QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

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johntc
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Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:03 pm

QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#1

Post by johntc »

SharpCap Version-V3.2.6194
Camera: QHYCCD163C
WIN10 64bit
Logfile attached. Initial setup:
Exposure time: 120sec
Power~ 125 (gives about 50%)
Target Temperature: -10C
Power~ 125 (gives about 50%)
Temperature: -10.1C

Works for awhile at these settings then all of a sudden
Temperature=-5085C and no additional exposures occur since system cannot reach temp of -5000C

This "seems" like an intermittent issue but sometimes Temp trues to go to an extremely large # and system completely crashes.

The large # can occurs in the logfile about 2/3 way down.
A friend with a different QHY camera has experienced a similar issue.

Thanks for the help
John Collett
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QHY163C_Logfile.txt
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

Sadly this seems to be a fairly common problem with some of the QHY camera models. I only have one cooled QHY model here to test with at the moment and try as I will I can't make it misbehave :-(

What is interesting is that in the log there are messages that the program has received hardware change events just before the camera starts misbehaving. These events are a signal from the Windows operating system that USB devices have either been added or removed from the system.

Code: Select all

Verbose:	11:31:38.0941944 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.DoubleFeature.Refresh() :: Refresh Property Temperature: -10.1 (-50-50
Verbose:	11:31:38.0941944 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.IntFeature.SetValue(Int64 value) :: Set value of QHY camera parameter Cooler Power to 124
Verbose:	11:31:39.1622494 Thread:#37 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.DoubleFeature.Refresh() :: Refresh Property Temperature: -10.1 (-50-50
Verbose:	11:31:39.1632455 Thread:#37 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.IntFeature.SetValue(Int64 value) :: Set value of QHY camera parameter Cooler Power to 124
Info:	11:31:39.5109731 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event
Info:	11:31:39.5109731 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
Info:	11:31:39.5119714 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event
Info:	11:31:39.5119714 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
Info:	11:31:39.6428462 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event
Info:	11:31:39.6428462 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
Info:	11:31:39.6428462 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event
Info:	11:31:39.6428462 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
Verbose:	11:31:40.2312998 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.DoubleFeature.Refresh() :: Refresh Property Temperature: -5085.3 (-50-50
Verbose:	11:31:40.2312998 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.IntFeature.SetValue(Int64 value) :: Set value of QHY camera parameter Cooler Power to 124
Verbose:	11:31:41.3013031 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.DoubleFeature.Refresh() :: Refresh Property Temperature: -5085.3 (-50-50
Verbose:	11:31:41.3013031 Thread:#31 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.IntFeature.SetValue(Int64 value) :: Set value of QHY camera parameter Cooler Power to 124
I'm suspicious about the fact that this occurs at exactly the point that the camera communication seems to go wrong – I'm guessing that you probably weren't plugging or unplugging hardware at this point during your imaging session, which could mean that the events arising because of either a cabling problem or a USB device having a glitch for some reason (possibly the camera itself or potentially some other device).

If the camera is glitching (remember that these cameras have a small computer on board to run the sensor and communicate with the PC over USB and that computer could potentially crash or have a bug in its programming) it's not surprising that it suddenly starts behaving incorrectly.

I'm not sure that I can do anything to help specifically with this problem – if I had a device that misbehave myself then maybe I can investigate further. What I will do is add (if I can) more information about the device added/removed events that are being put into the log – if it turns out the extra information shows that these events are related to the camera then we would understand that there really is some sort of USB glitch with the camera going on and causing the problem.



Cheers, Robin
johntc
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Joined: Tue Sep 26, 2017 11:03 pm

Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#3

Post by johntc »

Thanks for the reply Robin.
Here's a couple other items that might be of some debugging help.
My friend Eric Seavey, is having the exact same problem as I outlined. He has the QHY224 and QHY168 cameras.
Both of his and my QHY163C are all on USB3. We also both use Dell laptops. Yet he can not even connect to his cameras.

I think Eric may contact you later with a similar response and possibly a logfile for your review .
Thanks again for the help and hope we can resolve soon.

Regards,
John Collett
eseavey
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#4

Post by eseavey »

Robin,
The problem John and I have may be related to a driver problem. It was in November during an imaging weekend where suddenly I could not connect my QHY168C camera anymore. I have an older Dell Laptop with USB2 ports, and using an expresscard I've had my USB3 ports for a few years. My QHY5III290Color still connects and works fine.
What happens is that under settings->devices in windows 10, I briefly see westbridge and then goes away. I tried connecting the cameras to my desktop and now the QHY168C is fine, but the QHY224C is exhibiting the behavior John described. What I see happening is that when connecting, first westbridge is listed under settings->devices, and then it changes to"QHY224 (USB 3.0 Connection)" While connected it sometimes briefly seems like it disconnects and then reconnects in the Settings->devices. When this happens, the camera gets corrupted and Sharpcap lists -5232 degrees C. I did order a new cable, even though the camera is doing this with two cables I've tried.
I attached my log file that I zipped. I have been emailing Qui, who offered to remote control into my laptop, but have been having a hard time getting a hold of him this week.
Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Eric
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#5

Post by admin »

Hi Eric,

Thanks for posting the log from the latest version of SharpCap – in it you can see that there seems to be some messages tracing the fact that the camera seems to reconnect the USB device part way through - at least on assuming that you are not connecting a second QHY 224 camera during your imaging session!

Code: Select all

Info:	21:39:51.5338158 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event for arrival of \\?\USB#VID_1618&PID_C225#8&1be45b7d&0&4#{a5dcbf10-6530-11d2-901f-00c04fb951ed} (QHY5IIISeries_IO)
Info:	21:39:51.5338158 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
Verbose:	21:39:51.5348144 Thread:Grab Thread#25 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.Camera.GetQHYCCDLiveFrame :: Completed (returned False) GetQHYCCDLiveFrame(1280, 960, 16, 1, 559087616)
Info:	21:39:51.5348144 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Received hardware change event for arrival of \\?\USB#VID_1618&PID_C225#8&1be45b7d&0&4#{ae18aa60-7f6a-11d4-97dd-00010229b959} (QHY5IIISeries_IO)
Verbose:	21:39:51.5348144 Thread:Grab Thread#25 SharpCap.Cameras.QHY.Camera.GetQHYCCDLiveFrame :: Starting GetQHYCCDLiveFrame(1280, 960, 16, 1, 559087616)
Info:	21:39:51.5348144 Thread:#1 SharpCap.UI.SharpCapForm.WndProc(Message& m) :: Flagging camera list as invalid
This is kind of worrying – it may indicate that the software on the camera has somehow rebooted and it has re-announced itself to Windows as a new USB device. In this case the imaging seems to continue unaffected, but perhaps for other cameras this sort of glitch can cause the problems that are being seen such as the temperature going wild.

The way that the cameras seem to appear twice as USB devices is I think unique to QHY cameras - they announce themselves first as a fairly generic device and then the firmware gets loaded onto them and then they reappear as the specific device. At least I think that's how it works.

Cheers, Robin
eseavey
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#6

Post by eseavey »

Robin,
We installed the 03 February 2020 version of Sharpcap and the cameras seem to work fine now. Not sure if it is coincidence or maybe a fixed SDK?

Glad the cameras are working.
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#7

Post by admin »

Hi,

Good to hear that it sounds like QHY have fixed that in a recent SDK update. I do have another update from them that I haven't had a chance to publish yet – let's hope it stays fixed!

Cheers, Robin
johntc
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#8

Post by johntc »

Hi Robin,

Well my temperature issue with the QHC163C continues.
1. I've downloaded latest Sharpcap version , updated sdk, changed cables, connections, etc
2. No matter what target temp I set the temp "thinks" it needs to be at another value, in this case -788.5C.
3. This issue seems independent of target temp or exposure. In fact I've been testing with lens cap on and doing no capture.
4. This latest test I simply started Sharpcap, set temp=0C, set exposure to 15s and almost immediately temp shows -788,5C. I've seen many different large numbers as well
problem seems to continue.
5. Sometimes issue occurs immediately, other times it may occur after a few captured images.
6. I noticed that when this occurs, t the camera continues to try and meet the set exposure (ex. 2 min). Since it can not reach the temp of 788.5 the capture exposure just keeps running, 3, 4, 5 10 mins etc.
7. I tried EZCap_QT as a test and the software held the temperature perfectly for over an hour.
8. Attached is s shortened version of the logfile. Not sure if info is complete enough to debug. Apologies

Any help is appreciated. I'm running out of tests to try.
Thanks so much
John
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Re: QHY163C Sharpcap Temp Issues

#9

Post by admin »

Hi,

Thanks for the log file. I can see that the value of -788.5 is coming back from the queries that SharpCap is sending to the SDK. On the other hand the cooler power is returning what might be a fairly sensible value of 30 out of 255 or about 12%.

The problem at its core seems to be that the different models of QHY cameras don't all work in a consistent way – every model I've tested with seems to be perfectly happy providing realistic cooler values, but the 163 model seems to have horrible problems. Aside from making some suggestions I can't really do much to fix this as I'm very sure that the bugs that need to be fixed are in qhy code.

In general I would strongly advise against trying to do any sort of qhy SDK update – the version in SharpCap 3.2.6248 is the very latest publicly available version – if you try and run one of their update applications you are almost certainly going back to a much older version and possibly introducing bugs in the process.

Another thing to try is to avoid setting the temperature to 0°C exactly – I have seen a number of cameras that glitch when the temperature is set to 0 Celsius, but that work perfectly nicely when it set to -1 or +1.


Hope this helps, Robin
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