Staff Assigned: Tim STX Guider - shutter delay/sticks in cold weather

Discussion in 'STX and STXL Series Cameras' started by Mark Marfoglia, Jan 7, 2020.

  1. Mark Marfoglia

    Mark Marfoglia Cyanogen Customer

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2014
    Messages:
    142
    Location:
    Montreal, Quebec, Canada
    I have 2 STX Guiders, one in New Mexico and one in Canada, great devices. Recently I interchanged the 2 along with the cameras, and the one I installed in Canada gives me problems when temperatures dip below -15C. I know that they can operate well below this as before the switch I had no problems down to -30C.

    The problem has been going on for 3 months or so. I suspected that it was only when it got very cold, but now I am sure. My sessions start off well but as the temperature drops the guide image intensity starts to vary. The star appears and disappears from frame to frame. I changed out the HDMI cable, no affect. The main camera is working fine. I started increasing the exposure time and it helped but the as the temperature drops more that failed too.

    Then I noticed that certain stars, not all were affected separately, leading me to think that the shutter was blocking part of the frame. Then I noticed that when the stars were bright there was a solid clicking of the shutter, and when the clicking was softer or even hard to hear, and delayed, the stars were gone.

    I think the shutter gets weak as the temperature drops. I have attached 3 pics that illustrate the problem.

    It is connected to an STXL 11002 that is only +-8 months old (they were purchased together). Running Maxim 6.20 on windows 10Pro, all drivers and firmware are up to date. Thx for your help.
     

    Attached Files:

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