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en:documentation:faq

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FAQ

Can you add support for my device?

With CCDciel you can use any device with a ASCOM, INDI or Alpaca driver.
The program is made to be totally independent of the device itself and only use the standard properties published by this drivers. This ensure the developement I make using my devices will work with any device that use a ASCOM or INDI driver.
As an application developer I cannot develop driver for every existing device because I not have the time and I not own them to make any testing.
You must check before to buy if the device include the required ASCOM, INDI or Alpaca driver. This is the only way you can ensure the device will work with any software.

I cannot connect my ASCOM device

Beware many ASCOM driver work only with 32bit application, even on Windows 64bit.
CCDciel must show an explicit message in this case, and the ASCOM Chooser can show an error with: “System.BadImageFormatException”, “Incorrect format”.
The solution is to ask the device manufacturer for a 64bit or universal driver. In the mean time you can install the 32bit version of CCDciel as a work around.

Can I change the gain for the camera?

You can set the gain in CCDciel, in Preview, Capture and Sequence step.
But to avoid unwanted effect if this is not set voluntarily this setting is hidden by default, in this case the gain always remain what you set in the driver. This is the recommended way to use the camera.
If you really want to set the gain in CCDciel you have to uncheck “Gain , from camera driver” in the camera preference.
Beware you must fully understand all the effect of this setting before to use it for other purpose than camera testing.

Are DSLR supported?

Yes CCDciel support DSLR using INDI driver.
CCDciel support image type of FITS or native RAW or JPEG, you must set it in the INDI panel with all the other option you need, then save the setting in the Option tab. Sure use JPEG only for preview.
See: Indi DSLR documentation
To reload this settings every time you connect the camera to CCDciel you have to check “Load configuration on startup” for the INDI camera
In every case CCDciel save the image file in FITS format to take advantage of the information stored in the header.
To be able to change the ISO in CCDciel you have to unlock the Gain setting.

Camera image is very slow to download from remote computer

This problem is typically encountered when the camera is connected by INDI to a Raspberry Pi and CCDciel run on another computer. The same issue can be expected with Alpaca camera.
The network speed is the critical point in this case, specifically with big sensors. Remember a 20Mpx camera will produce a 40MB FITS file to transfer over the network. And this network time is added to the “USB time” to transfer the image from the camera to the RPi.
This is very critical when using a WiFi connection, in this case it can take about 8 seconds if the signal is very good but can take up to 40 seconds if it fallback to 11Mbps, and even more if retries are necessary.
The best solution in this case is to replace the WiFi connection by a direct Ethernet cable between the RPi and the computer, just configure a static IP address in the same range on both computer. No router is required so this work fine even in the field.
With this cable you can expect a download time of 3-4 seconds for the same image.
If using a DSLR you can set the image type to native RAW, this make the data size two or three time smaller than FITS.

Plate solved slew do not converge

There is two possible case:

You set a too small value for the target precision that cannot be reached by your mount because of backlash or flexion.

You use a pointing model using N stars alignment and the weight of the new point you sync near the target is insufficient to influence the pointing result. When using plate solving it is best to disable this pointing model, or at least make the new points to not be added to the model but used as an offset.

For Eqmod ASCOM:
In the Alignment/Sync box click the two button with a red cross “clear align data” and “clear sync data”.
For User Interface select “dialog based”, for Alignment Behavior select “nearest point”.

For Eqmod INDI:
In the Sync tab set “sync mode=standard sync” and click “clear sync delta”.
In the Align tab for “manage list” click “clear list” and set *alignment mode=nearest point“.

My device do not work with CCDciel

First read again the documentation from your device manufacturer and how to set the device configuration and preferences in CCDciel.
Also be sure you installed the latest version for any required driver.

Many devices issues are because of bad cable or insufficient USB power. Be sure to test with a different cable, with and without a powered USB-hub, and by connecting only this device to the computer.

We can never exclude a device failure, try with another software, on another computer. With INDI you can exercise all the device functions with a simple INDI client.

Try the same operation in CCDciel with a simulator. Both ASCOM and INDI have many simulator drivers for all kind of devices. If you can reproduce the error with the simulator please open directly a new issue in the CCDciel bug tracker, otherwise see below.

If you think there is compatibility issue between the device and CCDciel do the following depending on the kind of driver you use:

ASCOM driver:

  • Install the ASCOM conformance checker: https://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/DevTools.htm
  • Connect the device to the computer.
  • Start Conform from the Windows main menu under ASCOM Platform.
  • If your driver work only in 32bit, open the menu Options, Conformance options, and check “Run as 32bit on 64bit OS”. It restart and you see “32bit mode” on the first line.
  • Open the menu Option and select the type of device you want to test (telescope, camera,…).
  • Open the menu Option, Select driver. Select in the list and click OK.
  • Open the menu File, Check conformance. Beware this will move/activate the device, be particularly careful when testing the telescope or dome.
  • After it complete, right click in the text, Select All, Copy.
  • If the result show an error message you must contact the device manufacturer for a fix.
  • If there is no error, create a new issue in the CCDciel bug tracker, give a description of the issue, and past the Conform result in the Additional information box, this report give me very important information about your device.

INDI driver:

  • Connect the device to the computer.
  • Start the INDI server with the option -vvv, for example: indiserver -vvv indi_qhy_ccd
  • Start a INDI client GUI, click Connect for the device.
  • In a terminal type the command: indi_getprop
  • Launch CCDciel and repeat the failed operation.
  • Create a new issue in the CCDciel bug tracker, give a description of the issue, and past the indi_getprop result and the console log from the indiserver in the Additional information box.
en/documentation/faq.1572622201.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/11/01 16:30 by pch