Staff Assigned: Adam Robichaud AO-8A

I have an AO-8 on my that I switch back & forth between my ST2000 / ST10. When I click Calibrate AO, it crates a nice size box on the display screen. The results are that it guide incredible. I was hoping for that with my new one.

I have a AO-8A on a SC2 / STC-7. When I calibrate that, it really doesn't hardly move ( see video ).
What do I look for, or is this the way the new AO units work?

hawkeye-observatory.com/CN/SBIG/AO-8A.avi

This is a 27mb file.

Thank You Gentlemen.

 

This afternoon, I remove the camera from the scope. Started Maxim, Went to the AO control window & clicked Setup. From there I unclicked the Y axis & then clicked Exercise. I looked into the focuser tube & I could see That the lens was moving. I then switched the checkmarks for the X & Y, then redid the test. I could see that this axis was also moving. I don't know where else to look.

 

I will get a screen shot. I didn't change any parameters, just using the default settings. This (AO-8A) is so different from my older unit as far as calibrating. I didn't know if it's a software calibrating routine that has changed or if this is just a settings issue. I mainly used my ST200 on the Maxim 4.60 platform, and when it did it's calibration, I did a Four Corners type. This Maxim version (6.26?) appears to do a single axis at a time.

Edited to upload screen shots.

 

Not a problem, It's been cloudy. I have my ST2000 / AO-8 on the scope right now waiting for a sucker hole so I can video that calibrating routine to compare. With the ST2000, or ST10 / AO-8, when I was Asteroid hunting,
I could stay on a guide star for hours & never have any pixel shift.

 

I have a link for two calibrations. Both are ST2000 + AO-8, Windows 10 Pro x64. The first one was run on Maxim 4.60. The second was on Maxim 6.28. This is the same computer that I used for original calibration.
Two different Maxim versions gave me basically the same ( positive ) results that I have been getting for years. The only difference I see is a different guider ( SC-2 ) & the drivers to run the AO-8A that is attached to it.

hawkeye-observatory.com/CN/SBIG/Maxim4-60.avi
hawkeye-observatory.com/CN/SBIG/Maxim6-26.avi

Thanks Gentlemen, Carl.

 

Hello,

Looking at the screen shot it appears that the Deflection % for the AO is set to 50%. This means that while calibrating the AO will only move 50% of it's total possible motion on each axis. Try Setting the value to 100%. and let me know if this resolves the issue.

Thanks,

Brian.

 

Okay, I'm attacking this again. Trying to get my STC7 / SC2 / AO-8A to work together. Last March I got so frustrated that I didn't touch it all Summer. So I bought a third computer to use to try to get it all to work. The main problem is the AO8's lack of calibration. I bench tested the camera & guider with the new computer & it seems to be operational. I did an exercise routine on the AO8 and it looks like a nice range of motion. ( see video clip). Hopefully that range of motion translate into a good calibration. So I just need a clear night so I can test it out again.

 

Hi Carl,

In the past month or so I've been working on improving the AO's behavior, particularly the DLImaging plugin's AO Control logic. I have here a beta plugin containing those changes so you can hopefully hit the ground running. Hopefully, the weather clears up soon!

Brian

 

So there is / was an issue with the AO-8? One of the last tests last March was that I took my ST2000/AO8 & ran it on MaxinDL4.6xx ( the version I always used) & it ran as normal. I then ran it on MaxinDL 6.28 & it ran normal, so that tells me the 6.28 software is fine as far as driving the ST2000/AO8.

I removed the ST2000 and installed the STC-7 camera & running it with version 6.28, the Camera / SC2 guider worked, but the AO8 would not calibrate (see video clip from first post).

 

There were some issues found in 6.29 causing some users to experience issues with axis reversal that has been addressed in the plugin I provided and those same fixes will be in the next release

 

Okay, I did have a small sucker hole last night that gave me enough time to test the new computer w/ AO-8a.
Same results. So what do I do with "testmode_fix" files?

 

Is there a utility that can copy / transfer the info in the settings menu from an existing version into a new version??? That's one of the pains of installing new / upgraded versions,

 

1 question & 1 request
Question, For the STC7 camera setup with SC2 & AO8, I set the AO for sensor two . Then for the SC2 camera, I have the AO set to off - correct?

Request, Is there a way to add an option (check box) so someone can keep (pin)the AO window on top. The camera control window stays on top. When the screen stretch window is active - it stays in top.
In past versions 4.xx & I believe 5.xx, the AO window stayed on top. I realize some people might like the auto-minimizing effect, but for me, it's irritating always having to go to the task bar to retrieve it.

 

Thank you Doug.

 

Okay, I placed the beta file ( CCDPlugDLImaging.dll ) into the folder as described ion to readme file after I added a .bak to the original file. I start Maxim v6.26 and it dumps right out (no start). I tried it twice with same results.
I then made a dll backup folder and moved the original dll file into it. Twice more, Maxim didn't start. I then moved the beta file into the backup folder & the original file into its original location & then Maxim started right up.