Unexpected camera error

[afesan]

Tonight I ran a plan with flats . All seems to run nice until.. when taking flats,suddenly a camera error stopped the plan .I can achieve 2 success flats files..before crashing..I attach the Log of the flat plan..
When time to imaging was reach..ACP launch the imaging plan..but,again..the camera error stopped the imaging plan. End of history (brief,uh?...)
Also ACP log file is attached..

BTW: ACP 5.1 Hotfix8b-MaximDL 4.62-FocusMax (the last one). Camera is SBIG STL11000,mount AP900..T

I´m trying to reproduce the situation..but with no success..Any idea?
Running a remote observatory 350miles far away ..makes me prudent in excess
Many thanks for reading this and for your excellent support¡

Regards¡
Antonio
Spain

[Jim McMillan]

Antonio,

It's almost certain that the error you received is a hardware problem. Often this kind of error can be traced to an electrical problem - or perhaps a communication problem cause be a USB cable or port. I'd suggest looking there.

Jim

[afesan]

Thanks for pointing towards hardware direction (I really prefer it ¡¡). It´s a completely new "last generation" desktop..but sometimes this isn´t a guarantee ,indeed ¡¡.Sincerely: Iprefer a hardware than a software problem ¡¡

I´ll double-check cables and change someones to see if it´s repeteable or it was a just a single nightmare ..
I´ll be looking for....
Thanks,Jim¡¡
Antonio

[afesan]

I´m going really desperated as I don´t understand what´s happening at the end.
The error is repeteable once and again with the flat plans. When the camera is downlading 64x64 images to measure background....all seems to work fine. Problem arise just when the sky reaches the targeted background for flats ( 22000 ADU +- 4000)..then..when the firts flat is being downloaded ( bin 1x1..) suddenly the camera error (8) pops up. End of history.I have chosen in MaximDL "HIGH " priority at download of the CCD images...
Guider is "same as camera" as I´m using SBIG STL11000 CCD camera...

I´m using a powered HUB with the STL , a USB /RS232 connected (ASA Austria) and a Toucam webcam.. I tested the HUB with/without power..etc..Same result.
I can repeat this every plan in any moment. The strannge of these is that the CCD isn´t malfunctioning as if I close ACP...MaximDL download the flat ....?..
So..it´s really a USB task??:..Camera is working when close ACP. ...so I can´t understand that´s only a hardware error?..Is it?...
Maybe someone more exprerience than me in PC electronics can give me a solution..
I attach again my FLAT log of today:identical always...
Thanks for any clarify idea¡¡
Antonio

[Jim McMillan]

Hi Antonio,

mmmmm...

I note 2 things in your log:

1) You're using the non-American standard "," versus the American "."

2) Error 8 is a camera timeout error according to the SBIG manual. The error kicks out 36 seconds after the slew is started - which probably makes sense given the error code.

This is a guess, but this issue has caused problems in other places. I'm guessing that somewhere when ACP is passing the various parameters for the actual flats, something doesn't like the "," and ends up causing a camera timeout (error 8). I'm not sure how much work it is to change it to the American standard, but I'd try that.

I hope this helps.

Jim

[afesan]

Uhhmmmm ...Jim¡¡
If that`s the only change¡¡..(hopefully) ....I´ll try it for sure¡¡ .
Thanks for pointing this fact. ..¡

I´ll report about changes¡

Best regards¡

Antonio