QHYCCD QHY990 User manual

Overview
Both QHY990 and QHY991 include a 25mm filter holder. 25mm filter is a very common filter type for lab applications. The
SWIR filter is easy to be installed inside the camera. With this adapter, the camera still meets the 17.5mm C-mount B.F.L.
QHY990 and QHY991 have both air cooling and liquid cooling version. The air cooling can get the -35C below ambient.
The liquid cooling version can get -45C below ambient with normal temperature liquid and can get -60 to -80C below
ambient with cold liquid. Typically the InGaAs sensor has a high dark current than Silicon-based material. If you are
doing the long exposure with this camera (eg. exposure >5 sec) QHYCCD recommends selecting the liquid cooling version.
Applications: SWIR Astronomy Imaging and Photometry, Daytime Star Observing, Optical Communication, Laser, Optic
Labs.
Specifications
Model QHY990 QHY991
CMOS Sensor IMX990 SWIR Sensor IMX991 SWIR Sensor
FPA Material InGaAs
Pixel Size 5.0um*5.0um
Total Pixels
(includes optic black
pixels)
1392*1052 752*520
Effective Pixel Area 1296*1032 656*520
Effective Pixels 1.3 Megapixels 0.4 Megapixels
Effective Image Area 1/2 inch 1/4 inch
AD Sample Depth 12-bit A/D
Shutter Type Electric Global Shutter
QE 77% @ 1200nm
Full Well Typical 120ke

Readout Noise
The measured data is after Bias Frame FPN calibration
Typical 150 e- at lowest gain
Typical 50e at a middle gain
Typical 20e- at high gain
Frame Rate
66FPS@Full Resolution 12bit
137FPS@480Line 12bit
256FPS@240Line 12bit
518FPS@100Line 12bit
925FPS@40Line 12bit
1150FPS@20Line 12bit
133FPS @ Full resolution 12bit
254FPS @ 240Line 12bit
510FPS @ 100Line 12bit
700FPS @40Line 12bit
830FPS @20Line 12bit
Trig Function One Hardware Trig-In Socket (RCA type).Opto-isolated
Computer Interface USB3.0
Lens Interface C-Mount
Telescope Interface 1.25inch Adapter
Basic Interface Flange with 6-M3 screw holes
25mm Filter Adapter Support D=25mm and D=25.4mm filter
Back Focal Length
C_Mount,1.25inch adapter
17.5mm with 25mm filter adapter, 14.5mm without filter adapter
Basic Interface
12.5mm
Cooling System
Dual Stage TE Cooler
Air Cooling version
Maximum -35C with ambient
(Test temperature +20°)
Liquid Cooling version
Maximum -45C with ambient by using normal water
-60C to -80C with ambient by using cold liquid
Recommended flow rates
for water-cooled versions 1.6ml/s
Curves

Mechanical Dimentions

Sample Images
QHY990 Sample Image in daytime. With 16mmF1.4 SWIR lens @F2.8 , 1200-1800nm filter. Gain=0, exposure time =
1.3ms. D0wnload 16bit FITs QHY990_DAYTIMEQHY990_DAYTIME
QHY990 Sample image under sky (at night). . With 16mmF1.4 SWIR lens @F1.4 , 1200-1800nm filter. Exposure = 2sec
stack 29frames . -11C sensor temperature. Dark frame calibrated.

Here are the stars in the daytime with QHY991 camera by Martin Miller:

Brief User Guide

Before Start: Install "All-In-One" Pack
All-In-One Pack Driver, SDK and Software) for WINDOWS supports all QHYCCD USB3.0 devices only except PoleMaster
and some discontinued CCD cameras. Please go to https://www.qhyccd.com/download/ and install it.
Note:
Since most of the contents of All-in-one package are plug-ins that support third-party software, the third-party
capturing software that you want to use must be installed before the All-in-one package. Otherwise the program
will report an error.
ALL-IN-ONE Pack contains:
System Driver, which is necessary for camera operation and must be installed.
WDM Broadcast Driver, which can provide a live signal to Obs and other live software, you can install it if you
have such needs like opeing a live show.
EZCAP_QT , which is developed by QHYCCD and can be used in QHY devices tests, and management of
updates. So even if you won’t use EZCAP_QT for capturing, we suggest you install it.
Ascom driver needs to be sync with the ascom platform version you installed (the latest version of Ascom is
6.5)
The two sorts of Ascom CFW Drivers correspond to two methods of controling the filter wheel: USB control
and camera serial control. It is recommended that both drivers should be installed if you have a filter wheel.
CP210X_VCP is a serial driver. Some computers come with the driver, but the computer without the driver
may be failed of controling the filter wheel.
SDKs for Third-party Software: Just pick and install the corresponding SDK according to the software you
want to use. Don’t forget to check whether the software you are using is 32-bit or 64-bit and select the right
SDKs.
SHARPCAP is also included in the pack, you can choose 32-bit or 64-bit to install. This is authorized by
SHARPCAP.
QT LIB is a plug-in to ensure that 64-bit software can exeuate normally on some computers with poor
compatibility.
Difference between Stable version and Beta Version: Beta version is the latest version, which gives priority to
support for the latest products (the stable version may not be compatible with those yet), and has some of the latest
optimized ,but experimental features. The stable version is older than the beta version but more stable, so it is
recommended for beginners who are not using the latest products.
Don’t let the camera connect to the computer during the All-in-one pack installation process; connect it to the
computer after all the installation is complete.
Input Voltage Requirements
The camera requires an input voltage between 11V and 13.8V. If the input voltage is too low the camera will stop
functioning or it may reboot when the TEC power percent is high, causing a drain on the power. Therefore, please make
sure the input voltage arrived to the camera is adequate. 12V is the best but please note that a 12V cable that is very long or
a cable with small conductor wire may exhibit enough resistance to cause a voltage drop between the power supply and
the camera. The formular is: V(drop) = I * R (cable). It is advised that a very long 12V power cable not be used. It is better to
place the 12V AC adapter closer to the camera.
First connect the 12V power supply, then connect the camera to your computer via the USB3.0 cable. Make sure the
camera is plugged in before connecting the camera to the computer, otherwise the camera will not be recognized. When
you connect the camera for the first time, the system discovers the new device and looks for drivers for it. You can skip the
online search step by clicking “Skip obtaining the driver software from Windows Update” and the computer will
automatically find the driver locally and install it. If we take the 5IIISeries driver as an example (shown below), after the
driver software is successfully installed, you will see QHY5IIISeries_IO in the device manager.
Please note that the input voltage cannot be lower than 11.5v, otherwise the device will be unable to work normally.
Connect Software
Before using software, make sure you have connected the cooling camera to the 12V power supply and connected it to the
computer with a USB3.0 data cable. If it’s a planetary/guiding camera, 12V power is not needed.
Note: We recommend 64-bit Software if possible, like SharpCAP x64 , N.I.N.A x64. etc., especially when you’re using 16bit
cameras like QHY600.
EZCAP_QT

EZCAP_QT is software developed by QHYCCD. This software has basic capture functions for QHYCCD deep sky cameras.
Run EZCAP_QT. Click “Connect” in Menu -> Camera. If the camera is successfully connected, the title line of EZCAP_QT
will display the camera firmware version and the camera ID as shown below.
Click “Temperature Control” in “Camera Settings” to set the temperature of the CMOS sensor. You can turn on “Auto” to
set the target temperature. For example, here we set the target temperature to -10C. The temperature of the CMOS sensor
will drop quickly to this temperature (approximately 2-3 minutes). If you want to turn off cooling, you can choose Stop. If
you just want to set the TEC power but not the temperature. You can select “Manual” and then set the percentage of the
TEC power.
You can use the “preview tab” to preview and use the focus tool to focus. Then use the “capture tab” to capture the image.
SharpCap
Launch SharpCap. If the software and drivers mentioned above are installed successfully, the video image will appear
automatically about 3 seconds after the software loads. You will also see the frame rate in the lower left corner of the
software window as shown below.

If you have already started the SharpCap software before connecting the camera, in order to open the camera, click on the
“camera” in the menu bar and then select the device.
Offset adjustment. When you completely block the camera (i.e., like taking a dark frame) you may find that the image is
not really zero. Sometimes this will reduce the quality of the image contrast. You can get a better dark field by adjusting
the offset. You can confirm this by opening the histogram as indicated in the figure below.
If you want to enter the 16-bit image mode, select the “RAW16” mode.
By selecting the “LX” mode you can expand the exposure setting range and take long exposures.
After cooling devices connected to the 12V power supply, the temperature control circuit will be activated. You can control
the CMOS temperature by adjusting the settings in the figure below. Basically, you can control the temperature of CMOS
by either adjusting “Cooler Power” or clicking “Auto” and setting “Target Temperature”. You can also see the CMOS
temperature at the lower-left corner of the software window.
ASCOM supported software (e.g. MDL)
With ASCOM drivers, you can use the device with many software packages that support the ASCOM standard. We will use
Maxim DL below as an example, but a similar procedure is used for The SkyX and other software packages supporting
ASCOM.
First make sure you have not only loaded the ASCOM drivers but that you have also downloaded and installed the ASCOM
platform from ASCOM. After both the drivers and platform are installed, start MAXIMDL. Follow the instructions shown
below to finish the setup. Then Click Connect in and enter the software.

N.I.N.A
Open N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy. Drive connections via ASCOM.

Open N.I.N.A. – Nighttime Imaging ‘N’ Astronomy. Drive connections via ASCOM.
Turn on the TE cooler to set temperature. Then set the exposure time to capture the image.
BroadCast WDM Camera Driver
QHYCCD BroadCast WDM Camera is a broadcast driver that supports QHYCCD cameras with video broadcast function,
which can meet the needs of customers to send video images to other target software. For example, use sharpcap to
connect a WDM-enabled camera, and the sharpcap display video image can be sent to other WDM-supported software for
display, which is suitable for video online broadcast applications.
Installation:
Perform the AllInOne installation and check the BroadCast WDM Camera option.

The installation process is over, right-click the computer to find the device manager, and check that the image device
name is QHYCCD BroadCast WDM Camera, which means the installation is successful.
Activate the function:
Usually sharpcap is used to connect the camera as the broadcasting terminal. After connecting the camera, you need to
turn on the Enable Live Broadcast switch to broadcast.

Common supporting software (ie, broadcast receiver) includes: UFOCAPTURE, HANDYAVI, QQ video functions, etc.
AMcap test effect chart:
HANDYAVI test effect chart:

UFOCAPTURE test renderings:
Precautions:
Currently only supports Windows system.
Currently, the SDK does not support 16 bits for the time being.
RGB24 mode must be selected for color images, otherwise the image will appear gridded.