zwo 174 MC pro will not take exposure longer than 99.9 seconds

[AstroBob1949]

i can take an exposure up to 99.9 seconds. at 100 seconds i get no saved frame -----this also happens with firecapture But not with the ASI studio

sharpcap 3.2.........windows 10.........usb 3....... zwo 174MCpro ---early version without usb 2 hub.....

the zwo 178 MC camera works above 100 seconds exposure.


thanks,
bob

[admin]

Hi Bob,

I get a similar problem with 60s exposures (and longer) not working if the camera is in RAW8 mode. If I move the camera to RAW16 mode instead, 60s and 120s exposures work. I wonder if you are hitting the same limitation at a slightly different cut off point? In general you would want to use the higher bit depth mode for long exposures anyway, so there is no real loss in not being able to run 8 bit modes in very long exposures.

cheers,

Robin

[AstroBob1949]

ok --thanks,
i was wondering Why it can't go to 2000 seconds as the spec says.

i'm thinking of getting a 294 or a 183 ---do those have limitations as well ...

thanks,
bob

[Menno555]

Hi

I have the 294MC Pro and I got up to 300 seconds with that one, so working here.
About the Zwo ASI174 MC Cool ... the specs say it goes to max 1000 sec. Also, are you using Ascom or Zwo drivers with SharpCap and Firecapture? I remember somewhere reading about the ASI174 having some issues with Ascom since the camera is an older, discontinued model.

Menno

[AstroBob1949]

thanks Menno,
i am using ZWO drivers.
i was guessing about the 2000 seconds ( i've been looking at camera specs toooo long).
i knew the 174 should go at least 300 or more .....

re: the 294, have you tried longer than 300 ?

regards,
bob

[Menno555]

Hi

No, 300 sec is max for me since I am in Bortle7/8. Longer exposures are really giving LP problems. But I see no reason why it wouldn't go past 300.

Menno

[AstroBob1949]

thanks for the info.
i'm looking at zwo or QHY 294.....

[AstroBob1949]

i sent ZWO a log of my issues ---they found a BUG in their SDK and will fix it ASAP and release a new SDK !

please let me know when this availabel in SC.........

bob

[admin]

Hi,

they actually put out a new SDK about two days ago which is already in a new version of SharpCap 3.2 (just grab the latest from the downloads page). I've got no idea whether that contains the bug you're talking about or not though. Might be worth a try.

Cheers, Robin

[AstroBob1949]

hi Robin
my guess is --it does not ---i sent the log into them about 3 or 4 days ago --hard to tell with the time zone differance ---

it will be in the next on ?

where do you get the NEW sdk's from zwo ??
i'm running 3.2.6383 now --
bob