it and guide fine. If I force it to select a certain one (ie I guess a particular pixel is a star not a hot pixel) it will also work. However left alone it generally will pick a hot pixel and thus the guiding will fail.

The problem is that not enough stars are seen clearly enough, I'm using it with the ed80. I've raised the exp time to 2 secs. There is a camera sensitivity slider but how much gain should I use. Do I need to do dark frame subtraction?

Any help appreciated

Rob

[Parallax]

Rob

My QHY5 is connected to the ST80, so, similar to yours.

I use 4 sec exposures. This will average out the seeing more.

I have the gain set to 50 odd %.

The scope is defocused slightly.

I don't use dark frame subtraction but if you have a lot of hot pixels then that will surely help.

Steve

[Robfal]

Cheers Steve,

Will try tonight (if it stays clear!)

Rob