Nobody using ASI main and ASI guide camera?

olav

(Does anyone else give up searching this forum because almost everything entered are "too common words"? Do we have an academic word for ASCOM and such?)

Just bought an ASI174MM to use as a guidecam with bigger sensor good for an OAG with a longer scope. The idea was to have it double for solar/lunar work, but primarily a great guide camera with its bigger pixels.

But I totally forgot to check that the ASI174MM had an ASCOM driver different from the ASI1600MMC, to be used for capture.

I have otherwise avoided stuff like this by using cameras made to be guidecameras, so I have myself to blame.

I find no documentation or posted info on how the concurrence is meant to work.

And after trying SGP and MaxIm for quite a while I start believe you have 50% chance of making it work each time you reinstall ASCOM and drivers, based on which camera catches the mysterious ID0 and ID1 as shown in some ZWO camera selection/setup window. I don't think I can control how the ASCOM list entries of "ASI Camera (1)" and "ASI Camera (2)" catch up with these IDs.

PHD2 offers the (I believe non-ASCOM) driver "ZWO ASI Camera" and sub-lists both cameras with proper USB driver names. I can select either camera and have the software remember my selection until next time.

SGP and MaxIm both are unable to pick up and save my selection. And I don't think they are meant to. Either way I get back the 174 selected when I open the dialog window again. This is indicated as ID0, while the 1600 is ID1. And it is like this no matter which camera I connect first.

Without having read the ASCOM SDK documentation, I would think that the controlling application only saves my choice of "ASI Camera (1)" or "ASI Camera (2)", while the ZWO ASCOM Driver is supposed to actually set and save camera, gain, offset and USB-speedlimit for each of the two mentioned list items. Mostly, all settings are wiped out each time I check back, at least always the camera selection. (that is, selecting in the camera list means other settings are gone)

Details:

"ASI Cameras ASCOM Driver v1.0.2.25"

"ASI Cameras driver Setup V2.0.1.3"

Device manager, Imaging devices, driver version for both: 1.0.0.5

The dialog window with big ZWO logo and cameraselect/gain/offset/USBspeed is titled "ASICamera Setup V6.0.2.25" (where did that version come from?)

olav

I have worked around problems in an entirely different way.

Just realized that I had updated ASCOM to the rather new v6.3.

Wanted to mention this in case someone else was having a hard time "setting of the settings", for the ASI ASCOM Driver while using an ASI for both main and guide camera.

peterthefraudfinder

i'm using an ASI main and guide camera on occasion, I have a side-saddle set-up and use a ZWO ASI on one scope and an Atik on the other scope, with another ZWO ASI guiding the scope with the ZWO ASI used on it and a Lodestar guiding the other. I have two laptops and run the ASI guider camera one one laptop and record from the other ASI on a second laptop, partly to avoid a clash and partly to ensure I can get maximum planetary download speed from an ASI174MM.

To complicate matters I have a cooled and uncooled 174MM and occasionally use the uncooled as the guide scope but also an ASI120MC (USB2) as a guide camera with PhD2.

Peter