Power Box Advance Gen2 feedback...

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DiligentSkies
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2021 10:53 pm

Power Box Advance Gen2 feedback...

Post by DiligentSkies »

Hello All,

Recently purchased a Pegasus Power Box Advance Gen2 (PPBA2).

Was able to connect all my USB equipment without issue after some trial and error.

The equipment I am attempting to connect is as follows:

1.) A Sky Watcher EQ-6R mount with a USB 2.0 type B port connection on the mount and connected to a USB2 port on the PPBA2 HUB that is powered with a EQ-6R cabled that was purchased separately.

2.) A Pegasus Focus Cube 2 connected to a USB 2.0 port on the PPBA2 USB Hub and powered with one of the PPBA2 supplied 12 volt cables.

3.) A ZWO ASI120 mini guide camera connected to a USB 3.0(which defaults to a USB2 type 2 connection) port on the PPBA2 USB Hub (No 12volt required since the USB connection provides the power)

4.) A QHY183mono imagining camera connected to a USB 3.0 port on the PPBA2 USB Hub and powered with one of the PPBA2 supplied 12 volt cables.

The Sky Watch EQ-6R mount connected without issue through the EQMOD toolbox application once, "I clicked on the Driver Setup Button and then clicked on find Port button." Doing this I was then able to connect the mount with the ASCOM CONNECT Button in the EQMOD TOOLBOX application.

The Focus Cube 2 connected without any issue once I selected the correct Device ID in the SETTINGS TAB of the stand alone FOCUS CUBE application.

The ZWO ASI120 mini camera connected without any issue, "What so ever!!!"

The QHY183mono camera took a bit of trial and error to use a USB3.0 port connection through the PPBA2 USB HUB.

However I was very much successful.

That said, "I started with a clean install of the latest ALL-in-One QHYCCD driver package."

The first time I tried to connect the QHY183 camera through a USB 3.0 port on the PPBA2 HUB after installing this driver package was meet with failure.

The camera was not discoverable and in Windows Control Panel... Devices and Printers dialog... I was presented with an unidentified USB device once I made the PPBA2 USB connection to my laptop with the QHY183 connected through a USB3.0 port of the PPBA2 USB HUB.

As has been stated by Pegasus, "Many QHYCCD cameras require USB2 enumeration before switching to USB3.

With the PPBA2 I believe that is no longer the case.

Here is, "What did?"

I next, "Power up the PPBA2 stand alone application and used the 12volt connection on the PPBA2 to power the QHY183 camera and I directly connected the QHY183 camera to my laptop's USB 3.0 port.

At this point all I was doing, "Was using the PPB2 to power the QHY183 camera and the PPBA2 was not trying to make any USB connection to this QHY183 camera."

In other words the QHY183 was directly connected to my laptop.

The camera was thus, "Immediately recognized."

Next...

I shut everything down and this time I used a USB 3.0 port on the PPBA2 USB HUB to make the USB connection to my QHY183 camera.

When I fired everything up and activated the USB connection in the stand alone PPBA2 application...

The QHY183 camera was connectable in both QHYCCD EZCAP and SharpCap 4.0.

I am now very much a happily 'cable managed' camper.

With a single USB data lead off my mount and a single power cable to the Pegasus Box Advance Gen2.
Everything else is cable in-line with my mount's slewing movements.

Sincerely,

Mark
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