Camera stops before the end of a run of subs

[Carole]

I have had this problem in the past, particularly when I have gone to bed and left it all set up doing darks.

It has started to do it now during a run of subs and it's very annoying when I go off to bed thinking it's doing
1 1/2 hours worth of images and I come back 1 1/2 hours later and find it has only done 1 sub, also I set it to do 1 1/2 hours of darks last night and got up this morning and it had only done 2.

Any idea why this happens.  Sometimes no problems at all, I have definitely set the right number of subs.
USB is plugged directly into the laptop.

Carole

[RobertM]

Auto power off ?

[Rocket Pooch]

You have shut the laptop lid and its hibernating?

[mickw]

So what was going wrong last time it happened ?

Turning off any form of power saving would be a start.

[MarkS]

It has happened to me a few times.  Usually it was a dodgy usb or serial connection.  Once it was the camera itself that had completely locked up - maybe that was a power problem.

I put duck tape around my connectors now (before the dew descends) just to make sure there stay in place.  Haven't had a problem since.

Mark

[Carole]

You have shut the laptop lid and its hibernating?

No it's not that a) the lid was still up and b) I have switched off laptop lid closure power off thingy.

So what was going wrong last time it happened ?

Never got to the bottom of it but it seemed to happen less so I did not worry about it too much, but has happened several times over the last two evenings.

Auto power off or auto power saving I am wondering about, but since it is happily doing subs, it's not like it is idle and shutting down for that reason.    One minute it is happily doing subs OK and then suddenly it stops doing them for some reason without anything changing, in any case the laptop was still switched on after 1 1/2 hours it was just the subs that had stopped.  It had gone into hiberation by the morning when it had stopped doing darks a long time previously.

I have a cabled battery so it doesn't run out of power, but this used to happen as well when I was using batteries.  

Auto power off ?

Are you referring to the camera itself Robert?  
I don't think it can be the connections to the camera, as I don't touch the cables before or after this problem.  However the camera does seem to be switched off which I guess it does after idling for some time.

Would it be a good idea if I disable the "camera off after not being used for a while" facility (if I can find out how?)

So is it the camera switching itself off and causing the problem in the first instance, or the camera switching itself off because it's gone idle because something else caused it?

Any further thoughts having eliminated some of your thoughts above?

Carole

[Carole]

Well I've disconnected the power off on the DSLR, lets see if that makes a difference.

Carole

[MarkS]

I don't think it will make any difference.  The camera will only power down after a period of inactivity i.e. when it stops receiving the signals to perform the long exposures. 

The question is why those signals are not getting through.

Mark

[Carole]

The question is why those signals are not getting through.

I think that's the conclusion I have come to but with no answer, I am no good at diagnosing IT stuff, I can work it if it works, but if it doesn't I'm stuffed, especially if it's intermittent. 

It is strange in the past that it was only the darks I had a problem with after I had left it to run at the end of a session, but if it's going to be the images themselves it means I constantly have to keep an eye on it which is a pain.

Do you think I should try a different USB port? 

Carole

[MarkS]

If you're coming down to DSC I'm sure we can take a look ...

[Carole]

Still humming and haaing about DSC Mark (bright Moon, damp at Rother, Southern sky obscured, weather forecast), but thanks for the offer.  Also a bit zonked out with 3 nights on the trot already with sleep deprivation (Mon, Tues, Wed- tonight hopefully).

Last night, no problems with the imaging subs, but again only got 2 darks after went to bed at the end of the session and left it running.

Carole

[Mike]

I doubt very much after all of this baking sun that it will be damp at Rother Valley.