Staff Assigned: Tim Darks and Bias flawed

Hello,

I attempted to take dark and bias frames but my STT8300M is not producing the correct type of files.

Please look up the attached samples and let me know how to fix this issue.

Thanks

Francois

 

Hello Tim
I do have RBI pre-flash turned off, and indeed it looks like the images are saturated.
Please find here attached the "settings" folder.
Thanks
Francois

 

Hello Tim,

Indeed, the camera was in full darkness, outside at night.
Please elaborate on how to adjust the offset remotely. Can this be done very soon?

Thanks

François

 

T15080728

 

Hello Tim,

I followed the first couple of steps indicated in the post you provided the link for but after clicking the tiny blank button in the top right corner of the CCDOps Preferences box, there was no "Show Advanced Menu" checkbox available (see below):



Here is the CCDOps version I'm using:


I updated thru the Driver Checker and all seemed to be current.

In addition, CCDOps does not connect to the camera. I am getting this message:



Even though I have the Graphic/Comm Setup right as shown below:


Please advise.

Thanks

Francois

 

Thanks Colin. I did update to the latest version and could follow all the steps indicated in the link provided.
HOWEVER, this did not solve the issue.

Tim,
Below is a screenshot of the CCDOps window after reading the offset:



Attached one dark and one bias frames taken after "writing to EPROM" and power cycling the camera. They still show saturation.

What can I do now?

Francois

 

No.
Light frames are fine.

François

 

Indeed, it does not make sense (see attached light, dark and bias frames taken within 5 minutes of each other).
Nothing has changed at all: one day it worked fine, the next it did not.
Firmware is 2.58 (see camera info below)



In addition, the isue of power connectivity, object of exchanges with Bill Lynch back in October has returned!!
I shipped the camera to him then and it was determined that the issue was with a power adapter cord, that was replaced, and all worked fine until today when the connectivity is lost again now. I must play with the connector by hand in order to keep power connectivity.

Francois

 

Hello Tim,

I upgraded the firmware to 2.63 which seems to have resolved the darks and bias issue! (see attached samples)
I have taken multiple series of dark, bias and light frames and they all seem fine, so thank you for the final advice.
One question however: when checking for firmware update, a message appears that says that only upon direction from Tech support should one upgrade the firmware. So then does one have to contact you if one sees that their firmware is not up to date?

Regarding the power connection, I've split the shunt inside the connector on the camera (see attached picture) which helped a bit but did not resolve the issue (I split it as much as possible to allow the power cord to fit in). Power connection is fine in certain positions but not always as shown on the attached short video. The power cord is new (shipped a couple of months ago by Bill) and I have only disassembled the power connector maybe 3 or 4 times in the interim (I have a small observatory in my backyard and don't need to move my rig). I shipped the camera back in last October and Bill inspected it and found nothing wrong with it so it does not seems to be a camera issue. Maybe I'm just not lucky with power cords...

Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks!

Francois

 

Hi Tim,

I had never noticed this flat metal piece before... I worked on it and ensured that the center pin is well separated and it seems to be fine now.
However, I must admit that I'm finding this connection a little fragile because I had only plugged/unplugged the connector less than 10 times before it started to loose connectivity.
I never experienced this issue with my ST2000, ST10 and STL11000 that I owned prior to this STT8300...

Am I the only one reporting this? Is there a way to upgrade this connection?

Thanks

François