Maxim and QHY5

[pmrid]

I've decided it's time I got my head around MaximDL and have now managed to get drivers installed for my QHY8 that Maxim will see. But I've also installed the QHY5 drivers from Theo's site and don't see the QHY5 on the list of cameras. Am I missing something?
Peter

[Gama]

Did you install the "Windows driver" base driver first, then install the "Maxim DL" driver last ?.
There are 2 drivers to install. Both are EXE files.

The other way, is ASCOM, which every man and his dog are moving too.
If you want ascom, PM me and i'll send you the links so you can download them, along with how to install them.

Theo.

[AlexN]

The CD that came with my QHY5 from Theo had the Maxim driver for the QHY5.. I've used maxim almost exclusively for the past 5 months or so and have had brilliant guiding..

The driver that came with the camera (whilst it may be outdated now) works. It works well..

As does the driver that came on the CD for CCDSoft V5...

[Bassnut]

Yes, QHY5 guiding works very well indeed with Maxim DL.

[gbeal]

It is called "CMOS Guider" I think Peter, is that visible?
Gary

[pmrid]

Yes. Trouble is, when you load that option, the ID identifies the drivers as coming from Tom van den Eade, and it was his drivers that I had to get rid of to get Maxim to recognise the qhy8: so I'm loathe to mix them up again. I've loaded ASCOM drivers for the 5 and they seem to work OK.
Peter.

[gbeal]

Ah, well you seem sorted now which is good.
It has been a while but I recalled having difficulty running both the QHY8 and the QHY5 under ASCOM, within Maxim. Could have been the way I was doing it of course.
Gary

[AlexN]

I use TVDE's drivers for my QHY5 under Maxim... they work fine.. I never ran the QHY8 + QHY5 together under maxim, so I cant speculate on what would happen if you were running the 8 under ascom and the 5 under TVDE drivers...

Peter, May I make a rather general observation... It seems you, like myself, have gotten caught up in the "TOYS" side of astro imaging.. From personal experience let me say, This road is annoying at times... You end up spending most of your time learning new software, new mounts, cameras etc... and very rarely actually imaging... You have been warned...

I've now blown my astro toy budget for the next 12 months, so I think im going to have to settle for imaging rather than learning new toys for a year or so! :D

[pmrid]

Not having kids you will probably now be familiar with ther Dr. Seuss line of books: but reading this made me thing of one in particular we only ever read to the kids once -- it upse them too much. That was "The Grinch who stole Christmas".

Do you mean to tell me that there really isn't a Santa who brings astro toys and leaves them for boys and girls who have been good all year??

Peter

[AlexN]

I do not wish to disillusion you or destroy your astro-christmas spirits Peter.. So, as my mumma always used to say.. If you aint got nothin nice to say, shut the hell up :D

[pmrid]

:rofl:

[kamayok3]

Hi,

Can masters here write up a step by step configuration on QHY5 guiding with MaximDL? this is because everytime I open up the MaximDL, I dont really know where to start :confused2:. Funny right?

Hope someone can help me on this.:thanx:

Regards,

Tommy

[AlexN]

Tommy - Next time I set up, I'll take not of every step and send you a PM.. Off the top of my head without the whole shebang set up infront of me I don't know where to start either...

I dont know when the next time will be... All depends on when my ST8300 gets delivered.

[kamayok3]

ohhh.....thanks for the help,mate.

Regards,

Tommy

[RobF]

:lol::lol: :rofl::rofl:
I'll believe that when I see it Alex! (in 12 months time...:P). Your signature line usually has more "Coming Soon" than the local cinema!

Seriously though, and pardon my ignorance all - how the heck to you choose a guidestar in Maxim? Or does it choose one itself based on objects in the field that move in the calibration "L" shape? :question:

[AlexN]

I generally use it on Auto... it selects the best star in the FOV for guiding, You can select a guide star manually, by taking an exposure with the guider, and clicking on the star you want it to use... In the guiding window (This is from memory mind you, so if its a little off, forgive me) there should be a field called "guide star position" or something to that effect. when you click in the previously captured image, you'll see its position (in pixel X/Y) displayed. when you click auto it will pick a star and put its position in that field.... then click calibrate, it will move that star +/- in both RA and DEC. Provided no errors are encountered (ie. guide star not moving far enough etc.) you then click track and away it goes. If you get errors about star not moving far enough in a particular axis, just increase the step size in that axis, or alternatively the aggressiveness.

Hopefully I'll get a chance to point my scope at the sky at some stage over these holidays.. If I do, I'll be sure to post back with a full detailed write up of guiding in MaximDL with a QHY5/Orion SSAG...

Cheers.

[RobF]

Thanks Alex - I'd love to have read through of a write up of Maxim guiding if you get around to it.

I've had a couple of "engineering nights" over the last couple of weeks to try and document my guiding performance on different programs and across different parameter settings. I figure if I know quantitatively how good my guiding is I've got a baseline for being scientific about possible tweaks and improvements. For the first time I was getting Phd tracking near to the 1-1.5 arcsecs I seem to get from GM all the time.

On both nights I had a quick play with Maxim at the end. By 1am I was too tired to get anywhere with it though - made me realise why Craig Stark wrote Phd! :lol: I am tantalised by the multi-star plug-in routine I've read about to help average out seeing effects though...

[AlexN]

No worries Rob... I'll get to writing it next time I'm out.. Its good to hear someone is actively trying to improve their guiding... Despite the good results you have been getting in your images. You're on the right track too... quantitative comparison of different guiding packages will give you a good idea of what gives you the best results etc..

Hopefully I get a chance to write up this guide for Maxim soon.. I dare say you'll be pleasantly surprised.. It takes a bit of fiddling, but once you tame it all up, the results are really really good...

[kamayok3]

Hi mate,

Have you finish with the guide yet? Hope to read it out.........

Regards,

Tommy