The Death of a Toucam

[ballaratdragons]

Well, I suppose the flogging I give my Modified Toucam, it's death was only a matter of time.

I have noticed over the last month that the Amp Glow in the top left corner has progressively gotten worse. If you can remember back to my images of faint distant Galaxy Clusters, they were imaged at exposure times of 180 up to 240 seconds. Even the occasional 300 seconds! Amp Glow was minimal.

A few weeks back I notice that the Amp Glow was taking over in images of 140 seconds. Then last week it was down to 90 seconds.

Early this morning the poor old thing was dying a miserable death. I attempted to image many items but I just couldn't get detail. The Amp Glow was destroying any hope of anything over 50 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!

It wasn't Moon Glow either coz the Moon was just setting when I took the images below, and the sky was a beautiful dark. Trans was 10/10 and seeing was 8/10. I fiddled with every setting imaginable.

I believe I have worn the old girl out! The massive amount of long Exposures have eventually ruined the chip, possibly from the constant effect of the Amps interferance :shrug:

But it's dying. :(

But I must admit, I've had a ball with it, and learned heaps. :thumbsup:

Just some of the Images to show the degredation of quality from this mornings effort:

1. 60 seconds exposure (used to have no Amp Glow)
2. 120 seconds exposure (used to have a tiny bit)
3. 240 seconds exposure (used to have a fair bit, but was tolerable. Remember my earlier images!)

[leon]

Its any bloody wonder Ken, you probably froze it to death, :lol: it is a wonder it lasted this long, after the flooging you have given it. :whistle:

Cheers leon :thumbsup:

[ving]

i dont know if they are supposed to work in -100 degrees celsius ken :P

RIP :(

[ballaratdragons]

It wasn't even cold last night, Leon :shrug: It hovered around 4 degrees.

But I operate it in Long Exposure mode for up to 8 hours on most nights. That's a lot for a little chip that was only designed for video webcamming.

[ballaratdragons]

:lol:



:sad:

[leon]

Last night would have been a heat wave for the poor thing.

Leon

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: It was a nice mild night.

That's the end of my imaging for a very very long time :sadeyes:

[jase]

Aaaarrrrgggggg... Just when you were starting on your PN imaging project. Am very disappointed and will certainly miss the incredible results you provided from this humble little camera Ken. You're a true battler mate. I'm sure you will not disappoint us in your next imaging endeavours. Perhaps its time to flogg a DSLR to death. A little more expensive, so it will take some flogging. I'm sure you're up for the challenge.:D

The web cam is worthy of a grand ending ceremony fit for a king - any thoughts? You could possibly get it dipped in an exotic metal and make a trophy out of it to sit on the mantle piece.:lol:

[Karls48]

What a coincidence My Mintron camera I used for meteor capture died couple days ago.
Did you try to reset Toucam to factory defaults? I had bit different problem with mine (black screen, no picture) and I was going to trow it out. For some reason I clicked on “reset to factory defaults” and it started working.

[ballaratdragons]

Thanks Jase.

Dunno what I'll do with the Toucam yet. Maybe frame it along with one of its better images :lol:



Yep, tried all that, but thanks for the suggestion. I think the over-use of the Amp for such long hours has either overheated it, or magnetised the components with electronic interference.

[monoxide]

i dont believe it for a second, he's just finished the book ;)

[Terry B]

Shame about the camera. Now onto bigger and better things.:P

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: Looks like a great book! Where do I get one :rofl:



Afraid not, Terry. No $$$ :sadeyes:

[Ric]

What a bummer Ken, your Toucam deserves a state funeral with full honours for it's services to DSO imaging.

Hope your back in business soon

Cheers

[ballaratdragons]

I haven't given up on it 100% yet.

I intend to squeeze every bit of data I can out of it before it goes to the land of Rigor-mortis. Play with levels more, do a few resets, hit it with a hammer, talk nice to it, and then process and re-process the images till the cows come home!

I can't get another camera, so I have to wring this one dry :lol:

[csb]

I loved the movie reference in your title. :)

[ballaratdragons]

:lol: very 'tongue in cheek'.