QHYCCD QHY163С User Manual
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QHYCCD QHY163С User Manual

Astronomy camera
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User Manual
REV.1.1
QHY163С
COLDMOS Astronomy Camera

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Summary of Contents for QHYCCD QHY163С

  • Page 1 User Manual REV.1.1 QHY163С COLDMOS Astronomy Camera...

  • Page 2: Table Of Contents

    Contents PACKAGE CONTENTS ..................3 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION ................4 USE QHY163M IN SHARPCAP ................6 COLOR BALANCE FOR QHY163C ..............9 USE QHY163C WITH ASCOM ................11 USE QHY163C IN EZCAP_QT ................13 USE QHY168C IN FIRECAPTURE ..............16 USE BROADCAST VIDEO STREAMING ............17 QHY163C COLOR WHEEL CONTROL PORT ...........

  • Page 3: Package Contents

    QHY163С 01 Package Contents USB3.0 cable(1.5m) Self-locking power cable 6pin guide cable Car power adapter Drying tube Desiccant M42/1.25inch adaptor Driver download card Inspection report Camera Optional accessories 12V power adapter + power cable C-adapter lens mount...

  • Page 4: Software Installation

    4. QHY163C camera uses SharpCap as the default capture software. Please download SharpCap. QHY163C camera can run on SharpCap 2.9 or later versions Note that QHY168M requires the latest qhyccd.dll for the new version of SharpCap, and QHYCCD has SharpCap Patch already developed a software named for it.
  • Page 5 QHY163С 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 Qhy163M In Sharpcap

    QHY163С 04 Use QHY163M in SharpCap 1. Connect your QHY163C to 12V power supply. Connect your QHY163C to your computer with USB3.0 cable 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 QHY163С 5. Adjust the offset. When you block the light thoroughly, you may find that the image is not really "zero" (entirely black). Sometimes this will lower the quality of image contrast. You can adjust the offset to make the histogram peak close to zero in order to get a better background. You can open the histogram to confirm that.
  • Page 8 QHY163С 8. After you connect 12V power supply for QHY163C 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. Basically, you can control the temperature of CMOS by either adjusting “Cooler Power” or clicking “Auto” and adjusting “Target Temperature”.

  • Page 9: Color Balance For Qhy163C

    QHY163С 05 Color Balance for QHY163C SharpCap will start at the default RGB balance for color camera. Here is the screenshot of the QHY163C 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 QHY163С 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. For example, the G sensitivity is the double of R sensitivity.

  • Page 11: Use Qhy163C With Ascom

    QHY163С 06 Use QHY163C with ASCOM You can connect many software that support ASCOM. Currently QHY163C only supports normal ASCOM connection and does not support the ASCOM VIDEO connection. Please note that QHY163C 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 QHY163С Normally, you can set the gain=1 and offset=10 to start. The speed and overscan calibration options are no use to QHY163C. Click Connect before start shooting The screenshot below shows QHY163C running on MAXIMDL. Keep clicking “OK” to return to the Camera Control window. Click “Connect”...

  • Page 13: Use Qhy163C In Ezcap_Qt

    07 Use QHY163C in EZCAP_QT EZCAP_QT ( V0.1.51.18 ) is the software developed by QHYCCD. This software has the basic capture function for QHYCCD deep sky cameras. You can use this QHY63M camera with filter wheel in this software. 1. Install EZCAP_QT software.
  • Page 14 QHY163С Stretch to background. Normally speaking since the noise of the ADC, after heavy stretch you may see some random banding on the background. By stacking more image these banding will be gone since it is the random. This noise will not increase when you increase the gain. So the readout noise at higher gain is less than low gain.
  • Page 15 QHY163С In EZCAP_QT there is a planner for image tasking. You can capture a series images by using the table below.

  • Page 16: Use Qhy168C In Firecapture

    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.

  • Page 17: Use Broadcast Video Streaming

    BroadCast video steaming is a special function that QHY163C 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 QHY163C 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 18: Qhy163C Color Wheel Control Port

    QHY163С 10 QHY163C Color Wheel Control Port Pin number arrangement Note: The TXD and RXD is standard RS232 level (+-10V). Not the TTL standard 11 QHY163C 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 19: Faq

    QHY163С 12 FAQ 1. Does QHY163C support 10bit or 12bit? QHY163C 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 QHY163C has very high data bandwidth.
  • Page 20 QHY163С How is the anti-amplifier function in QHY163C? If you found there is dust on the CMOS sensor. You can screw off the front part of the QHY163C. The QHY163C'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 21 QHY163С SharpCap version has options for enabling/disabling the DDR buffer. The current ASCOM driver is always working under DDR enabled mode. 8. How to protect the cooler in QHY163C? The cooler in QHY163C can lower the CMOS temperature to a value that's almost 40 degrees centigrade below the ambient temperature.

  • Page 22: Camera Maintenance

    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.

  • Page 23: Ohy163C Mechanical Size

    QHY163С 15 OHY163C Mechanical Size Drawing of QHY163C with a M42 lens mount The back focal length of QHY163M with M42/2inch lens mount is about 18 mm.
  • Page 24 QHY163С Drawing of QHY163C with C-MOUNT lens adapter The back focal length of QHY163C with C-MOUNT lens adapter is about 17.50mm. Note that C mount is an optional accessory that you can order from us. Its part number is 020017.
  • Page 25 QHY163С Dimensions of C-MOUNT lens adapter Back Focus with some typical setup: QHY163C+QHYCFW2-M-US=36mm QHY163C+QHYCFW2-M-SR=41mm QHY163C+QHYCFW2-S =37mm For OAG, it is 13mm add-on.

  • Page 26: Specifications

    QHY163С 16 Specifications CMOS Sensor 4/3inch 16mega pixel mono CMOS Sensor Effective Pixels 4656*3522 Pixel Size 3.8um*3.8um Effective Area 17.7mm*13.4mm Shutter Electric Rolling Shutter. FullWell Readout Noise 1.2e 22.5FPS@16mega Full Resolution 30FPS@4K HD Video Frame Rate (on 8bit) 57FPS@1920*1080 60FPS@1280*1024 80FPS@1024*768 100fps@800*600 ROI Support...

  • Page 27: Revision History

    QHY163С 17 Revision History Date of change Revision Content of change November 29 , 2016 First edition Added solution to the problem that cameras halt under DDR December 20 , 2016 mode in the FAQ section January 5, 2017 Added notes about 12V power adapter Added introduction about how to eliminate bad effects of January 6, 2017 amplifier glow by using dark frame calibration...

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