|
Kolenka
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 593
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
|
|
I've been looking at everything I need to assemble in order to get off the ground with some basic guided AP with the LX200R. The one thing that will prove to be my undoing is the number of USB ports I need, so I am looking at hubs.
Is there any particular recommendations of models/manufacturers to look at for a USB hub that I can power off a cigarette port rather than AC? Has anyone looked at adapting the 12V DC output port on the LX200 to power a USB hub as a sort of hobby project?
--------------------
Meade 10" LX200R
Orion 80ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XSi, TIS DMK 31AF03
Northwest Astro Photoblog
|
snowdragonusa
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/04/07
Posts: 637
Loc: Denver, CO
|
|
Be sure your laptop or computer will be able to support several USB devices. There will be a lot of data flying around and your processor needs to be able to handle it all.
I would leave the on board 12V DC port on the scope base alone. I haven't heard too many success stories of folks using them. They generally end up in sob stories about how the unfused port fried the motherboard or similar situations.
--------------------
Adam
12" LX200R
AT80mm piggyback
DSI Pro, DSI-C, LPI
Denver Astronomical Society
Brighton Astronomical Group
|
Kolenka
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 593
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
|
|
Ouch, good to know. Sounds like the circuit design to provide power wasn't very well thought out to ensure you couldn't put too much load on the port. I hadn't considered that they didn't protected it, but it makes sense now that I remember other horror stories.
As for the USB aspects, I have a few ideas up my sleeve in case USB bandwidth and timing becomes an issue. The DSLR can store shots on the card rather than try to shove RAWs across USB while guiding, and during the actual capture, the autoguider and guide camera should be the only devices actively transmitting any real data.
I was just curious that since you need a power supply in order to use a DSI with a hub for autoguiding, if anyone had any particular hub they find most useful powering from a tank or other 12VDC source.
--------------------
Meade 10" LX200R
Orion 80ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XSi, TIS DMK 31AF03
Northwest Astro Photoblog
|
MartyT
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/28/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Kansas City
|
|
I use a Belkin 4-port self-powered mini hub (http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-4-Port-Ultra-Mini-F5U407/dp/B000Q8UAWY/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1221064182&sr=8-1 )and a USB 2.0 "active" extension cable (http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-U026-016-Certified-Extension/dp/B0002D6QJO ).
The USB hub runs my DSI Pro, DSLR, and USB to dual serial adapter, which runs my LX200GPS serial interface and the shutter release on the DSLR.
No need for any external power anywhere. The only hiccup I notice is when I plug something new into the hub, the serial shutter control "stutters" a few time, but that's not a big deal as I'm not capturing images then anyway.
You're not going to use the full USB 2.0 bandwidth on an image download from the camera, and even if you do, it's only a second or two.
Of course, if you're trying to run all this from an old, slow computer with USB 1.1, you're in for a lot of frustration. But my 6-month-old Dell laptop doesn't have any problems.
--------------------
Celestron CGE / C-11 (CGE-1100)
Megrez 90 FD APO / 0.8x FR/FF III
QHY8
Modified Canon 350D (Baader UV/IR Filter)
DSI Pro (guider), SPC900NC
ETX-125AT
Meade 12" Lightbridge
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
Edited by MartyT (09/10/08 12:34 PM)
|
Kolenka
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 593
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
|
|
Huh, interesting Marty... your setup sounds similar to what I am trying to build. 
What I am looking at is a hub attached to: DSLR, DSI II, USB to Serial and a GPUSB for autoguiding.
The DSI II might be different, but I do keep seeing people comment that the DSIs need a bit more power than can be provided via the bus. Apparently your setup says otherwise.
--------------------
Meade 10" LX200R
Orion 80ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XSi, TIS DMK 31AF03
Northwest Astro Photoblog
|
MartyT
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/28/07
Posts: 522
Loc: Kansas City
|
|
Quote:
The DSI II might be different, but I do keep seeing people comment that the DSIs need a bit more power than can be provided via the bus. Apparently your setup says otherwise.
Got me. Mine is the older DSI Pro and it seems to work just fine. I was a bit surprised myself the first time I set it all up, but no worries.
--------------------
Celestron CGE / C-11 (CGE-1100)
Megrez 90 FD APO / 0.8x FR/FF III
QHY8
Modified Canon 350D (Baader UV/IR Filter)
DSI Pro (guider), SPC900NC
ETX-125AT
Meade 12" Lightbridge
Astronomical Society of Kansas City
|
Kolenka
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/01/08
Posts: 593
Loc: Seattle Area, WA, USA
|
|
Yup, you're right on that. Got all the bits and bobs together, and got it all working. Made a 12VDC->5VDC/1.5A adapter anyways though. Only cost about 10$ to make from a Dell Axim auto power adapter, and provides more than enough power to the USB hub for what I have connected to it.
Did run into an interesting behavior though: Nebulosity/PHD and my particular hub don't always like each other, and timing becomes an issue. The first time I try to connect using either, it fails (and the DSI resets, but this is expected), but succeeds the second time. Just figured I should post this just in case someone else is running into a similar issue.
--------------------
Meade 10" LX200R
Orion 80ED
Nagler 7T6, 9T6, 13T6, 17T4, 26T5
Canon XSi, TIS DMK 31AF03
Northwest Astro Photoblog
|
|
2 registered and 4 anonymous users are browsing this forum.
Moderator: Joad
Print Thread
|
Forum Permissions
You cannot start new topics
You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled
UBBCode is enabled
|
Thread views: 202
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Previous
Index
Next
Threaded
Edit
Reply
Quote
