Problem with ASI 1600

rodd

Hello--I have been using the ASI 1600 mm cool pro with the Lodestar 2x as a guider plugged into the camera for a year with no issues. Last night I noticed that my guide cam would only take really short subs, like .1 sec, regardless of the duration I set. By turning off camera and setting up the cameras in Maxim DL, I was able to get the guide cam to work properly--but then the main camera would only take .1 sec subs. I imaged successfully until the meridian flip--then after the flip this happened. Also, the guide cam was getting stuck in "reding camera" mode and would not download.

What could be the problem?

Rodd

rodd

Please--I need help. maxim is saying its the camera and driver. Since the asi 1600 camera was limited to .1 second expposures it can't only be the lodestar. pleas ehelp

Rodd

chad

Hi Rodd，

Check your connection. It may have been disconnected during the flip.

Thanks

Chad

rodd

chad wrote:

Hi Rodd，

Check your connection. It may have been disconnected during the flip.

Thanks

Chad

No Chad--I am not an idiot. Here are the symptoms I have been imagingfor a year with no problems--none.

I tried a new driver--did not help

I think there is definitely a hardware issue. Here is what happened when I tried

1) Camera connects just fine.

2) at first camera one worked ok--but camera 2--the guider, got stuck on Reading Camera--but it exposed for 5 sec OK. This happened when I told the Maxim to expose camera 2 for 5 sec--not using it as a guider--but exposing as camera 2.

3) I disconnected and rebooted, checked the settings and then the main camera would only take .1 sec subs--even though Maxim reported things like "taking 30 sec sub". BUT--now camera 2 worked ok--it exposed for the duration and could read.

4) I switched cables and checked settings and got the main camera to work--but now the guide camera both as guide camera and as camera 2 would only take .1 sec subs.

5) Finally at the end, the main camera was set to take 6 sec subs, and it would get to 1 sec (the bar would extend to 1) and then all of a sudden it would zip to the end and take a 1.1 second exposure.

I have tried every setting combination I can think of and I can't image. The best I can do is image and guide with .1 second subs.

What should I do?

chad

Hi Rodd,

Let me recap your problem.

Every time, for your 1600 and your guide camera, only one of them could works at any exposure time, the other one only could take <0.1s images. If you set the long exposure time for 2 cameras, one of them will dowload failed.

Am I right? Beside, can you tell me, which is your guide camera?

Thanks

Chad

rodd

Chad,

That's correct--I use camera 2 for guiding and camera 1 for imaging. Now, I can also expose with camera 2 but not for guiding--it can be used as a finder scope kind of. It has a wide FOV so its helpful to locate stars and targets. All i have to do in the exposure tab is click camera 2 instead of camera 1 and I have always been able to take a 5 sec exposure with camera 2 . When camera 2 (guide camera) exposes for the set exposure time--it gets caught in "Read" mode. But Camera 1 will work correctly (but I think there is an extra line in the boxes--"Read" is taking longer. i don't remember seeing "read" when the main camera downloads subs. It use to just say "downloading and the proceed with the next sub--or my dither delay.

the fact that the Main camera is having an issue (being restricted to very short subs), tells me it is not a guider issue. BTW--I am guessing when I say .1sec--there is no way to know as it is very fast and maxim reports the number I set. Could it be related somehow to the minimum exposure time I set for the camera (Maxim asks this in set up I presume for auto bias frames). i have always left this number at .001 which is default. I think I tried .0001 and it did not change anything.

The other thing I notice is that before, I think when I switched to the guide box--Maxim automatically checked camera 2, and when I switched to the imaging box, Maxim automatically checked the box for camera 1. But this is no longer the case. When I switch to guide box, i have to manually click the camera 2----but not always I don't think.

Rodd

rodd

If I download new drivers for the ASI 1600 do i need to uninstall the old ones. maybe something happened to them This happened on my computer to a serial adapter driver--one day it just did not work and I downloaded the driver again and it works. Should I download the ASI 1600 driver? anything else?

Rodd

rodd

Oh--by the way my guide camera is Lodestar 2x--worked perfectly up until a few days ago--then this problem.

Rodd

rodd

I really need to know soon--I plan on downloading the drivers in about a hour. Do UI have to uninstall the old ones first????? Please help!!!

Rodd

chad

Hi Rodd,

For the driver, there is no need to uninstall the old one, just install the new one.

For the problem, I think there are 2 things worth to suspect.

1st, the power supply. Maybe a power failure when reading the data after a long exposure.

2nd, USB bandwidth. I'm not sure about the bandwidth requirements for loadstar cameras, so i think we'd better check it.

Thanks

Chad