PHD2 was working with my Touptek camera, but now it can't find it

[kjm...@gmail.com]

Everything went swimmingly at first, but the other night, it couldn't find the camera (TouptekG3M678M, 2.0 um pixels).  I bypasses my Pegasus scope hub, tried new cables, and now am connected via a 0.3m direct USB3 cable.  Windows Device manager says it is working fine, ToupView connects immediately and images, but no go with PhD2.  Here is a link to log files for this afternoon, last night, and two nights nights when it worked.  I was hoping to image this evening.

"The selected Touptek camera cannot be found"

https://openphdguiding.org/logs/dl/PHD2_logs_ms2X.zip

How does one restart the wizard that properly set things up the first time?

All the best,

Kevin

[kjm...@gmail.com]

Things just got worse.  It was like pulling teeth to get past my malware programs to get to the Touptek site, but I managed to get there, and to download what might have been a newer ASCOM driver.  I then saw dll's; I chose the X64 version, renaming it to toupcam.dll and saving it in PhD2's root directory.  I first renamed the original to toupcam-old.dll.  I rebooted, and was hoping the camera would now be found, but PhD2 won't run at all.  I did a new PhD2 install, same result.  BAD.  Error message attached.  I suppose that I could undo the changes I made in the root directory.

[kjm...@gmail.com]

With that change undone, PhD2 runs once more, but still fails to find the dang camera...

[Brian Valente]

>>> ToupView connects immediately and images, but no go with PhD2. 

0. do you have the appropriate native and ascom drivers installed

1. are you disconnected from all other software including toupview

2. are you using native or ascom drivers (or try both)

3. can you connect the camera to another ascom driver app such as NINA

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Brian 

Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

[kjm...@gmail.com]

Brian:  Thanks for the suggestions.  I am back in the observatory, after getting the camera to connect once in my home.  PhD2 can't find it through the Pegasus hub (although it did a week ago), and it can't find it with a direct USB 3.0 type 3 to A cable, but if (as I did in my home), I put a USB A to USB C adapter on the end of that direct cable, and plug it in a USB C port on my laptop, it connects every time.  Things shouldn't be this hard, but I have a workaround that will let me image this evening.

Otherwise baffling.

All the best,

Kevin

[Brian Valente]

Generally they aren't that hard, but when things come up as they inevitably do, you have to troubleshoot and isolate. Clearly we don't have the complete picture, but remember your toupview app probably is connecting via the video mode and certainly not via ascom.

I suggested a few things to try, but you didn't report back on if you did them or what was the result.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/74a710ae-9477-40ba-bb6e-c25c492c7e4fn%40googlegroups.com.

[kjm...@gmail.com]

I was busy in the observatory, where I could reliably connect to the camera via PhD2, but only if I put a USB-C adapter on the USB-A cable, and used one of those connectors on my laptop.  I have confirmed in Task Manager that ToupView isn't running, and have downloaded and installed the latest ASCOM driver from ToupTek.  I have reinstalled PhD2, which has a ToupTek driver in it natively.  A 0.3M USB Type 3 to A cable doesn't work, but it does if I add the USB-C adapter.  Very puzzling.  I have limited time before some upcoming travel; I do have NINA installed, but am not familiar with it (I use SGP).

All the best,

Kevin

[Brian Valente]

>>> I do have NINA installed, but am not familiar with it (I use SGP).

you can try connecting to it via SGP. Anything that supports ascom camera connection.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/dd13b107-ae9e-46cf-be6d-b150cd71246an%40googlegroups.com.

[kjm...@gmail.com]

Thanks; I'll try this evening.

[Mike Ales]

Just based on your text of adding usb-c adapter and a few trials I personally would guess your original not working issue was caused by exceeding the USB power per port or USB total port power of your USB wiring, including however you have dew heaters and mounts, or any other wiring changes you might have done between working and none working.

Even Powered hubs like the powerboxes from various vendors have limits on how much power the USBA total port power can source in addition to the voltage drops that happen internally when the dew heaters, mount slews, focusers, camera coolers, .... all kick on. The small wires we typically get from the vendors and/or the power bricks we get or even the unpowered HUBS in the backs of cameras and/or mount saddles along with the 2.1mm cheap power connectors that typically are given with our

 equipment all contribute to a very starved USB and 12v power network on any complex system.

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/open-phd-guiding/CAJa45i6i28b4%3DKuCcxN1mxZdVfvuFh6Yz0E_%2B2TQyQwLGcL0wQ%40mail.gmail.com.

[kjm...@gmail.com]

Thanks.  The issue arises if my laptop has nothing connected to it but the ToupTek, which is an uncooled camera, and unlikely to draw that much.  But the laptop's USB-C ports are probably capable of delivering more current than its USB-A ports.  So you may be onto something.  The 12 volt bus feeding the Pegasus routes thru the AP Mach2 GTO mount, then on to a stiff supply a few meters away.  I have USB-A breakouts, and so could measure the current draw of the G3M678M.  ToupTek provides a lot of specs, but not current draw.

All the best,

Kevin