This has been a vexing problem for the last 12 months. Cold weather seems to affect it the most; I can guarantee that each night when temps are below 32F it'll happen and cause me to lose a half night of imaging. Are there data logs or anything I can collect to help you guys fix this? I'm at wits end with it.
How is the camera connected? USB, Ethernet? Are you using extenders or USB hub? Does the same issue occur when connected directly to the computer? Is all of your electronic equipment...extenders of sufficient quality to operate below 32F?
I think that is the problem too. The camera is attached to a 68' active repeater cable. I think the cables flex and it's causing the disconnects. The only solution I've found is a screw lock. What are the majority of you using? The real distance I have to travel is about 20'.
I've experienced the same problem with my brand new STF-8300M, connected via USB. I was using a 16' active repeater USBv2 cable, and a USBv2 hub, and the SBIG supplied USBv2 cable. It was cold; I suppose it had dropped below freezing. I wasn't doing anything in particular to keep the equipment warm, just dry. None of the other devices that were hooked up had any complaints, although, I'd have to admit that none of the other devices, had to transfer the same amount of data... though the guiding camera comes pretty close. If the clouds ever part, I'll do some more experimentation. Is there anything in particular you'd like me to try to collect or monitor in order to prove that the issue isn't with the camera? Thanks, Karl
Karl, I think we cannot distinquish between camera and/or cable error. If you see some RX or TX timeout errors, you could close your application, open DriverChecker64, select mostly all checkboxes, than start your app again, trying to catch the first error again. When you catch it, stop your app. and send me that log file for inspection with simple explanation what app. did. Thank you, Jan
Hello, Jan, I'll accept that it may be hard to distinguish between camera and cables... (of course, it's far cheaper and faster to replace all the cables, and the hub, and for that matter, the computer, than the camera). I have in fact, for other reasons, replaced every part of the chain except the computer and the camera since my last outing. The next time there's any open skies between the clouds I'll haul out the gear and do some experimentation just to see if I can learn anything more about this issue... (maybe I should think about substituting distant street lights for stars and not wait for the clouds to part.) I just found the logging options in DriverChecker... so, I'll give that a go. I will update this thread, even if I don't see any errors, once I've gotten a chance to exercise the equipment again.. Thank you. Karl
USB has a maximum usable cable length defined in the standard. If you want to extend beyond that you have to insert a hub to regenerate the signals. USB extender cables are really just single-port USB hubs with a cable attached. One big problem with inexpensive USB hubs - and this includes many extenders - is that they use cheap ceramic resonators instead of crystal oscillators to generate their clock. Because these devices aren't stable over temperature they go off frequency in cold temperatures. That results in a lot of communications errors, and that causes big problems with CCD cameras of all makes, because of their high bandwidth requirements. A hub or extender that works perfectly on a summer evening may be completely unusable in winter. This is one big reason why I always recommend directly connecting USB cameras directly to the PC if at all possible. The only other effective solution is to use industrial-grade USB hubs that are rated for operating in below-freezing conditions.
Thanks, Doug. That's worth knowing. I mean, I knew the bit about active repeater cables being just one-port-hubs, but the cheap ceramic resonators is news to me. (I'm not an electrical engineer; I've never even played at being one on the internets.) I had my gear out last night, just running an auto focus routine repeatedly, with my new hub and extender cable, and had no problems at all... but, the temps were above freezing while I was out. So, another simple experiment suggested by this line of reasoning is, that if I have the problem again, I could try to use dew heaters to warm the cable ends and the hub itself, and see if the situation improves. Be well, Karl Meanwhile, off to google to look for "industrial-grade USB hubs."
Hey Karl, Did you ever find a solution? I went looking for hubs/cables designed to work in the cold and couldn't find a suitable product anywhere.
Hey Chris, Happy New Year... I found some "industrial" USB hubs that publish their operating temps... and they go down to something around freezing... and they cost rather more than you'd expect for a USB hub. For example: http://www.startech.com/Cards-Adapt...e-Rugged-Industrial-7-Port-USB-Hub~ST7200USBM. But, I decided to side-step the issue. I've gotten a couple of reptile enclosure heaters, and I put the ends of the Active USB cable in a bag with that, and the USB hub in another, (or the same one, depending on how I'm set up), and that seems to have made the problem go away. I can't say for certain, though, because I've not had any long imaging sessions in the bitter cold recently, because mostly I have had clouds, and the few clear nights I've had haven't been bitter cold, nor have the sessions lasted very long. Have you had any more difficulties? Or, have you tried any other solutions? Karl
