Longer DSI cables

[kinetic]

Here is a cut n paste from a DSI Imager forum for the benefit
of DSI users. I can't validate any of it's claims, purely a heads up:

quote >

For members in the US, OPT has Meade 15' USB cables for the DSI on sale
for $18.00 and free shipping (shipping is till midnight Jan 10th, not
sure about the sale).

https://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=4283
<https://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=4283>

This is a great deal for these cables as the DSI cameras need ALL the
power they can get to operate properly. With a 15 foot long cable (16
feet is the limit of USB 2.0 spec) the USB cable MUST have a 20AWG power
lead.

It's REAL difficult to find a USB cable this long with a 20AWG power
lead, and near impossible to find one for this price. If you are using a
USB cable longer than 3 feet on your DSI camera, look at the what is
written on the wire. If it's says "28AWG/28AWG" or (more commonly on
longer cables) "28AWG/24AWG", the second number is the power lead and if
it is less than 20AWG you may have intermittent problems with your DSI
(especially when it gets cold).

< end quote.

Steve

[kinetic]

Probably just as well I said I couldn't verify the claims....
Another person has posted this just now:

quote:
I use these with both my DSI's (II Pro and III Pro) with zero problems.
I also stick a 6 foot on the end of that. So that's 21 feet and no issue.

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=2895&seq=1&format=2

$1.84 vs $15.00 , hmm. Nuff said. They have gold plated versions for
$2.00 each as well. They are 24 awg for all wires. Again, ZERO problems
with 21 feet 15 + 6 with with both cams running at once from a laptop.

unquote.

For the record, this is in the Deep-Sky-Imager (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Deep-Sky-Imager/) forum of Yahoogroups.

Steve

[Nifty]

Interesting. Has anyone tried the active USB extension leads?
Also, don't forget that the lower the number the thicker the wire.
18AWG is thicker than 24AWG
Cheers
Nev

[floyd_2]

I have been using a 5m active USB extension lead for my DSI II Pro for ages with excellent results. Having noted that, I haven't tried a plain ol' USB extension lead for the sake of comparison. When I purchased my DSI II, the astro shop recommended that I use an active USB extension rather than a plain one. I purchased an active lead rather than go through any pain and never looked back.

Dean

[kinetic]

My setup I use a powered hub which is mounted at the top
of the GEM pier.
From here the stock standard Meade DSI II cord feeds up
(thru the moving parts of your typical GEM and only JUST
reaches the camera at the top of the 12" OTA.
It's 1.8m or 2.0m I think. No problems with performance
with this setup using the dome capture PC (desktop USB 2.0)

Laptop is a different story. Because it is an older model it only has 1x
USB 1.0 port. No combination of PCMCIA USB2.0 add on / powered hub
etc can make the DSI work.

I'm happy to drive it via the dome PC anyway. Rock steady in use,
no crashes/freezes or strange behavior.

Steve