Liquid leakage on ASI ZWO 1600 MM Pro sensor

Jan75

I noticed several leakages of transparent oily liquid on the edge of the sensor. The problem is that one of those has extended quite far into the image area and is now visible on the images. Does this require service by ZWO or is it something that a user can repair using cleaning swabs? I am worried that the liquid is actually oil or silicon and that trying to clean the leakage will only make it worse. Ideas? Thanks!

AstroDude42

Jan75 out of curiosity: the title of your post tells your camera is the 1600MM Pro. Is that correct or is it a typo? If it is the 2600MM Pro, then you should follow Chen‘s advice and read the other thread(s) – there are plenty of them about this topic.

Good luck.
Olli

Jan75

Here is a picture that illustrates the issue and the oily leakage on the sensor.

w7ay

Jan75 Here is a picture that illustrates the issue and the oily leakage on the sensor.

Probably oil separating from the heat sink grease in the thermal pad. See this thread and the link to a Cloudy Nights thread.

https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/12654-moisture-in-2600mc

How much did you push the cooling power? The more you push cooling, the hotter the hot side of the Peltier junction gets.

I suspect this is a case of cheap thermal pad, or inadequate heat sink size (in the camera), or insufficient fan size/speed. I have not seen it on the other manufacturers' cameras.

With normal quality grease, the oil separates only above 150ºC to 165ºC.

Will your dealer take the camera back? It is obviously defective.

Chen

Jan75

And this is a flat where the leakage is showing.

w7ay

AstroDude42 the title of your post tells your camera is the 1600MM Pro. Is that correct or is it a typo?

The camera flange does not looks like a 2600, Olli :-).

But his problem is almost for certain the same problem with the 2600 oil separation and leaking to the sensor.

By the way, both my ASI2600MC and ASI2600MM have not yet shown oil leak. But I never push my cooling below -10ºC. There is just no point to do so with the already low dark current and 180 second exposures. I live in Bortle 5 to 6, and any longer exposure would just reduce the dynamic range.

Chen

AstroDude42

w7ay The camera flange does not looks like a 2600, Olli :-).

ah, you are right, Chen. I did not notice. Unfortunately i do not own a 2600, yet 🙂

w7ay But I never push my cooling below -10ºC

I do own a 1600MM Pro and i also shoot at -10°C only. Fortunately, i never had the oil leak on my camera.

Jan75 I've seen less of that leakage reporting on the 1600 but I have seen some.

Oh, this is totally new to me. I thought it was only a problem on the 2600 – and that is why i did not buy one. Hope your leakage is quickly removable.

Olli

Jan75

Hi Chen, Olli,

This is not a typo and it is indeed a 1600 but I figured it would be the same issue as what people report on the 2600. I've seen less of that leakage reporting on the 1600 but I have seen some.

Chen @w7ay to your point: I use -20C on the 1600. Lately I've been imaging in outside temperatures close to 0C so I thought that cooling wouldn't be so extreme but maybe I was wrong indeed. If that's the reason then I'd say @support@zwo should mention that in the manual or disable the -20C option in Asiair...

Anyways, based on your answers I guess this camera should be sent back to the store (it's still under warranty). I will limit the cooling to -10C but I'm disappointed that the leakage can happen so easily.

Thank you,
Jan

Jan75

PS: I used the camera for a year with no leakage (at -20C even in summer). The leakage just happened within the last few days, for the first time.

Jan75

@AstroDude42 I'm discussing with the store (astroshop) about what the best solution is. I'm leaning towards a full RMA and/or exchange rather than sensor cleaning that is not fixing the root cause of the problem. Now, of course, if ZWO's assertion (in the other forum mentioned by @w7ay above) that they have fixed the problem is false, then getting a new camera won't solve anything as the leakage can occur again. It's frustrating on a dedicated astro camera that is used in a rather vanilla way in my case - no extreme handling or such, just plain astrophotography that the camera is supposed to have been designed for and yet... @support@zwo

AstroDude42

Jan75 ZWO just posted a „wishlist“ on Instagram where one of the „wishes“ is to provide better customer support. Crossing fingers they will. Fortunately, i never had to use their support but it won’t hurt to improve it.

Olli

Jan75

Yeah at least it looks like they understand there is room for improvement there...

Jan75

Update: I contacted ZWO support directly and they responded promptly and offered a free Repair or Replace program. They confirmed that the program is applicable to all cameras that have the same issue. They offered to do it directly which would involve sending the faulty camera to China and then getting a new one from there and with the Chinese New Year plus covid the estimate turnaround would be up to 2 months. However they also said that the program applies through their resellers. Since I got the camera from Astroshop I contacted them and they gave me an RMA the next day so I shipped the faulty camera to them this week and I'm waiting for them to send me a new one now. The program is applicable for all camera that are still under warranty. At this point I cannot complain about their customer service at all - they responded quickly and provided a solution that, on the paper, is acceptable. Let's see how things go from there in practice! Fingers crossed.