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183mc pro banding on all types of frame

Jonathan Anderson
edited January 2024 in General
I have data for Flaming Star nebula using my rasa8, 183mc pro with an L-enhance filter. I use an asiair pro to control everything. My dew heaters are controlled by a pegasus power box advanced which is powered by it's on LiFePO4 battery (celestron dew heater ring on the rasa, dew strip on the guide cam).

Adam mentioned that it could be wires and that I should blink my darks data. The banding was there, so I tried re-shooting my darks and flatdarks tonight with nothing powered in my house at all except the asiair pro and camera (I even unplugged my fridge and stove!). When I re-ran the data the bands were still there. When I re-ran the lights without using any calibration frames, the banding is still there.

One person on cloudynights confirms my hunch which is this could be an issue with the camera itself since taking darks/flatdarks with only the power cable and the usb cable with not other electrical devices on still caused the bands.

Does anybody have any idea what kind of camera issue would cause this and how to fix it?

Thanks for any help y'all.

Jon

PS I thought it might be a gain issue that is known with the 183mc pro with gain under 50, so I put gain at 53, 30sec exposures, 0c.

Comments

  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    When you blink... is the banding fixed or does it change/shift?

    Cables and power supplies are likely culprits (not refrigerators lol) ... but I would not expect fixed banding..it would shift with each readout. Get camera to temperature... then turn off TEC cooler. That is another test. 

    -the Blockhead
  • Jonathan Anderson
    edited January 2024

    On the darks, the lines shift around when I blink through them.

    I'm not sure what TEC cooler is. Do you mean get the camera to 0c, then shoot darks with the cooling fan off? I'm sure camera would heat up as it shot the 30sec darks, but I suppose the results would still show the banding if it's there.

    When I shoot darks inside, I use a power brick to provide the power (correct ratings). I could try using my LiFePO4 battery to run the asiair pro since I could have greater distance between the asiair and the power source.

    Thoughts?
  • Jonathan Anderson

    I am shooting the darks now. Started with temp at 0c, then shut off fan, it's climbed to 20c over the course of 5 thirty second darks, and when I preview those 5 on the asiair pro interface on my iphone, the lines still seem to be there and are moving from frame to frame.
  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    So... now the power supply brick is suspect. You might not have another around...however, if you look at the rating of the brick you just might (they are usually similar to other devices you might have). 

    Using the battery is definitely a good test.

    Also, remember, after that...just new cable as well.

    got to run through everything. 
    Finally... it will just have to be the camera itself.

    On the QHY600 there is a "traffic control" setting to minimize banding.


  • Jonathan Anderson

    Unfortunately, the banding is on the subs as well . . . those were taken with the LiFePO4 battery about 6 feet from the camera/asiair pro. I'll certainly run the test though.

    When you say new cable, are you talking the power cable from the camera to the asiair pro power port and/or the usb3 cable from the camera to the asiair usb port?
    J
  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    USB cable... communications... 
    Hubs are also to be tested. Remove the hub... go direct is also a good test.
    Lots of things to test.

    -the Blockhead
  • Jonathan Anderson

    I'll give it a go without power next. I doubt I'll want to actually want to remove the power ports themselves from the asiair pro though (but it might be easy enough to do).

    I am using the flat usb cables that came with the cameras (the thinner usb2 with the guide cam going to the 183mc pro) and the wider flat usb3 from image cam to asiair pro.

    Does anybody have a recommendation for better usb cables to use? I'm not sure if there are particular considerations (length, shielding, etc).
  • Ronald Clanton
    The ZWO USB cables are notoriously sketchy... ask me how I know.

    I recommend replacing them first with good quality cables.  Also, don't run them close to other cables just to prevent the possibility of cross currents between cables.

    Ron 
  • Jonathan Anderson
    edited January 2024
    @Ronald Clanton 

    Thanks Ronald. Could you point me in the direction of better cables? I'm not entirely sure what to look for.

    Much appreciated.

    Oh, how do you know? :D
  • Ronald Clanton
    Jonathan,

    I think that most good quality shielded cable will work fine.  These are what I bought.


    Those ZWO flat cables look good, but seem to be at the center of many folk's problem.  After replacing mine, I've not had any issues with periodic connection issues, general failure or weird noise in my images.

     Ron
  • Jonathan Anderson
    @Ronald Clanton 

    Thank you! Just ordered em.

    best,
    Jon
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