QHYCCD QHY27M, QHY28M, QHY29M User Manual

Super high resolution cooled astronomical camera

QHY27/28/29M

User’s Manual Rev. 1.0

QHY27/28/29M

This document is an online document. You may save it or print it by downloading its PDF

version attached below. QHYCCD reserves the right to change this user manual without prior

notice.

Notice

This manual is for QHY27M/28M/29M. Since they have the same structure and the

only difference is their CCD, we use QHY29M as an example in this manual.

Package Contents

Please confirm that the package contains the following items:

USB2.0 cable

1

Self-locking power cable

1

Serial port cable

1

Drying tube

1

desiccant

1

Driver download card

1

Inspection report

1

Angle adjustment adapter ring

1

QHY29M camera

1

Optional accessories

12V power adapter

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.

QHY27/28/29M

Table of Contents

01 Software Installation

02 Use QHY29M with Filter Wheel

03 Use QHY29M in EZCAP_QT

04 Use QHY29M on ASCOM platform

05 Use QHY29M in FireCapture

06 Peripheral Ports on QHY29M

07 FAQ

08 Camera Maintenance

09 Specifications

10 Mechanical Dimensions

11 Revision History

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01 Software Installation

1. Download and install ASCOM platform

2. Download and install the Camera Driver

3. Download and install the ASCOM Capture Driver

4. QHY29 camera uses EZCAP_QT as the default capture software. Please download and install

EZCAP_QT.

5. Connect QHY29M to your PC with USB2.0 cable. Connect your QHY29M to 12V power supply

(Make sure 12V power supply is always connected when you use QHY29M). 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.

6. 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 QHY367C 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.

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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.

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02 Use QHY29M with Filter Wheel

QHY29M is a monochromatic camera and it is frequently used with color filter wheel. Connecting

it with QHY color filter wheel is simple and quick. QHY29M supports connections with QHYCFW2-

L.

You can refer to a tutorial to set up your QHYCFW-L.

After you've installed color filters for your QHYCFW2-L properly, you can begin to connect it with

QHY29M as shown in the picture below.

First, you need to stick QHY29M into QHYCFW2-L as shown in the picture above. Then you should

screw those three bolts in. At the first time you screw bolts, you may find it a little bit difficult to

screw in, in this case, please make sure that the bolts are pointing towards the center and apply a

little bit more of force. Finally, you should connect your QHY29M with QHYCFW2-L by using

DIN4/RJ11 cable, which is included in the box.

The last thing you need to do before using QHY29M with QHYCFW2-L is to open the link below to

download and install the driver (ASCOM FiltersPlug-in) for QHYCFW2-L.

Now, you should be all set. Read the following parts to know how to use QHY29M with color filter

wheel in MAXIMDL, and Sequence Generator Pro.

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03 Use QHY29M 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 QHY29M camera with filter wheel in this software.

1. Install EZCAP_QT

2. Connect your QHY29M to 12V power supply. Connect your QHY29M to color filter wheel with

DIN4/RJ11 cable. Connect your QHY29M 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 QHY29 in the device manager on

Windows. Sometimes if you click "connect", you may see the warning shown in the picture below.

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

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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.

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

in the following picture.

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.

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

table below.

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04 Use QHY29M on ASCOM platform

You can connect many software that support ASCOM. Currently QHY29M only supports normal

ASCOM connection and does not support the ASCOM VIDEO connection. Please note that QHY29M

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.