Weasner's Meade DSI Astrophotography Page

ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH MEADE DEEP SKY IMAGER

Last updated: 31 August 2006

This page documents the Meade Deep Sky Imager and DSI Pro comments, tips, and photos. Contributions welcome. In order to showcase the DSI you may occasionally see images taken with other telescopes on this page.

Subject:	Re: dsi (PC USB cable/power issues)
Sent:	Wednesday, August 30, 2006 07:01:18
From:	Stephen Bird (stephen.bird@btconnect.com)
I have seen this before with laptops. During the day the user sets up
inside to test the equipment and the laptop is indooors plugged into the
AC mains supply. Then at night the user goes outside and of course the
laptop is then used on battery power. What happens is that laptops have
several power profiles, one of which is the full power profile when it
is connected to the AC mains supply, and the other is the battery
profile for when it is on the internal battery. For the latter, things
like the screen brightness are dimmed to save power, disk drives go in
to standby after a shorter non use time. And, most annoying, the
external ports including USB are fed with a much lower power supply
current. The upshot is that DSI which requires almost the full 500mA
stops working or fails to initiate. The cure is to go into the PC
Control Panel function and set up a telescope profile that allows the
ports to operate at full power on battery. Different setups require
different methods of accessing the power saving functions, so it can be
hard to find and fix. Sometimes it even requires a setting in the device
manager for USB. all depends on the version of Windoze that you are
using and the setup of you machine. Also uses a different port such as
front or rear USB ports or port replicator USB ports makes a difference.
And running other USB devices at the same time, just shares the same
power amongst more devices, so things like a USB mouse, or worse one of
those handy USB lights can be a problem.

Alternatively, if the temperature differential between day and night is
large, it could be simple volt drop problems as Mike points out. An
externally powered hub and a single shortest usable high quality USB
cable will give the best chance of success. The original 5 foot cable
with the DSI was not of the highest quality in my experience.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Stephen Bird

And:

From:	R.L. Creedon (creedon@cablespeed.com)
Phew ! Having in the course of a year of clear nights ( about 12 ) fixed
every one of the problems you mention, I now am beginning to actually
learn to use the darned thing. Powered usb using hub, short cables -
cheap ones worked best -all on house current & all connections good,(
they weren't always guaranteed )... faint images have appeared & I've
doctored just one to get the attachment. Roll on the next clear night. I
wish I'd met you guys before, Thanks very much for the defining
statement.   Lew Creedon.

Subject:	Broken usb female B connector on my DSI pro
Sent:	Friday, August 25, 2006 08:31:58
From:	jomeara@lav.boehringer-ingelheim.com (jomeara@lav.boehringer-ingelheim.com)
I've seen that you have helped a lot of people on your web-site and I
thought you might be able to help.  I've successfully used my DSI-pro
for about a year now, but the other night I slewed to an object which
caused the USB cable to hit the base of my telescope.  I didn't notice
any damage immediately, but since then I have had a lot of difficulty
initiating the DSI pro (the computer detects it then loses it).  Is it
feasable to replace the USB connector on the DSI-pro board?  Any other
suggestions/comments?
Sincerely,
Jeff OMeara

Mike here: Not having a DSI Pro to disassemble I can't be sure. But unless you are comfortable soldering circuit boards this isn't likely to be something that you want to tackle, unless you are willing to run the risk of further damaging it. You could contact Meade; they can repair/replace it (maybe at less cost than a new one).

And:

Thanks a lot for getting back to me so soon.  I've contacted the Meade
on-line help desk.  Unfortunately, they haven't reponded yet.

Thanks again,

Cheers,

Jeff

Subject:	Meade auto star dsi and lpi
Sent:	Monday, July 31, 2006 08:12:43
From:	Hardy, Larry (Larry.Hardy@morganstanley.com)
Over the weekend, someone mentioned to me that there was a tutorial site
by some one named Wade (?) on line that steps one thru the operation of
the camera.  Do you know what the link is?

Mike here: Check the Meade Video Library (link on the Helpful Information: Tutorials page).

Subject:	dsi
Sent:	Tuesday, July 25, 2006 14:39:18
From:	R.L. Creedon (creedon@cablespeed.com)
I have struggled for more than a year to get something from my dsi. We
have recently had a succession of clear nights & I found that while all
my usb cables worked in the daytime only one , with silvery internal
wires visible works at night. I have no explanation since digital is
normally yes/no.  The usb cables I use are in every case powered.  My
computer dealer has no explanation.  I notice that Meade's latest
advertisement  features fifteen inch usb cables.  This seems
significant.  As a point of further interest the magic eye focuser only
ever works in the daytime.  I  would much appreciate comments.       
Lew Creedon.

Mike here: Cheap and long USB cables could be a problem. Also, do you have USB 2.0 or 1.1? The DSI works best with 2.0.

Subject:	DSI images using LXD-75 mount
Sent:	Wednesday, July 12, 2006 17:11:42
From:	Gregory Kaiser
Not sure if I had already sent these to you images of swan , ring ,
lagoon, trifid nebulae and M13 using my new LXD-75 mount

With my LX50 8 inch SC + Atik .5 focal reducer + extension. I'm pleased
some issues with the mount goto and tracking. All except M13 are 21.2
seconds exposures x 30. I am also using an Atik .5 Focal reducer + 1
inch extension which Gives me about a 700mm FL.

Seems like the one star alignment gives me great tracking but Goto's are
poor. Easy alignment gives me good Goto's but poor tracking. Trying to
find the middle.

Thanks

Greg Kaiser

Subject:	ETX-90 picture of jupiter
Sent:	Wednesday, June 14, 2006 06:53:02
From:	Joseph Sikora III (sikorj@MIT.EDU)
I have been visiting your website for years and think your site is
great!

I took this photo of Jupiter with an ETX-90 and a DSI imager. (I don't
remember the exact shutter speed or number of images stacked.) I used
Photoshop to despeckle and then unsharp marked the image.

Subject:	MEADE DSI + PDA
Sent:	Friday, June 2, 2006 01:27:53
From:	THEOLOGOS SARAFIDIS (tsarafidis@ote.gr)
I have the Meade ETX-125PE with the DSI camera. Normally I am using the
camera connected with my PC and everything is OK. But I want to know if
there is a possibility to connect this camera with a PDA (palm or pocket
pc) in order to take images. Do you know if there is any adaptor and the
related imaging software. I thought this because of the very small size
of PDA compared with Laptop size and weight.

Regards
Theologos Sarafidis
Athens
Greece

Mike here: I haven't heard any of PDA with USB 2.0 that would connect to the DSI.

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