Problems connecting to an STT-8300 over Ethernet

So after waiting for a few months to get my mount controller and focuser repaired after lightning damage I setup all my equipment here at home to test everything. Because I'm continuing to have the problem with Maxim as described in this thread,

https://forum.diffractionlimited.com/threads/maxim-locking-hanging-problem.10757/

I decided to try connecting to the camera over Ethernet to eliminate the USB. I set the network connection on the PC to manual IP assignment, I chose 192.168.0.1 for the PC, and from what I understand in the manual the default IP for the camera is 192.168.0.100 I first tried CCDOps and it connected perfectly, I then used Maxim, entered the IP address of the camera and chose Ethernet for the connection and it worked perfectly multiple times, I did extensive testing here at home, powering everything down, back up, it worked flawlessly. I took several test images with the main camera, the built in guide camera, rotated the filter wheel several times etc.

Last Saturday it finally worked out for me to travel to the observatory to re-install all the equipment and I could not get it to connect over Ethernet, the only thing that changed was the physical location and the wireless network that I was connecting to with the PC. Sometimes I could get it to connect by unplugging the network cable from BOTH the camera and PC, then plugging it back in to each device, then it would connect fine. However after power cycling the camera it would no longer connect. Sometimes disconnecting the cable and reconnecting would work, sometimes it wouldn't. I tried multiple different known good Ethernet cables without being able to consistently connect over Etherrnet. I know the Ethernet port on the PC is fine because I was previously using it for internet. I suppose the Ethernet connection on the camera could be faulty, I don't see any bent or damaged pins, both connectivity lights light up and blink on the camera and the PC when the cable is plugged into both. I finally switched back to the USB cable an it connects perfectly each time.

Any suggestions? The manual is a bit vague on using Ethernet for the connection method. Will a direct to PC connection work? Does it possibly need a crossover cable when doing it this way? Or does it have to go through a router? Frustrating that it worked so perfectly here at home but not at the observatory.

 

I did not change the IP of the camera, I left it at the default of 192.168.0.100 Does it need to be something different?

I set manual assignment of the IP on the PC to 192.168.0.1

I can certainly make and try a crossover cable, but it may be a bit before I'm at the observatory again.

 

Did you use the same ethernet cable in your observatory like in your test at home ? For me ethernet connection first did not work and I inddntified the cable as problem. I have an STT 8300 with lastest firmware. The cable is a patch cable plugged into the Router.

 

I used the exact same cable that worked perfectly here at home, I used another known good cable, both of these I made myself. I then used another known good premade cable, all with the same results.

My firmware is updated, but I'm connecting directly to a PC, not going through a router.

 

Just a guess, as you write only WIFI has changed in your setup and sometimes it worked and sometimes not. You might try changing the adapter priority of ethernet adapter so that the ethernet adapter is always prioritized and the camera is found and the computer does not try to find the camera via WIFI. If you go to your network settings:
1. Right click the ethernet adapter
2. Choose "Properties", under Network click on "Internet protocol TCP/IPv4"
3. Click on button "properties", button "Advanced"
4. Remove checkmark on checkbox "Automatic metrics" and for "Interface metric" enter e.g. number 5
Same steps 1-4 for the WIFI adapter, this time enter a higher number e.g. 50 for the Interface metric.
This should tell Win11 to prioritize Ethernet over WIFI and your camera might be found more reliable. Please excuse if the english terms are not fully correct as my Windows is not an english version.
Maybe this can help in solving your issue.

 

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. The first options I'll try remotely next chance I get, the crossover cable will have to wait until my next trip to the observatory.

 

Would be great if you could give feedback if it worked or not. Good luck and all the best.

 

I will, might be a while.

I got to thinking about it and it might not be the best idea to mess with network settings remotely so I'm going to wait until I'm on site.

 

One more thing. Today I read an article of Dennis Di Cicco in Sky & Telescope in S&T July 2013, where he introduces the STT-8300M. He mentions to plug in the Ethernet cable before powering on the camera to avoid camera might not get a http address. Maybe another trick to avoid the issue. The article can be found online, see page 3: https://skyandtelescope.org/wp-content/uploads/documents/STT-8300.pdf

 

Thanks for that, but this wouldn't work for me in a remote setting.

I've only been able to image for one night with the "new" setup, and interestingly I haven't had the problem with Maixm hanging so far, maybe there was something wrong with the previous camera or PC. I still like the idea of using the network connection instead of USB just to free up a USB port, the few extra seconds of download speed isn't a big deal to me. The only concern I wondered about since I use an AO-8 is if it would potentially slow down the upper limit of the AO when using Ethernet instead of USB?