QHYCCD QHY183C User Manual
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QHYCCD QHY183C User Manual

Back-illuminated coldmos astronomy camera
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Back-illuminated COLDMOS Astronomy Camera
QHY183C
User's Manual Rev. 1.1

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Summary of Contents for QHYCCD QHY183C

  • Page 1 Back-illuminated COLDMOS Astronomy Camera QHY183C User’s Manual Rev. 1.1...

  • Page 2: Package Contents

    QHY183C 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: USB3.0 cable(1.5m)

  • Page 3: Table Of Contents

    QHY183C Table of Contents 01 Software Installation 02 Use QHY183C in SharpCap 03 Color Balance for QHY183C 04 Use QHY183C with ASCOM 05 Use QHY183C in EZCAP_QT 06 Use QHY183C in FireCapture 07 Use BroadCast Video Streaming 08 Color Wheel Control Port...

  • Page 4: Software Installation

    You should download and install it prior to using SharpCap. 5. Connect QHY183C to your PC with USB3.0 cable. For the first time the system will find a new device and search the driver. You can skip the online searching by clicking "Skip obtaining driver software from Windows Update"...
  • Page 5 QHY183C 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.

  • Page 6: Use Qhy183C In Sharpcap

    QHY183C 02 Use QHY183C in SharpCap 1. Connect your QHY183C to 12V power supply. Connect your QHY183C to your computer with USB3.0 cable. 2. Run SharpCap. If the aforementioned software and drivers all have been installed properly, the video image will appear automatically and you will see the frame rate at the lower-left corner of the software as shown below 3.
  • Page 7 You can open the histogram to confirm that. QHY183C is a color camera, so it is very important to set the offset to a low value and make the histogram peak close to zero. Because the color camera color balance is multiple a ratio to the pixel value in the FPGA.
  • Page 8 , 5 sec exposure and 50% gain of QHY183C is shown below. 8. After you connect 12V power supply for QHY183C to power the TEC cooling circuit, you can set the CMOS sensor cooling temperature in the "Thermal Controls" section in SharpCap as shown in the following picture.

  • Page 9: Color Balance For Qhy183C

    QHY183C 03 Color Balance for QHY183C SharpCap will start at the default RGB balance for color camera. Here is the screenshot of the QHY183C start up For color camera, SharpCap will show the WB Red/Green/Blue progress bar. Since the color balance is the ratio between Red to Green and Blue to Green. You can fix the Green color to 128 and adjust the Red and Blue.
  • Page 10 QHY183C The reason is that the Color balance is a ratio of the RGB sensitivity difference. So we use a ratio to multiply the RGB value and get it done. But if there is a bias exist. The ratio will not be correct.

  • Page 11: Use Qhy183C With Ascom

    ASCOM connection and does not support the ASCOM VIDEO connection. Please note that QHY183C 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.
  • Page 12 QHY183C Normally, you can set the gain=1 and offset=10 to start. The speed and overscan calibration options are no use to QHY183C. Click Connect before start shooting The screenshot below shows QHY183C running on MAXIMDL.
  • Page 13 QHY183C...

  • Page 14: Use Qhy183C In Ezcap_Qt

    05 Use QHY183C in EZCAP_QT EZCAP_QT is a software made by QHYCCD. This software has the basic capture function for QHYCCD deep sky cameras. You can use this QHY183C camera in this software. You can download it here: http://www.qhyccd.com/MediumCOLDMOS.html 1. Install EZCAP_QT software.
  • Page 15 This noise will not increase when you increase the gain. So the readout noise at higher gain is less than low gain. The QHY183C has about 2.7e at low gain and about 1e at high gain.
  • Page 16 QHY183C In EZCAP_QT there is a planner for image tasking. You can capture a series images by using the table below.
  • Page 17 QHY183C...

  • Page 18: Use Qhy183C In Firecapture

    QHY183C 06 Use QHY183C in FireCapture The latest FireCapture supports QHY183C already. Please go to FireCapture website to download 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.

  • Page 19: Use Broadcast Video Streaming

    QHY183C 07 Use BroadCast Video Streaming BroadCast video steaming is a special function that QHY183C supports. It can send the video image to multiple target software via QHYCCD BroadCast video driver. For example, you can use the SharpCap software to control the QHY183C camera and at the same time the video appearing on the SharpCap will be sent to any of software that support the WDM camera, like the HandyAvi, Adobe video encoder, online chat software etc.
  • Page 20 QHY183C...

  • Page 21: Color Wheel Control Port

    QHY183C 08 QHY183C Color Wheel Control Port Pin number arrangement Note: The TXD and RXD is standard RS232 level (+-10V). Not the TTL standard.

  • Page 22: Guide Port

    QHY183C 09 QHY183C Guide Port Cable RJ11 Pin sequence This connector is fully compatible with the EQ5/EQ6/Celestron/ iOpton Guide Socket. The Pin Sequence is (When face to the connector of the cable) The Socket side (mount side) is If you are using other mount, please check if it is the same pin sequence with the...

  • Page 23: Faq

    10 FAQ 1. Does QHY183C support 10bit or 12bit? QHY183C supports both 10bit and 12bit output(For 10bit, it is 0-255, and it only uses the high 8bit, for 12bit it is 0-4095 map to 0-65535). 2. How to get maximum FPS? Since QHY183C has very high data bandwidth.
  • Page 24 5. How to clean the CMOS sensor and the optic windows of the camera? If you found there is dust on the CMOS sensor. You can screw off the front part of the QHY183C. The QHY183C's CMOS sensor has the AR coating so you need to be careful to clean it. You can use the clean kit for DSLR sensor to do it.
  • Page 25 7. What's on-camera DDR buffer and what is benefit for? The QHY183C has the on-camera 128MB DDRII image buffer. It brings two advantages: It can buffer whole image and avoid it lost during USB transfer. Because CMOS sensor outputs the image continuous after exposure end and it does not allow the pause.
  • Page 26 QHY183C 9. What's the unity gain and other performance data? The unity gain (1e/adu) is Gain=11 Here is the readout noise curve. The noise is about 2.6-2.7e at zero gain, 1.5e at unity gain and minimum 0.5e at gain=50.
  • Page 27 100e at gain50. 10. How to protect the cooler in QHY183C? The cooler in QHY183C can lower the CMOS 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 means that when the cooler's temperature rises or fall dramatically, the cooler is subjected to strong internal stress due to contraction principle.
  • Page 28 QHY183C 11. The FPS of cameras sometimes suddenly drops to zero under DDR mode on SharpCap, what’s the solution for this problem? Recently, we have been told by our users that the FPS of their cameras sometimes suddenly drops to zero under DDR mode on SharpCap. It is caused by the fact that the receiving speed of computer is relatively slower than the sending speed of camera.

  • Page 29: Camera Maintenance

    The CCD sensor is located in a CCD chamber. This chamber is air-proof and connect to the socket of the silicone gel tube on one side of the QHY183C front case. If there is moisture and cause the CCD sensor glass get dew. You can connect the silicone gel tube on the socket to dry it.

  • Page 30: Inspections

    QHY183C 12 Inspections CMOS Sensor SONY IMX183 (Back-illuminated Imager) Effective Area 13.3mm*8.9mm Typical 1 inch Active Pixel 5544*3694 20 mega pixel Pixel Size 2.4um*2.4um Exposure 50us-3600s 20 mega pixel 15FPS Frame rate 4K HD 25FPS 12mega pixel 25FPS Fullwell 15000-16000e...

  • Page 31: Mechanical Size And Back Focus

    QHY183C 13 QHY183C Mechanical Size and Back Focus...
  • Page 32 QHY183C Drawing of QHY183C with a M42 lens mount The back focal length of QHY183C with M42/2inch lens mount is 17.5mm to 18 mm.
  • Page 33 QHY183C Drawing of QHY183C with C mount The back focal length of QHY183C with C-adapter lens mount is 17 mm. Note that C mount is an optional accessory that you can order from us. Its part number is 020051.
  • Page 34 QHY183C drawing of QHY183C without mount. There is four M42 screw holes on the R=19.5mm circle. You can use them to connect with other parts.

  • Page 35: Revision History

    QHY183C 14 Revision history Date of change Revision Content of change November 29th, First edition 2016 December 20th, Added solution to the problem that cameras halt 2016 under DDR mode in the FAQ section January 13, Added notes about 12V power adapter...

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