QHY-8 fresh driver install for dummies

[kinetic]

Hi,

I've just bought my dream CCD camera through IIS, (thanks S!)

I've sent a pm to a few QHY gurus but thought I'd try here too.
I've also pm'd Theo.

Is there a step by step installation guide for this camera somewhere
on the net I can use. The driver CD is a bit sparse for documentation so
I just assume a user goes to the source for any FAQ / driver info/ or
updates etc.
I looked around the QHY site a bit and found an older step by step
driver tutorial but the pics were mostly in Chinese.

I managed to get the camera communicating last night and imaging fine
in 3rd party software but I'm not confident that I've followed the
exact driver install routine properly.
Temp, for example, is not (yet) controllable.
This morning I extracted EZ-Capture.rar and was able to at least
see a temp control window but does it have a real time temp readout?
I get -273C in Nebulosity, and I know that's not right! :)

For answers to these types of FAQs, a user manual, etc etc, where do
I go?

thanks in advance ,

Steve

[Hagar]

Try this page Steve. You should find what you are after.

http://web.aanet.com.au/~gama/downloads.html

I have replied to your email.

[Tandum]

The QHY8 is not temp controlled, It just runs flat out and draws about 4amps of juice. The qhy8pro is temp controlled. Drivers are all moving to ascom but I'm unsure what state the qhy8 drivers are in. The newest drivers will be here -> http://www.astrosoft.be/

[mithrandir]

Hi Steve.

Like Tandum says, the pro TEC is controllable. The "standard" one is not.

http://www.qhyccd.com/index.html

is in English.

Windoze picked up the camera & asked for the drivers as soon as I plugged it in. It worked first try on Linux too.

I have noticed that almost every time I connect the camera Windoze wants to reinstall the drivers. I think I have almost run out of USB ports it might be plugged into and then it will stop doing that.

Nebulosity is happy with the QHY drivers. It would crash sometimes with the TED drivers.

If Theo can't answer a QHY question, it hasn't ever been asked before.

[kinetic]

Many thanks Andrew, Robin and Doug.....

I managed to get the manual from Theo's page to work...
eventually...Firefox doesn't like the web archive format...IE does!

Looks like I've set up the cabling as per the pics...so far so good.
That's why Neb saw the camera lastnite and was able to image.

EZ-Capture sees the camera too, Temp window comes up and
gives me buttons and sliders to control, but that's all fake right?
Because my camera isn't Pro...correct?

Neb as of this morning couldn't see the camera (the TDE driver) and
also wouldn't connect via the ASCOM camera driver at the bottom
of the choices menu. It brings up a QHY-8 choice but when I choose
Properties, it hangs and wont let me go further.

So...in laymans terms, which of the 3 choices would seem to suit me for
what I want to do:

1: The TDE driver in Neb, all others disabled
2. Exclusively EZ-Capture with std QHY drivers
3. ASCOM driver via Neb

Keeping in mind I will only want to run Nebulosity and don't need to
use guiding. (my 12" FOV is WAAAY bigger now than the DSI II/12"
FOV and I could manage 5-10-15sec exposures with that at 1500FL.
and NO guiding.
Considering I could probably go 1min-2min exposures I'd cautiously say
I won't need guiding.Either way, guiding can wait for now.

any thoughts?

Steve

[mithrandir]

Steve,

As far as I can tell you can't have the TED and QHY drivers loaded at the same time.

Last time he said anything Marc was using the TED set.
I use the QHYCCD set.

If you have installed the TED set and want to switch you need to use the uninstaller on his site to clean up properly before installing the QHY set.

In Neb you can hide all the cameras that don't interest you. You must leave all the QHY models which use your chosen drivers in the list. All the TED ones or all the QHY ones.

Firefox doesn't like the packaging format because RAR is proprietry and that is contrary to the FSF way of the world. You can save the files and get peazip http://peazip.sourceforge.net/ to unpack them.
(http://peazip.sourceforge.net/)

[TheDecepticon]

It might pay you to do a manual search through your PC to double check the tool has removed all the drivers. You may also want to check in Add/Remove Programs for any drivers that haven't been removed either.
As stated, you can only have one lot of drivers installed at the same time, eg, all the Ascom drivers for Windows, MaxIm etc, or all the TVDE drivers for Windows, MaxIm etc.
I am using the second lot of Ted's drivers with no problems, as with the first, and you select QHY8TVDE in Nebulosity. I don't, at this stage, see a need to use Ascom drivers.:)

[Hagar]

Steve, There is a couple of tools that will remove the drivers.

http://www.astrosoft.be/hidden.bat

This will let you know the driver and firmware details you are running.

http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=1879.0

The latest ascom drivers from Tom Van edge are found at
http://www.astrosoft.be

Hope this helps.

[kinetic]

Thanks guys,

phew...what a bloody frustrating camera! :)

EZ-Cap now working again after going full circle.
Ascom driver was a no go...NO combination would
work of ASCOM stuff...and trust me, I know a bit about
ASCOM.

I'll try EZ-Cap tonight, sick of wasting time now with drivers.
How can such a fantastic camera be SOOOOOOO let down by
a driver issue...????????

Thanks Doug for the links, I've used both of those pretty much
all afternoon swapping drivers!

On a more positive note, I made a better 2" nosepiece extender
on the lathe today. My first one had too much central obstruction
and was too long (I made it chunky to add filter threads later).
Prelim shots of the sunset show less vignetting of Newt focus on the
12" F4.5

Steve

[Gama]

Ascom works fine, you just need to make sure the drivers you get are the right ones.
Over the years, there has been many drivers made for the QHY-8, including Linux.
If you want Ascom, make sure you have the latest version, and download the X64 drivers from QHY. Then download the Ascom driver matched to this driver as posted on Astrosoft and QHY website.
The issue many have is that they either dont get rid of drivers left on the system, or download one to try and then try another and another..
I have sent you a PM with the links for the correct Ascom and system drivers. These only work together, so dont mix and match with older versions, you need to make sure the old ones are removed.
Also EZcap 1.8 is also linked as well, see how you go..
Always remember to do a restore point, so you can always go back to the start.

Theo.

[kinetic]

Well, an update is in order....
Theo has put me straight with the drivers....it is all sorted.
See my signature for an explanation! :)
Once I had a true , fresh starting point AND STUCK WITH IT
AND FOLLOWED IT THROUGH RATHER THAN GOING OFF ON
TANGENTS, the drivers worked fine :)
Familiarising myself tonight with settings like gain and offset.
A little hard with the near full moon, and rather different to the
DSI II gain/offset settings but I have several deep sky fields now
in the bag. Lovely noise floor on this camera. It is certainly everything
I have read about in the several years I have pined for one.
Good times ahead.
Now if the moon would just go away and the gully breezes settled
down from hurricane force....I might do ok :)
Thanks Theo for going above and beyond once again!:thumbsup:

Steve

[kinetic]

Some pics of my new 2" extension tube/nosepiece adaptor I
made today. The old one is shown on the right of the 1st pic.
It was from a VCR head and had served me well for ages! :)
The new one has more throat depth and holds the QHY-8 a bit
more securely!

Steve