My STT 1603-3 is having another problem and I think it is time it went back to SBIG for repair. The original problems are still happening - Camera error 8 on most nights. This occurs regardless of whether It's connected by USB or by Ethernet. I have previously complained about this on this forum. I've also complained about very poor AO performance under Ethernet - maximum sampling rate of 3.3 Hz vs 14 Hz under USB. The new problem has just manifested itself - It takes several seconds (10-20) to act on any command given by Maxim 6.14 Beta 10 and also when Maxim 5.23 is run. Having issued a command eg "Connect" to CCD it waits for many seconds then all the Maxim windows give a little shudder and the CCD is connected. Any subsequent command to the camera elicits the same behaviour. I've tried re-booting the camera, rebooting the computer and running Maxim 5 but the behaviour continues. There is no lag when connecting Maxim to the scope or focuser. Curiously when I go into the camera's web page and manually start an exposure there is no problem. The exposure starts immediately. So if you think that I should return it then please give me a RMD number and the address of the SBIG repair shop. Phil
The AO performance on Ethernet is not going to be as fast as USB, because the interface is not as fast. That is not a bug. Have you tried running the camera from a different computer, just to make sure that the "delay" problem isn't on the PC end of the wire?
1) the camera error 8 occurs with both USB and Ethernet. I would expect that if it was the PC at fault then one or the other should work. Neither works. I have not tried replcaing the PC as this is a remote system on a mountain top in Chile and things are not easily swapped out. There is nothing special about the PC other than the fact that it has a 500GB SSD instead of the usual HDD. Can you think of a reason why your cameras will not work effectively with an SSD? I have tried writing to an SD card instead of the SSD but the problem still occurs. On occasions the error message says "Driver not open". Where does the driver reside once the camera is turned on? 2) Others on your forum and on the SBIG Yahoo site have reported that they get much faster than 3.3 Hz with AO on Ethernet. 3) Today's problem is the last straw. Phil
Understood. But these are weird symptoms, and you really want to be sure we can replicate the problems when it comes back. Otherwise Bill might report "it works fine" and we'll be no further ahead on solving the problem. Let's try and eliminate software as the cause. Can you try running it from CCDOPS?
Today I rebooted the camera and then ran CCDOps which could not connect. I checked its setting and it said Ethernet 10.1.2.73. I then ran Chrome to 10.1.2.73 and it brought up the camera's web interface without problem. I tried changing the address in CCDOps, runing it then changing back to 73 but it still would not see the camera. I also have a program called SBIG Control but had not used it until now. This connected immediately to the camera so I set it to run some darks (it is daylight in Chile right now) but after a couple of minutes I got the timeout error message "Errror:Sbig-Driver[CE_RX_TIMEOUT] on main task [3310]" So the problem does not lie with Maxim but seems to be connected to the driver or the memory where it is stored. I have previously updated the drivers to the latest. A technician is going to the mountain next week and he may be able to take a different PC. Phil
Our technician has been at the remote site this week and has tested the CCD with a different PC and it failed after 30 minutes with a similar error message to all the previous times. It fails with USB and with Ethernet It fails with and without the AO8 It fails with Maximv6 and SBIG Control It fails with two different PCs I think now it is time to send it to Bill and I have instructed my guy to remove it and the filter wheel and send them to your repair shop. Please give me the address now. Phil
Please contact Bill at our Authorized Repair Center for an RMA and instructions. http://diffractionlimited.com/support/technical-support/
