153 replies to this topic

[jprideaux]

I would be curious if anyone with electrical experience thinks this is plausible…. It just seems like they would want to design it as simple as possible , I could understand the software would simply assume a solar filter is installed if the sun is out, just not sure if recommendations would be different between the light pollution and dual band or how the scope would know which of those are installed. I did read that it’s factual recommendations in software and times suggested would change if a filter was installed…. Also I guess it is possible they chipped the filters but just find that unlikely, I guess a resistor could have been added that would give different values for different filters. Should note that it’s still speculation those two metal pins connected is what makes it work… and hoping the program is simply letting the software know a filter is in place and letting the user actually select which one…. That would certainly be the foolproof method to implement. Otherwise they might have filters that go bad over time

If Vaonis doesn't disclose how the electrical connection for those pins works, you could wait until someone gets those filters in-hand and let them use a multi-meter to measure the resistance between the pin sockets in the filters.  I guess someone could take a collection of different resisters (like 1K, 5k, 10k, etc) and connect them to those pins at the aperture opening of the Vespera to see what happens.  Without any further information, though, it might not be wise to try to short those pins out just in case doing so could damage some internal circuitry.  The cautious approach would be to not mess with those pins without further information.  If Vaonis does provide an export-mode with the Vespera, you can always  just experimentally determine the best exposure and gain setting for using your own filter.

[GSBass]

Good point… I think I was just going to use some speaker wire and two alligator clips haha… but perhaps it’s best to wait til someone does a deep dive…. Unfortunately that could be a very long time to be wondering…. Just to be clear if I were to do that as an experiment I could fry it?

If Vaonis doesn't disclose how the electrical connection for those pins works, you could wait until someone gets those filters in-hand and let them use a multi-meter to measure the resistance between the pin sockets in the filters.  I guess someone could take a collection of different resisters (like 1K, 5k, 10k, etc) and connect them to those pins at the aperture opening of the Vespera to see what happens.  Without any further information, though, it might not be wise to try to short those pins out just in case doing so could damage some internal circuitry.  The cautious approach would be to not mess with those pins without further information.  If Vaonis does provide an export-mode with the Vespera, you can always  just experimentally determine the best exposure and gain setting for using your own filter.

Edited by GSBass, 13 November 2021 - 03:03 PM.

[jprideaux]

Good point… I think I was just going to use some speaker wire and two alligator clips haha… but perhaps it’s best to wait til someone does a deep dive…. Unfortunately that could be a very long time to be wondering…. Just to be clear if I were to do that as an experiment I could fry it?

To play it safe, without additional information, I would not recommend trying the shorting it out with speaker-wire experiment. It would be harmless, though, to use a multimeter to measure the voltage across those pins. Then it would be low risk to put something like a 10k resister across those pins and re-measure the voltage to see if it changed from the open -circuit voltage. Then you could repeat with another resistance value like 50k and measure the voltage.
If you had a variable-resister, you could quickly try a range of different resistance values, measure any resulting voltage changes, and also see if the Vespera starts to think a particular sensor was added.

Of course, there is finite risk for doing this without understanding what the Vespera expects across those pins. It might be looking for something different or more complicated than a resistance value.

The safest thing if you wanted to experiment with your existing 3rd-party filter and if the Vespera lets you manually set gain and sub-exposure time, would be to just leave those pins not connected to anything and play around with the manual gain and sub-exposure time. You may only have to wait 2 or 3 extra months for others who start getting the Vaonis filters to start to give out more information about how those pins work.

[GSBass]

Thankyou for the advice, sounds wise to me, I really don’t know much about electrical so I’m content to wait…. I do have close to bortle 5 skies so I should be able to take some good photos without a filter anyway. If Vespera turns in to a very successful product I imagine we will see some filter adapters pop up, someone will 3D print one that you can just thread on 2” filters…. Guess it just depends on how Vaonis implemented it. And who knows, the filters might be reasonable…. I just have my doubts based on the prices they are asking for Stellina accessories…. Can’t help but think it may be part of the economics of the product to meet the 1500 price point… 

To play it safe, without additional information, I would not recommend trying the shorting it out with speaker-wire experiment. It would be harmless, though, to use a multimeter to measure the voltage across those pins. Then it would be low risk to put something like a 10k resister across those pins and re-measure the voltage to see if it changed from the open -circuit voltage. Then you could repeat with another resistance value like 50k and measure the voltage.
If you had a variable-resister, you could quickly try a range of different resistance values, measure any resulting voltage changes, and also see if the Vespera starts to think a particular sensor was added.

Of course, there is finite risk for doing this without understanding what the Vespera expects across those pins. It might be looking for something different or more complicated than a resistance value.

The safest thing if you wanted to experiment with your existing 3rd-party filter and if the Vespera lets you manually set gain and sub-exposure time, would be to just leave those pins not connected to anything and play around with the manual gain and sub-exposure time. You may only have to wait 2 or 3 extra months for others who start getting the Vaonis filters to start to give out more information about how those pins work.