Hi Colin, Doug, I have been operating my SBIG 16803 camera for a number of years without any real issues until tonight. I purchased the camera in 2019, but had some commissioning problems. You may recall that back in 2020, due to fan vibration, I ended up having to replace the fan that came with the camera with a low vibration 3rd party one that was less powerful but didn't produce the vibration and elongated stars that I got with the originally supplied fan. However, this means that in summer I have had to resort to the water cooling using the water pumping system I purchased from you. I need to use it if the ambient temperature gets up towards 25C when the power draw gets up over 80% and the camera starts to misbehave. With the water cooling in place the power draw rarely gets over 50% and it works very effectively. The water pump failed yesterday. After opening up the pump I found the problem was basically related to the flimsy construction of the pump internals and the failure of plastic elements on the impeller which lock into the motor rotating shaft. While I look for an alternative water pump, I ran tonight with the ambient temperature about 23C, hoping to get by. Unfortunately as the power draw got up towards 80% the camera started to misbehave and I got messages about failure of the shutter to open on the guide camera. This caused Sequence Generator Pro to have problems and I had to shut down the program and restart it. However, on the restart and reconnection to the camera I was still getting the same sorts of error messages from the camera vis SGPro. I ended up shutting down the computer and restarting, then powering up the camera again. Once again I was getting error messages, in fact one to the effect that the filter wheel could not be operated. After shutting everything down for a 3rd time, and restarting, I could get nothing from the camera. It is as dead as a doornail. I understand that there is a fuse inside the camera. Could this have blown? Please advise. Thanks & regards, Niall MacNeill Wattle Flat, NSW, Australia
I'll ask my colleague @Tim to assist. Are you using the original power supply? Does the LED light come on? If NO: Turn off (disconnect) the AC power to power supply. Disconnect the power supply from the extension cable. Try again. If still no light, then it may be the power supply has failed. If YES: Are there any lights on the side of the camera? What do they indicate? eg low voltage.
There is an automotive-style fuse on the digital board at the bottom of the camera. Running the cooler without an operating fan or water pump is inevitably going to overheat the camera and risk damage. It can cause both overheating and overcurrent situations. There is firmware protection but it may not have operated fast enough to save it under this extreme environment.
Hi Colin, thanks for getting back to me. Yes the power supply is original. The blue light on the power pack comes on, and with a voltmeter I can see that there is power at the pins, so I don't think the pwer supply has failed. The camera is completely dead, in that there are no LED lights illuminating and I don't hear the sounds I normally associate with it starting up.
Hi again Doug, thanks for your reply. As far as I know, even though I didn't have the water cooling in operation, the fan was still in operation when the failure occurred. The temperature was being controled at -20C prior to the failures, with the power draw around 80%. At the time the ambient temeprature was ~24C. When I felt the camera it was warm to touch but not hot. I will check the fuse and come back to you.
The 10A fuse was indeed blown. I've replaced it and the camera starts up as normal, although I haven't tested it in operation yet. What do you recommend to avoid this eventuality in the future. I probably need to have the water cooling in operation if the ambient temperature is over 20C. What do you think?
I have repaired the water circulation pump. I'm not sure if you still supply these, but if so I would recommend changing to something more robust. Mine has failed with only very few hours of operation. The white plastic impeller apparently has two protruberances which engage the cylindrical magnetic element that rotates. This cylinder has two shallow dints that the plastic protruberences are supposed to lock into. This had apparently failed and once the engagement had failed the spinning magnet quickly wore away any remaining plastic. Although I could get a new pump, I effected a repair by gluing in two small sections of wire into the impeller and once that had set I glued the whole assembly together. Hopefully the wire pieces will lock them together sufficiently well to have some longevity. It is certainly a more robust connection than was there previously. It produces a decent flowrate once the 12V power is applied.
Colin, Doug, I have now reconnected the cooling and tested the camera. Everything appears to be operating normally in terms of the cooling function and I can connect the camera and take and download images. It is 21C here today during the day and the camera is only drawing 41% power and ticking along nicely. Thanks for your help on this and I am happy that the problem was relatively easily fixed. I will leave the water cooling on for the summer. Niall
I think that the equipment you make is very well made and of high quality. You have also taken good precautions to protect the equipment like the fuse in question. I hope that doesn't now put the kibosh on the camera :-D.
