From: "doobisary" <tjp314@pacbell.net>

Date: October 2, 2009 2:28:11 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Scorpion experiences

I thought there was a link somewhere here, or maybe the Flea cameras I bought had documentation with them that showed which socket in the back of the camera was what number pin socket.  I just looked for this on the Pt Grey website, but the pdf for the scorpions (at least) doesn't show the pin numbers.  The other cameras might (but if they changed at all, we'd need to know that!).

My original flea came with the screw-on connector, but no wire "pigtail", whereas my flea2 has the pigtail.  For the flea2, I soldered together the wires as instructed (or maybe I just twisted them together, I can't remember offhand), but for the flea, I literally cut me a length of wire tie (that had the plastic cover, not the paper one), stripped a few mm off each end, bent it into a small "U" and stuck the ends into the appropriate sockets.  Been working like that for about 4 years now.

Since these Scorpions don't come with the pigtail or any documentation or software, folks who buy them will need to know which is what, and who goes where.

-Tim

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Mark Gaffney <markgaffney@...> wrote:

Hi Alan,

My Flea 2 was bought new & came with a "rat-tail" which plugs into to  

the GPIO connection at the back. It has a number of wires coming from  

it of which I soldered together the black & white ones as per  

Milton`s directions. There`s a picture of this rat-tail on the Photos  

Album page under "Flea 2 Peltier cooler" I don`t know how you`d go  

about connecting without this accessory but I notice Milton has just  

responded so maybe he has your answer already...

Mark.

On 03/10/2009, at 5:56 AM, Alan Friedman wrote:

Is there discussion/instruction anywhere for connecting the GPIO0  

and GPIO1 pins on the Scorpion to enable long exposures? I've never  

soldered anything outside of copper plumbing pipe and that was many  

years ago.

thanks!

Alan

Tim,

I soldered the 2 wires on the rat-tail I was provided with  

together (& even followed Milton`s instructions for making my own  

Peltier cooler) but haven`t done any time exposures with my Flea 2  

yet. With 2 of those 1600 pixel PGR cameras available (perhaps  

some of the other 1300 pixel ones) I`d have had to beat Alan to  

the punch & I only remembered my niece after Peter`s post! Last  

time I spoke to her she was between addresses so I didn`t follow  

up the option.

Mark.

On 03/10/2009, at 3:40 AM, doobisary wrote:

Hi all:

I've only had two nights to play with my NOS Scorpion camera.  

First night's results I posted before (bad-seeing Jupiter  

monochrome).

Last night I set up my TV NP101is on Jupiter, as the seeing  

didn't seem like it would warrant using anything larger (turns  

out I was probably wrong about that, but I was too tired to start  

over). I fiddled with things like dark frame subtraction (which  

seems to work VERY well for this camera), and binning (not as  

well as 1x1, noise-wise). I haven't put a wire in the GPIO socket  

yet, as I need to look up the instructions first, so I couldn't  

take exposures longer than a half second or so.

I tried experimenting with a filter wheel I'd made several years  

ago out of PVC plumbing parts (6" pipe caps, IIRC) and some HOYA  

filters (not dichroic), but the thing is clearly not machined  

surfaces and the alignment of the innie and outie tubes aren't  

coaxial enough (and the whole thing is plastic, so it flexes a  

bit. So, I need to either build a new filter wheel or buy one.

At PATS, I drooled over a thin profile Starlight Xpress USB  

controlled wheel that just came out for ~$500, and an Orion, also  

USB for about $450. I imagine I could control the SX with iCCD or  

something similar, but does anybody make anything for running the  

Orions on a Mac? (cameras, too?).

The other possibility is to just use a manual wheel, but that  

precludes me from using it on my NS9.25GPS, which I run remotely.  

I can certainly use a manual wheel on my other scopes that I set  

up outside, though.

A final possibility is to get a "stand alone" kit for my SBIG  

CFW-10 filter wheel, but my experience is that removing it from  

the ST2000XM involves taking it apart to get at the mounting  

screws, so I'd rather leave that system alone (a very nice DSO  

camera).

Any suggested favorites? Like the Orion or Atik manual wheels?  

(same wheel, right?).

TIA,

-Tim.