QHYCCD QHY16200A User Manual

All-in-one COLDMOS Astronomy Camera

QHY16200A

User’s Manual Rev. 1.0

QHY16200A

This document is an online document. You may save this PDF file or print it out.

QHYCCD reserves the right to change this user manual without prior notice.

Package Contents

Please confirm that the package contains the following items:

12V power cable

1

12V car power adapter

1

USB cable

1

Grounding cable

1

T-ring(2 inch to M54/0.75)

1

Drying tube

1

Desiccant

1

USB hub bypass board

1

Screw driver for M2 hexagon screw

1

Screw driver for M3 hexagon screw

1

Screws for fixing filter frame and filter

many

Inspection report

1

Waterproof plastic box

1

OHYOAG-M

1

Camera

1

Optional accessories

12V power adaptor (12V 6A)

1

Trigger cable

1

RS232 cable (1.5m)

1

Note that if the user wants to buy 12V power adapter by themselves, its output current is at

least 3.5A, and the polarity must be center positive.

QHY16200A

Table of Contents

01 Software Installation

02 Filter installation

03 Use QHY16200A in EZCAP_QT

04 Use QHY16200A on ASCOM platform

05 Use QHY16200A in FireCapture

06 Peripheral Ports on QHY16200A

07 FAQ

08 Camera Maintenance

09 Specifications

10 Mechanical Dimensions

11 Revision History

QHY16200A

01 Software Installation

1. Download and install ASCOM platform

2. Download and install the Camera Driver

Note that when you run its driver setup program, you will be prompted to install camera driver,

network card driver, and FTDI Serial port driver. Since IC16200A and QHY16200A use the same

system driver and there's no network card in the QHY16200A, the network driver is actually no

use.

3. Download and install the ASCOM Capture Driver

4. Download and install the ASCOM Filters Plug for the built-in filter wheel.

5. QHY16200A camera uses EZCAP_QT as the default capture software. Please download and

install EZCAP_QT.

6. Connect QHY16200A to your PC with USB2.0 cable. Connect your QHY16200A to 12V power

supply (Make sure 12V power supply is always connected when you use QHY16200A). Note

that there are two power ports on QHY168200A, and these two ports are connected in parallel,

so you can either one of these two as power input port and use the other one as a power output

port for other devices that need 12V power supply. Turn the switch on. For the first time the

system will find a new device and search the driver. You can keep skipping the online searching

by clicking "Skip obtaining driver software from Windows Update" and the computer will find the

drivers. After installation is complete successfully, you can find the device in the device manager

as shown in the picture below.

7. QHYCCD has developed a software named UpdateCheck that can check if the drivers installed

on your computer are the latest versions as well as update the drivers if needed. If the status of

some driver is “Need Update”, you can directly download its update package in this software

freeing you from the inconvenience of looking for and downloading it from our website.

Take QHY183C for example, you can see the drivers we need are the latest versions and don’t

need to be updated as shown in the following picture.

QHY16200A

Note that after you downloading and installing the new drivers by using this software, be sure to

pull the USB cable out and then plug it in to enable the new drivers.

QHY16200A

02 Filter installation

QHY16200A has two versions now. One contains a built-in 5-Hole 50mm filter wheel, and the

other has a built-in 7-hole filter wheel. Please follow the instructions below to install filters for it.

1. Use the screwdriver included in the box to remove the screws on the topside of the camera.

2. You can see the filter wheel after opening the top cap. You can install 50mm filters and fix

them with screws and washers. Please make sure that filters and screws used for fixing the filters

do not touch the top cap and photoelectric position detector.

3. After you've finished installing the filters, you can turn on the camera and connect the camera

to your PC with USB cable to make sure the filter wheel can work properly. Note that the filter

wheel use photoelectric position detector to determine the position of the filter, so make sure

you are not exposing the filter wheel to strong light when you are testing if it can work properly,

otherwise the strong light may affect the photoelectric position detector.

4. Install the top cap.

Now we have finished installing filters, we are going to introduce how to use QHY16200A in

EZCAP_QT, MAXIMDL, and Sequence Generator Pro.

QHY16200A

03 Use QHY16200A in EZCAP_QT

EZCAP_QT is the software developed by QHYCCD. This software has the basic capture function

for QHYCCD deep sky cameras. You can use this QHY16200A camera with its built-in filter wheel

in this software.

1. Install EZCAP_QT

2. Connect your QHY16200A to 12V power supply. Connect your QHY16200A to your computer

with USB2.0 cable.

3. Run EZCAP_QT. Select "Connect" in Menu->Camera. If the camera is successfully connected.

The title of EZCAP_QT will display the camera firmware version and the camera ID as shown

below.

Before you click "connect", you have to make sure you can see QHY16200A in the device

manager on Windows. Sometimes if you click "connect", you may see the warning shown in the

picture below.

QHY16200A

That doesn't necessarily mean that the camera and your computer are not connected. In this

case, you can just wait for a minute and click 'connect' again, then you can see it will be

connected successfully. This is because it usually takes a while to load its firmware into your

computer.

4. In Menu->Camera Setup, Click "Temp Control" and set the CMOS sensor temperature. You can

enable the "Auto Control" and set the target temperature. For example here we set the

temperature to -10C. The CMOS temperature will come to -10C very fast (in about 2-3minute). If

you want to close the TEC, you can select "TEC OFF". If you just want to set the TEC power but

not the temperature. You can select "Manual" and then set the percent of the TEC power.

The CCD of QHY16200A is very big, so it takes a while to achieve the target temperature. Be

patient while you are waiting.

5. You can select which filter you are going to use by changing the position of filter wheel as

shown in the following picture.

QHY16200A

6. You can use the preview tab to do preview. And use the focus tools to do focus. Then use the

capture tab to capture image.

7. In EZCAP_QT there is a planner for image tasking. You can capture a series images by using the

table below.

8. Typical QHY16200A Dark/Flat/Calibrated Images with Grade2 sensor

This is a typical Dark Frame at 300sec exposure, -15C, gain=0. Part of the image. 1:1 zoom

QHY16200A

Stretch to background level

Stretch to Max Range

A typical 10sec 4*4binning Dark Frame with all the region of the image. The vertical blank

banding on the right of the image is the overscan area. The overscan area is important for

overscan calibration. We recommend you reserve this area. You can also see two strip that is a

little brighter than the image area. It is the "Optic Black" Area.

The difference of "Optic Black" Area and "Overscan" Area is that the "Optic Black" area has a

metal shield on it and it is not sensitive to light, But thermal current still exists. The "Overscan"

area is a virtual area and it represents the bias.

QHY16200A

QHY16200A

04 Use QHY16200A on ASCOM platform

You can connect many software that support ASCOM. Currently QHY16200A only supports

normal ASCOM connection and does not support the ASCOM VIDEO connection. Please note that

QHY16200A always transfers maximum bit depth by ASCOM to make the best DSO imaging

performance. The image format is 16bit width and patch zero on low bit.

MaxIM DL

1. First you have to make sure that both ASCOM Platform and ASCOM driver have been installed.

If not, please install it first.

2. Start MAXIMDL

3. Follow the instructions shown below to finish the setup.

QHY16200A

Normally, you can set the gain=1 and offset=10 to start. Keep clicking "Okay" to return to Camera

Control window.

The following instructions are going to show you how to configure the built-in filter wheel in

MAXIMDL.

Click "Setup Filter" in the Camera Control window.

QHY16200A

In the window shown below, you can set up your filter wheel.

QHY16200A

Keep clicking "OK" to return to the Camera Control window. Click "Connect"

QHY16200A

QHY16200A

Sequence Generator Pro

Sequence Generator Pro is an extremely powerful image capture suite. It can perform many

complex tasks in order to meet your imaging needs. After you connect your gears and configure

Sequence Generator Pro properly, you can go to sleep and see images in the morning.

To use QHY16200A in Sequence Generator Pro, you can follow the instructions listed below.

Open sequencer by clicking the button in the red rectangle as shown in the picture below.

If you've connected QHY16200A to your PC before click that red button. The red button will turn

to green as shown in the picture below.

QHY16200A

The next step is going to configure the built-in filter wheel. Before you select QHYCCD Filter

wheel as the filter and click the red connect button, you should also make sure you've

downloaded and installed the ASCOM Filters Plug for the built-in filter wheel, you've plugged in

the 12V power supply cable, and the initialization of filter wheel has been finished.

QHY16200A

For example, you can change the filter names to Lum, Red, Green, Blue, and Ha as you installed

them this way. Then you make schedule events to take turns to use these filters as shown in the

following picture.

For detailed and helpful tutorial of this software, please go to its website to check its help

content.

QHY16200A

QHY16200A

05 Use QHY16200A in FireCapture

The latest FireCapture supports QHY16200A already. Please go to FireCapture website to

download its v2.5 BETA (32-bit) version.

By default, it will be installed in the "Documents" folder. After it was installed successfully,

navigate to "Document folder", and you will find its installation folder as shown below.

Enter that folder and run "FireCapture.exe", then select QHYCCD camera. And after the loading,

you will see the image on FireCapture like shown below.

For detailed and helpful tutorial of this software, please go to its website to check the tutorial

section at http://www.firecapture.de/

QHY16200A

06 Peripheral Ports on QHY16200A

Note that the camera used in the picture above isn’t QHY16200A, it is QHY16803A. They have

the same peripheral ports.

Serial ports

QHY16200A provides two serial ports, which are connected to the built-in USB hub through FTDI

USB to Serial chip. These two serial ports provide standard RS232 signal level(±10V). You can use

it to connect your camera to electric focuser and even equatorial mount. But note that this signal

level is different from TTL signal level used in EQMOD. If you want to connect your camera to

equatorial mount through EQMOD, A signal level convertor between TTL and RS232 is needed.

After you finished installing the drivers, the serial ports drivers should also be installed. You can

check its COM number in the device manager in the Windows so that you can use it in your

application software.

Serial port cable is optional accessary, and QHYCCD is developing many types of serial port cable.

You can contact QHYCCD to know if there's serial port cable you need.

The pin arrangement is already shown in the picture above.

QHY16200A

Trigger ports

There are a trigger-in port (left) and trigger-out port (right). Trigger-in port is a pulse input port.

The camera does not start exposure until it receives a pulse from its trigger-in port. Trigger-out

port output a indicative signal during the exposure cycle. These two ports use optocoupler. If you

want to use these two ports, you can consult QHYCCD for detail method for electric connection.

Grounding port

Keep the camera in good contact with the earth is the premise that the entire shooting system

can work safely and properly. So QHY16200A provides a grounding port. This port is connected

to the GND on the PCB in the camera, and the GND is also the cathode of the 12V power supply.

The grounding wire is included in the package, you can use it to connect the camera to other

equipment (Metal case of the equatorial mount or metal case of PC) so that they have common

ground. If you have no experience about it, please consult professional electrician.

Caution: Never connect the grounding port to any electrical socket or outlet,

otherwise, electrical shock may happen.

Note that the camera used in the picture above isn’t QHY16200A, it is QHY16803A. They have
the same peripheral ports.

QHY16200A

12V power ports

These two ports are connected in parallel, so you can either one of these two as power input

port and use the other one as a power output port for other devices that need 12V power

supply.

USB type-A ports

These two ports are USB expansion ports connected to the built-in USB hub, you can use it to

connect with guide camera or other USB devices. This two ports can output 500 mA current. To

reduce the power load of the internal circuit, it's recommended to reduce the use of current.

QHY A series Cameras have a USB hub board in them. And these two USB type-A ports along with

these two serial ports aforementioned are all branched out by the USB hub board. However, in

some particular condition, it results in conflict and the camera will stop working. For example, in

the condition where there equatorial mount you are using also has a built-in hub or where you

used a USB hub already. In this case, you need to install the USB Hub bypass board (small red-

colored board) included in the package.

For detailed instruction of how to install the USB hub bypass board, please check the content in

the following link.

http://note.youdao.com/share/?token=D1C38D9FEEDD41D2A8C7D33F9EB74294&gid=7234866

#/

After you've installed that, those two USB type-A ports and those two serial ports become

invalid.

USB type-B port

This port is used to connect the camera to the computer.

QHY16200A

7 FAQ

1. What's the back focus length of this QHY16200A？

There are two versions of QHY16200A. One version contains a built-in 5-hole 50mm filter wheel,

and the other version has a built-in 7-hole filter wheel.

The back focus length of the version with 5-hole filter wheel is between 33.5mm to 34mm. If it is

used with QHYOAG-M and M54 adapter, the back focus length will be extended to 46.5mm-

47mm.

The back focus length of the version with 7-hole filter wheel is between 41mm to 42mm. If it is

used with QHYOAG-M and M54 adapter, the back focus length will be extended to 54mm-55mm.

2. How to clean the CCD sensor and the optic windows of the camera?

Usually you can use flat fielding calibration to eliminate the shadow resulted from dust. It's not

recommended to open the CCD chamber to clean the CCD on your own. Because if you do it in a

place where there are still lots of dust, your effort may backfire. Besides, during the process of

cleaning, you may scratch the CCD, and you may damage the internal circuit when you open the

camera.

QHYCCD provides CCD clean service. The cleaning fee is 100 USD per time and it doesn't include

the shipping cost.

If you really want to clean it on your own, you can follow the instructions below.

QHY16200A

You need to prepare the tools by yourself to open the camera.

QHY16200A

Remove all the screws on front of the camera case and remove the front case

QHY16200A

You will see two screws to fix the filter wheel case (the middle layer of the camera). Unscrew

them.

QHY16200A

You will see the power PCB board. Remove the two screw of the power PCB board

QHY16200A

Remove the three cable carefully.

Please use a film to protect the CCD chamber optic window.

QHY16200A

The CCD chamber is connecting with the silicone gel tube socket by a rubber pipe. Remove the

two screw for the silicone gel socket.

QHY16200A

Remove the four screw for the CCD chamber. There is totally eight screws for the CCD chamber.

Only remove the four screws pointed by the red arrows in this picture.

QHY16200A

Now the CCD chamber is removed. The CCD sensor can be clean here.

QHY16200A

The CCD sensor has the AR coating. Please clean it carefully by using the lens paper or another

professional tools (like the DLSR sensor clean tools)

3. How to protect the cooler in QHY16200A?

The cooler in QHY16200A can lower the CCD temperature to a value that's almost 40 degrees

centigrade below the ambient temperature. So you need to be careful to avoid thermal shock,

which refers to when the cooler's temperature rises or fall dramatically, the cooler is subjected

to strong internal stress due to contraction principle. Drastic thermal shock can shorten cooler's

service life or permanently break it.

So when you begin to adjust the CCD temperature, you should avoid setting "Cooler Power" to

its maximum value, and you should gradually turn up the "Cooler Power" value. When you turn

off the power, if the "Cooler Power" value is very big, you should gradually turn it down before

turn off the power.

QHY16200A

4. What's small display on the camera for?

The OLED display is used for display certain formation related to the shooting. It is
directly driven by application program. So it may display different information or
doesn't display anything at all based on different application programs. Currently all
application program don't support this display, please wait for latest application
program that supports this display.

5. What is defect columns?

You may see one or more vertical columns whose top pixel is a bright dot. Normally
speaking such columns are not defect column. It is resulted from one pixel with high
thermal current. All the pixels below that pixel will be affected by it as thermal
current is transferred through that pixel.

This pixel can be removed by dark frame calibration. If they cannot be eliminated
entirely, you can solve this problem by using some astronomical image processing
software. These software will replace that column with the average value of its
surrounding columns.

Aside from the columns we just talked about, you may see one or more black
columns which is not full sensitive to the light or it is dim to light. This is the defect
column and it cannot be removed by dark frame calibration. The KAF16200 sensor
has two grade, grade1 and grade2. From the specification of the datasheet, the
grade 2 allows some defect columns. For more information about this please check
KAF16200 datasheet. You can use the "defect tools" in some image process software
to remove such defect columns as well.

The following image shows a typical "defect" columns caused by a hot pixel, which is
not very bright and it is usually not considered as a defect column. It will be gone
after dark frame calibration.

QHY16200A

The picture below shows a typical defect column with low CTE or zero CTE. This is a
defect column. You have to use the some defect tools to remove it.

6. How to use the QHYOAG that the camera comes with?

QHYOAG-M and a M54 adapter come with the QHY16200A. By six M3 screws you
can install them.

The prism of the OAG may have a protect film on front surface. Please remove it

before using.

You can use QHY5L-II-M as the guider. Please pay attention that you may remove the
front part of QHY5L-II-M to get the back focus short enough for this combination of
OAG-M and QHY16200M. If you are using other guider. We are not guarantee the
back focus is suitable for them due to the very short back focus of the QHY16200A.

The thickness of QHYOAG-M is 10mm and the M53 adapter is 3mm. So the totally
back focus addon is 13mm. The QHY16200A back focus is 33.5mm to 34mm. So the
total back focus with QHYOAG-M is 46.5mm to 47mm.

For more information about QHYOAG, you can check
http://www.qhyccd.com/OAG.html

QHY16200A

8 Camera Maintenance

Drying the CCD Chamber

The CCD sensor is located in a CCD chamber. This chamber is airproof and connect to the socket

of the silicone gel tube (drying tube) on one side of the case. If there is moisture and it causes

the CCD sensor glass to get dew. You can use the silicone gel tube (drying tube) included in the

package to dry it.

Please put the effective silicone gel into the silicone gel tube. Make sure to put a small amount of

cotton inside to prevent the silicone gel get into the CCD chamber.

The process of drying usually needs 24 hours.

Avoid CCD chamber optic window get dew

If the environment humidity is very high, the optic window of the CCD chamber may get dew.

The QHY16200A has the build-in heat board on this optic window to heat the optic window to

avoid it. In most conditions it can take effect.

If the optic window still get dew please try the following method.

1. Avoid the CCD Camera face down to ground. The cold air is heavy than warm air, if you put the

camera facing down to the ground, the cold air is easy to get the optic window and cause it very

cold and get dew

2. Increase the temperature of the CCD sensor. You can increase the CCD sensor temperature a

little to prevent the optic window get dew.

3. Check if the heat board working. If the heat board not working, the optic window is easy to get

dew. Normally the heat board can get about 65-70C in +25C environment. If it is not so warm, it

maybe the problem of the heat board damaged. Need to contact QHYCCD to replace one heat

board.

QHY16200A

9 Specifications

CCD Sensor

APS-H 16.2mega CCD sensor Standard Grade

Effective Pixels

4540(H)*3630(V), 16mega pixels

Pixel Size

6.0um*6.0um

Effective Area

27.0mm(H)*21.6mm(V), APS-H format

Readout Type

Full Frame CCD, Progressive Scan

FullWell

Typical 41ke

ADC

16bit

Readout Noise

Typical 10 e

System Gain

0.7e/adu

Binning

1x1,2x2,4x4

Anti-Blomming

2000X of saturated

Thermal Noise

0.04e/pixel/sec @ -20C

Exposure Time

1ms-10000sec

TEC

2 stage

Cooling

Typical -40 below Ambient temperature

Shutter

Butterfly Mechanical Shutter with Uniform illumination

Moisture Control

Air Connector for removable silicon gel tube
Heat board for optic window of airproof CCD chamber

Built-in Filter Wheel

5 position 2inch/50mm or 7 position 2inch/50mm

OAG interface

six M3 screw holes for QHYOAG

Telescope Interface

M54/0.75 inner screw

Power consumption

0% cooling 8W 50% cooling 16.5W 100% cooling
27W

Weight

1550g (standard CFW5 version), no OAG included
2330g (CFW7 version), no OAG included

QHY16200A

10 Mechanical Dimensions

Back Focus: 33.5mm to 34mm. This distance has includes the distance from CCD chip to CCD

surface.

QHY16200A

QHY16200A

When connected with the OAG-M. The back focus is 33.5/34

+13=46.5mm/47mm

QHY16200A

11 Revision history

Date of change

Revision

Content of change

January 11,

2017

1.0

First edition