TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN UNIVERSE
Telescope: Askar FRA600
Mount: iOptron CEM40
Filters: Chroma 36mm LRGB Ha
| Model | Reference Retail Price （USD） |
| QHY600PH-M | 4,599 |
| QHY600PH-C | 4,599 |
| QHY600PH-M SBFL | 4,599 |
| QHY600PH-C SBFL | 4,599 |
| QHY600PH-M L | 3,980 |
With the advantage of low readout noise and high-speed readout, CMOS technology has revolutionized astronomical imaging. A monochrome, back-illuminated, high-sensitivity, astronomical imaging camera is the ideal choice for astro-imagers. The QHY600 uses the latest SONY back-illuminated sensor, the IMX455, a full frame (35mm format) sensor with 3.76um pixels and native 16-bit A/D. This sensor is available in both monochrome and color versions. The QHY600 ends the days of non-16bit CMOS cameras and it ends the days non-full frame (and larger) monochrome CMOS cameras.
The QHY600 has extremely low dark current (0.002e/p/s@-20C) using SONY’s Exmor BSI CMOS technology. QHY600 is also a zero amplifer glow camera. The QHY600 has only one electron of read noise at high gain and full resolution and 4FPS readout speed. One electron of read noise means the camera can achieve a SNR>3 at only 4 to 6 photons. This is perfect performance when conditions are photon limited, i.e., short exposures, narrow band imaging, etc., making this large area sensor ideal for sky surveys, time domain astronomy, fluorescence imaging, DNA sequencing and microscopy.
QHY600 Series have mutiple models which covers both photographic and scientific using. Below list different types of QHY600 PH (photographic) series:
QHY600PH : Standard version for amateur astrographers;
QHY600PH-SBFL (Short back-focal length version) ：specially designed for DSLR lens users or those who has special requirment of short back focal length. This version has a special front part version which has 14mm B.F.L only (The B.F.L consumed equals 12.5mm when connecting QHYCFW. About the defination of “BFL Comsumed” and our adapter system please view: https://www.qhyccd.com/astronomical-camera-adapter-bfl-solution/). QHY600SBFL can easily match Canon/Nikon lens even with filter wheel. On the side of this adapter there is a 4mm hole to connect air pump through plastic pipe in case of the dewing glass when necessary.
QHY600L : a lite, shorter and cheaper version. Compared with QHY600PH, QHY600PH-Lite has the following features compared with previous models: QHY600L only has mono version; The body length becomes shorter, which is about 112mm, and its price is lowered compared with QHY600PH; The Built-in DDR3 Buffer (memory storage) is adjusted to 1GB compared to 2GB of QHY600PH/Pro. Other specifications of QHY600L keep the same with QHY600PH except the body length and weight.
2GB DDR3 image buffer
In order to provide smooth uninterrupted data transfer of the entire 60MP sensor at high speed, the QHY600 has 2GB DDR3 image buffer. The pixel count of the latest generation of CMOS sensors is very high resulting in greater memory requirements for temporary and permanent storage. For example, the QHY600 sensor produces about 120MB of data per frame. The data band-width is also increased from the original 16-bits to the current 32-bits. Transferring such a large file sizes necessarily requires the camera to have sufficient memory. The QHY600 has adopted a large-capacity memory of up to 2GB. Data throughput is doubled. This large image buffer meets the needs of high-speed image acquisition and transmission of the new generation of CMOS, making shooting of multiple frames smoother and less stuttered, further reducing the pressure on the computer CPU.
Another advantage is that when using some computers that do not have fast processors or have poor support for USB 3.0, the computer can’t transfer high-speed data well, and the data is often lost. The DDR can buffer a lot of image data and send it to the computer. Even if the USB 3.0 transmission frequently gets suspended, it will ensure that data is not lost. There are options in SharpCap to turn DDR buffering on or off. The current version of the ASCOM driver works in DDR mode.
Native 16 bit A/D: The new Sony sensor has native 16-bit A/D on-chip. The output is real 16-bits with 65536 levels. Compared to 12-bit and 14-bit A/D, a 16-bit A/D yields higher sample resolution and the system gain will be less than 1e-/ADU with no sample error noise and very low read noise.
BSI: One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor. In the back- illuminated sensor the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.
Zero Amplify Glow: This is also a zero amplifer glow camera.
TRUE RAW Data: In the DSLR implementation there is a RAW image output, but typically it is not completely RAW. Some evidence of noise reduction and hot pixel removal is still visible on close inspection. This can have a negative effect on the image for astronomy such as the “star eater” effect. However, QHY Cameras offer TRUE RAW IMAGE OUTPUT and produces an image comprised of the original signal only, thereby maintaining the maximum flexibility for post-acquisition astronomical image processing programs and other scientific imaging applications.
Anti-Dew Technology: Based on almost 20-year cooled camera design experience, The QHY cooled camera has implemented the fully dew control solutions. The optic window has built-in dew heater and the chamber is protected from internal humidity condensation. An electric heating board for the chamber window can prevent the formation of dew and the sensor itself is kept dry with our silicon gel tube socket design for control of humidity within the sensor chamber.
Cooling: In addition to dual stage TE cooling, QHYCCD implements proprietary technology in hardware to control the dark current noise.
Multiple Readout Modes are special for QHY 16-bit Cameras (QHY600/268/461/411). Different readout modes have different driver timing, etc., and result in different performance. See details at “Multiple Readout Modes and Curves” Part.
You may find some types of thermal noise can change with time in some back-illuminated CMOS cameras. This thermal noises has the characteristic of the fixed position of typical thermal noise, but the value is not related to the exposure time. Instead, each frame appears to have its own characteristics. The QHY600/268/461/411 use an innovative suppression technology that can significantly reduce the apparent level of such noise.
UVLO（Under Voltage Locking) is to protect the electronic device from damage caused by abnormally low voltages.
Our daily life experience tells us that the actual operational voltage of an electrical device must not significantly exceed the rated voltage, otherwise it will be damaged. For such precision equipment as cameras, long-term work at too low input voltage can also be detrimental to the working life of the camera, and may even make some devices, such as power manager, burn up due to long-term overload. In the all-in-one driver and SDK after 2021.10.23 stable version, the camera will give a warning when the input voltage of the camera is below 11V.
It is common behavior for a CMOS sensor to contain some horizontal banding. Normally, random horizontal banding can be removed with multiple frame stacking so it does not affect the final image. However, periodic horizontal banding is not removed with stacking so it may appear in the final image. By adjust the USB traffic in Single Frame mode or Live Frame mode, you can adjust the frequency of the CMOS sensor driver and it can optimize the horizontal banding appeared on the image. This optimized is very effective to remove the periodic banding in some conditions.
A typical Periodic Horizontal Noise under certain USB_TRAFFIC values.
After Adjusting the USB Traffic to avoid the periodic horizontal noise.
The camera is designed to use the +12V to reboot the camera without disconnecting and reconnecting the USB interface. This means that you can reboot the camera simply by shutting down the +12V and then powering it back on. This feature is very handy for remote controlling the camera in an observatory. You can use a remotely controlled power supply to reboot the camera. There is no need to consider how to reconnect the USB in the case of remote control.
Readout Mode #0 (Photographic Mode).
Readout Mode #1 (High Gain Mode).
Readout Mode #2 (Super Fullwell Mode).
Readout Mode #3 (Extend Fullwell 2CMSIT, yellow curve).
The curve shows absolute QE
Multiple Readout Modes are special for QHY 16-bit Cameras (QHY600/268/461/411). Different readout modes have different driver timing, etc., and result in different performance. These readout modes are currently supported in the QHYCCD ASCOM Camera Driver, SharpCap and N.I.N.A.
Readout Mode #0 (Photographic DSO Mode). This mode is suitable for most DSO imaging situations. In this mode you don’t have to care about unity gain, because gain0 is good enough for a 16-bit sensor; however , there is a drop in the noise between Gain 25 and Gain 26.
Readout Mode #1 (High Gain Mode). This mode is something like double native iso of some new digital cameras, whose danamic range can greatly incerase at the vary high iso value, like iso800, iso3200, etc. The high gain mode provide such improvement for QHYCCD 16bit cameras. We recommend you choose this mode when you have to capture at high gain, for example, a vary dark object. Please note the switch point of HGC/LGC of QHY600/268/461 is 56. That means you must set the gain value equal or a little larger than 56 under this mode to make the best of it.
Readout Mode #2 (Extended Fullwell Mode). With a pixel size of 3.76um, these sensors already have an impressive full well capacity of 51ke. Nevertheless, QHYCCD has implemented a unique approach to achieve a full well capacity higher than 51ke- through innovative user controllable read mode settings. In Extended Fullwell Mode, the QHY600 can achieve an extremely large full-well charge value of nearly 80ke- and the QHY268 can achieve nearly 75ke-. Greater full-well capacity provides greater dynamic range and large variations in magnitude of brightness are less likely to saturate.
Readout Mode #3 (Extended Fullwell Mode-2CMS). While Extended Fullwell Mode has large fullwell, it brings more noise, too. Don’t worry, the 2CMS mode can reduce readout noise by about 1.3 times while keeping the same full well value and system gain as the #2 mode Extended Fullwell mode, by secondary sampling. We recommend this 2CMS mode more than mode #2 when you need larger fullwell. By the way, it’s better to use gain 25 or 26 ranther than gain0 under Mode#3
| Model | QHY600PH (Photographic Version)
QHY600PH SBFL (Short Back Focal Length Version) QHY600PH L (Lite Version) |
| CMOS Sensor | SONY IMX455 |
| Mono/Color | Both Available (while Mono only with QHY600PH-L) |
| FSI/BSI | BSI |
| Pixel Size | 3.76um x 3.76um |
| Effective Pixel Area | 9576*6388
（9600*6422 with overscan and optically black area) |
| Effective Pixels | 61.17 Megapixels (effective area. |
| Sensor Size | Full Frame 36mm x 24mm |
| A/D Sample Depth
|
16-bit (0-65535 levels) at 1X1 binning
18-bit at 2X2, 19-bit at 3X3, 20-bit at 4X4 software binning *QHY600 uses the software digital binning for 2*2binning. With digital sum, 2*2binning will be four 16-bit summed then it is 18-bit. |
| Full Well Capacity (1×1, 2×2, 3×3) | Standard Mode >51ke- / >204ke- / >408ke- Super Full Well Mode >80ke- / >320ke- / >720ke- |
| Full Frame Rate | USB3.0 Port Image Transfer Speed
Full Frame Size: 4.0FPS (8-bit output) Full Frame Size: 2.5FPS (16-bit output) 7.2FPS at 9600×3194, 22.5FPS at 9600×1080, 28FPS at 9600×768, 47FPS at 9600×480, 160FPS at 9600×100, Fiber Port Image Transfer Speed (QHY600Pro only) Full Frame Size: 4.0FPS (16-bit output) |
| Readout Noise | 1.0e- to 3.7e- (Standard Mode) |
| Dark Current | 0.0022e-/p/s @ -20C 0.0046e-/p/s @ -10C |
| Exposure Time Range | 40us – 3600sec |
| Unity Gain* | 25 (Extended Full Well Mode) *
*With the improvement of the CMOS technology, the 16bit CMOS camera has been released, like QHY600/268/411/461. For these cameras, even in lowest gain it has beyond the requirement of unit gain (less than 1e/ADU due to sufficient samples) So you can directly set gain 0 as start. Please note QHY600/268C/411/461 has extend full well mode. In this mode you still need to find out the unit gain position. |
| Amp Control | Zero Amplifer Glow |
| Firmware/FPGA remote Upgrade | Supported. Via Camera USB Port |
| Shutter Type | Electric Rolling Shutter |
| Computer Interface | USB3.0 |
| Built-in Image Buffer | DDR3 memory
PH & PH SBFL ver.: 2GBytes |
| Hardware Frame Sequence Number | Supported |
| Cooling System | Dual Stage TEC cooler: – Long exposures (> 1 second) typically -35C below ambient – Short exposure (< 1second) high FPS, typically -30C below ambient（Test temperature +20°） |
| Optic Window Type | AR+AR High Quality Multi-Layer Anti-Reflection Coating |
| Anti-Dew Heater | Yes |
| Telescope Interface | M54/0.75 |
| Back Focal Length | QHY600PH&QHYPH-L: 17.5mm+6mm (±0.2)
QHY600SBFL: 14.5mm* *The BFL Consumed equals 12.5mm when connecting QHYCFW. About the defination of “BFL Comsumed” and our adapter system please view: https://www.qhyccd.com/adapters/ |
| Weigth | PH Version: 850g Lite Version: 790g |
| Power | 40W/100% 20W/50% 13.8W/0% |
QHY600 PH
QHY600PH-SBFL
QHY600PH-L
The QHY600 can output the whole active area of the sensor, including the optically black pixels and the overscan area. The total image size including the optically black area area is 9600 x 6422 pixels. The optically black area is on the left of the image and the overscan area is on bottom of the image.
The difference of optically black area and overscan area is that the optically black area includes the dark current during a long exposure while the overscan area does not include the dark current during an exposure.
Neither the optically black area nor the overscan area respond to light, so they are regarded as the “non-effective” area of the sensor.
In the bottom of the overscan area you may find some vertical series of dots in single frame that can become vertical lines after stacking. One of the reasons for this is that the FPN calibration results represented in the overscan area can’t be found in the effective image area.
The following picture is the left bottom corner of a 300 second dark image. You can see these dots in the overscan area. The optically black level area and overscan area are usually used for precise calibration of an image and for calibration of an image without using a bias frame or dark frame, or for some scientific applications. Because the optically black and overscan areas are not part of the effective image area, QHYCCD does not guarantee the signal quality in these areas. If you do not use these areas, you can select the option “Ignore overscan area” in the ASCOM driver or select a ROI of effective area in SharpCAP.
For QHY600M, the match we recommend is CFW3L and OAGM. If you have special requirement for short back focal length, like using Canon EF Lens (44.1mm BFL), Nikon F Lens (46.5mm), or using 55mm MPCC with both CFW and OAG, we recommend QHY600 SBFL version as the only choice.
| Model | BFL Consumed | Filters Supported |
| QHY600M PH/Lite | 17.5mm | 7 position
2inch mounted/50mm unmounted |
| QHY600M SBFL | 12.5mm | |
| CFW3L | 21.5mm | |
| OAGM | 10mm |
Kit C1 is for connecting MPCC that requires 55mm BFL and M48 interface to Camera with CFW3L Only. C1 is standard accessories of QHY600M PH and QHY600L, so you needn’t purchase it.
Note: The combo QHY600M-PH+CFW3L+OAG combo are not compatible for MPCC because of limited BFL. If you need an MPCC while using the CFWL and OAG at the same time, or use DSLR Lens, we recommend you choose QHY600 SBFL version.
B1: Connecting MPCC that requires 55mm BFL and M48 interface to Camera with CFWL and OAG. B1 is standard accessories of QHY600M SBFL and QHY268M, so you needn’t purchase it if you’ve had the cams.
Note:
B2: Connect Canon EF lens to Camera with filter wheel
B3: Connect Nikon F Lens to Camera with Filter Wheel.
Note: The current Nikon adapter used here is different from the 10mm adapter we used to provide. Now it has a back focal length increment of 12mm.
Generally speaking, there’s no need for an OSC (one shot colored) camera to match filter wheel. If there’s any special needs, please refer to mono cam combos and choose the corresponding filter wheel. All OSC cams use OAG M if needed.
| Model | BFL Consumed |
| QHY600C/410C/367C/128C/247C/168C | 17.5mm+6mm (CAA) |
| QHY268C (Version before 2022) | 17.5mm+6mm (CAA) |
| OAGM | 10mm |
*About IR-Cut filter：
The sealing glass of QHY OSC cameras whose format are above APS-C is AR glass instead of IR/Cut filter. That’s because when the sensor size is bigger, if IR/Cut is closed to sensor, it’s easy to cause haloing effect on image. We use IR/Cut filter as sealing glass on 4/3 format cameras or below, like 163C, 183C; as for big sensor OSC cams, such as 268C, 367C, we provide a special adapter for fixing 2-inch IR/Cut filter at a farther position from the sensor, or users can fix the filter inside the default T mount.
D1: Connecting MPCC with 55mm BFL and M48 interface
If you don’t use an OAG, please use 10mm adapter in the adapter kits to fill the original position of OAG.
D2: Connecting Canon EF Lens
Connecting Nikon F Lens
All-In-One Pack （Driver, SDK and Software) for WINDOWS supports all QHYCCD USB3.0 devices only except PoleMaster and some discontinued CCD cameras. Please go to https://www.qhyccd.com/download/ and install it.
Note:
The camera requires an input voltage between 11V and 13.8V. If the input voltage is too low the camera will stop functioning or it may reboot when the TEC power percent is high, causing a drain on the power. Therefore, please make sure the input voltage arrived to the camera is adequate. 12V is the best but please note that a 12V cable that is very long or a cable with small conductor wire may exhibit enough resistance to cause a voltage drop between the power supply and the camera. The formular is: V(drop) = I * R (cable). It is advised that a very long 12V power cable not be used. It is better to place the 12V AC adapter closer to the camera.
First connect the 12V power supply, then connect the camera to your computer via the USB3.0 cable. Make sure the camera is plugged in before connecting the camera to the computer, otherwise the camera will not be recognized. When you connect the camera for the first time, the system discovers the new device and looks for drivers for it. You can skip the online search step by clicking “Skip obtaining the driver software from Windows Update” and the computer will automatically find the driver locally and install it. If we take the 5IIISeries driver as an example (shown below), after the driver software is successfully installed, you will see QHY5IIISeries_IO in the device manager.
Please note that the input voltage cannot be lower than 11.5v, otherwise the device will be unable to work normally.
Before using software, make sure you have connected the cooling camera to the 12V power supply and connected it to the computer with a USB3.0 data cable. If it’s a planetary/guiding camera, 12V power is not needed.
Note: We recommend 64-bit Software if possible, like SharpCAP x64 , N.I.N.A x64. etc., especially when you’re using 16bit cameras like QHY600.
EZCAP_QT is software developed by QHYCCD. This software has basic capture functions for QHYCCD deep sky cameras.
Run EZCAP_QT. Click “Connect” in Menu -> Camera. If the camera is successfully connected, the title line of EZCAP_QT will display the camera firmware version and the camera ID as shown below.
Click “Temperature Control” in “Camera Settings” to set the temperature of the CMOS sensor. You can turn on “Auto” to set the target temperature. For example, here we set the target temperature to -10C. The temperature of the CMOS sensor will drop quickly to this temperature (approximately 2-3 minutes). If you want to turn off cooling, you can choose Stop. If you just want to set the TEC power but not the temperature. You can select “Manual” and then set the percentage of the TEC power.
You can use the “preview tab” to preview and use the focus tool to focus. Then use the “capture tab” to capture the image.
Launch SharpCap. If the software and drivers mentioned above are installed successfully, the video image will appear automatically about 3 seconds after the software loads. You will also see the frame rate in the lower left corner of the software window as shown below.
If you have already started the SharpCap software before connecting the camera, in order to open the camera, click on the “camera” in the menu bar and then select the device.
Offset adjustment. When you completely block the camera (i.e., like taking a dark frame) you may find that the image is not really zero. Sometimes this will reduce the quality of the image contrast. You can get a better dark field by adjusting the offset. You can confirm this by opening the histogram as indicated in the figure below.
If you want to enter the 16-bit image mode, select the “RAW16” mode.
By selecting the “LX” mode you can expand the exposure setting range and take long exposures.
After cooling devices connected to the 12V power supply, the temperature control circuit will be activated. You can control the CMOS temperature by adjusting the settings in the figure below. Basically, you can control the temperature of CMOS by either adjusting “Cooler Power” or clicking “Auto” and setting “Target Temperature”. You can also see the CMOS temperature at the lower-left corner of the software window.
With ASCOM drivers, you can use the device with many software packages that support the ASCOM standard. We will use Maxim DL below as an example, but a similar procedure is used for The SkyX and other software packages supporting ASCOM.
First make sure you have not only loaded the ASCOM drivers but that you have also downloaded and installed the ASCOM platform from ASCOM. After both the drivers and platform are installed, start MAXIMDL. Follow the instructions shown below to finish the setup. Then Click Connect in and enter the software.
Open N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy. Drive connections via ASCOM. 
Turn on the TE cooler to set temperature. Then set the exposure time to capture the image.
QHYCCD BroadCast WDM Camera is a broadcast driver that supports QHYCCD cameras with video broadcast function, which can meet the needs of customers to send video images to other target software. For example, use sharpcap to connect a WDM-enabled camera, and the sharpcap display video image can be sent to other WDM-supported software for display, which is suitable for video online broadcast applications.
The installation process is over, right-click the computer to find the device manager, and check that the image device name is QHYCCD BroadCast WDM Camera, which means the installation is successful.
HANDYAVI test effect chart:
UFOCAPTURE test renderings:
| Model | Unity Gain |
| QHY600M/C | 25 |
| QHY268M/C | 30 |
| QHY461PH | 26 |
Now with the improvement of the CMOS technology, the 16bit CMOS cameras like QHY600/268/411/461, can be directly set gain 0 under default Photographic DSO mode. Even in lowest gain（zero） they’re beyond the requirement (less than 1e/ADU due to sufficient samples).
However, when you use QHY600/268/411/461 under Extended Fullwell Mode, we recommend their unit gain as default.
There is no fixed “best value” for OFFSET. To set OFFSET, you should take the bias frame and dark frame at a certain GAIN value, then check the histogram of the frames.
The histogram distribution is a peak-like curve. While changing the OFFSET value, the histogram will move left or right. We need to guarantee the range of the whole curve won’t be chopped off at the end. At the same time, we need to keep a little residue on the left side, just over 0 a bit.
Pay attention that under different GAIN values, the width of this peak varies. The higher the GAIN is, the wider the distribution will be. So OFFSET value at low GAIN is not suitable for high GAIN because the curve is easily to be chopped off.
UVLO（Under Voltage Locking), is primarily intended to protect the electronic device from damage caused by abnormally low voltages. Now only QHY600, QHY268, QHY410, QHY411, QHY461, QHY533 cameras have UVLO Protection.
UVLO warning execution
After a warning is given, the camera firmware will automatically turn off the cooler and will turn on the camera’s TEC protection mode. After the camera is reconnected, it will always work in TEC protection mode (maximum power cooler power will be limited to 70%). Since many times the voltage shortage is caused by the high resistance of the power supply cable itself, resulting in a large voltage drop at high currents, the voltage will usually rise after the power is limited. But limiting the power will affect the cooling temperature difference. Therefore, it is recommended that users first check the power supply cable to solve the problem of excessive resistance of the power supply cable.
If the user has solved the problem of insufficient supply voltage, the TEC protection mode can be removed through the menu of EZCAP_QT.
How to improve the power supply?
How to clear the TEC protection status triggered by UVLO?
Once a UVLO event occurs, the camera will automatically memorize it and will work in a protected mode at a maximum of 70% power after reconnection. This memory can be erased as follows:
After you find the system error, you need to turn off the device and check the power supply. After inspecting the problem, open the ezcap software and select “Camera Settings” – “Preferences” – “Reset Flash Code” to reset the error status.
Why does the warning appear even though the power supply voltage is 12 V?
| Cooled CMOS Camera | Bayer |
| QHY600C | RGGB |
| QHY268C | RGGB |
| QHY410C | RGGB |
| QHY533C | GBRG |
| QHY367Pro | RGGB |
| QHY128Pro | RGGB |
| QHY294C | RGGB |
| QHY247C | RGGB |
| QHY168C | RGGB |
| QHY165C | RGGB |
| QHY163C | GRBG |
| QHY183C | RGGB |
| QHY174C | RGGB |
| QHY178C | GBRG |
| QHY290C | GBRG |
| QHY224C | GBRG |
| Planetary and Guiding | Bayer |
| QHY5III174C | RGGB |
| QHY5III178C | GBRG |
| QHY5III224C | GBRG |
| QHY5III290C | GBRG |
| QHY5III462C | GBRG |
| QHY5III485C | RGGB |
| QHY5L-II-C | BGGR |
| QHY5P-II-C | GBRG |
| Cooled CCD Camera | Bayer |
| QHY8L-C | GBRG |
| QHY10-C | RGGB |
| QHY12-C | BGGR |
There is a hole in the side of the camera near the front plate that is normally plugged by a screw with an o-ring. If there’s moisture in the CMOS chamber that causes fog, you can connect the desiccant tube to this hole for drying. There would better be some cotton inside to prevent the desiccants from entering the CMOS chamber.
Please note that you may need to prepare desiccants yourself, because for most countries and regions desiccants are prohibited by air transport. Since QHY always deliver your goods by air, sorry that we can’t provide desiccants for you directly.
If you find dust on the CMOS sensor, you can first unscrew the front plate of the cam and then clean the CMOS sensor with a cleaning kit for SLR camera sensors. Because the CMOS sensor has an AR (or AR/IR) coating, you need to be careful when cleaning. This coating can scratch easily so you should not use excessive force when cleaning dust from its surface.
All QHY cooling cameras have built-in heating plates to prevent fogging. However, If the ambient humidity is very high, the optical window of the CMOS chamber may have condensation issues. Then try the following:
1. Avoid directing the camera towards the ground. The density of cold air is greater than of hot air. If the camera is facing down, cold air will be more accessible to the glass, causing it to cool down and fog.
2. Slightly increase the temperature of the CMOS sensor .
3. Check if the heating plate is normally working. If the heating plate is not working, the glass will be very easy to fog, the temperature of the heating plate can reach 65-70 °C in the environment of 25 °C. If it does not reach this, the heating plate may be damaged. Please contact us for maintenance.
Please avoid thermal shock during use. Thermal shock refers to the internal stress that the TE cooler has to withstand due to the thermal expansion and contraction when the temperature of the TEC suddenly rises or falls. Thermal shock may shorten the life of the TEC or even damage it.
Therefore, when you start using the TEC to adjust the CMOS temperature, you should gradually increase the TEC power rather than turning the TEC to maximum power. If the power of the TEC is high before disconnecting the power supply, you should also gradually reduce the power of the TEC and then disconnect the power supply.
Now the FAQ part has been intergrated into “QHYCCD Help Center“–Knowledge base
This is QHYCCD Help Center. Here you can:
Submit a Ticket: Describe the issue you met while you’re using them. Our technicans will reply you in 48 hours during working days. You don’t have to check the Ticket update everyday—they can receive email notifications and know if there’s any update.
Knowledge Base: Here lists some tips for using your gears, or solutions to issues that you may met. Help your self!
Support History: Check your ticket’s status.
