Hello, when I connect the STi I get very often these vertical lines. I'd like to know if there is a way to avoid it, and if my STi is faulty. Giulio
Can you specify which Windows version including driver you use ? It works well on my Win XP & Win 8.1. Hope, Bill helps us if this could be a hardware problem or not. Jan
Hi, Windows xp version is Home edition sp3 and the Sbig driver is 4.86 build 1. I have to say that this issue occur sometimes, not always. Another question: I was taking some test exposure at home with the autograb. After the session is finished I have received a timeout message from CCDOps because it lose the connection with the camera. The same is happened with PHD. Right now I have just the log I take with PHD. I have also attached one of the picture I took with CCDOps. It's possible to see horizontal lines in this case! Giulio
Hi, difficult to say...maybe you should check USB cable and also settings of USB devices on your machine. Turn off any power saving, which usually turns off USB ports. I would also try the camera on a different computer. Jan
What about Windows 7? I have a Sbig STF8300 with FW8, OAG and the STi. I had a lot of trouble using them on a laptop with Windows 7. I got timeout often with both the cameras. Sometimes after half an hour, sometimes after one hour and normally I was never able to start and finish an image session with no problems. Now I am trying with an older laptop with Windows xp installed and it seems to be better. But sometimes I got a timeout. I am using the original cables with both the camera. Maybe I should try different cables. Could you tell me which settings I should check for the USB device? Thanks a lot for your help Jan Giulio
I think I've solved the problem with the lines and with timeouts. The cable supplied by Sbig is defective. I changed the cable and the lines are gone and there are no timeout! Giulio
As my working usb cable is short, I bought a new four meter cable, but I have the same issue with the STi that is not recognize. Could be the lenght of the cable the real problem? Giulio
There will be some drop of voltage due to cable resistence. Note, that your camera is powered by USB interface. Furthermore, your USB port should supply 500 mA too. Jan
Ok, good to know Jan, but the original cables I received for the ccd cameras are both four meters! In effect the STF-8300 doesn't have any problem due to the lenght of the cable because is not powered by USB. Giulio
It would be interesting to understand why the STi comes with a 4 meter cable that cannot work. Even the allen wrench to mount the OAG were of the wrong size. I had to buy them on Ebay from GB because in Italy there are different sizes. Perhaps the reason is the same!
Giulio, There was a time, a couple of years ago, when we had received the incorrect cable from the supplier. There are two gauges of wire in the cable, 28 and 24 (I think, I'll have to verify when I get back to work on Monday) and the defective cables were 24 and 24, something like that. This likely does not apply to your original cable but the failure symptom was the inability to establish a connection so perhaps the replacement you bought is insufficient to run the ST-i. Send me an email, bill@sbig.com, and we can arrange to get you a proper replacement. SBIG did not intentionally send you a cable that would not work. It's not impossible that it simply failed from wear and tear or some other reason. Also, I believe the standard ST-i cable length is roughly 15 to 18 feet. -Bill
If it can help, I tried using an active extension cable that incorporate a booster and I got the same vertical lines. USB cable have to be less then 15 feet (3 meters) long by design. My installation is 20ft away so I have found a company that makes an extension compatible: Startech USB2FAAEXT15.
Thanks Wilfred, I have resolved using a USB hub and short USB cable to connect the Sti. Now it's woriking fine.
