My new (to me - its second hand) STL11kM arrived on Thursday - would have been perfect timing had the sky played nicely.
Its a beautiful combo with the Tak FSQ106. What a big field! I can see I'll have some fun with this set up - though I suspect gradient will be a real issue from Sydney.
I also have a question - does anyone use a ST-4 cable to guide with this camera? I have used a separate cable and guider relay settings in Maxim as the meridian flip in CCDAP5 hasn't worked properly with my other rigs when guiding via Telescope in Maxim.
Testing out the new camera last night, I found my stars were elongated. Looking at the TCS Bisque display in TSX (I use a PMX by the way), it seems that one of the guide relays was constantly activated. This drove the mount continually (but slowly) off target.
Now it may be:
- a dodgy cable
- a setting I have askew somewhere
- a problem with the PMX
- a dicey connection with the camera
- the camera itself.
Of course the clouds rolled in before I could do some proper testing.
I did establish that the internal guide chip happily guided the setup when connected via Telescope in Maxim.
I have connected the cable via a plug inserted into the AO/Scope port.
Did you use the cable that came with the camera? Sbig st4 cable is straight and others like the qhy5 and ssag are crossover, they can be easy to mix up.
I have found that ccdsoft tends to work better than maxim and ccdap, a lot of the time maxim sent the guide directions the wrong way around, I didn't try and fix it, I just changed to ccdsoft and it works fine. Adding further to this the latest update of ccdap uses the skyx camera add-on. Thats another option I suppose, I haven't tried it as yet, I'll let everyone else try it and see!
I have also heard of a stl11k having one guide (relay, although they are optically isolated) stuck on as well from new. Which is another reason to use ccdsoft as you will be able to pulseguide directly to skyx/pmx without the cable.
I think you are right. The camera didn't come with a cable - it was a second hand purchase.
I did have a standard non-reversed cable and plugged that in - no indication on the guider relays. Plug in my reversed cable - there was the same guider relay indicator illuminated.
Will give it a whirl tonight - hopefully the clouds will stay away
I had some similar problems recently with my STT and guider, thought it was the mount then did a 15minute unguided sub with no observable tracking issues. Used the guider again, then bam..... strange tear drop shaped stars. After a bit of messing with the settings, I lowered the aggressiveness and increased the calibration time for both X and Y axis. This solved the guiding issues for me. I am using theskyx pro to control the PMX and STT on OSX.
Why not use the TSX camera addon? At least for the guiding, that way you can use Directguide with TSX and the PMX. One less cable to worry about that way as well.
Make sure your post calibration guide parameters are not set to "reverse"
The standard SBIG cable, if you lay it flat, will have both RJ11 clips up, or both down (it's the symmetry that matters).
It's a great camera..I'm sure you'll enjoy using it.
Thanks Peter
I'll have a close look at it this evening.
I managed about 45 minutes on the Tarantula last night - what an enormous FOV! So long as I can keep the gradient in check, I expect to have lots of fun.
I had some similar problems recently with my STT and guider, thought it was the mount then did a 15minute unguided sub with no observable tracking issues. Used the guider again, then bam..... strange tear drop shaped stars. After a bit of messing with the settings, I lowered the aggressiveness and increased the calibration time for both X and Y axis. This solved the guiding issues for me. I am using theskyx pro to control the PMX and STT on OSX.
Chris.
So often its the settings isn't it Chris. A new camera means a batch of new settings to test - I find I need to write them all down in my observing notebook.
I plan to try again this evening with a different cable
Why not use the TSX camera addon? At least for the guiding, that way you can use Directguide with TSX and the PMX. One less cable to worry about that way as well.
Cheers
Stuart
That's the next step Stuart. CCDAP now functions with the Camera Add On. That said, I have a sentimental attachment to Maxim.
I did manage to guide last night using Maxim and the Telescope setting and the meridian flip issue didn't manifest itself with CCDAP which is a step forward.