Hi all,
Finally got my Phillips SPC900NC to do long exposures, it also has a BW chip for greater sensitivity and has been rehoused with a fan added on the end of the enclosure for good measure.
I used M Meijer's instructions at http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm (http://home.zonnet.nl/m.m.j.meijer/D_I_Y/spc900nc.htm) which were fine except he appears to have confused pins with pads (maybe its me) so I initially made the connections reversed. Works now though so I am looking forward to using LX mode.
I had to add a Serial-Parallel level converter as I didn't want to spend £85+ on a proper pin addressable USB-Parallel port device. Cheap ones only do printing. It's the chip with the two large resistors fixed to it.
Here are some pictures. All components from Maplin except the BW chip from Framos.de. Total cost about £45.
(All pics removed as links invalid - Dunc Jan2012)
neat piece of work that.
You are very clever Duncan! Now I hope you are outside tonight!!!!
SkyWatcher AT80 400mm f4 at f4. Phillips SPC900NC BW LX Cooled. IR Filter. Unguided. 29/38 x 20s.
There was trailing and blurring and such forth but who cares, it works!
(http://image1.drive.123-reg.co.uk/I/8677-527386755/ZDQ0ZGRkNDZiZWExMGYwMWVkMGQwZDU4NDhjYmI1MDM=/450/450/0/1240741036.jpg)
Well done Dunc - I remember the immense satisfaction I did when I got first light with my Modded Toucam. Great Job & nice image... I look forward to seeing some more now its all working.
John
Dunc, that's really interesting. I have the b/w chip to swap out the colour one - did you have any issues when you did yours ?
Duncan, that is so good, what a result!!!!
Robert, the only issue I had swapping the CCD was ensuring I got all the old solder out of the holes in circuit board. A pointy soldering iron tip and some solder wick sorted it out. Also very fine solder is useful for soldering in the new chip as its easy to connect to pins together inadvertently if you melt too much!
However the SPC900 took all the punishment I could throw at it and still works. I was guiding with it last night using 0.5s exposures to get six suitable guide stars near M81/M82 and I was able to get some more subs to add to my previous efforts.
I have had to use WxAstrocapture instead of PHD for guiding as PHD won't work with my serial circuit, I only see the long exposure image flash up intermittently between 'dark' frames of video. I can't work out how to Invert the RTS serial signal, which is what I am doing in WxAstrocapture with a check box. Any ideas?
is your lx mod based on a 74HC00? If so there's a spare nand gate on it you could use.
Alternatively, if you used the 4066, then you could build a discrete not gate with a transistor. See http://www.hanssummers.com/electronics/misc/gates/index.htm for some guidance.
that said, I'm a little surprised you're the only one having this problem. Have you tried contacting the author or checked out other websites for suggestions?
It's the 74HC00. I wouldn't know what to do with the other NAND gate if it stood up and bit me. Presumably it can be used to reverse the switching effect???
I have joined the Stark Labs Yahoo group to see if I can find anything out. re: PHD Guiding settings.
Well done Duncan - a satisfying piece of work there!
Mark
(http://www.pmdo.com/images/circuit1.gif)
Pins 9 and 10 are tied to ground to stop them flapping. If you were to connect them both together to your RTS line, the inverted signal will appear on pin 8.
But, what circuit diagram did you use when you built the camera? The one you've got it sitting on appears to be from Matteu Meijer's site and that uses a 4066 chip. This diagram from Pete Katreniak's site:
(http://www.pk3.org/Astro/Images/Equipment/SP2PPAdapter/sp2pp_diagram.gif)
has a discrete inverter (the transistor) on the RTS line so you'd do worse than to compare these two with what you used and play spot the difference...
Hi Dunc,
After replacing the chip are you still able to use the standard SPC900 software with the camera ?
Robert
Hi Robert,
The standard Vlounge app works, if I flip the LX switch it still works but the shutter defaults to the minimum (as it should). In wxAstroCapture I set DTR on LX Mask, LX Init and LX Frame check boxes and select Inverted Logic. There are no such options in PHD unfortunately. I can get Gazarollis Guidemaster to show images setting it to use DTR but not inverted (limited options) however this does not control the exposure length, only how often the 1/25s exposures are presented.
It's all very frustrating - I want a guide app that will allow telescope control via ASCOM and work with my modded webcam.
I was afraid you'd say VLounge worked ok ! I think there must be a problem with either my ICX098BL or the way I've done it though I have checked and there are no shorts. All I get is a light grey screen - the ccd doesn't seem to respond to light but all the controls work !
I'm not going any further than replacing the ccd as all I need it for is planetary.
I'm sure you'll get it to work, there is plenty of disjointed information around to refer to. If I trip over anything useful I'll forward it on.
Thanks
Robert
Robert, check to make sure that the frame transfer pulse is getting through to pin 8 and 13 on the 16510. Ideally a oscilloscope is the tool, but if you can control the serial port lines directly from software the signal won't be transient and multimeter should see it.
Hi Robert,
While you have Vlounge or another capture app open try WcRmac and load the BW RAW macro onto the camera, then use WcCtrl to restore Factory Setting and Load User Setting. It will kick start the camera hardware. I do this before every session to make sure I am using RAW BW mode as it produces a smoother image.
http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm (http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm)
http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/index.htm (http://www.burri-web.org/bm98/index.htm)
I have an oscilloscope if you want to borrow..
John, you're a star !!!
Let me know where/when to pick it up.
Many thanks
Robert
I can drop it around 2night if you wish - I want to drop Mike's fishing gear back around to him that he lent me.... let me know what time... It's a bit basic but should do the job....
John
Won't a Logic Analyser be better?
Thanks John. I will be in from just after 5 till 6:45pm tonight otherwise tomorrow after 5:30pm would be fine to.
Mike a logic analyser may be better but an oscilloscope would be more flexible and I'm more used to using them.
It would be a nice little project to build one - one day maybe !
Sorry mate it'll have to be tomorrow - only just seen your msg & its 6.45pm....
Mike - Is fishing gear OK for tomorrow as well?
John
No problem, see you tomorrow.