Description

“A” Series camera family. “A” stands for “ALL-IN-ONE”. The camera includes a built-in motor driven filter wheel and natively supports the QHYOAG while consuming a minimum of back focus, precious for some optical systems.

In addition to the filter wheel and OAG, the “A” series camera also offers an internal USB2.0 hub providing two USB host ports and a USB to dual RS232 converter. A guiding camera, mount and electric focuser can be connected directly to this camera instead of the computer to reduce cable clutter and the chance of signal loss due to the long cables. A single USB cable controls all of the peripherals.

The camera uses a single 12V IN power port. The power socket is threaded for a solid connection that will not accidentally disconnect. There is another socket connected in parallel with the input that can be used to supply 12V OUT to other devices.

Each “A” series camera has a mechanical shutter that has a butterfly shape for automatically capturing dark frames. The shutter is directly driven by a motor with no other moving parts. The working life is almost unlimited. The shutter has two sides that block light and open spaces in between. The fan shape of the blades creates even-illumination when opening, and even-darkness when closing for dark frames. This feature is of great benefit when taking flat frames or making photometric observations.

QHY09000A

The QHY09000A cameras is large format astronomical CCD camera using the well-known 9.3 Megapixel KAF-09000 CCD. The image area is just over 36mm x 36mm for both sensors. This model has a seven position built-in motorized filter wheel that holds 50mm x 50mm square filters needed for this sized CCD.

The camera use an even-illumination mechanical shutter for photometric quality darks and flats. The KAF−09000 image sensor is a redesigned version of the popular KAF−16801 and a brother to the KAF-16803 but with larger pixels in the same size package.  The re-design included enhancements that specifically target the needs of high performance applications. Improvements include enhanced quantum efficiency for improved DQE at higher spatial frequencies, lower noise for improved contrast in areas of high density, and anti-blooming protection to prevent image bleed from over exposure in regions outside the area of interest. The sensor utilizes the TRUESENSE Transparent Gate Electrode to improve sensitivity compared to the use of a standard front side illuminated polysilicon electrode, as well as microlenses to maximize light sensitivity.

Filter Installation

1.   Use the screwdriver included in the box to remove the screws on the topside of the camera.

2.   You can see the filter wheel after opening the top cap. You can install 36mm filters and fix them with screws and washers. Please make sure that filters and screws used for fixing the filters do not touch the top cap and photoelectric position detector.

3.   After you’ve finished installing the filters, you can turn on the camera and connect the camera to your PC with USB cable to make sure the filter wheel can work properly. Note that the filter wheel use photoelectric position detector to determine the position of the filter, so make sure you are not exposing the filter wheel to strong light when you are testing if it can work properly, otherwise the strong light may affect the photoelectric position detector.

4.   Install the top cap.

Peripheral Ports

Serial ports
QHY695A provides two serial ports, which are connected to the built-in USB hub through FTDI.USB to Serial chip. These two serial ports provide standard RS232 signal level (±10V). You can use it to connect your camera to electric focuser and even equatorial mount. But note that this signal level is different from TTL signal level used in EQMOD. If you want to connect your camera to equatorial mount through EQMOD, A signal level convertor between TTL and RS232 is needed.After you finished installing the drivers, the serial ports drivers should also be installed. You can check its COM number in the device manager in the Windows so that you can use it in your application software.Serial port cable is optional accessory, and QHYCCD is developing many types of serial port cable. You can contact QHYCCD to know if there’s serial port cable you need.The pin arrangement is already shown in the picture above.

Caution: Never connect the grounding port to any electrical socket or outlet, otherwise, electrical shock may happen.12V power ports
These two ports are connected in parallel, so you can either one of these two as power input port and use the other one as a power output port for other devices that need 12V power supply.USB type-A ports
These two ports are USB expansion ports connected to the built-in USB hub, you can use it to connect with guide camera or other USB devices. This two ports can output 500 mA current. To reduce the power load of the internal circuit, it’s recommended to reduce the use of current.QHY A series Cameras have a USB hub board in them. And these two USB type-A ports along with these two serial ports aforementioned are all branched out by the USB hub board. However, in some particular condition, it results in conflict and the camera will stop working. For example, in the condition where there equatorial mount you are using also has a built-in hub or where you used a USB hub already. In this case, you need to install the USB Hub bypass board (small red- colored board) included in the package.USB type-B port
This port is used to connect the camera to the computer.

Specifications