Astroart Forum

hello everybody,
I have recently replaced my SXVH-9 + autoguider with a new Trius 814 mono plus Lodestar X2.

My problem is that I cannot get the Lodestar to produce any output. (I can use the 814mono perfectly).

AA does confirm that the Lodestar is connected - if I remove it, or untick "primary device" it says "cannot connect to USB camera", so I am happy that the camera and software are communicating. If I select "Focus/Guide" in the SXV CCD control panel I get a default black image regardless of exposure.

I am using Windows 10, AA7, Camera Control 7 & the latest Lodestar dll. I have the latest drivers from Starlight Xpress, and the native software works with both the 814 and Lodestar X2.

Any help/pointers/advice would be most appreciated, I use AstroArt to drive all my imaging and I don't want to have to use the default Lodestar software if I can at all help it.

kind regards
Martin

Hello,
it would be useful to see the screenshot of the SXVH driver too.

First test: connect only the Lodestar X2 to the PC, and setup it as main camera. Does it work?
Second test: as above, but select the Simulator as primary camera and the Lodestar as Guider. Does it work?

Another test: Disable the option "Hires fast with vertical resize".

From the screenshot, it looks like you are still downloading an image 500x290, so from the "SXV guider".
Verify that in the SXVH driver the option "SXV Guider" is no longer enabled.

The Lodestar is 376x290 (or 752 in hires fast)

ok,
with Lodestar plugged in directly and as primary camera - it works.
with lodestar plugged in directly and "hires fast with vertical resize", it works.

with Lodestar plugged in as primary and the simulator as secondary/guide - that works too.

Good. So the problem was the option "SXV guider" in the SXVH driver?

update, with the simulator as the primary and Lodestar as secondary ( but plugged directly into the PC), the Lodestar works correctly. ( the 814 is not even plugged in or connected).

If I plug the Lodestar into the 814, and then the 814 into the PC as per a "normal" setup, but still have simulator as primary and Lodestar as secondary, the Lodestar works correctly.


I can repeat this process, so
1. set up lodestar to 814, then 814 to PC.
2. select simulator ( then setup), and Lodestar ( then setup).

This permits the Lodestar to work.

if I then ONLY change simulator to SXVH (then setup & make sure that 814 is selected), then the primary 814 camera works, but the Lodestar does not. I can repeat this process.

ok *another update* - problem fixed !!

I noticed that the guider image being provided was smaller than the Lodestar image, and was remarkably close to the SXVH-9 autoguider image size, so even though I had selected "Lodestar" as the secondary camera, from somewhere it was picking up the previous SXVH-9 autoguider configuration, so I completely uninstalled AA7, made sure the folder was deleted & re-installed AA7, problem fixed !

So if you are upgrading/changing from a SXVH-9 and autoguider to a 814 plus a Lodestar, then delete AA7 cleanly, & do a full re-install, thanks Fabio for helping me with this.

regards
Martin