Resolved New/Old 16803

Your camera was manufactured April 2018.

The pinout is in the user manual.

The DIN plug can be purchased here:

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/cui-devices/SD-60/96999

Important tip: When testing out a homemade power cable for the first time, unplug all cables from the camera especially including USB. If the camera doesn't power up, then you've probably got the connections backwards.

Reverse power won't harm the camera unless you've got something else grounding it, like the USB cable going back to your computer. If you do have reverse power and USB connected at the same time, you will get sparks and smoke. Not good for your equipment.

Also, definitely use an inline fuse if you're powering off a car battery. A friend of mine once set his telescope on fire with a shorted dew heater - it was quite spectacular!

 

We recommend refreshing the desiccant annually. You don't want to wait until you start getting condensation on the sensor. That can result in a dirty sensor window, and if not dealt with promptly it can result in corrosion damage.

If you are operating it in dry conditions (e.g. desert), then every other year is sufficient.

 

Okay if you got the cooler running, then you must have sorted out the driver issues.

The black screen is concerning - please confirm whether the image is all 0 (using View menu Information Window). The older SBIG models will display all-zero images if they do not get a proper signal out of the CCD sensor. That could indicate an issue with the sensor, socket board, analog board, digital board, or power supply.

Also make sure you have good power to the camera - check the voltage indicator LEDs on the side of the camera.

If there is no obvious problem with the power, please contact @Bill at SBIG Service & Repair. bill at sbig dot com

 

Phew! That's a perfectly good dark frame. I'm guessing you have the cap on the camera?

 

Backfocus calculator spreadsheet: https://diffractionlimited.com/downloads/BackfocusCalculator.xlsx

 

Nope, that looks like a problem in both applications. I'd start by checking all your wiring. Check the LEDs on the side of the camera for low voltage.

 

Ok, voltage level is ok. Green LED = Volts OK. Red LED in the other row is a status indicator - it's alive.

Some questions for you:
1. What's the serial number of this camera?
(Different serial numbers may have different internal components, so this helps us figure out what is going on).

2. What version of the SBIG Driver Checker do you have? version 4.05 is current. Click [About/Help]

3. What version of the sbigudrv.dll do you have? Driver Checker will show this. Version 4.99 Build 7 or 5.1.1.0 are both valid.


4. Check the firmware tab in the driver checker. Does the camera have current firmware?
On that tab, click the Get Firmware button.


5. What version of MaxIm and TheSky X are you running?
e.g. MaxIm DL Pro 6.30 ?
TheSky X 10.5.0 13479, 32-bit ?

6. Please send us a Bias and Dark frame (at least 30s) taken with MaxIm or CCDOps. Send via Dropbox or Google Drive.

7. I'm fairly certain this is going to need a repair to the hardware, perhaps @Bill can comment.
Let's eliminate all other possibilities first.