Operating Manual ST-402 Very Important: Before you attach the ST-402 to your computer for the first time you MUST install the software as described Section 2. Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures: · Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna. · Increase the separation between the receiver and the equipment. · Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected. · Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. · Shielded I/O cables must be used when operating this equipment. · You are also warned, that any changes to this certified device will void your legal right to operate it. ST-402 Operating Manual 1st Edition, January 2005 Santa Barbara Instrument Group 147A Castilian Drive Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Phone (805) 571-7244 · Fax (805) 571-1147 Email sbig @ sbig . com · Web www . sbig . com SBIG ST-402 Operating Manual Table of Contents 1. Introduction..........................................................................................1 Getting Started...................................................................................1 2. 3. Installing the Software.........................................................................3 Using the Camera Inside......................................................................6 Running CCDOps..............................................................................6 Getting Help ......................................................................................6 Brightness and Contrast.....................................................................9 Establishing a Link..........................................................................10 Camera Info.....................................................................................11 Camera Setup ..................................................................................12 Grab Command ...............................................................................13 Focus Command..............................................................................14 4. At the Telescope..................................................................................17 Finding and Centering the Object....................................................18 Taking an Image ..............................................................................19 Further Adventures..........................................................................19 5. Accessories for your CCD Camera ...................................................20 Color Filter Wheel...........................................................................20 Battery Adapter ...............................................................................20 Camera Lens Adapters ....................................................................20 Electromechanical Relay Adapter Box............................................20 6. Glossary...............................................................................................21 1. Introduction Congratulations and thank you for buying one of our ST-402 cooled CCD cameras. The ST-402 has the following features: · · · · · · · · · · Uses Kodak's microlensed, blue enhanced KAF-0402ME CCD with 765 x 510 9-micron square pixels. 16-bit A/D converter with correlated double sampling running at 1.8 megahertz. Temperature regulated Thermo-Electric (TE) cooling with 25C delta for reduction in CCD dark current. Single board, small, compact design with internal shutter allowing exposures down to 40 milliseconds that makes taking dark frames a trivial task. USB 2 interface yielding up to 1.2 megapixels per second download rates but full backward compatibility with USB 1.1 computers at 400 kilopixels per second. Input power requirements of 10.0 ­ 14.5 Volts DC at 1 Amp through the new center-positive locking power jack. Telescope interface with four optically isolated normally open signals on the industry standard RJ-11 jack. T-Thread based mechanical interface that supports a variety of nosepieces and adapters. Optional 4-position filter wheel with parfocal Red, Green, Blue and Clear filters. Powerful yet intuitive CCDOps software for image acquisition and processing. Getting Started In addition to this truly fine Operating Manual, the ST-402 package includes the following items: ST-402 Camera ­ The camera body is 4 x 5 x 2 inches with a T-Thread adapter on the front cover. 1 ¼ Inch T-Thread Nosepiece ­ This screws into the front of the camera for telescope work and includes a soft rubber cap for keeping out the dust when not in use. Optional 2 Inch Nosepiece and Visual Back adapters are available from SBIG. In addition a screw-in T-to-C adapter is available for use with C-Mount camera lenses or C-Mount adapters. Power Supply ­ US versions of the camera come with a 12V/2 Amp DC power supply. Outside the US the camera is supplied with a Battery Clip adapter. Appendix A ­ Connector and Cables.......................................................25 Power Jack.......................................................................................25 Telescope Jack.................................................................................25 Appendix B ­ Maintenance ......................................................................26 Updating CCDOps and Drivers.......................................................26 Cleaning the Window and Filters ....................................................26 Replacing the Desiccant ..................................................................26 Appendix C ­ Camera Specifications ......................................................28 Page i Page 1 SBIG ST-402 Operating Manual SBIG ST-402 Operating Manual 2. Installing the Software Installing USB drivers on a Windows system can be a difficult task if you don't follow the instructions to the letter. Please don't plug the camera into the computer until instructed to do so below and please follow the instructions carefully. 1. Disable Driver Signing ­ Windows XP adds an extra level of security to installing drivers that will complicate our installation. To disable it open the System Control Panel in the Start Menu and then select the Hardware tab. Click the Driver Signing button and in the dialog that appears select Ignore then click OK. Click OK one more time to close the Control Panel. Extremely Important! In the past SBIG has shipped products like the STV, ST-5C and ST-237/A that used a 12-Volt, Center-Negative power supply. Starting with the ST-402 we are switching to Center-Positive 12-Volt power supplies. How do you know the difference? All 12-Volt, Center-Positive power jacks and receptacles are locking with a threaded collar. Don't ever try to mate an unthreaded power supply to a threaded camera or vice-versa. USB Cable ­ Included is a 15-foot, USB 2 certified, A-to-B type, USB cable. USB has a limit of 15-foot cables but the range can be extended with active boosters. Relatively low-cost (~$30) 15-foot boosters that can be stringed together are available from such sources such as . Long haul boosters (more expensive) are available from . Also note that putting a hub at 15 feet will allow you to go another 15 feet. Tracking Cable ­ This cable looks like a simple "RJ-11 telephone cable" but in fact is a "6-pin reversed RJ-11 telephone cable". Telescopes require 6-pin autoguider cables and reversed means that unlike ordinary phone cables, this one is flips the order of the wires. You can tell a tracking cable from an ordinary cable by noting that with tracking cables the tines that lock the RJ-11 jack into the receptacle are both on the same flat side of the cable or when the ends are put side by side the colored wires inside are in opposite order on the two connectors. Software ­ We include several CD-ROMs with the ST-402 but the most important one is labeled "SBIG Software and Catalog". This disc contains the drivers and CCDOps software you'll need to use the camera. Very Important: Before you attach the ST-402 to your computer for the first time you MUST install the software as described below. 2. Insert the SBIG Catalog and Software CD-ROM in your computer and on most systems the installer program will automatically start. If it doesn't, explore the CD-ROM drive and double-click on the autorun.exe icon. Then click on the Setup a New Camera button. Install CCDOps ­ Click on the Install CCDOps button to install it on your computer, and then follow the on-screen instructions. CCDOps is our powerful yet simple-to-use image acquisition and image processing software and we'll use it extensively throughout this manual. Install the Driver Checker ­ Click on the Install Driver Checker button to install it on your computer and then follow the on-screen instructions. The Driver Checker is a utility program that installs and maintains the drivers that are required for operating the ST-402 under the Windows Operating System. At the end of the install when you are given the option to launch the Driver Checker. Check that option. When the Driver Checker starts it will ask you if you have an Internet Connection on this machine. If you do then answer Yes otherwise answer No. The Driver Checker will install the camera drivers and at this point all your drivers should all be current: 3. 4. 5. Page 2 Page 3 SBIG ST-402 Operating Manual 6. We've finished installing the drivers but now we need to bind them to the ST-402. Quit the Driver Checker by clicking the X in the upperright hand corner. If you're running Windows XP then continue with step 7 below. Users of older versions of Windows should now look for instructions particular to their version of Windows in the "Installing USB Drivers" Application Note that can be found on the CD-ROM or our web site. Now's the moment you've been waiting for. We're going to plug the camera into the computer, but not so fast! First plug the camera into the power source and note that the Fan comes on but the Red LED does not. The ST-402 actually has its internal firmware downloaded to it by the PC at startup. If the LED is off the camera has not been booted. Please remember that. Now plug the camera into the USB port on the computer with the supplied USB cable. Remember which port you're using because you'll want to use the same port again next time or you'll have to go through this process of binding the drivers all over again. Windows will crunch for a while and then present you with the Found New Hardware Wizard (Wizard) dialog. SBIG ST-402 Operating Manual 11. After booting the camera Windows will bring up another copy of the Wizard. The ST-402 actually uses two drivers. One to boot the camera and one to talk to it after it's booted. We now need to walk Windows through installing the second driver. 12. Repeat steps 8 and 9, again telling the FNHW to not check for updates and to install automatically. At this point windows will show you the Select the best match page: 7. 13. Select the oem file not the sbig file (the second item above) by clicking on it then click the Next button. 14. Windows will grind one last time copying the SBIG USB Camera driver then show you the Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard page. Click the Finish button and pat your self on the back. You're done! If you ever doubt that the camera is actually connected you can open the Device Manager from the Hardware tab of the System control panel and expand the Universal Serial Bus controllers section. You should see a SBIG USB Camera listed there: 8. If you're asked if it should connect to Windows Update to search for software click "No, not this time", then click Next. 9. Now the Wizard will ask you if you want to install the software automatically. Select to do so then click Next. While you've got the System Control Panel open, if you want to restore the Windows Driver Signing security check, click the Hardware tab, click the Driver Signing button and select: 10. Windows will grind for a while copying the SBIG ST-402 Loader driver then show you the Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard page. Click Finish. At this point th ...