I have a STL-1001E that is showing image smear in a region of the CCD, confined to the top half. I think it has gradually become worse. Has anyone else seen this? Is there a fix? It is clearly not an optical aberration, because the hot pixels are smeared too. This is just the top half of the 1k x 1k image:
Also, the JPEG picture is log scale (contrast stretched), but the FITS file is not. It needs to be enhanced to show details.
Okay that's one of the weirder-looking symptoms I have seen! Most likely the vertical clock voltages gave gone out of spec. If I had to guess, the camera's internal power supply is failing. Less likely is a partial failure of one of the vertical clock drivers. Either way, you should contact Bill @ service.
OK. Also, I notice that there is no STL category on this forum website, or on the SBIG website. I assume the STL model is discontinued. Is it still possible to get a replacement external power supply for this camera?
The STL was discontinued almost 5 years ago. The brick used for the STXL cameras will work with the STL. They're available on our web site. The problem with your camera may be the internal power supply, though. It should be repairable.
I have an update. A little over a year ago, I sent the camera to Bill at SBIG, but he could not reproduce the smearing problem. He sent it back and we used a new external power supply. That seemed to help for a while, but then the smearing problem returned. Now, I would like to try replacing the internal power supply, and possibly other boards related to readout, if replacement parts are still available for this model. Is Bill still the person at SBIG to contact for that?
Yes please contact Bill. Parts are a bit limited, but we have a good supply of the internal power modules. It’s the most common failure in these old cameras. There’s a good chance that it is the issue.
Bill said that they are out of replacement power supply boards. So, I think that I will try to replace the four big electrolytic capacitors on that board.
Mike, I see where we got mixed up. Doug said "modules", those I have. You asked about boards, those I don't. -Bill
I'd strongly recommend sending it to Bill rather than working on the board yourself. It's probably the module and you can't fix that. Bill can.
