SharpCap Forums

Hello,
I have seen similar posts about other QHY cammeras , that is, when the set point is entered the cooling power goes to %100 and the camera cools to the minimum possible temperature.

With Nebulosity the temperature is correctly controlled. As other posts on this forum have pointed out staged cooling would be an advantage,
As far as I know I have the latest QHY sdk.

I am using Sharpcap version 3.1.5220.0 as this allows me to select the QHY8L.
I also have version 3,2,6101.0 but this does not allow the selection of QHY cameras.

Am I missing something?
Is there a version that addresses these problems?

Chris

Hi,

QHY did a update of their SDK after SharpCap 3.1 was released – the new SDK is used in SharpCap 3.2. Unfortunately, although it add support for lots of new models of camera, it doesn't always maintain support for older cameras – some models just aren't supported at all and some do not work correctly or any work intermittently. There seems to be a common problem with the cooling system that while it works for some models, in others it will work for a while and then start reporting ridiculous values. Unfortunately I don't have any of the models that cause problems to test with, so there's no way I can try to work out even a workaround for the problem.

It may be worth trying the very latest version of SharpCap 3.2, which has a newer SDK than 3.2 .6101, but I suspect that is unlikely that will make any difference in your case sadly.

I'm sad to say that I probably get as more bug reports from QHY users than from ZWO users, in spite of the fact that there are probably 10 times as many people using ZWO cameras in SharpCap as QHY ones

Cheers, Robin

Hello Robin,
I am glad to report that Sharpcap 3.2.6369.0 DOES CONTROL TEMPERATURE on my QHY8L. So you were somewhat pessimistic.
On the first take of a 15 minute frame it showed the temperature decreasing steadily to the set point of -16.
Restarting the computer a few hours later did not show the tracking history and reported 100 % power and +1.8 degrees for the whole frame.

Stopping Sharpcap when the frame completed and starting Nebulosity showed the the temperature within half a degree of the set temperature.

So very nearly there. What puzzles me is, how does Nebulosity achieve the control and reporting?

Thank you for your help

Chris

Hi Chris,

I suspect that Nebulousity is using a very different version of the QHY SDK – potentially one that is older, but more tuned for the CCD camera range. It would be interesting if you could have a look to see if there is a qhyccd DLL installed with nebulousity and if there is what version it is.

I suppose the other possibility is that SharpCap tends to run the cameras as if they were a video camera – starting a new exposure as soon as the previous one is finished and downloaded. Maybe this contributes towards the difficulty with getting accurate thermal information out of the camera.

Cheers, Robin

Robin

Nebulosity 4.3 and 4.4.1 both have this:



In the Nebulosity system folder the following files can be found (some quite old dates there)


Dave

Robin,
I have three picture from my installation of Nebulosity 4.4.1. They are very similar to the one you showed. I would load them if I knew how.
Chris

Chris

I used the Snipping Tool in Windows to capture an area of the screen, then follow the steps here in order.



Dave (not Robin)

We

Robin,
With thanks to Dave I think that the three pictures are usefull
Dave, being a Linux person I used Gim selection tool,crop to selection not Windows "snip" whatever that may be.
Chris

Chris

Windows "snip" whatever that may be

Snipping Tool comes as part of Windows, with the latest upgrades it is now morphing into Snip & Sketch.

Looks to me like QHY might be dropping older cameras from their SDK. I remember it happening to me with a Nebulosity upgrade when Canon dropped the 350D from their SDK - a perfectly good camera consigned to the cupboard. It was related to the driver being from the Windows XP era. All camera manufacturers will do this as the effort/cost of supporting everything they ever manufactured becomes prohibitive. Nebulosity seems to be retaining the old DLLs in its build.

All the unintended side effects of constant (questionable) upgrading ……

Dave