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QHY163M 

 

 

 
05

 

Use QHY163M in SharpCap 

 

1.  Connect your QHY163M to color filter wheel with DIN4/RJ11 cable. Connect your QHY163M to 12V 

power supply. Connect your QHY163M to your computer with USB3.0 cable. Before running SharpCap, 

make  sure  filter 

wheel’s  initialization  is  finished.  When  it  is  initializing,  you  can  hear  the  sound  gear 

makes. When it is finished, you will see the color lights flash. If you start SharpCap before initialization is 

finished, SharpCap cannot detect the filter wheel. 

 

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.  If you have started the SharpCap before connecting camera to your PC. You can click menu-

>cameras->rescan for cameras to search the camera and check on the camera name (QHY163M in this 

case). 

 

4.  To make sure the camera can run properly, the software will start the camera at the lowest speed, 

which makes the frame rate much lower than the highest frame rate declared on its webpage. Now you 

can try to get the most out of it by changing several settings. First you can try to set the exposure time to 

1ms, then try to reduce the 

“USB traffic” value. For modern computer with i7-4 core, it should get the 

max performance. But please note that not all computers can get the best performance due to various 

reasons  such  as  the  CPU  loading,  the  saving-energy  mode  setting,  the  mainboard  performance  and 

USB3.0 port performance. Sometimes the display size may also impede obtaining the best performance. 
So you can try to use the “Zoom” function to reduce the display size to see if it helps. Normally speaking 
the QHY163M can get more than 22.5FPS@16mega full resolution. 

Summary of Contents for COLDMOS QHY163M

Page 1: ...QHY163M COLDMOS Astronomy Camera User Manual REV 1 6...

Page 2: ...6 USE QHY163M WITH ASCOM 10 07 USE QHY163M IN EZCAP_QT 17 08 USE QHY168M IN FIRECAPTURE 19 09 USE BROADCAST VIDEO STREAMING 20 10 QHY163M COLOR WHEEL CONTROL PORT 21 11 QHY163M GUIDE PORT CABLE RJ11 P...

Page 3: ...locking power cable 1 6pin guide cable 1 Car power adapter 1 Drying tube 1 Desiccant 1 M42 2inch adaptor Maximum diameter 56mm 1 Driver download card 1 Inspection report 1 QHY163M camera 1 Optional a...

Page 4: ...5 Connect QHY163M 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 f...

Page 5: ...QHY163M 5 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: ...QHYCFW2 M 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 t...

Page 7: ...C You can click menu cameras rescan for cameras to search the camera and check on the camera name QHY163M in this case 4 To make sure the camera can run properly the software will start the camera at...

Page 8: ...der to get a better background You can open the histogram to confirm that 7 If you want to try 16bit image you can switch the Colour Space to MONO16 8 By check the LX mode you can expand the exposure...

Page 9: ...ection 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 You can also s...

Page 10: ...nnection Please note that QHY163M 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 MAXIMDL 1 First you hav...

Page 11: ...e gain 1 and offset 10 to start Keep clicking Okay to return to Camera Control window The following instructions are going to show you how to configure filter wheel QHYCFW2 M in MAXIMDL Click Setup Fi...

Page 12: ...QHY163M 12 In the window shown below you can set up your filter wheel Keep clicking OK to return to the Camera Control window Click Connect...

Page 13: ...QHY163M 13...

Page 14: ...nd configure Sequence Generator Pro properly you can go to sleep and see images in the morning To use QHY163M in Sequence Generator Pro you can follow the instructions listed below Open sequencer by c...

Page 15: ...lter wheel as the filter and click the red connect button you should also make sure you ve connected QHY163M to filter wheel QHYCFW2 M with DIN4 RJ11 cable you ve plugged in the 12V power supply cable...

Page 16: ...Lum Red Green Blue and Ha as you installed them this way Then you make schedule events to take turns to use these filters as shown in the following picture For detailed and helpful tutorial of this so...

Page 17: ...able 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 4 In Menu Came...

Page 18: ...ion 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 7 In EZCAP_QT there is a...

Page 19: ...essfully 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...

Page 20: ...e 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 This function is very useful...

Page 21: ...andard 11 QHY163M 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 S...

Page 22: ...hangs In this condition you can use a powered USB3 0 HUB to connect camera and get the good 5V power for camera If your CPU load is too high If CPU load is too high it will cause many frame lost and...

Page 23: ...ure and high gain Dark frame calibration can remove it completely 7 How to eliminate the bad effects of the amplifier glow When the exposure time is very long amplifier glow in the corner will become...

Page 24: ...ta Another advantage is that it will make the video more smooth when in some slow computer or some mainboard which is not friendly to USB3 0 like the VIA chipset In these computers they cannot handle...

Page 25: ...value large enough so you should go to our website to download the latest version of SharpCap Patch The second solution to this problem is to turn off the DDR mode but for computers whose performance...

Page 26: ...e is no such black banding even you wait a long time and then capture Please look at the following pictures We wait for one minute then do the secondary capture and it is uniform and has no such bandi...

Page 27: ...HY168M has the build in heat board on this optic window to heat the optic window to avoid it In most conditions it can take effect If the optic window still get dew please try the following method 1 A...

Page 28: ...QHY163M 28 15 OHY163M Mechanical Size Drawing of QHY163M with a M42 lens mount The back focal length of QHY163M with M42 2inch lens mount is about 18 mm...

Page 29: ...wing of QHY163M with C MOUNT lens adapter The back focal length of QHY163M 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 num...

Page 30: ...QHY163M 30 Dimensions of C MOUNT lens adapter Back Focus with some typical setup QHY163M QHYCFW2 M US 36mm QHY163M QHYCFW2 M SR 41mm QHY163M QHYCFW2 S 37mm For OAG it is 13mm add on...

Page 31: ...pport Yes Any Area ROI Exposure Time 50us 1800sec AD Sample Depth 10bit 12bit 8bit 12bit output On Camera Image Buffer 128MB DDRII Buffer Cooling 2 stage TEC Typical 40 below Ambient Temperature Regul...

Page 32: ...ary 5 2017 1 2 Added notes about 12V power adapter January 6 2017 1 3 Added introduction about how to eliminate bad effects of amplifier glow by using dark frame calibration February 16 2017 1 4 Added...

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