STX Guide Sensor Blank

Discussion in 'STX and STXL Series Cameras' started by Dale Mais, Jul 25, 2018.

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  1. Dale Mais

    Dale Mais Cyanogen Customer

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    Just to be clear, the images I just sent out were done in my observatory with covers off the telescope to allow some light in, it was to be cloudy tonight so I wasn't going to be able to get star images. Plenty of light was getting through as can be seen in the image from the main chip, this should have been sufficient to get some photons to the guide chip, but I can tell you a few nights ago I was under dark skies, got exactly same results, I could never get anything except a blank image, even just a few photons should be around to register something on the guide chip, at least I would think so from my experience.

    D
     
    Dale Mais, Jul 26, 2018
    #21
  2. Dale Mais

    Dale Mais Cyanogen Customer

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    By the way stars were sharp on the imaging chip after it was dark, I had just autofocused the system, that worked pretty nicely.
    Also note, on images I just sent, autodark was off.

    D
     
    Dale Mais, Jul 26, 2018
    #22
  3. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    Oh my. I see where the confusion is. I assumed you had an older camera. Your camera was built in March 2018. We discontinued the internal tracking CCD in STX cameras early this year.

    Why was it discontinued? Almost no one was using them anymore. Built-in guide sensors have fallen out of favor; STX had been the sole holdover in the SBIG product line. The internal guider is a major problem for the filter wheel. The FW5-STX was needed, which used huge 65 mm filters in order to cover the guide sensor. And that results in the guide sensor behind the filter, which is a sensitivity problem especially for narrowband imaging. Due to all of those issues we haven't sold an FW5 in two years.

    The STX Guider has proven to be an extremely popular and economical guiding solution. It provides a guide sensor ahead of the filter wheel, eliminating the sensitivity issues. It allows the use of less expensive and more readily available 50 mm square filters, and as a bonus you get two more filter slots in the same size wheel. Just as important, it is very low-profile compared to available off-axis guiders, which saves a great deal of back focus distance.

    Support for the internal guider is provided in our software solely to support older cameras, such as the ST-7 series, STL series, and older STX cameras.
     
    Doug, Jul 26, 2018
    #23
  4. Dale Mais

    Dale Mais Cyanogen Customer

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    Ok, so where exactly does that leave me?
    I still wonder why the guide chip image is blank.

    D
     
    Dale Mais, Jul 27, 2018
    #24
  5. Dale Mais

    Dale Mais Cyanogen Customer

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    So I reread your email, your saying there basically is no second guide chip in my camera? If so that is not what I thought I was buying, the specifications do not say anything about what you just described.
    So if I have to now buy the STX guider, can I get some discount on it?

    Dale
     
    Dale Mais, Jul 27, 2018
    #25
  6. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    I'll send you a private message.
     
    Doug, Jul 27, 2018
    #26
  7. Dale Mais

    Dale Mais Cyanogen Customer

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    I got the ST-X guider all hooked up waiting for a dark night. Obviously now in the camera setup I do NOT check the dual chip option, and for camera 2 I am assuming I select SBIG Universal, correct?

    dale

    Sorry for this repeat, I noticed after sending this message on a previous thread that it stated it was "Resolved" so wasn't sure if that would mean the message would not go through.
     
    Dale Mais, Aug 1, 2018
    #27
  8. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    It still went through. I’ll repeat that you must use Dual Chip with the STX Guider. It’s not a separate camera.
     
    Doug, Aug 1, 2018
    #28
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