2 ASI Camera problem

dts350z

I’m having the following issue both in Sequence Generator Pro (SGP) and PHD2, using the ASCOM dirver.

I have three ZWO ASI cameras, two in use at any one time, ASI174mm-cool, ASI1600mm-cool, ASI1600mc-cool.

One used for imaging in SGP and one used for guiding in PHD2.

Works fine but if something goes wrong and equipment needs to reconnect both SGP and PHD2 can end up with the wrong camera, either guiding and imaging reversed or both programs trying to use the same camera.

Also when starting up I need to verify that the correct camera is selected in each program.

Lastly, the ASI1600's always default to 8bit, so I have to remember to check the setting each time I connect. In SGP it seems that can only be changed after connecting (to stick)

Suggestions?

chad

HI,

Am I right about your problem?

1, When one of the camera failed, Like guiding camera failed, guiding will try to use the capture camera to guiding. Am I right?

If I am right, I think we need a test first.

2, If the camera failed, reconnect it, it will use the RAW8 bit instead of RAW16 before.

If I am right, please update your ASCOM driver to the latest version, we solved this problem in our latest version.

Thanks

Chad

dts350z

Chad,

Yes you are right.

I have updated drivers and will check both issues again.

Now: SGP is using ASI Camera (1) V6.0.3.21 ZWO ASI1600MC-Cool(D0)

PHD2 is using ASI Camera (2) V6.0.3.21 ZWO ASI174MM-Cool(D1)

Besides drivers getting confused after a failure there could also be confusion when I swap the ASI1600MC-Cool for my ASI1600MM-Cooled?

I did that at the beginning of the same night I had the failure problem.

Thanks,

Glenn

chad

Hi Glenn，

I checked, but it can not be solved.

When you use ASCOM in two applications, ASCOM will be initialized twice. They are independent. ASCOM does not provide an interface to detect the current working state of the camera. So when you disconnect one of the cameras, Both of the ASCOMs could only know there is one camera left. When you click the connect icon, all of them think this camera could be used. So this is what happened.

Thanks

Chad

dts350z

I'm told:

"Starlight Xpress (Bret McKee's SX ASCOM driver) has an elegant solution to the multi-camera problem. When you run the ASCOM driver installer it asks you what cameras you have and then installs an ASCOM driver instance for each camera. The instances are tied to the specific camera model, unlike zwo's unspecified Camera (1) / Camera (2). In the guiding app you select the guide camera model instance ("SX Lodestar (ASCOM)"), and in the imaging app you select the imaging camera model instance ("SX H9 (ASCOM)")."

Perhaps you could do something similar?

Thanks

chad

Hi Glenn，

Understand.

But it is not a easy job for us.

As we know, different companies have different frameworks. The same goes for programs. It's the differences in these frameworks that determine things that can be easy for them, and that can be difficult for us. In a word, I will put this problem in my plan, but I can't guarantee the result. If we did it in the future, we will write it in our release note.

So Thanks again for your idea.

Thanks

Chad