Zwo - 2 identical cameras - Which One?

[NY2KW]

I have a ZWO ASI2600MC Duo which has a ASI220MM Mini sensor for guiding, in some situations I use an externally mounted guide camera which is also is an ASI220MM Mini sensor.  In Nina, by powering each up selectively, I can give them unique 'names' that come up for main camera but for PHD2 guiding, there is no option to select which guide camera to use, they both show as ZWO ASI Camera.  When I want to use the internal Duo guide I power off the external camera, but I cannot selectively power off the internal Duo guide camera.  The only way I can determine which guide is being used is to physically block  the camera but that doesnt help for remote imaging (which is where I need the 2 guide options).  Any advice greatly appreciated.

[Bruce Waddington]

You have a couple of options to try.  The quickest is to open the PHD2 Connect Equipment dialog, then click on the button with the 'branch' icon to the right of the drop-down list for cameras.  That will show a list of the available ZWO cameras.  Hopefully, the two instances of the ASI220MM Mini camera will have different device ids.  You can do the same thing using the new-profile-wizard, which will automatically show you the choices as soon as you choose ZWO ASI as the camera type.  If the two different cameras are indistinguishable, you could try connecting one using the ZWO ASCOM driver and see if the cameras can be disambiguated there.  Beyond that,  I can only suggest that you leave the main camera powered off, connect PHD2 to the external guide camera, then power up the main camera and let NINA connect to that.

Bruce

[NY2KW]

Hi Bruce,  

I was able to do something similar and after identifying which camera was which, I created 2 different profiles in PHD2 one for the internal ASI220MM Mini (which will have a FL=350) and the other for the external guide (FL=120).  I am shipping the setup to StarFront Remote Observatories in Texas with Bortle 1 skies.  Most of the time I will be able to use the internal guide camera, but when I switch to a narrow filter like an L-Ultimate, I'm pretty sure I will need to use the external guide.  Thank you for the quick reply.  BTW, your email address must be ancient.  I had an @earthlink.net email address about 25+ years ago !!

Jerry

[Bruce Waddington]

Well, sure, ancient e-mail domains for ancient people like me.  <g>.  But at least it isn't an AOL account...

Bruce