You should do a 0ms exposure dark photo. That will give you a good indications about the noise and if everything is working fine. The StdDev line should be around 14 +-2... ish. Some minor vertical lines are fine as well.
Patrice, a question regarding the mono sensor and sensor clearing before exposure... I can set the sensorCLR to zero here. Then if the duration of the flats is greater than zero (0.01s for example) it will clear the sensor before exposure. Are you using APT?
Can you describe which options you were using?
I am ashamed of myself, I have not tried with 0sec
Yes I use APT, what option? Cooling?
Cooling min 80% max 100%
AID cooling pause of 5 sec per 7 ° C
Exposure flat of 0.034 sec (19800 ADU) with DIY flat box.
MONO checked in Ascom
other:
PHD2 for guidance with APT dithering; CDC (french software) for skymap.
If you want to know something else, tell me what.
Rsevs3, like Gilles, congratulations from France
It's good, you're not against the French at least here because we include everywhere
Gilles and Patrice, I have uploaded a new firmware to the usual place, v0.7L.
I still don't have a working camera but the ASCOM similator showed that APT sends coolingOn command to the camera whenever the temperature is changed, even if the cooling was already on.
So, I have modified the firmware to check if the cooling is already on after it receives coolingOn command. If it is already on, it will just leave it on. If it was off then the starting power will be used in the formula calculating the cooling power.
New driver is out, in the usual place. Version 0.7.2L. Screenshots attached.
Changes:
- Fix bug where maxGain was reported as 64 instead of 63
- Modify the layout of the settings form
- Add a button to minimise the settings form
- Add a button to toggle between image info only or settings as well when camera is connected
The biggest visual change is that I have modified the window layout to look more like EQASCOM. You can minimise the window now as well.
The firmware stays the same, v.0.6L.
(there is a testing firmware version v0.7L in the same folder, ignore for now unless you have cooling issues).
New driver is out, in the usual place. Version 0.7.2L. Screenshots attached.
Changes:
- Fix bug where maxGain was reported as 64 instead of 63
- Modify the layout of the settings form
- Add a button to minimise the settings form
- Add a button to toggle between image info only or settings as well when camera is connected
The biggest visual change is that I have modified the window layout to look more like EQASCOM. You can minimise the window now as well.
The firmware stays the same, v.0.6L.
(there is a testing firmware version v0.7L in the same folder, ignore for now unless you have cooling issues).
Enjoy
Thank you Luka, i've seen that on french forum (wich is down at the moment).
I've troubles with my cam at the moment : it's really hot here in France, and i think my cam didn't like staying all day under the sun.
I'm really disapointed with that, i think i'm gonna take a little break : i'm starting too many projects at same time, can't finish any...
I'll "try to try" your driver this weekend, but it might not be very usefull as my cam gives very strange results
Gilles, hope you left the camera covered while in the sun. The metal housing can get quite hot and the internal parts even hotter.
If you get time on the weekend, can you test the new firmware, 0.7. In particular I would like to know if we have fixed the issue that you and Patrice had with cooling.
The changes in the driver were mainly cosmetic, and really do not require any serious testing. I did not touch any of the main functions.
Some bad news here as well. I killed my mono sensor
I was trying to take off the glass that I glued over it as it was giving reflections and the blade slipped and cut one of the gold wires. Only one so I will try repairing it tomorrow but you know how tiny those things are. I don't think I stand a chance but desperate times call for desperate measures
New firmware update, version 8 in the usual place. Fixed the bug with the cooling restarting at 60% when the temperature is changed while the cooler is running.
Please note that I have changed the revision numbering for the firmware from "0.8" to "8" as this is what is actually recorded in the firmware (one byte) and reported in the ASCOM driver.
Hi all,
Just letting you know i will be starting this project! i have already been in contact with luka, so at this stage i still dont have any of the parts i need (yet!)
You can get the manufacturer part numbers from my BOM and then look at element14. For example
721-5666 (RS) -> ERJ6BQF3R0V -> 1892948RL (E14)
Even more interestingly, you can search the RS part numbers directly on the E14 website, i.e. you can skip the middle step.
Note that E14 charges for delivery if under $45 or so. RS has free delivery, even for a 1c part. Also for some parts there is a significant difference in pricing between the two shops. My spreadsheet may not be up-to-date.
Make sure you order the slow parts from overseas first (sensor sockets and TEC if you decide to use the same one as we did), otherwise you will be stuck waiting for them for weeks while the camera is almost ready.
Hi everybody,
I do not know if you followed my last post on Webastro, I measured the noise of the board, a diagonal parasite is out, I would like to see if it is in everyone so if one of you Can do the test it would be nice.
To do this you must not have any accessories running (tec, fan, nothing, just the board) remove the sensor, set the pin 19 to ground with setting offset 0 and gain 0 make a picture as fast as possible.
Just about to ship 1st PCB to Gary. Its in case and runs fine. He's sending me a sensor, I'll mount it and fit the temp sensor DS18B20 and its nearly done.
R&R sensors is a real pain. Very easy to bend the sensor pins, so I left my sensors in his PCBs till they were done.
Luka is proposing a small breakout rear case for pwr/USB. This will simplify some connections. Oh I'll conformal coat the PCB to protect it from moisture. Just the cheap Jaycar stuff.