Hi I am an owner of a sbig ST2000XM ccd camera with TC237 internal guiding sensor. I purchased the camera in 2007. Recently I has been forced to move to another computer. The OS was again winXP as the previous one but changed just the chipset, from an Intel core to AMD and this computer is pretty old, maybe 2005 or before. Using this computer I find an interference pattern on the images that was not found on the previous one. Unfortunately the first computer is not available anymore to test on it. The pattern, as can be seen on images attached, appears on both bin 1x1 and bin 3x3 in lights and dark frames. It appears to be less pronounced in bin 1x1, but could be also due to the lowest signal to noise ratio. However this pattern is seen only if short exposures are used, the images are about 1sec, on longer exposures such as 10 minutes it does not appear. On the same computer is attached only a paramount mount and nothing change changing USB port. I tried also changing the cable, unfortunately I had a lowest quality cable compared to that one supplied with the camera and problem was still there. The problem is there both using TSX to control camera, both with MaximDL. Do you have any suggestion about how to solve or which could be the source of interference? I should need to change computer? Could be the USB ports not well isolated? I could try to use ferrite core on the cables?
This is not interference. It looks to me like incomplete flushing. Or perhaps long pauses during readout (vertical columns often have higher dark current than pixels). You can tell because it's not lines, it's steps of increasing brightness. As to why it is happening... that will take some figuring. Did you change driver versions between the two systems?
Unfortunately I cannot check the driver on previous machine, what I can say now is that the drive are up to date. I have checked them now. To install drivers I followed the usual procedure in the manual
I have done a new test. I moved to a new computer (an old one) and I used CCDOps. No bands are present except for just few images every hundred, so I start to think it is not a problem of ccd. Tomorrow I will remove the drivers from my PC, try to install them again and I will use with CCDOps, CCDsoft, the skyX and maximDL.
I have done this test. The problem is evident with every software but with maximDL and CCDops just few images are with bands. However with TheSkyX and ccdSoft more or less all the images are affected in any way, no change with Binning and also on longer exposures (60 seconds, 10 seconds or 1 second). Please I need help because on this way the camera cannot be used.
Yes the camera has the external guide port. I am trying on many computer. Now I used an old pentium 4 with WinXP controlling the camera by the SkyX and CCDOps. The problem is still here on this machine less evident on CCDOps but always present on TheSkyX I tried also on ASUS Ultrabook with Win8 and everything works perfect, no bands using TheSkyX or other software.
It kind of looks like something we called Windows Interrupt. Are you bouncing around the internet while the images are downloading? Is the spacing consistent from one image to the next?
Sometimes yes I am connected to Internet and or I have an opened connection. Often the connection is a peer to peer connection with another computer. But this morning inspired by your post I tried switching off connections and the same problem appears with theskyX, no problem with MaximDL. Note that using the computer with win8 I can everything I want and no problem appears with any software, so I do not believe is a the skyX related problem. I could also buy a new computer but if I am not able to recognize why works on some machines and no in others I could buy every computer in the world without success. The problem is more evident when short exposures less than 60 seconds are used in bin 3x3 in particular, the spacing between images is just the download time normally. I tried with 1 second exposure and 5 seconds delay time nothing change. Again the problem is in the skyX.
Lorenzo, Interesting indeed. That the problem occurs with specific software and/or specific computers... it kind of rules out the camera as the problem, which is where my experience is. -Bill
I would like to summarize, this morning I open my main computer. The problem is present on CCDOps, CCDSoft and TheSkyX but not in maximDL. About theSkyX the problem is present on WinXP but not in Win8. I believe I will not able to find a solution, I will buy a new computer with win8 to dedicate to astronomy... I asked for suggestions also to Software Bisque you can read answers on their forum.
