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Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:34 pm
by mickyman23
Hello Robin,
I just received my cooled Altaïr Hypercam 269c.
I use Altair Astro Camera ASCOM Driver-1.4.140.0 which gives me the possibility of being able to control the temperature setting of the heating of the porthole of my CMOS sensor.
But I don't have the possibility to adjust the temperature of the window of my sensor on Sharpcap.
Despite the existing heating on the Altaïr cameras, I still have traces of condensation on the window of my sensor during my first outing last night.
Thank you for your reply.
Mickael.
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 7:18 pm
by admin
Hi Mickael,
what version of SharpCap are you using?
I can see the code in SharpCap to enable access to the window heater control, but I don't think I have a camera here at the moment that has the heater (at least all of the cooled Altair cameras I have claim they do *not* have it), so I cannot test fully.
cheers,
Robin
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 7:23 pm
by mickyman23
Good evening Robin,
Thank you for your reply.
I am using SharpCap Pro V4.0.8473 in 64bits.
Regards.
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:15 pm
by admin
Hi,
thanks for the info - let me check with Altair - maybe something odd is going on here.
cheers,
Robin
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:47 pm
by admin
Hi,
I have had a chat with Altair - all their TEC cameras have a window heater, but it is only possible to control it separately in certain models - at the moment those are:
26C/26M TEC
533C TEC
24CFX
61CFX, 61MFX
Other cameras, including your 269CTEC have a window heater that comes on automatically at full power when the TEC is turned on.
So I think this turns the question round - why is the ASCOM driver allowing you to adjust the window heater power, since it shouldn't. It probably has no effect when adjusted.
I have tested with 115MTEC and the ASCOM driver shows the window heat power slider in the setup window, but the slider is disabled, which is what I would expect.
cheers,
Robin
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:06 pm
by mickyman23
Thank you Robin for this information.
Maybe one day we can adjust the heating of the hypercam 269C window on Sharpcap when Altaïr allows it.
And also thank you for this superb software and all these developments.
Good evening, see you.
Mickael
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:05 pm
by admin
Hi,
from what Altair were saying, the control of the heater power is not there in the hardware of this camera, so if anything the ASCOM driver has a bug if it allows you to adjust the value. Could you post a screenshot of the Altair ASCOM driver settings window please? You can see in the screenshot below that the heater adjustment is not enabled for my 115M
- Capture.JPG (33.88 KiB) Viewed 9630 times
cheers,
Robin
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:47 am
by woldsweather
admin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 1:47 pm
Hi,
I have had a chat with Altair - all their TEC cameras have a window heater, but it is only possible to control it separately in certain models - at the moment those are:
26C/26M TEC
533C TEC
24CFX
61CFX, 61MFX
Other cameras, including your 269CTEC have a window heater that comes on automatically at full power when the TEC is turned on.
So I think this turns the question round - why is the ASCOM driver allowing you to adjust the window heater power, since it shouldn't. It probably has no effect when adjusted.
I have tested with 115MTEC and the ASCOM driver shows the window heat power slider in the setup window, but the slider is disabled, which is what I would expect.
cheers,
Robin
Robin have started getting dew on sensor window of 26c. Should I be able to switch this on in SharpCap?
Re: Altaïr 269C camera window heating control
Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2022 2:56 pm
by admin
Hi,
if everything is working as it should then there ought to be a 'Window Heater Power' control in the thermal controls section for your camera, along with the cooler target temperature, etc. The code is certainly in SharpCap to add that control if the Altair SDK reports the camera as having the capability.
cheers,
Robin