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

Date: October 3, 2009 9:54:41 AM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Scorpion experiences

I did some more imaging last night with the scorpion on my c-8.  First, I put a short wire between the two connectors, as Milton described, and verified that it works by taking some starfield shots at 10 seconds.  It works!  I also checked collimation by defocusing Vega and centering the donut on Astro IIDC's reticule, and boy, it's bang on!  I love the concentric rings in the reticule, it made checking the concentricity of the secondary shadow with the outer edge quite easy.

I rigged up mostly for Jupiter, so I moved over there and experimented with a 2x shorty barlow and a 2.5x Televue, and without a barlow.  I don't know if it was the seeing, but I got my best result from one of the videos at f/10.  

After imaging for an hour or so, I did some visual, and though the seeing was fine, fast turbulence, there were moments of crystal clarity.

I don't know if it's monocrhome cameras in general, or me pushing the processing too far in so-so seeing, but I find it was pretty "easy" to get a grainy looking result when processing.

I'm looking forward to putting a color camera and the Scorpion on the flip mirror, and comparing the results taken with each.  Then, I'll experiment with colorizing the monochrome image with the color one.

-Tim.

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Alan Friedman <alan@...> wrote:

Thank you Tim and Milton - this information is very helpful.

best,

Alan

On Oct 2, 2009, at 5:26 PM, milton_aupperle wrote:

Alan;

There is no consistency at all for exposure with the PGR Camera  

models. Exposure time varies by Camera model, different CCD/CMOS  

sensor, by format and video / size mode. And it isn't published  

either, except for a maximum value. I have been on PGR's butt for  

about 3 years now to make it more rational and consistent, as TIS  

got this right the first time.

I just pulled up the Scorpion Technical Reference 2004 and the later  

revised 2008 manuals (I save all of them locally for easy reference)  

for comparison.

The Scorpions use a Hirose 12 pin (HR10) connector, which is  

different from the Flea, Flea2 and Grasshopper that use a Hiorse 25  

connector.

Even though they are different, you will still connect Pin 1 (GPIO  

0) and Pin 2 (GPIO1) together and then check mark the "PGR Long  

Exposure" check box in the Astro IIDC Preferences.

I put up a diagram of what it looks like from the 2004 technical  

reference manual in the "/files/Other/" folder as  

"ScorpionPinOuts.png"

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Astro_IIDC/files/Other/ScorpionPinOuts.png

That's the back end of the camera, so those are "holes" / sockets  

that a male Hirose connector fits into. I labeled the two sockets  

with red arrows and "connect These 2".

The Hirose connectors are usually included with the Dev kit, but I  

doubt if you get that. Most electrical supply houses can order them  

in or they may have them in stock.

http://www.hirose-connectors.com/products/HR10_5.htm

For their later model camera, the "rat tail" connectors I refer too  

has wire leads attached to the connectors that are all numbered,  

which makes doing this a lot easier. You can solder them or even  

just twist them together.,

You can also connect up those sockets / holes on the camera using a  

thin piece or strand of copper wire and some electrical tape to hold  

them in place too. There is no voltage being carried by those those  

pins, they just provide an electrical bridge so that the 2 pins can  

connect up and I can control the Shutter in a "Bulb" exposure mode.

HTH..

Milton Aupperle

PS: This might show up twice. Something is screwy with Apple's Mail  

on multiple machines and I am regretting upgrading my PPC Macs from  

Tiger to Leopard. I don't use Snow Leopard on the x86 boxes at all  

as it's beta quality at best.