SharpCap Forums

I'm using version3.0.4008.0 and every time I start it and connect to any camera (including the Test cameras) I get an error message "An error occurred while trying to connect to your focuser". I can hit "Ignore" but the error repeats every 10-15 seconds. It took me awhile but I found under "File/SharpCap Settings/Hardware the Focuser drop down menu is blank. Under the drop down menu there are nine lines - but only 8 have a value, and the blank line is selected. (The other lines are "None", "ASCOM Simulator Focuser Drive" etc.) It seems the default Focuser for any camera is the blank line. If I select "None" the problem goes away until the next time I start SharpCap. Note that the Filter Wheel and Mount items under Hardware both default to "None". Is there a way to change the default value for Focuser or delete the blank line from the focuser list?
Scripting works - but without the Pro license I can't run the script at startup.

Thanks

Ah, that's interesting...

SharpCap stores the focuser name of the focuser it wants to connect to or an empty string if no focuser is selected. It looks like the 'Meade.Focuser' device you have installed has no name configured, which means that SharpCap incorrectly picks that device at startup when no device is selected (and that device appears as a blank line in the list of devices).

I will fix this in the upcoming 3.1 release to give a device a name even if no name is configured.

Some things you can try for now would include uninstalling the Meade focuser driver or selecting one of the 'simulator' focusers that ASCOM has.

cheers,

Robin

Thanks Robin. I didn't even know I had a Meade.Focuser installed, and I'm not sure how it got there. I'll try to find the driver and un-install it, and let you know if anything works.

I upgraded to Version 3.2.59580.0 and now I have the exact problem I had with an older version, except with the Mount instead of the Focuser (see original post). The program opens to a default mount of "blank" (not NONE) and so the error message shows up. I was never able to find Meade drivers to fix the focuser issue, but your subsequent releases fixed the original problem. The problem doesn't occur using version 3.1.5220.0. I also noticed in the current version there are 10 mounts listed under the drop down Hardware Menu in Settings, including "none" and a blank line between "Generic Hub" and "Pipe diagnostic tool" (exactly where a Meade mount would show). In version 3.1 there were only two: None and On Camera ST-4. Also of note: when I select some of the mounts in version 3.2 and display properties, I get error messages. Others display mount controls.

Hi,

I've looked through the uploaded bug reports and I think I've located the ones that relate to the problems that you've been having. It looks to me that you have an Ascom driver for the mount 'lxp.telescope' installed, but it doesn't seem to be working correctly as it creates an error when SharpCap tries to activate it. I'd suggest that the best way to try and fix this problem would be to uninstall and then possibly reinstall that Ascom driver to see if that fixes the problem.

Cheers, Robin

Thanks Robin. I'll try, but just like with the focuser issue I have trouble finding/uninstalling the various specific drivers. That's my problem though.

Hi, I could not connect my nFocus focuser, whether I use the Ascom POTH_hub option or the GCUSB_nFOCUS option.
Error when connecting to COM5 (which is where it is correctly connected).
There is no log with information about this error.
With other programs the focuser works perfectly. Thanks and regards.
I have PRO version 3.2.5.964.0

Hi,

Please can you share your SharpCap log captured after you have tried to connect to the focuser. You can find the SharpCap blog by looking in the help menu and choosing 'show log'.

Cheers, Robin

admin wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:06 pm Hi,

Please can you share your SharpCap log captured after you have tried to connect to the focuser. You can find the SharpCap blog by looking in the help menu and choosing 'show log'.

Cheers, Robin

Hello: I enclose report error, I can not select the log since the error blocks SharpCap.

COMException at {TargetType}.{TargetFunc}_{LineNumber}#59378.error

Hi,

In that error report it looks like the focuser has connected correctly but has triggered an error when you try to use the focus scan functionality. It looks like you may have a focus position of very close to 0 which may be part of the problem – normally you would expect to start with the focus position that is quite high – for example 10,000. Focus positions are not supposed to go below zero, but maybe the scan is trying to set the position below zero and causing the problem. I think with the GC USB focuser there is a way to reset the value without moving the focus of the to get yourself back to a sensible starting value.

Hope this helps, Robin