Last night i went to try and do the first imaging i have been able to do in more than 12 months and it turned out to be a complete disaster. I could not figure out why i was getting odd patterns in the downloaded images and why it looked like some came in with stars visible and some were completely blank even although there was no cloud. I took the camera off the scope and had a look at the filter wheel which was in the correct position and appeared to be working fine but then i noticed that the shutter was at an odd position. I then took a couple of test exposures while looking at the shutter and it was doing very strange things; it would sort of go to position but not quite then it would close almost all the way mid exposure before closing completely and after completing the exposure and moving to the next it may or may not move and sometimes moved just a bit and hunted around before closing. I depowered the camera and plugged it back in where i expected the shutter to do a flip back and forward like it normally does (i presume this is a learning cycle when it powers up?) but it did not move at all. Is this an issue with the motor/encoder for the shutter or could there be another issue? OS: Windows 7 Control software: Maxim DL 6.13
Scott, A few years ago my STF-8300 developed what may have been the same problem. In my case, it was related to a higher input voltage. I had changed from using a marine battery using to a power supply. The power supply was running at 13.8 volts. After some dead ends and red herrings, I stumbled onto what had changed. For that camera, lowering the supply voltage to something around 12.6 volts allowed the shutter to operate normally. In my case, this was very repeatable. It is something that is easy to test, anyhow... Best regards, Craig
Yes bad power can cause the motor to misbehave. Failing that, contact Bill @ Service; he may have some suggestions.
Thanks for the suggestion. I checked my voltage and it was slightly high at 13 v so i trimmed it down to 12.6 on the regulated supply which gave me exactly 12 v at the camera after slight losses due to cable lengths but this didn't make any difference as it just sort of stuttered although when i took off the shutter itself the motor appeared to operate just fine. I ended up loosening the screws that secure the motor and tried operating it with the motor not mounted and it appeared to work fine so i presume there must have been too much friction due to something rubbing somewhere although i could not see anything. I have repositoned it and slowly tightened down while operating the shutter and it seems to be in a position it likes now.
