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Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2019 1:25 am
by bwells
Just one note to add with respect to my 165C. I found if SC set the power level to 255, the camera acted as temperature control was turned off. So if I manually set the power level to something lower than 255, the camera began cooling again and worked correctly. Also, I eventually ended up using EZCap to control the temperature, and using SC for all my other needs. This seemed to work as a safe workaround. But sometimes, if the set temperature is above the current temperature, SC does not set the power to 255 and SC finds that set point and it stays there.

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:32 pm
by iamhondo
Absolutely agree. I never delete a dll, even if I know it's bad. I usually rename it something "qhyccd this should be deleted.dll"

Joe

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Mon Mar 18, 2019 9:22 pm
by admin
Hi folks,

Just an update to let you know that I have just put a new version of SharpCap online that has the very latest qhy DLL in it. It would be worth testing this version to see if you see any improvement in the thermal controls for these cameras.

Cheers, Robin

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 12:58 am
by iamhondo
admin wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:52 pm ...
I have just downloaded and installed a brand-new version of the software from QHY today and I hope to release a new version of SharpCap with that update in the next few days. Using the only cooled camera that I have from QHY (the 174M), I get correct auto cooling behaviour and the correct report of the cooler power level.
...
I downloaded and installed build 5964 today and tried it out on my camera. But it didn't go well at all.

When I connect via the native driver, SC shows an error screen from the driver.
2019-03-20_1845_SC_error_with_QHY168.png
2019-03-20_1845_SC_error_with_QHY168.png (14.36 KiB) Viewed 3418 times
It looks like SC is trying to open the camera with an image size (5056x3358) that the driver or dll doesn't like.

I clicked on the "report" option (don't know where that info goes or if it did). I followed the directions to disconnect and reconnect the camera. But that error continued. I tried using script to address the camera but that failed too.

I confirmed that the 3.1 SC (max size 4952x3288) and the EZCap software (max size 5040x3346) could work with the camera fine. I also had no trouble with SC 3.2 accessing the camera via ASCOM (max size was 5040x3346). So I tried a more rigorous cleaning: Removed the 3.2 SC and the QHY168 driver, then rebooted. Reinstalled the driver, reinstalled SC 5964. But no joy. Same error message.

I don't know if that objectionable image size is in the registry or some file. But I'm stuck as far as using SC 3.2 and the camera in native mode.

Ideas? Help?
Joe

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 4:06 pm
by iamhondo
Friday morning followup:

I thought the 5056x3358 array size (that causes the fatal error at camera connection) was a leftover from a prior build of SC. But that's probably not true. It looks like build 5892 -- the 2nd most recent build I installed -- didn't have any resolution entries that big.

Joe

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Thu Mar 21, 2019 6:54 pm
by admin
Hi,

The maximum resolution is something that SharpCap gets by querying the qhy SDK and it looks like the latest version is giving out a value that is too large for your camera. This unfortunately sounds like a new bike introduced in the latest version of the SDK which is a disappointment. I'm going to check the code once more just to make sure that I'm not doing something wrong (but I haven't change what I'm doing in this area of the code for a long time ) and if I don't find anything there I will contact qhy about the issue.

Cheers, Robin

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 8:45 pm
by admin
Hi,

So I had a suggestion from qhy which seemed to like it might cure the problem when I first read it in their email, but when I looked at the code it seems likely that I'm already doing what they suggested anyway. It looks like the SDK is for some reason now including the overscan area around the main in use part of the sensor in the size that it returns to SharpCap and then when I use that full-size to ask the camera to start it then complains.

I have made some changes to the code to try and see if I can avoid this problem, but I suspect that it's going to require a change from qhy. You can find a new testing build available for download at this address – https://d.sharpcap.co.uk/installs/Sharp ... 5965.0.exe. Please give this a try when you get chance. If you still get the error then please submit the bug report and let me know. If it does happen to work then please can you send me the SharpCap log file after opening the camera as that will let me see exactly what data the camera SDK is sending me and help me understand what is going on.

Cheers, Robin

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 10:57 pm
by iamhondo
I downloaded 5965 and tried it. But got the same error. I clicked "Send Report" and I think that completed.

If you didn't get the log, I can attach it. I have a screen capture of the error panel. But it's the same text as the message in the log.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do.

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2019 8:09 am
by admin
Hi,

Please try this build – https://d.sharpcap.co.uk/download.html? ... 3.2.5967.0

I looked at the bug report you submitted from the previous build and discovered that it looks like there's a way I can determine the right resolution for your camera from the new SDK, so I have added code to do that. Hopefully this new version should get the camera running and then we will find out if the update has done anything to improve the control of the temperature!

Cheers, Robin

Re: Issues with QHY168C

Posted: Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:06 am
by iamhondo
I was occupied most of the day and just finally was able to set up a test.

The very good news is that SC didn't report that error and croak. (I had my eyes squinting at startup to soften the potential horror.)

I tried different setpoints and the camera adjusted properly. (That's an internal camera action, right? As I understand, the camera alone adjusts cooler power to achieve setpoint with no app intervention.)

I also wanted to exercise the camera bit more. Exposure, gain, and most controls behaved very normally. However, when tried my first resolution change, the camera stopped taking images. The image count just stayed "...0 frames...". I expected "Reconnect camera" to make things right, but no. I closed the camera, then connected, still no. When I exited and restarted SC the camera launched at the resolution from the previous session and functioned normally. That failure to start frames happened only in one instance and not any other sessions.

When I switched color spaces I ran into other problems. If I started the app in RAW8 or RGB24, when I switched to RAW16 the app reported new frames, but they were totally black. Reconnect camera didn't fix anything. But close camera and then open camera allowed me to see images in the color space that was set at close time.

It's late here (CDT USA here in the Missouri Ozarks). I'll try some other tests on Sunday. Your latest app fixes the fatal size error report and the camera cooling seems to be fine. But the resolution and color space complexities are a worry. Luckily, there seem to be workarounds.

Attached is a log from a tranquil run of the app and camera just to demonstrate success of getting past the initial error message and also the correct cooling behavior.

Thanks for your help getting to this point. I'll report more later.
Joe