Hello, on my STXL 11002 I find a strange effect which tends to transform images of brighter stars into droplets. It seems as if the antiblooming gate is not fully effective. As an example I send an image of M31 and an enlarged subframe which I took with a 5“ APO-refractor (Software TheSkyX for OS X). Is there any explanation and a possible workaround for this problem? For any hint I would be very grateful. Best regards Herbert Sauber Mittelstraße 6 15749 Mittenwalde Mail: hs@pisam.de Tel.: 03375 950379
Your camera may need an adjustment to the substrate voltage. Please contact Bill at service for assistance.
I've had the same thing on my STXL 11002 and the older STL 11000. SBIG has an article on this and explains why they set the ABG level the way it is. I don't know if the circuit board is the same for adjusting the ABG on the STXL, but it is adjustable in the STL model.. Doug, do you know or Bill if it's the same adjustment on the STXL? Here is the link to the article. https://www.sbig.com/site/assets/files/18112/abg.pdf P.S. MaxIm DL has a bloom repair tool that does a pretty good job of just this thing.
There is an adjustment pot in the STXL, but the design is completely different from the STL. That PDF is only useful in a very general way. The substrate adjustment pot is RV4 on the analog card, which is visible if you take the top of the camera off. The instructions that Dan posted may not match how RV4 works - I haven't checked - so mark the original position and take due care. That said, I do not recommend making this adjustment yourself. If you damage the camera in the process this will not be covered by warranty. Do not touch any of the other adjustments, or it will have to be returned to us for sure.
Thanks to Dan and Doug. I am in contact with Baader, the supplier in Germany. If I receive clear instructions, I dare to fix it myself.
