Atik 314L and ICRON USB 2 extender help

[dforbes]

Hello all,
   We are having trouble getting the 314L in our Shelyak LISA spectrograph to talk to the computer using an ICRON USB Ranger 2204.  The camera works with the computer just fine directly over the supplied USB cables.  When we try to run the Atik via the ICRON, no joy - specifically, we cannot select the 314L in Audela's "Camera/Setup" menu - the list remains empty.  We can see the camera in "Devices & Printers", and are told there that the drivers are updated and that all is working properly.
 We can use our Apogee imaging camera without trouble through the same ICRON connection, using Maxim DL.  We've tried the usual uninstalling/re-installing, and have followed the setup instructions to the letter for ASCOM, the Atik drivers, and Audela/Artemis.
  I've seen a very few similar threads in this forum but either the problem resolved itself or no solution was found.  If anyone has had a similar problem and can suggest a solution we'd be very grateful to learn of it!

  Many thanks,
    Doug

[NickK]

extenders are notorious for causing uses for two reasons:

1. Power - of they're passive, then the repeater/extender itself uses power, often dropping below the power specification for USB.

2. Signal changes - often the extender will have a USB based chip in that may or may not work particularly well. Sometimes the connections cause additional noise too. This isn't usually as much of a problem compared to the power issues above.

I've used  two active repeaters before - the Titan displayed the same symptoms and the reason was the first reason where there wasn't enough power to actually power the camera. After adding an active USB hub on the end, there was enough USB power to remain in spec and the camera worked flawlessly.

[dforbes]

NickK,

  Thanks for the advice.  The ICRON extender we use has a  powered USB hub (on the remote, or camera, end) so it's probably not a power problem.  We'll keep looking!  Thanks!

  DF

[dforbes]

Well!

  Strangely enough, we tried a USB 2 active extension cable (10-m length) instead of the ICRON extender and it worked!  Indeed, it worked with two 10-m cables linked together (which is what's needed to get from the dome to the control room).  The particular cable is from Plugable (USB2-10M), if anyone's interested.
  It's not an ideal solution until we can run the cables through the cable conduit (they have to pass through two doorways) but at least it works. 
  Thanks to all!

  DF

[DMouse]

Hi guys, I have the Ranger 2304-USB, not the LAN version which wont work. You need the direct connect version or things won't connect. Icron even sent me a programming cable to help get the Ranger working. I have the Ranger 2304 USB, and it works great with my ATIK383L+. Even my QHY5-IILM, which is very fussy on USB, does work if I reduce the speed of the USB, in the EXplanetary software. This is run over 150 feet of CAT 6 cable with no issues.
So if you do really want to connect over a network cable then the Ranger 2304-USB is the device. The only draw back is that you can not use an other network devices on the same cable path, it has to be direct.

Clear Skies

Paul