EFW2 erratic tartup - filter status problem

[gvanhau]

Hello
I'm in the test process of my new 383L+ and EFW2.

I foud out that my EFW2 has an erratic startup behavior.
First I tought there was no status indicating when the filter feel reached the selected filter, so I instructed Maxim to wait an amount of time before exposing.
Yesterday night, it simply refused to work:  The message at maxim was "waiting for filter to move".
I then tried to use the native ATIK soft, in order to discard Maxim, but the result was the same, as of the filter wheel was broken.

After 3 hours of starting over and over again, I decided to do a more exhaustive check.

I took everything into my house and connected only the cam an the filter weel to the computer.
And  oh, it was magic, everthing now was working ok, including status (which never before worked), maxim now waited until the filter was at position before taking the picture.

Not pleased whit this result, i started over again (in house, and same procedure as before). Now  again, filter wheel did not respond. I looked into the filter wheel, and saw that the filter was not correctly at position.
On a new start, filter now worked again, but status was not functioning (had to put delays to allow filter positioning).
Did 3 or 4 more tries and same behavior.

Is this a HW issue, a Driver issue?

Regards
Geert

[ruitripa]

Hello Geert,

Sorry for the trouble. Try the following:

- Take the front cover off and repeat the process a few times. If it works well, then maybe the spring was skewed out of position when it was closed. Reassemble and retest.

[gvanhau]

Hello

I followed your steps, and adjusted also the motor tension a bit (may be it was a little bit to loose).
It seems that the startup process is more consistent now.

What this not solved is the informed status. When the filter receives a move commad (to the next filter), it seems that it gives the ready signal to soon, and I am forced to insert delays before starting the capture. If I dont do this, the image gets blurred, specially in short exposures.
If I take more than one picture with the same filter, only the first is messed up.

Regards
Geert

[ruitripa]

Hi Geert,

This is under MAxim DL?

Can you please send an email to support@atik-cameras.com explaining this behaviour?

[Lex]

Hi Geert,

I own an EFW2 also and I am very happy with it, the Usb FW i owned by now.

The only thing that confuses me is that Maxim doesn't start the exposure until the FW moved completely to the selected filterslot?

Best

Lex