Staff Assigned: Bill Lynch Cooling problem with STXL-11002 with MaxIm version 6.20

Good Day, I have an STXL-11002 camera that I purchased last year. I have had no problems with the camera until last night when I started the camera with MaximDL version 6.20 (which I have used all along). When I turned on the cooler, the software said the chip temperature was -2.0deg when the ambient temp was +15deg. So I knew right away that the temp reading was incorrect. The chip temp would not budge from a reading of -2.0deg even after rebooting the system. When the temp setpoint was set to -20deg, the power would go up to 100% but the temp would still read -2.0deg. Not sure if this is a hardware or software problem. Do I need to send in the camera for repair? Thanks for any help, Mike Cadwell

 

Doug, I cycled everything a couple of times the night of the incident with no luck.
However, the next night I booted up and everything worked fine.
I have been using the camera now for the last four nights without a problem and have been unable to reproduce the problem.
So, I will keep your suggestions handy and hope it doesn't happen again.
The camera serial number is: X19010003.
Thanks for your help, Mike Cadwell

 

Doug, sorry to say the cooler is acting up again. In the last few weeks when the temp setpoint was set to -20deg, the power would go up to 100% and the temp would reach -20 very fast but then reach -21.7 and take a LONG time to drop back to -20. Temp would then cycle between -20.0 and -19.9, which is normal. Then in the middle of an image the temp reading would jump to -16 and the power would climb to 100% trying to bring the temp back down to -20. The temp reading would then instantly jump to -26.0 and the power would drop to 0%, trying to warm up the chip. I would also get other erroneous readings such as -2.0 and -32.0. This cycling would continue and I would finally shut everything down, reboot and still have the same problem. It seems like the temperature probe is sending the wrong temp reading to the cooler and the cooler is chasing its tail trying to heat and cool the chip using the erroneous temp data. This problem occurs most of the time now, although a few nights the camera works fine. It is very inconsistent. Tried the camera with CCDOPS and the same problem exists, so it looks like a hardware problem. Do I need to send in the camera for repair? If so where do I send it and what is the best way to ship from the US? Thanks for your help, Mike Cadwell