Staff Assigned: Adam Robichaud Issues with AFW-12-50r

Discussion in 'Filter Wheels' started by Paul ricketts, Oct 13, 2023.

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  1. Paul ricketts

    Paul ricketts Cyanogen Customer

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    Trying to figure out what's wrong here. I have the afw12 and the usb filterwheel adapter. I keep getting this error in maxim DL and a no filter position error in the skyx.

    Latest ascom software, maxim DL 6.30, windows 10 latest updates. I am using a USB to ethernet to usb converter but this works fine with the camera. Filter wheel initializes, spins, and finds home on position 1. Installed the usb drivers, uses com 12. Ascom sees it when checking with it.
     

    Attached Files:

    Paul ricketts, Oct 13, 2023
    #1
  2. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Hi Paul, I suspect you've missed one small step:
    ASCOM Chooser - Properties, then after you set the COM port:
    usb-fw-model.png
    Click [FW 1 Setup] and to select the filter wheel model as AFW-12.
    I've put some green arrows on the screen shot.

    Clear skies!
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 13, 2023
    #2
  3. Paul ricketts

    Paul ricketts Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi Colin,
    I did that and still received the errors I mentioned. Am I missing the proper cable from the filterwheel to the adapter box? I had to use a standard DB9 cable. That's the only thing I can thing of.

    When using the ascom, I do get this...

    Name Short driver name - please customise
    description ascom filterwheel driver for sbig.usb_fw
    driverinfo Information about the driver itself. Version: 1.1
    Driverversion 1.1
    Interfaceversion 2
    position 0
     
    Paul ricketts, Oct 24, 2023
    #3
  4. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    We normally ship a DB9 cable with the filter wheel. Usually it is grey and under 18 inches long. Did you receive that?
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 24, 2023
    #4
  5. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi, no db9 cable. The driver thumb drive was missing also, I installed some from an email I received from DL though.
     
    astrophys, Oct 24, 2023
    #5
  6. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Are you with University of Utah? (Just trying to figure out two different people or accounts on this thread). I want to track down your order details on our end.
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 24, 2023
    #6
  7. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    I just checked, and the cable was definitely packed with the order. It was a grey, straight-through DB9 cable made by L-COM, about 2.5 ft long. Here's a photo of it:
    cable.png
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 24, 2023
    #7
  8. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi, those were not in the box when I received it.
     
    astrophys, Oct 24, 2023
    #8
  9. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    I checked the packing list and shipping photos, the cable was definitely there, but the memory stick was not. Would you like us to ship you a cable? If so, I need the exact address to ship it to.
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 25, 2023
    #9
  10. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Please do. Should I pm you? Also, in case this isn't a cable issue, are there any other thoughts to the problem? It's a 10 hr round trip to this observatory.
     
    astrophys, Oct 25, 2023
    #10
  11. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Yes, please PM me with the shipping address.
    Did you set the filter names in MaxIm? Not just in the ASCOM driver, but in the filter wheel setup? For all 10 slots?
    filternames.png
    If the observatory is internet accessible, perhaps we could schedule a time and I could remote in and have a look. We have a no-install support utility for that.
     
    Colin Haig, Oct 26, 2023
    #11
  12. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi, Yes, I have set all the filter names for every slot and made sure they're matching.

    Unfortunately our observatory is very locked down and can only be accessed from a single computer on campus for remote access. If there are any troubleshooting steps you would look at, please let me know and I'll perform them. I've been using maxim and sbig products since 2004 so I'm pretty familiar with things.
     
    astrophys, Oct 26, 2023
    #12
  13. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Still nothing. New cable installed, same error. I'll remove the unit and we can figure it out that way.
     

    Attached Files:

    astrophys, Nov 20, 2023
    #13
  14. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Another issue I've just noticed is the power connector does not make a good connection and depending on how I hold it, it can toggle off and on power into the USB-FW. This is WITH the ring set in place and synched down. Im not sure if this has caused am issue with the USB board inside the box, but it could. I tried both the gray extension and the adapter plug and both have the same issue.
     
    astrophys, Nov 20, 2023
    #14
  15. Colin Haig

    Colin Haig Staff Member

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    Paul, I'm going to ask my colleague @Tim on the power connector issue.
    I suspect the centre contact can be spread slightly using a jewellers screwdriver.
    There are no other reports of this problem.

    Regarding the setup, could you zip up your MaxIm settings folder and Upload it?
    eg \Documents\MaxIm DL 6\Settings
     
    Colin Haig, Nov 21, 2023
    #15
  16. Doug

    Doug Staff Member

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    That's a common issue with that style of connector. If you snag the cable and lever the plug sideways, it squashes together the two tines in the middle of the jack.

    upload_2023-11-21_11-56-30.png

    As Colin suggests, get a fine tip screwdriver in there and gently pry them apart.
     
    Doug, Nov 21, 2023
    #16
  17. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi Doug,
    I've retrieved the filterwheel and adapter box from the observatory. I have used an SBIG camera to connect to the filterwheel and it communicates fine via the port on the camera. When trying to connect through the USB-FW, that's when i get the errors we talked about above. This indicates that the usb box may have some issues. Please let me know how to proceed from here.

    thanks!
     
    astrophys, Jan 24, 2024
    #17
  18. Adam Robichaud

    Adam Robichaud Lead Developer Staff Member

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    I've recently learned that this happens because the filter wheel fails to report a valid model ID. I'm going to send you some instructions in a private message so we can collect logs from the driver.
     
    Adam Robichaud, Feb 8, 2024
    #18
  19. astrophys

    astrophys Cyanogen Customer

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    Hi, I've responded with updates in the PM and emails. This unit is still not working properly.
     
    astrophys, Oct 22, 2024
    #19
  20. Adam Robichaud

    Adam Robichaud Lead Developer Staff Member

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    Thanks for the logs! I think this gives me everything I need to close out this ticket. I've got to do a little bit of work on the USB-FW driver to implement the fix, and I'll get back to you when it's ready.
     
    Adam Robichaud, Oct 23, 2024
    #20
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