EFW2 Filter Wheel : ASCOM multiple instances.

[gb]

Hello.
With the ASCOM driver, i correctly control my Atik EFW2 Filter Wheel.
Now i would like to control several Atik EFW2 Filter Wheels (up to 4 at the same time)  from the same client program (written in Python 2.7).
My questions :
Does the "EFW2 Filter Wheel driver" support multiple instances ? Is there any way, in ASCOM, to specify which USB port is to be used when creating an Atik FilterWheel object ?
Does someone ever had to face the problem to pilot more than one filter wheel at the same time ?
Thanking in advance

[Lex]

Hi,

I do not know if ASCOM supports this; have you checked on their Yahoo group yet?
The only thing I know is that with a Lunatico Seletek Controller you can control up to two.

Link:

http://tienda.lunatico.es/Seletek-Armadillo-controller

Hopefully this helps...

Best

Lex

[Lex]

With this one even 3 

Link:

http://tienda.lunatico.es/epages/Store.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/Store.Lunatico/Products/ACNSEL03

Best

Lex

[gb]

Thanks for your answers Lex.

I've checked the ASCOM Yahoo group and unfortunatly it seems impossible for a ASCOM end  user to control more than one specific device at the same time.

I've checked the Lunatico Seletek Controller solution...but my goal is to write my own program and do not use a manufacturer's software.

Best

gb

[Sp@ce_d]

I came across this issue when setting up my "Triple Shooter" I hadn't considered it would be such an issue but it seems there isn't any support within a single application for multiple camera/Filter wheel/focusers etc. (on one mount at least).
I was looking at using ACP & Maxim being the "de facto" automation setup, but they can only control a single instance.

So for now I've had to run separate capture/control software for each device. (would like to write my own code but time involved and the learning curve has so far made me hesitant).
Driver support for multiple devices may be an issue to consider, I do seem to have run into problems with the 3 CCD's at the moment (http://www.atik-cameras.com/forum/index.php?topic=1832.0)
I decided to avoid the potential for that by using different manufacturers for each of my Filter Wheels, which works.

[kd]

Hi,

Can anyone help me in controlling it for a single instance itself using vc++.
I have added the libraries and functions to the project it compiles and connects to the ASCOM filter wheel simulator but doesn't connect to EFW2. When I ran ASCOM diagnostics I found:"This 32bit only driver won't work in a 64bit application even though it is correctly registered as a 32bit COM driver.[0D][0A]Please contact the driver author and request an updated driver." For the filter wheel driver.

Here's a snippet from my code:
IFilterWheelV2Ptr Atik = NULL;
      Atik.CreateInstance("ASCOM.AtikEFW2.FilterWheel");
      if(Atik != NULL)
      {
         CString str;
         str = "Connected";
         LPCTSTR str11 = (LPCTSTR)str;
         m_status_1.SetWindowTextW((LPCTSTR)str);
      }

Any suggestions on how to proceed??

Thanks,
Kd