ASI2600MC Exposure Failed

ppodar

It seems like many people have this "exposure failed" issue.
I've been imaging with this camera for two years and I got back into a session a few nights ago. I was able to do 2 complete nights of imaging and then when I tried my third night, I was hit with the "exposure failed" error message when I tried focusing/preview. I'm using the 2600MC with the ASIAIR Pro for imaging and for some reason every time I try and take an exposure (focus/preview/everything) it says "exposure failed". Power supply is not an issue, using the 12V power brick that plugs into the wall for the camera power, the USB3.0 cable male A to B that came with the camera, and the fan and cooling work systems work. I tried plugging the usb cable into both 3.0 ports on the ASIAIR and the problem is the same. I also tried simply connecting the camera with the usb cable and power supply to three different computers and testing with the ASIStudio application. Still, the message says "exposure failed". Any help would be greatly appreciated.

w7ay

ppodar the USB3.0 cable male A to B that came with the camera

The USB hardware in ZWO's products (both camera end and ASIAIR end) are poorly designed (does not have enough margins to work for all temperature, voltage, cable length, etc).

On top of that, they included a cheap USB cable with their cameras and the ASIAIR.

First, replace the power cable with real 18 AWG cable. See my post about how poor the ZWO power cables are here:

https://bbs.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/d/16270-asiair-power-cables

Their flat USB cables for USB 3 are also useless. Worse than the average Amazon quality (most are already not that great) shielded USB 3 cables. Go to Amazon and buy a shielded USB 3 cable that is no longer than what you need.

Beware that shielded cables are thick and heavy, but not all fat cables are well shielded. Most "18 AWG" power cables at Amazon are really not 18 AWG either -- it is best to construct your own using known good cables.

With those two changes, you might be able to get your particular combination to fit within the poor design margins.

If possible, adjust the power supply between 11.5V and 13V to see if that can help too.

If you still can, it is best to just return the camera to the dealer. If you need to use ASIAIR, ask for the same model as exchange, but if you don't depend on ASIAIR, there are quite a few manufacturers that build their cameras from the same Sony IMX571 sensor that is in the ASI2600.

If your camera works on a computer but not the ASIAIR, the specific component tolerances in your ASIAIR is the one that causes your combination to fail. See if you can return that ASIAIR. There is no reason a paying customer has to deal with design problems. I returned an ASIAIR because it did not meet the ZWO specs to work below 15 V (failed at 13.75 volts).

Chen

ppodar

Thanks for the reply Chen,

Unfortunately, I tried using other higher-quality USB cables and better power cables but the problem still persists. I do depend on the ASIAIR as well, and I thought maybe the log files for the ASIAIR/Studio would reveal a more detailed problem but no it does not. The camera does not work on the ASIAIR or the computer as of now.

w7ay

ppodar The camera does not work on the ASIAIR or the computer as of now.

If the camera also does not work on computer USB ports, then the USB hardware in the camera is the culprit.

Are you using Windows or macOS? If macOS, you can use System Information application to look at your Mac's USB Tree and see if you can see the camera.

If System Information reports as some generic USB port instead of a ASI2600MC, then a firmware re-flash may revive it. I can post some detail if you are not familiar with macOS.

If it does not even appear in the USB Tree, you will not even be able to re-flash it -- if that is the case, I would return the camera without giving second thoughts.

Chen

ppodar

I use both but in the System Information application on the Mac USB tree there is only the standard usb ports labeled for the computer. I tried plugging in the camera and nothing appears in the tree but I also tried it with standard USB devices (flash drive, external drives) and nothing appears there either even though those devices work. I tried looking in both the system information and device manager on windows and nothing appears when I plug in the camera. Does the system information application on the Mac only display the generic ports for the hardware it has? At least that's what I'm seeing.

w7ay

ppodar Does the system information application on the Mac only display the generic ports for the hardware it has?

This is what SysInfo shows when I plugged an ASI2600MM into my desktop Mac running macOS 12.6.7:

Notice the VID is 0x03c3 (I don't know if it is registered to ZWO, but ZWO uses it quite consistently), The PID is related to the camera model, shows 0x260e (I think yours should show 0x260c, but I didn't try on my color 2600 to be certain -- the color camera is attached to an OTA at the moment).

If you can see the camera (Cmd-R to refresh the SysInfo window before and after instering and unplugging the camera to check), but the VID and PID are not ZWO's, then it may have losts its mind, and may (very iffy may) be able to be re-flashed with proper firmware).

You might try using a USB 2 connector (slim USB Type B connector at the camera end) to see if things work correctly. USB 2 uses a different set of wires for data wires than USB 3, and have much wider working margins compared to USB 3 (which has spectral components up to around 5 GHz). But the large sensor will be severly limited by the 480 Mbits/sec from USB 2.

Simplest thing to do is to not waste any more time, and return the camera.

Chen

ppodar

Ah okay, I found it. Here is what I see:

I'm trying to avoid having to return the camera if I can fix this at home.

w7ay

ppodar I found it.

Very good.

The system (macOS) sees the camera.

Are you certain ASIStudio (like ASICap) cannot see the camera?

Since the computer can see the camera (and there is not enough debugging tools in ASIAIR's operating system), I recommend continuing to debug using the computer first. If you want to debug with Raspberry Pi, use INDIGO Sky instead of ASIAIR.

Did you make sure that you have 12V supply at the camera? Not 12V at the power source, but at the camera itself. Yout will need a Y-splitter at the camera end to measure the loaded voltage (i.e., with one of the Y going to the voltmeter and the other end going to the camera). You cannot just measure the unloaded voltage (power supply voltage when it is not connected to the camera).

Also, definitely try to use a USB 2 cable (with a slim USB 2.0 Type-B). I don't think you menationed if you have tried what I suggested earlier.

The initial handshake (the stuff that shows up in System Information is done using USB 2.0 protocols (thus using a single half duplex differential pair with two data wires). When a program access the device through the USB driver, if the device is cable of USB 3 protocol (as the SysInfo shows), the driver will then switch the data connection to USB 3.0 protocol (using a full duplex data communication using a different set of two differential pair of 4 extra wires in the fatter USB 3.0 Type B connector).

When you use a USB 2 cable, you willl force the driver to use USB 2 protocol, which is a much less critical interface and quite relaxed in terms of design margins (not using very high frequencies).

If USB 2 works, it means the camera guts (its microcontroller, etc) is working, but the hardware USB 3 interface in the camera does not have enough margin to work consistently. Even if USB 2 works, the camera is still not meeting the specs, but you can try if your time is not worth money.

If you are doing testing indoors (where temperature is elevated compared to nighttime outside temperature), make sure that you do not push the cooler past about 25% -- i.e., set the cooler setpoint to no more than 5ºC below the ambient temperature, and make sure the camera body is receiving enough ventilation That will keep the hardware inside a smaller margin.

Again, all this mitigation (USB 2, less Peltier cooler stress, etc) is to prove that your camera has hardware USB problems and should be returned. You could save yourself a lot of time (== money) by simply returning it. I think that I too have already spent too much time on this, and will let ZWO help you from here on.

Chen

ppodar

The ASIStudio DOES see the camera. I can connect the camera to the software I just can't take an exposure.

Tech@ZWO

ppodar If the camera exposures failed all the time and you have tried different USB cables and 12V power supplies, the problem still exist, it needs to be shipped back to us for repair.

ppodar

Tech@ZWO how and where do I ship it to?

Tech@ZWO

ppodar When and where did you purchase the camera? you can contact the seller for repair.
Please submit a ticket here if you purchased it from us. https://support.astronomy-imaging-camera.com/

ppodar

Tech@ZWO I purchased it in March of 2021 from highpointscientific.

Bilbao

I just started to have the same exposure error issue with my ZWO ASI2600MC Duo. I am straying to believe this is a software related issue. Probably after one of the latest updates. I hope that after the Chinese New Yesr, ZWO can address this FAST !!. In the meantime, I siggedt uploading logs with the error to them.