Hi Matt
I purchased an SBIG CFW-8A Filter Wheel mainly for use with my SBIG ST7 CCD camera, but with a secondary intention to also use it for the DMK.
If you want a motorised Filter Wheel and you do come across a used CFW-8 that you are interested in, make sure it is the CFW-8A variant that has the IR coated filters. If you do find a CFW-8A at an acceptable price, also consider the following:
As standard, it cannot be used as a stand alone filter wheel, as it depends on power and logic control signals from the ST7 CCD camera and the camera control software CCDSoft. I understand that the free CCDOps program from SBIG at
http://www.sbig.com/sbwhtmls/online.htm will also control the CFW-8A but again, the filter wheel needs to be attached to an SBIG ST series camera for it to work.
However, I have made a home made cable/power adapter based on the design information at the Maxim website at:
http://www.cyanogen.com/products/max...lusingparaport
This was easy to do and cost me around $15 for all the bits and pieces. This gives you the ability to operate the CFW-8A independent from the ST7 CCD camera. However, you then still require software to control the filter wheel.
I happen to have Maxim DL which can control the filter wheel, but if you were to purchase Maxim, it would cost around US $449…gulp!
However, I also found a program written by a German Amateur Astronomer which purports to control the CFW-8A as a stand alone filter wheel, although as yet, I haven’t installed and used it. Here is the link:
http://astrolab.utopiaplanitia.de/ph...&page=software
Your PC will require a real Parallel connector for the CFW-8A to be connected to, as I understand that some USB to Parallel adapters do not work?
Cheers
Dennis